Going for the gold: Hartselle's Quanesha Burks leaves Saturday for Tokyo Olympics

Jul. 23—The Tokyo Olympics move into high gear tonight with the opening ceremonies.

For Hartselle's Olympian Quanesha Burks, the Olympic experience officially begins Saturday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, when she boards a plane headed to Chicago. Then it's 13 hours in the air to Tokyo.

"That's a long time in an airplane, but I'm excited about the trip," Burks said. "It's been a long journey to get this far."

Burks is the second athlete from Hartselle to participate in the Olympics. Basketball player Vickie Orr played in the 1992 games in Barcelona, Spain.

The long plane ride for Burks is just another bump in the road for the long jumper. The biggest obstacle right now is COVID. Last year's outbreak delayed the games for a year.

Olympic organizers have banned spectators from the games after Japan declared a state of emergency amid rising cases in the country.

Burks' long jump competition starts Aug. 1 with the finals scheduled Aug. 3.

"I hate this COVID stuff so much," Burks said. "I have been tested so many times and so many ways that I think I could help give the tests.

"This Olympic experience means so much to me and my family and friends. It would be so wonderful if they could make the trip to see me compete."

Earlier this year it looked like the chances of Burks making the trip were down to zero. While training in Baton Rouge in February, Burks had a bad landing that injured her right leg. At first team doctors thought it was a torn ACL that would have required surgery.

An MRI showed the ACL was not torn. Instead, her femur, the longest and strongest bone in the body, was badly bruised. Her patellar tendon which attaches the bottom of the kneecap to the top of the shinbone was also sprained.

"The doctors did not think I could recover in time for the trials," Burks said. "I knew the odds were stacked against me, but I never questioned God's plan. At times it was overwhelming, but I stayed the course and would not let myself get down."

Burks spent the next three weeks resting her leg. The goal of her first rehab sessions was just to get her injured leg to bend. The rehab time stretched into two months while she limped around wearing a walking boot.