In honor of Black History Month, Sports Illustrated is passing the pen to prominent Black voices across sports to reflect, re-examine legacies and share their stories and viewpoints on what lies ahead for the next generation of trailblazers.
Many people in life have specific goals and dreams of what they want to be when they grow up. In school, sometimes we get conditioned to think about the jobs that we see in our community or those that are prominent on TV. We think and look inside our bubble for those things that are common. Most of my friends talked about being teachers, lawyers, doctors, athletes, police officers or joining the military. But my goal was a little different. I wanted to represent my country in the Olympics.
