Gameday Feature: Red Raiders In Rio

It didn't take long for the scarlet and black flavor to make itself felt in Rio. In fact, if the speed at which former Red Raider All-American Janine Beckie asserted herself on the Olympic stage felt familiar, it was. Just 21 seconds into Canada's opening match against Australia, Beckie sent a jolt through Brazil in a style that has become distinctly her own.

In those blistering 21 seconds of Beckie's Olympic debut, the forward took a perfectly placed cross from Canada captain Christine Sinclair and connected on the fastest goal in Olympic history. The quick strike catapulted Canada to an early lead and eventually to a 2-0 preliminary round victory.

Texas Tech had arrived in Rio.

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"It's an unexplainable feeling," Beckie said. "To score in an Olympic match, let alone that fast. I turned around, and all of my teammates were right there, it's a feeling that I will never forget."

For those connected with Beckie's career, the goal felt eerily similar to her collegiate debut on the Texas Tech pitch in 2012. That August evening, the young freshman wasted just 57 seconds before scoring her first collegiate goal.

And so, exactly four years later, Beckie wasted little time in providing a Texas Tech flavor to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.

"What's so special," Beckie said. "Is that first collegiate goal is what started it all for me. It was the beginning of a journey that I had no idea was going to be lead here, playing in Rio, and winning a bronze medal."

The forward went on to score three goals in Canada's run through the Olympics, which culminated with a 2-1 victory over host team Brazil in the bronze medal match. As Beckie emerged as an offensive weapon for the Canadian soccer team, Texas Tech's track and field athletes primed for yet another powerful Olympic showing.

Former Red Raider sprinter Gil Roberts also made his Olympic debut in Rio. The 400-meter specialist advanced to the semifinals in the quarter-mile race before capturing gold as a member of the Team USA 4x400 relay. Roberts ran third for the squad, helping the Americans to recapture gold in the event after finishing second in 2008 to the Bahamas.

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The Bahamas took bronze in the event this year, in a race featuring former Red Raider sprinter and Olympic veteran Michael Mathieu.

In what has become a familiar scarlet and black presence on the Olympic stage, Mathieu once again put on a show as part of the Bahamian mile relay squad. The sprinter ran on the second leg, helping lead the team to a bronze medal – the third-straight Olympic medal for Mathieu.

Mathieu won gold in 2012 and silver in 2008 as a member of the 4x400 team.

"No one has done it as a Red Raider like he has," said 18^th-year Texas Tech head track and field coach Wes Kittley. "He always seems to be there."

Earlier in Rio, Idalou, Texas native, Bradley Adkins, made his Olympic debut as the first Red Raider in school history to qualify in the men's high jump. Adkins, a seven-time All-American in the event, qualified for Team USA after clearing 2.21m (7'-3") at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore.

That performance came off a difficult senior season for Adkins in 2016, but even after thoughts of giving up the sport entered his mind, he felt a push to go for more.

"The goal of Rio was set in me," he said. "Every time I said Rio, God was saying 'I'm not done with you yet.'"

It was with that mindset that Adkins flew over the bar in Eugene, and onward to Rio as the 10^th Texas Tech track and field athlete in school history to appear in the Olympic Games in track and field.

With USA on his chest, and a worldwide audience watching, Adkins put on a show. He cleared the opening bar of 2.17m (7'-0.5") on his third attempt and 2.22m (7'-3.25") on his second attempt – a mark he hadn't hit since May at the Big 12 Championships.

"The old Bradley was back," Kittley said.

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Three rounds into the preliminaries, the bar crept up to 7-feet 5 inches - a height the All-American had never eclipsed outdoors.

But this was Rio. And so after clipping the bar on his first attempt, Adkins peeked towards the Olympic Stadium crowd. There, he spotted his mother and father.

They were holding a sign that read, 'It will happen.'

Adkins skipped into his step, adrenaline rushed through his veins. 1-2-3-4. He planted his fifth step, hit the sixth and banked into the curve towards the bar sitting nearly seven-and-a-half feet in the air.

'Believe,' he said to himself.

He approached the mat, planted and soared into the air, over the bar and back down towards the earth.

The bar stayed in place.

"It was such a thrill moment," he said. "To be right there in the mix of it."

In his Olympic debut, Adkins cleared three bars and clipped the fourth on his third attempt, just missing the mark for the finals. Yet that certainly didn't deter his spirit.

"It was just such an awesome experience," he said. "I took it as it was. This season, I've learned to persevere, to fight and to never give up and that's what I did."

And so, as the closing ceremonies drew over Rio, the scarlet and black mark once again left an imprint on the grandest stage athletics has to offer.

"I just love the Texas Tech family," Kittley said. "It just makes me so happy to be able to help bring Olympians here and see the pride. You can't buy those moments for a university. The family of Red Raiders and Lady Raiders in Lubbock and all over the world are so proud. It means everything."

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