The celebrities are flying past Leah Crouse so quickly in the Olympic Village in Paris, she can’t keep up with them all. On Thursday, she saw famed gymnast Simone Biles and Spanish tennis stars Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal out and about.
“The Olympic Village is like a college campus for the best athletes of the world,” said Crouse, a graduate of Cox High in Virginia Beach and a defender on the U.S. Olympic women’s field hockey team. “My teammates told me I walked by (seven-time swimming gold medalist) Katie Ledecky without noticing her.
“There’s so much happening in the village, you’ve got to keep a lookout.”
Crouse’s focus will turn to the field on Saturday at Yves du Manoir Stadium. It is one of the most famous of all athletic venues, known during the 1924 Olympics as the Stade Colombes.
It was there that British sprinters Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell won their gold medals at the Olympics, made famous by the 1981 movie “Chariots of Fire.” It is there that Crouse will realize her Olympic dream when Team USA opens against Argentina at 1:45 p.m. (Eastern) in pool play.
“Our field is where the opening ceremony was held 100 years ago (with the future King Edward VIII of England in attendance) and it is just beautiful,” Crouse said. “Being an Olympian is something I’ve dreamed about since I was a little kid, so finally being here is an incredible feeling.”
The feeling is not hers alone.
Her cheering section of about a dozen in Paris will include parents Brad and Laurie Crouse, brother Grayson Crouse, Julie Swain, her first coach at Cox, and former club coach Sandy Szilassy. Taylor Rountree, her second coach at Cox, will watch on TV.
Each has shared in the Olympic dream Crouse has harbored since she was 10, riding with her dad past Cox High, where the field hockey practices captivated her. Swain recalls the many summer evenings she spotted Crouse and her dad working alone on her field hockey skills.
“Leah had a tremendous work ethic from a very young age,” Swain said. “The technical skills she possesses were the result of all that hard work.
“She had the speed and athleticism, so (with her technique) she made everything look effortless and was beautiful to watch on the field. She was tiny, but mighty, and had no problem evading (larger) opponents.
“From the very beginning, I thought she had tremendous potential.”
Crouse began to realize it in helping Cox win state championships in her freshman and junior seasons. Rountree succeeded Swain — who retired after 15 seasons and six state titles — in Crouse’s senior year.
“I remember coaching against her (with Cox’s rival, First Colonial) and we had to change our entire defense because of her,” Rountree said. “When I came to Cox, it felt like I had won the lottery with Leah.
“We were very young, but she put the team on her shoulders (with 46 goals and 31 assists) and we made it to the first round of states.”
Crouse said, “Cox field hockey has a tradition of success, and I feel like I developed my work ethic there. I was encouraged to work hard for my teammates and develop good habits to make me more resilient.”
The road from Cox led to four seasons at Duke, where she played in the Final Four once, and a graduate season at Maryland. Selected to the U.S. Women’s National Team 13 months ago, she followed Stefanie Fee (a 2016 Olympian) as the second Cox player named to an Olympic team.
“This has been a lifetime dream of hers since she was 10 and here we are,” said Brad Crouse, who hugged his daughter and screamed “Leah’s going to Paris!” when she got the call on June 10.
Although she’s played forward or center-midfielder much of her career, Crouse, like Fee, is a defender for the Olympic team. Swain guesses that is because her ball skills allow Crouse to lead the counterattack out of the back.
Regardless of her role, Crouse is ecstatic to realize her Olympic dream-come-true Saturday.
“I moved to defender last September and it was a lot to learn a new position,” she said, noting that Team USA is “a bit of an underdog” to win a medal in the 12-team field, but is determined to do just that. “I took it as a challenge and went for it.
“That mindset definitely helped me get where I am today. What started as a faraway hopeful dream is now a reality.”
Marty O’Brien, mjobrien@dailypress.com
