Team USA: Why I'm Proud to Represent America on the World's Stage
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00:00Nothing like representing Team USA on the world's largest stage.
00:04You feel like a superhero when you get to step on the track and rock that USA across your chest.
00:08I am wishing all the athletes that get that incredible opportunity this season to be in Paris all the best.
00:19It's the dream that I've had since I was, you know, a little kid to wear red, white and blue and hear my anthem.
00:24It's the first time that men will be allowed to compete in the Olympics for artistic swimming.
00:27So it's huge for myself personally as a career goal, but it's also an opportunity for the sport.
00:33I mean, I remember the first time I got to compete for the U.S.
00:36and I had this very strong sense of what a privilege it is to actually get to put on the red, white and blue and get to be on Team USA.
00:42Amazing to represent my country at the Olympics.
00:45Just being able to compete at the world stage against all other top athletes in the world.
00:50You know, Olympics is the pinnacle of athletics and to be able to represent what I think is the greatest country in the world is a massive honor.
00:57To be competing for something that's so much bigger than yourself and to be on that journey and go through that process and have so much fun along the way is just, it's so incredible.
01:09Coming from an immigrant family from Venezuela, it means a lot to represent the United States.
01:13I love this country.
01:14It's raised me to be a better human being and I am so proud to represent it.
01:18Growing up, I had so many great mentors and teammates and coaches on the USA team who, you know, they really looked out for me, you know.
01:25So to have that amazing community behind me at a young age, I just want to make sure I'm doing everything I can to give back to the next generation.
01:31It means that I get to mentor and inspire a lot of young athletes that are coming up and are potentially interested in parafencing.
01:40I grew up dreaming of representing this country on the world stage, watching my fellow people with disabilities compete at the Paralympic Games, and I thought to myself, one day that'll be me.
01:50Today is that day.
01:51I'm very grateful to represent the red, white and blue, and I look forward to continuing to do so all throughout my career and making this country proud.
01:57It's a cultivation of so much hard work and sweat and tears and spirit.
02:02And so the U.S. is the hardest team to make.
02:05It's just such an honor.
02:06To be able to show the country what table tennis looks like and what it looks like from my perspective as a person with dwarfism and showing awareness that way.
02:18Representing Team USA is everything.
02:20Being a skateboarder, you know, it's going to be the second year skateboarding is involved in the Olympics.
02:25And to wear that jersey gives competing a whole new meaning.
02:28It means responsibility.
02:30I'm representing not only our country, but I'm representing my family, my hometown and a lot of people.
02:36So it's a responsibility.
02:38I mean, the Olympics is a pinnacle of athletics.
02:40So to be able to have an opportunity to play there is something that's extremely special.
02:44It's something that you dream about as a kid.
02:46I'm going into my six Paralympic Games and my very first games.
02:49I was 12 years old.
02:51So to still be doing it as a 32 year old is a success for me.
02:54It is the biggest honor to wear the American flag on your jersey.
02:58I think especially for our program, the women who have come before me and been able to wear the jersey.
03:05To represent Team USA during the Paralympics is the greatest honor.
03:08To be able to uphold the values, what it is to be an American,
03:11and also to recognize the people that have sacrificed their livelihood in their lives
03:17and also their ambitions.
03:18To be able to pave a way for me to be able to be on this stage as a disabled athlete and an Asian American.
03:23It's an absolute honor.
03:24I not only am I representing the United States,
03:27but I'm also representing my family and my kids and being a mom in sport.
03:32It means the world to me.
03:33I was at Tokyo and it was kind of awkward with the whole COVID thing,
03:36but being able to actually show off in front of the fans and represent my country at a high level just means the world.
03:42I'm so fortunate to represent the red, white, and blue
03:45and be empowered by the amazing athletes that not only have come before me,
03:50but are right there with me and hopefully will come after me.
03:53It means a lot because I'm a former Marine.
03:55Well, I'm still Marine, but I like that I could still represent my nation.
04:00So when I go and have my name here over the intercom,
04:05like De La Rosa representing the United States, it's a big honor for me.
04:08I've grown up watching, you know, the U.S. dominate in almost all sports.
04:14So being able to represent them, especially since our sport hasn't qualified since 2008, is really exciting.
04:21Being able to wear it, wear the uniform, and just go out and perform.
04:25It's always been a dream of mine and to be able to, you know, have done it in Tokyo and to stand on the podium,
04:30you know, four times and to watch my flag be raised three times, you know,
04:35listen to my national anthem, our national anthem, was incredible.
04:38And it's an indescribable feeling and I'm excited to, you know, represent U.S. in Paris and do it again.
04:44It means everything because it's representation for all the little black and Latina girls that look just like me,
04:49for all of the limb-different children that look just like me,
04:52and for everyone that just wants the hope to try something that they're afraid to try, go out and do it.
04:57Nothing like representing your nation and representing something so much bigger than yourself and your whole entire country.
05:04And there's something extra powerful when I put on my Team USA kit and there's USA.
05:09It's that last 5% of power that it empowers me.
05:12Oh, it means everything. I think that that's one of the biggest goals that a lot of athletes have is to rep their country.
05:19But to rep USA, I think that's pretty inspirational. It's pretty incredible.
05:23It's really showing that this country has given me a second opportunity of life.
05:28I am adopted, so to be able to go out and represent the country that I'm currently, you know, living in and adopted in,
05:37you know, it's just showing my appreciation and showing how grateful I am.