There are more than two dozen athletes with ties to Connecticut to watch, but few cover the state quite the same way as Jess Savner, a first-time Olympian from Bethlehem.
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There are more than two dozen athletes with ties to Connecticut to watch, but few cover the state quite the same way as Jess Savner, a first-time Olympian from Bethlehem.
“Look back to when you were a kid like, what was that outrageous dream you had?” Jess Savner likens it to wishing to be a pop star or an astronaut.
“Imagine that dream just like, came true,” said Savner.
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That day is today.
Savner’s dream of becoming an Olympian was not outrageous and not something that just happened overnight.
“So, training for five sports is not for the faint of heart,” said Savner.
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You heard her, five sports.
The Bethlehem native is heading to her first games as a Modern Pentathlete. That’s running, shooting, swimming, show jumping and fencing.
It’s a list Savner has recited many times before.
“I have it practiced, I have it rehearsed,” Savner said with a smile.
After rattling off the list of events, Savner’s next trick is her list of training locations.
“I spend so much of my time in a car,” said Savner. “I lift in Simsbury. I ride in Woodbury. I swim in Cheshire. And then I fence here in Woodbridge and in New York City. Sometimes I’m getting three of those locations in the same day.”
For however long those lists may get, they all started with one thing.
“I started with equestrian,” said Savner. “I grew up riding with horses on my property and I had two parents that rode.”
In fact, Savner said, just try to go into a barn in Connecticut where they don’t know her mom.
“The biggest compliment I get to this day is when I’m on horses and they say, ‘Oh my gosh you look so much like your mother.’ It feels like I’m bringing her along with me,” said Savner.
Her dad is along for the ride, too.
After Savner went to Central Connecticut State, where she holds a pole-vaulting record, she picked up her dad’s sport next.
“My dad was a triathlete so that was kind of the natural progression,” said Savner.
So, from running, swimming and cycling, where did fencing and shooting come into play?
“It was not my idea,” said Savner.
At 21 years old, when most Olympic athletes have been locked into their sports for years, Savner was onto something new once again.
“You know usually at that time in your life you’re not picking up sports and getting really good at them but everything felt new and exciting,” said Savner. “I was really able to appreciate a lot of it because for me it was so many firsts.”
Appreciation and respect -- on Savner’s list of keys to success, those two are at the top.
“Respect for each sport is important,” said Savner. “You come here for practice for fencing ... I’m not a pentathlete in that moment, I’m a fencer.”
On any given day, she’s a runner, swimmer, rider, shooter, a pentathlete and an Olympian.
A long list of dreams that’s not so outrageous after all.
“There is no emotion that can encapsulate,” Savner said, trying to find the right word. “Like somebody called you up and said, ‘Hey you’re going to fly to the moon next week,’ would you be excited?’ No. It’s unbelievable.”
