COLORADO SPRINGS — Jennifer Valente, a student at UCCS, is no stranger to hard work.
Valente will represent the U.S. Olympic Cycling Team starting August 2nd in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The 26-year-old silver medalist fell in love with cycling at a young age.
"There is so much freedom. There is a feeling of nonother. I think it is so different to feel the wind and you can experience so much in a little amount of time on a bicycle."
Valente was born in San Diego.
In 2014, she moved to Colorado Springs to further her training.
While training in the Olympic City has been her top priority, she wanted to make the city her home.
Valente enrolled in classes at UCCS to keep herself busy.
"I needed to look passed cycling as a sport and what I am going to do when I am done riding."
Valente says her main focus is on what takes place in less than a month.
"Right now it is really fine-tuning a lot of the little things. Working a lot with heat adaptation. The heat right now is actually a big benefit as we go into Tokyo."
You can watch Valente and her team competes between August 2nd - August 8th.
_____
KOAA News5 on your time, streaming on your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and AndroidTV.
News5 App | First Alert 5 Weather App
Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
