4. Zeke
ONE DAY BEFORE THE OPENING CEREMONY
The Team GB uniforms had arrived at Zeke’s apartment three weeks ago in hand-delivered boxes tied with blue ribbon. He was lifting weights while watching and analyzing one of his old races. But as soon as the courier handed over the boxes, he’d stopped everything. He’d placed the first box on his coffee table, gently unfolded the ribbon, and slowly lifted the lid. Inside was a fresh white jacket. It had a British flag on the left, “Team GB” on the right, and his full name on the back. As he’d looked at his reflection in the mirror, the reality sank in: he was really going to Athens for his third Olympic Games.
When Zeke arrived at the airport terminal on the day the team was scheduled to fly to Greece, he was surrounded by an excited crowd waving red-white-and-blue flags as they cheered for each athlete that walked past. There were news reporters and TV cameras lined up on either side of the entrance. A group of schoolkids held flowers and “good luck” signs. One girl spotted him and nudged her friend, sending a ripple through the sea of supporters until they were all shouting his name.
“Zeke!” called a voice that he instantly recognized. He turned around to see one of his friends, Anwar, a Team GB javelin thrower. The whole team was inside the airport terminal. They played different sports and only got to see each other a few times a year, so each team trip felt like a full-blown reunion.
“I see you ordered a shirt two sizes too small again?” said Camille, one of the high jumpers.
“Especially for you, Camille,” Zeke said, flashing her a smile. He turned back to greet another friend. “What are you listening to, Frankie?” he asked. Frankie was a long-distance runner who always listened to audiobooks during his marathon training sessions.
“A Little Life,” said Frankie.
“Whoa, are you okay?” asked Zeke, surprised. He’d read the book last summer and, like everyone else, he’d finished it feeling a little bit broken.
“It’s not exactly lighthearted, is it?” said Frankie. “But it’s thirty-two hours long, so perfect for training.”
The team checked their tickets to see who was sitting next to whom on the plane. There were over four hundred athletes at the airport. Fencers, cyclists, rowers, gymnasts, boxers, and athletes who competed in events that the average person would have never heard of. It was the best thing about the Games: feeling part of something way bigger than yourself. Being in a team with athletes who’d grown up across every corner of the country and made a home for themselves in sports centers, fields, and waters. They’d spent their whole lives training for this moment. So laser-focused on their goals that they’d missed out on birthday parties, holidays, and carefree weekends with their friends to dedicate every single day to mastering their sport. And the time spent was more than worth it, because now they were about to compete with some of the best athletes in history.
Zeke remembered the day he first got the call. He’d competed in local and regional running competitions throughout his childhood, and he and his dad had met with plenty of coaches over the years. They’d spent car journeys strategizing his career and evenings researching runners like Linford Christie, Usain Bolt, and Tyson Gay to learn from their technique. But Zeke got the call from Coach Adam, inviting him to join Team GB, less than a month after his dad’s funeral.
He’d gratefully accepted the offer to join the team, but he’d felt a deep wave of sadness, knowing that his dad wasn’t around to give him advice anymore. His dad’s death had been sudden, a heart attack nobody saw coming. And Zeke had been too young to realize how many questions he’d one day wish he could’ve asked. If he’d had an inkling that his dad wouldn’t be around by the time he became an adult, Zeke would have paid so much more attention. He would have sat in the car and listened to every lecture and unsolicited piece of advice. Taken his headphones off and asked to hear all of his dad’s favorite stories. Asked him how to live, how to be a good man, and how to know if he was doing things right. Because despite his mother and brothers’ reassurance, he was never quite sure that he was doing anything right.
Zeke and the hundreds of other Team GB athletes made their way onto the airport concourse and got into formation. They adjusted their matching kits as photographers aimed their cameras toward the plane that was about to fly them to Athens.
“When was the last time you saw Miss USA?” said Anwar, elbowing Zeke as a magazine fell out of Camille’s bag.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Zeke lied. His friends looked over at him with amused, questioning eyes.
“Oh, so you’re not familiar with… her?” said Camille as she picked up the magazine and handed it over to him.
The July cover of American Vogue was a group photo of the stars of Team USA’s gymnastics team. There was Sade Ambrose, a nineteen-year-old from Michigan who’d nailed a flip that only two other gymnasts had ever been brave enough to do before; Ming Zhang, a twenty-year-old from Maine whose vault routine was unparalleled; Kristen Lewis, a twenty-three-year-old from Arizona who was a marvel on the beam; and Ava Johnson, an eighteen-year-old New Yorker whose floor routines went viral.
The headline on the front cover was THE FEARLESS FIVE, and Ava, Ming, Kristen, and Sade were all standing in the middle of an orchard wearing beautifully ornate gold-leaf crowns. But at the center of the photo, staring directly into the camera with piercing dark-green eyes, her long brown hair curling over her shoulders, was the girl that everyone wanted to know more about: Valentina Ross-Rodriguez. She was the five-time-medal-winning star captain of Team USA’s women’s gymnastics team. At twenty-four, she was already acknowledged as one of the greatest athletes of their generation.
And she was Zeke’s ex-girlfriend.
The head coach of Team GB walked to the front of the line, faced the athletes, and said, “Okay, everyone smile and say ‘team’ in three… two… one!”
Zeke, ignoring his teammates’ questions, looked directly into the camera and smiled. It was going to be a very interesting summer.