From Texas to Tokyo: Team USA Women’s Boxing Captain Ginny Fuchs
The flyweight from Houston talks about fighting for her country and for mental health awareness in the first of a four-part video series.
There has never been an Olympic Games quite like this summer’s competition—which still carries the words “Tokyo 2020” in its official name, despite taking place a full year behind schedule. Postponed by and eventually held during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, these Olympics have presented an unprecedented set of challenges to athletes from Beijing to Berlin to Dallas, all of whom have been forced to adapt to never-before-seen obstacles and conditions to qualify for the events they’ve trained their whole lives to reach. Not all of them make it, but more than fifty sportsmen and women with ties to Texas will be representing the United States this year, and Texas Monthly has teamed up with June Third Films to tell the stories of four Olympic hopefuls from our state on their journeys from Texas to Tokyo.
First in the series is Team USA women’s boxing captain Ginny Fuchs, a flyweight from Houston. Representing one of America’s best chances at a gold medal in the sport, the 33-year-old with obsessive-compulsive disorder fights not only for herself, but also to spread awareness of vital issues surrounding mental health.
Sixteen years ago, a small town’s only public school closed its doors. But not before the final graduating class invited a former POW to walk the stage, finishing what he started nearly six decades before.
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