PHOTOS from Trevor Bassitt. Click on photos to enlarge and view at your own pace.

Olympic athlete Trevor Bassitt, 26, Team USA Track & Field and 5x World Medalist, competed in the men’s 400-meter hurdles in the 2024 summer Olympics. See Icon coverage of his Olympic races HERE.

By Benji Bergstrand

When Trevor Bassitt arrived in France to compete in his first ever Olympic games there wasn’t much time for contemplation or reflection on his journey from competing for the Bluffton Pirates in the Northwest Conference to competing for Team USA on the world’s biggest stage. He was running late. “Touching down in Paris was a little hectic. Because of flight delays I had to get to the Olympic Village, drop my stuff off and go straight to practice,” Bassitt said. And then there were Trevor’s evening plans. “After practice I had a bit of time to get organized before the Opening Ceremonies.”

Even getting to the Opening Ceremony involved delays. All of the athletes had to gather in the lobby of the Team USA building in the Olympic Village in order to board shuttles that would take them to the docks where the team boat was waiting, a process that took two hours.

The waiting didn’t end there.  “We had to stand on the boat for a long time because we were the 2nd to last country to go since we are the host of the 2028 Olympics,” Bassitt said. “We passed time walking around the boat and getting to talk with other athletes.” ▶︎

The NBA players and golfers were the most popular athletes on the boat. “I talked to a couple of them but nothing too extensive because I didn’t want to be one of those people,” Bassitt said. “I was trying to act like I had somewhat been there before even though I hadn’t, and because everyone was mobbing them, and I didn’t want to be part of that.”

One of the players Trevor did meet was fellow Ohio native Lebron James. “When I got the picture with Lebron I said, ‘Hey Lebron, Ohio vs. the world, man!’ and he said, ‘Yesssir!’ and I got the picture and got out of there.”

Once the boat set out the fun really began. “We got to see a lot of Paris as we floated down the Seine River,” Bassitt said. “Seeing all of the fans and all of the American flags waving chanting “U-S-A” was truly incredible. Then we finally made it to see the Eiffel Tower with the Olympic Rings on it while also seeing it flash with all of the lights.”

The rain that had started as the team USA boat set out only added to the experience for Trevor. “I thought because of the rain there was going to be nobody watching us go by, but there were so many people out there, so many U.S. flags just chanting, cheering for us. I think if I could go back and do it all without the rain I don’t think I would. It was just all in all a really cool experience to the point where once I got on the boat I took off the poncho they gave us because I don’t want to be wearing a poncho in any of these pictures. I’d rather be a wet dog than have this poncho on.” 

The Opening Ceremony had definitely delivered the goods for Trevor. “It was everything I dreamed of and then some,” he said. 

After all of the pomp and circumstance of the previous evening Trevor now got down to the real business at hand. He kept it characteristically low key. “It was pretty standard,” Bassitt said. “I had just gotten into Paris the morning of the opening ceremony so my focus was just finding a routine and getting acclimated to the Village and everything else along with it.” 

And, no big deal, the "everything else" included competing in front of the entire world in the biggest races of his life. 

TO BE CONTINUED