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Five time All-American and two time NCAA Champion high jumper Maya Pressley ’13 is named an Olympic hopeful for Tokyo 2020.
Highly favored to make the team for Rio 2016, she ranked fifth in the country going into the games and top five in the country for the past three years. “I finished eighth at the U.S. Olympic trials and you have to be top three,” Pressley said. While she barely missed the last Olympics, she is hopeful and more determined for the next. “I am training for the World Championships next summer in London,” she said, under the direction of her coach Derek Clayton, who worked at Auburn for 13 years.
Leading up to the 2016 Olympic games, Pressley started her clothing brand Fly Elite. “The slogan is ‘Raise the Bar’ and we want to promote accountability and believability with athletes and non-athletes,” she said. Pressley is also sponsored by Dicks Sporting Goods and works with them in doing community service and outreach projects around the Atlanta area.
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Alongside her own training, Pressley is an assistant track and field coach at Georgia State and a personal trainer for a few non-athletes. “It all started from people wondering how I get my abs and how I stay in shape. I train them using workouts I create myself and I help them with nutrition,” she said. “I want to go into a program as an Athletic Director or a Sports Administrator so I can give back to the youth and young adults like myself who want to know that they can do something.”
Despite setbacks, her drive towards every goal she sets is testimony that she has the heart of an Olympic athlete. “Chase after your dreams and don’t settle for second best. Never stop giving your all,” Pressley said.
“I will train harder and come back better and stronger.”
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