By USA Archery 

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Sport and emotion go hand in hand, together taking us on a rollercoaster ride where we experience the high of the highs and the low of the lows, where we feel bursts of joy and also slide to the depths of despair.

Sport attacks the senses, drawing us in with the sweet smell of success and then leaving us with that bitter taste in the mouth.

For fans of many sports, there will often be another day, another chance for your team or one of your many favorite athletes to come good. But there will be athletes for whom those opportunities may not come back around. Missing out once could mean missing out forever, for the next time around, you may have greater competition, or have suffered a dip in form, or an injury may have dashed your dreams.

Catalina GNoriega has been on that sporting rollercoaster these past few years. The 21-year-old missed the opportunity to represent the United States at the Tokyo Games in 2021.

Three years on from being an alternate for the Tokyo Games and Catalina GNoriega is heading to Paris as part of Team USA, where she will make her Olympic debut. Her Tokyo experience, though, has given her a much greater appreciation of the epic journey these archers travel in order to don the red, white and blue.

“Tokyo and the trials gave me a different perspective as far as the people that don’t make it,” she said. “There’s hundreds of competitors on that field but the team ultimately is just three. So, I have a lot respect for all my competitors. Everyone on that field deserves the acknowledgment because they’ve all put in the work.

“I know I worked really hard leading up to Tokyo but maybe it just wasn’t my time. I gave it my all and it wasn’t enough, so I kept going and kept giving it my all and I made it this time and that’s really special to me.”

Last time around Casey Kaufhold and Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez joined Mackenzie Brown in Japan. This summer, the French capital will welcome GNoriega, Kaufhold and Mucino-Fernandez on the women’s side, with Brady Ellison stepping up for his fifth Olympic Games.

“We’re not only going as a team,” GNoriega began. “But we’re also going as friends and we’re going to be able to enjoy it as friends. I’m really grateful that I’ll get to experience the Games with a team like we have.”

Born in San Diego, Calif., GNoriega grew up in the Mexican city of Mexicali, which sits just a handful of miles from the US border.

In the early days of her archery journey, GNoriega was only able to use stretch bands as the club she began with had no spare equipment. It is a memory which has stuck with her.

“I started archery, but for the first six months I didn’t have a bow,” she laughed.

Undeterred, the young GNoriega embraced her new sport. She has since represented her country on the international stage at the World Archery Championships, at various World Cup stages, while also claiming team gold at both the 2023 Pan American Games and 2024 Pan American Championships.

And though this will be her first appearance at an Olympic Games, she did feature at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Exposure to international competition will have served her well, as has the disappointment of missing out three years ago.

“It was difficult being the alternate for Tokyo,” she said. “But I didn’t give up and I kept pushing. For the past three years I’ve been working hard and been more consistent and it’s just really rewarding to see the hard work pay off.”

A few months have passed since GNoriega locked up her spot for the Olympic Games. We are now just a few weeks away from the greatest show on Earth starting in France.

“I’ve been to other multi-sport games – Youth Olympics and Pan Am Games – with villages and all the other countries, all the other sports,” she commented. “It is so cool being there. But obviously the (Olympic) Games is an even bigger version … bigger, better, cooler version, so I’m just so excited to really take it all in, have fun and shoot my best.”

Everything has led to this, and it's just the beginning. Learn more about our athletes' dreams becoming a reality as part of Making Team USA, presented by Xfinity at teamusa.com/making-team-usa.