Georgia soldiers see their Olympic dream deferred until 2021 due to coronavirus

AP photo by Jae C. Hong / A man walks behind the Olympic rings in front of the New National Stadium on Tuesday in Tokyo. The Tokyo Summer Games that were scheduled for July 24 to Aug. 9 have been postponed until 2021, with specific dates to be determined.
AP photo by Jae C. Hong / A man walks behind the Olympic rings in front of the New National Stadium on Tuesday in Tokyo. The Tokyo Summer Games that were scheduled for July 24 to Aug. 9 have been postponed until 2021, with specific dates to be determined.

COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) - Two Army soldiers stationed in Georgia say they're willing to wait another year to see their Olympic dreams come true.

Spc. Phillip Jungman and 1st Lt. Amber English both serve in uniform at Fort Benning outside Columbus. They're also competitive skeet shooters who earned spots on the U.S. team during Olympic trials last month.

Soon after, their plans to compete in Tokyo hit a roadblock when the coronavirus pandemic forced the International Olympic Committee to postpone the games until 2021.

"Initially my heart kind of sank because I didn't really know what was going to happen," Jungman told WTVM-TV.

Now he says the "good of all humanity" is certainly more important, even if it means disrupting the summer games. And both soldiers will still have a spot on the U.S. team when the Olympics finally arrive next summer. The new date for the opening ceremony is July 23, 2021.

"One positive takeaway is that they didn't get canceled," English said.

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