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Public
Employee Press Olympian:
Retirees granddaughter competes in high jump Before
a global television audience estimated in the billions, the granddaughter of Local
1549 retiree Barbara Gibson is competing this summer in the 2008 Olympic Games
in China.
High jumper Sharon Day, a 23-year-old graduate of California
Polytechnic State University, was among the 600 U.S. athletes vying for gold medals
as this issue of PEP went to press.
Day, who placed third in the U.S. Olympic
Trials, was a seven-time All-American at Cal Poly, where she graduated in June
with a bachelors degree in kinesiology, the science of human movement.
It
feels amazing, said Day after qualifying for the Olympics in July. Its
kind of like a dream.
Gibson said she would be glued to the TV and
the Internet in late August as Day competes.
Days parents, Eugene
and Yolanda, and her sister Jasmin, 20, also a track star, are traveling to Beijing
for the games. Sharon called us just before she left. My husband and I said
whats important is doing her best and having a wonderful experience,
said Gibson.
The Days are a family of track and field stars. Eugene helped
train Yolanda for college competition when the couple was dating. He also trained
his children.
Oh, man, it is hard to put in words how I feel,
Eugene Day said. Its just so exciting to be a parent of a young lady,
who shortly after graduating from college, which is also every parents dream,
is representing our country in these world-famous games.
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