PHOENIX — Students at Emerson Elementary tuned in to watch Olympian Freddie Crittenden advance to the finals in the 110m hurdle jump on Wednesday.
Crittenden's advancement to the finals comes after an adductor injury a few days prior to Wednesday's semi-finals.
Brandon Witcher is program director for G Road, a nonprofit after-school program at Emerson Elementary School, who said Freddie has participated as a counselor in their program for the past three years.
"Freddie is a gift with working with young people," Witcher said. "He supports our young people, helping them to talk about their dreams and their goals through our road mapping curriculum. He is the coach for the track club. He supports kids through athletics."
Jalyse Woods, a student in the track club Crittenden coaches, said she enjoys participating in the program under his leadership.
"We do hurdles, we do relays, sometimes we just run," Woods said. "I like how kind his personality is, I love how he never gives up, he always [perseveres]."
Other students told 12News they were excited to see 30-year-old Crittenden jump the hurdles in such a world-wide competition.
"I'm glad he got to be in the Olympics," Addison Doolittle said.
"[I'm] proud of him," Ayniah Haro said.
Witcher said Crittenden typically trains during the day and still shows up to mentor the students.
"I can't conceptualize how he does it every day," Witcher said. "You know, burning and putting out so much energy during training and then having to match the energy of 30 [kids]. It's crazy."
In addition, Witcher said Crittenden and his wife Victoria who has been supporting him from Phoenix, just had a baby girl.
"He literally had his daughter and maybe saw her two days before he had to fly to the Olympics," Witcher said. "So we are just trying to do as much as we possibly can, to send all the love, support and good vibes his way."
According to the Associated Press, Crittenden was unsponsored until a few weeks ago, noting Crittenden also worked at a video-game retailer, warehouse to make ends meet while training.
