Navajo teen earns spot on Youth Olympic team
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Filed Under:
Sports
Jessie Bates, a 13-year-old member of the
Navajo Nation, has her eyes on the first ever
2010 Youth Olympic Games.
Bates, earned one of six spots on the
U.S. taekwondo trials team last week. She'll complete in the qualification tournament in March 2010 and if she wins there, she'll be headed to Singapore for the Olympic games.
"It was incredible, it was just like a dream come true," Bates told The Farmington Daily Times. "In the past, I would always come up short. I would be second place, third place, it was always just beyond my reach. On Friday, it was just my day, finally."
Jessie Bates used to live in Shiprock, New Mexico, on the reservation. Her grandfather is LoRenzo Bates, a delegate to the
Navajo Nation Council.
"You can always see in someone when they have a skill, a talent, and she just got better and better. It was just a matter of time until she would be able to succeed and get to where she's at," LoRenzo Bates told the paper.
Get the Story:
Shiprock native eyes Olympics
(The Farmington Daily Times 11/12)
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