AUSTIN, Texas — Track star Tyra Gittens has seen it all. From setting records as an Aggie to qualifying for the Olympics, she’s lived through the blood, sweat and tears the sport has to offer. But before her track journey is complete, she still has some unfinished business to attend to, only this time as a Longhorn.
By the age of 12, there was one thing Tyra Gittens wanted to be and one thing only: an Olympian.
“Gymnastics was my first sport, but it wasn’t enough. My energy level is quite high and my mom was like, 'This isn’t it. [You] need something more.' Even before I started running track, I was like, you know what, I think I want to go to the Olympics. I didn’t know for what yet,” said UT track and field athlete Tyra Gittens.
Last year, that dream finally came true. It just wasn’t what she expected. Gittens only qualified for the long jump, not the heptathlon, which is her pride and joy.
“I was really, really sad when I missed the standard by two points. Also, the new world ranking rule kind of led me to not make it to Tokyo, but luckily I qualified for the long jump inside the same hep that I did and I was a centimeter off the high jump standard as well. So it was a very emotional hep, let’s just say, because it was the best hep I’ve ever had and I qualified for the Olympics in that hep,” said Gittens.
After she returned to the U.S., Gittens decided it was time for a change in scenery. She traded in her maroon threads for the burnt orange.
“I made necessary moves to focus on my future in the way that I felt necessary for me and my fiancé. So the move was a last-minute but beautiful decision, and it’s challenged me in some ways, but ways that I know has only made me stronger,” said Gittens
Adapting to a new environment and team isn’t always seamless.
“Things get worse before they get better and until you get used to the adjustment. Now the adjustment eventually pays off, but the transition, learning, the getting your body used to them, that’s the difficult part. And that part is more difficult to the athletes because what they’re used to jumping, they’re not jumping,” said UT head track and field coach Edrick Floréal.
Not only did Gittens move into enemy territory, but she also set aside the hep for now to focus on her long jump and high jump.
“I don’t feel like I outgrew it because I still have a lot of things that I wanted to do in the hep and accomplish in the hep. But at the same time, you kind of have to feel your body. It’s a lot to do the hep, I’m not going to lie, and so I wanted to challenge myself in other ways,” said Gittens.
“I mean she just wants to be a professional athlete and the hep, the decathlon, there’s really no future in that because you only have the hep twice a year; world’s championships and there’s a meet called Gotzis where they only do the hep and the trials, so there’s not enough opportunities to make some money,” said Coach Floréal. “But the long jump does 15-20 long jump competitions and 15-20 high jump competitions, so if you're going to be a professional, you’re going to have to do it in the events that are offered on a consistent basis.”
And she’ll do so with the 2024 Olympics in sight.
“My goals are not something you necessarily can write down. It’s more of a feeling and how I carry myself and how I adapt and how I push through all of the things that has led me here. I think that’s what my goal is for this year — to overcome a lot of things that the younger Tyra wouldn’t have been able to,” Gittens said.