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Photos by Steph Chambers/Getty Images
Erica Bougard is pictured competing in the javelin throw (top photo) and long jump during recent track and field events.
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Olympian from Byhalia

• Bougard going to Tokyo

Erica Bougard fell short of making the United States Olympic Team in 2016.

“That set off a fire in me,” she said.

The 2011 Byhalia High School graduate turned that determination into achieving her goal five years later. She placed third in the heptathlon at the Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon, Sunday, June 27, and her next stop is the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

“I knew in 2016 that I was just as good as those who made the team,” Bougard said. “It was more about getting my mental strength, and everything came together for me this time around.”

At the trials, she had the second-best score of her career, 6,667. Her personal best is 6,735. The heptathlon consists of seven components 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200-meter dash, long jump, javelin and 800-meter run.

The Olympic Games start July 23. She will compete on August 4-5. Covid-19 guidelines only allow the athletes to be there seven days prior to their competition. She will leave from the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., on July 26, which is her 28th birthday.

“I’m really excited,” said Bougard, the daughter of Toya Norman and Eric Bougard. “It’s still sinking in. It’s crazy – a small town girl going to the Olympics.

“This means the world to me and my family. My family has been there for me through thick and thin. It feels really good to be an Olympian.”

Bougard has been a steady winner, from high school to college to the professional circuit.

At BHS, track and field wasn’t initially in the forefront for her.

“I played basketball and volleyball, and was a cheerleader once, too,” she said.

Then she won a Mississippi High School Activities Association long jump championship and signed with Mississippi State.

“My freshman year (at State), I still wanted to play basketball, but that didn’t work out,” Bougard said. “Then it suddenly clicked that track was for me. I focused on track and was able to bring home my first national championship.”

As a sophomore, Bougard won the pentathlon in the 2013 NCAA indoor championships, scoring a school record 4,399 points.

She continued to excel in the remainder of her college career at MSU.

And since, she has racked up numerous gold medals in USA Track and Field Indoor and Outdoor Championships, plus competed in several World Athletic Championships, finishing as high as fifth in 2018 in the pentathlon.

Bougard has lived in California, at the Olympic training center, since 2016.

“This is home,” she said.

“This is the best training position possible.”

She has worked hard to improve in the javelin throw and is pleased with her progress in that portion of the heptathlon. The challenge leading up to her early August appearance in the Olympics is improving in the shot put and high jump, she said.

“I really want to zero in on my flaws,” Bougard said. “I know I will give it my best effort and whatever happens, happens.”

Holly Springs South Reporter

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