For Guam swimmer Jagger Stephens, Olympic experience will last a lifetime

Swimmer Jagger Stephens, one member of Team Guam's 4-person delegation to the Summer Games in Tokyo, told KUAM News, "I think the best word to use is, how so real was it. It was incredible. Everything building up to this point all felt like just training. Training for something greater but in that moment walking into that stadium and seeing all these teams. Hearing the music blasting and the announcer over it was unbelievable."

Stephens says there were so many emotions on competition day. He spent the entire morning and afternoon thinking about his event. Stephens says he had to not think about the race just to calm down properly.

"I was super satisfied with the time that I did. We've had a super rough year in terms of training. Guam pools being shut down with COVID and it's been really hard to get those consistent practices in. I am very satisfied with my performance at the Olympics," he shared.

With all of the restrictions put on the athletes at this year's games Jagger says the precautions taken, all paid off.

Stephens added, "If you want a world event to happen, you have to have world class rules and regulations. I thought it was handled fantastically personally. We had this thing called an athlete playbook which was like well over 40 pages. It just outlined what you can do and what you can't do. What's the protocol, how you get into the village and how you get out of the village. What's all the processes and apps you have to download. Your health that you need to register. They truly did everything that they possibly could to make the games as safe as possible for both the athletes and the people in Japan. It is really hard to complain because they did a fantastic job with all things considered."

Being an Olympic Athlete has its perks. Athletes at the Tokyo Games will be going home with some fresh gear and technology.

Stephens said, "It's going to sound obnoxious if I list off all the things that we were able to get. We had sponsors of course. Team Guam was sponsored by Adidas and Arena which is a swimming brand. So we got some gear from them but also for just the athletes in general. We had some really cool stuff, like we got a Galaxy S21 phone. Which is like unbelievable honestly. I've never gotten a free phone in my life. It's the latest and greatest, it's an Olympic edition. That's incredible and we also got some Galaxy earphones that I also imagine is the top of the line. We also got some shoes and stuff. I was really stressing out the day before we left because I was like I have a lot more things that I need to pack."

With the Olympic Games still going on and the next games being held in London in 2025. Jagger left open the possibility of representing Team Guam again.

"The long and the short answer is maybe. The truth is it's several years away so anything can happen. Who knows where life is going to take me. But on a very real note I'm 23 years old. I have now entered the adult world and realistically it's very hard to maintain that level of intensity in training while also maintaining the most part time of jobs. I hate that I have to give maybe as an answer, but I think maybe is a perfect answer because of how dynamic a year can be," he said.