Katie’s father-in-law, George T. Zaferes of Aptos, couldn’t be prouder. “Katie has all the time been humble and kind and process-driven, versus results-driven. Our households are sooo proud of her and so stoked for her and Tommy, her husband and coaching team partner,” he said. We caught up with Tommy via Zoom from Banyoles, Spain, earlier than he and Katie departed for Tokyo. But Tommy promised his dad and mom, family and associates he would compete in solely lower-temperature climates for fun whereas helping his wife keep her personal Olympic dreams going — even if generally that promise is tough to maintain. Though he still one method or the other crossed the end line, the type of seizure he suffered put him in a coma for 19 hours.
Zaferes received each the 2018 and 2019 Super League Triathlon Championship Series. At the grand ultimate in Gold Coast, Zaferes came into the race needing to finish forward of her rival Vicky Holland to take the series and the title of World Triathlon Champion. On the run leg, Zaferes, Holland and the Australian athlete Ashleigh Gentle were collectively by the second lap of four on the head of the race.
My take away was at all times simply how resilient, brave and considerably cussed he was. How willing he was to place himself in an uncomfortable progress scenario. And how he at all times had fun and came out with a story no matter what the state of affairs. There are so many things I’ve learned from my dad and this is just a small sampling. Bermuda’s Flora Duffy took gold within the triathlon and Great Britain’s Georgia Taylor-Brown gained silver after pulling forward of Zaferes within the final lap.
With us traveling all the time we hadn’t had an opportunity to test it out, but because of COVID we have been dwelling with Katie’s mother and father in Maryland and Cary is only a five-hour drive south. So we went for a couple of weeks, obtained Airbnbs in several areas and thought, “This is so superior.” Everyone is super nice, super pleasant. Everything simply fell into place so perfectly, we’re like, this was meant to be like it has to hit this was alleged to happen so it type of led us to that spot. But now in 2021, she just flipped the swap, she turned it on, she’s 100 percent focused, dialed in. But after we first obtained over to Europe, to join our training group, her father passed away unexpectedly.
Zaferes did not mechanically qualify for the Olympics because of a cycling occasion crash, but was picked for the ultimate team spot by a variety committee. Turning professional in 2013, she raced her first top-flight World Triathlon Series event on 19th April in San Diego finishing 30th, and then went on to realize her first ITU World Cup podium with Gold in Palamos on the 14th of July. In her debut yr, Zaferes was awarded the USA Triathlon Elite Rookie of the yr. It was a remarkable efficiency by any measure, however when Zaferes visited TODAY Tuesday, she shared that one of the most exceptional of components of it occurred mid-race — when she abruptly knew her late father was watching over her.
I mean, individuals have had heatstroke earlier than but what I had, the heatstroke plus the seizures, that could be very uncommon. “He’s with me differently and we’re going to be doing this together, as I ask for his steering, strength and pleasure lindsey in cursive for the street forward,” Zaferes stated, per the official Team USA web page. “Because as my dad jogged my memory before each race, all I needed to do was ‘race onerous, but most of all have enjoyable.’ So that’s what I’m going to do.”
She has an older sister, Kristin, and a younger sister, Karly, according to her biography on the Syracuse University sports website. She ran observe at York College, according to the school’s website. Her sister, Karly, was a swimmer, and swam at Bloomsburg University.
Suicide is often the result of untreated or undiagnosed mental sickness, and it’s necessary for us to remember that suicide isn’t caused by one event or experience. Please don’t hesitate to let me know within the remark field when you need somebody to talk to. We can confidently assert this assumption as the reality personality and financial institution advertising supervisor has not even revealed the names of her parents or sister to the basic public by way of interviews or her social media platforms.
Katie’s parents were each keen athletes in their youth, along with her father Bill Hursey playing for the high school soccer team and her mom Mary Lynn competing for the running team. Zaferes has also enjoyed success in ITU relay events – she was part of teams which picked up silver medals on the Triathlon Mixed Relay World Championships in 2017 and 2020, as well as bronze in 2018. At the season opener at Abu Dhabi, the race was contested with the bike and run legs on the Yas Marina race monitor.