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The women’s golf event begins Wednesday morning, and the three ladies on Team USA have soaked up their 2024 Olympic experience.
Team USA consists of three players for the 2024 Olympics women’s golf competition.
They have World No. 1 Nelly Korda, who looks to defend her gold medal from 2021 at the Tokyo Games. World No. 2 Lilia Vu and World No. 9 Rose Zhang make their Olympic debuts.
When Korda made her debut, COVID-19 limited everything. She and the other athletes could not attend different sporting events or really experience the Olympics.
However, This year, all three ladies saw their fellow Americans compete in their sports.
Ahead of the golf tournament that begins Wednesday morning, Korda, Vu and Zhang detailed their experiences so far and what it means to them to be Olympians.
All three went to see the Team USA swimmers do their thing and witness greatness.
“I caught Katie Ledecky win the 800, which is cool, and a couple of the relays,” Korda said. “So that was exciting. Getting to do that in person was definitely a bucket list thing.”
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“We all went to see a couple of events,” Zhang said. “We went to watch swimming on Saturday night and in general, I’m just feeling really good vibes when I’m out here. We got to watch the men’s a little bit, and it’s been a cool experience so far.”
Watching the other events made Vu realize this was not a dream but a reality. She is one of the three Team USA Olympians for women’s golf. With her injury earlier this year, it was uncertain if she would even be in Paris.
“It hit me when we went to watch swimming the other night,” Vu said. The crowds were super passionate, and we saw Katie Ledecky get another Gold. It was emotional hearing our National Anthem, and I can’t wait to do the same.”
They even watched Scottie Scheffler win his Gold medal on the clubhouse television. Vu and Zhang said they put themselves in front of the TV and got to cheer for him.
For the Korda’s, the Olympics run deep into the family.
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“We watched it a lot, every two years, even the winter Olympics. That’s something we all did as a family,” Korda said. “There’s nothing like representing your country, so getting to do that on the Olympic stage is a dream come true.”
Korda’s mom is also an Olympian, appearing in the 1988 Games. The Korda ladies love to use their bragging rights when it comes to the Games.
“We always make fun of the boys because we say that the girls in the Korda family are the only ones who are Olympians, and the boys are not,” Korda noted. My dad and my brother may or may not be. So we have that above them in the family.”
Vu and Zhang are taking it all in as first-time Olympians. From trading pins to catching the other events, representing the United States seems to be a privilege.
“The Olympics is such a different level in terms of representing your country,” Zhang said. “Everyone is tuning in to watch and supporting. It’s always a real great honor for us athletes, and I think it’s the highest regard or standard for us to be able to represent our countries.”
Not many get to experience the Olympics from an athlete’s perspective. It is a once-in-a-lifetime thing that even fewer get to do multiple times. All three of these ladies seem to be enjoying every moment of it.
Now, they will compete at Le Golf National for Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals. All three ladies could see the podium, but who could win the Gold?
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @golf_girl_sl.
