Ohio State: Adelaide Aquilla reflects on journey to 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Adelaide Aquilla’s journey to winning multiple Big Ten and NCAA championships and competing for the United States at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, began because it was kind of a family rule in her household that you picked a sport when you got to middle school.

Shot put wasn’t Aquilla’s initial choice as a kid, previously playing soccer and volleyball, but she later landed on the individual sport that she would go on to compete in on the biggest stage.

“I started off doing soccer, I was not good at all, then I tried volleyball. Eventually, I got to track. At my middle school, we had this thing if you did every event on the track in a season, then you got a sweatshirt,” Aquilla told me. “It was my week to do shot put and I was good for a middle school kid. I stuck with it, my coaches had me stay with it, and sadly I never got the sweatshirt but I guess going to the Olympics is a pretty good replacement.”

A few years prior to competing in Tokyo, Aquilla was very close to attending Miami University before walking on at Ohio State: “I was very heavily considering it. My parents and I sat down and talked about all of my finances for college and just like what I would have to do to obtain either education. I knew if I went to Ohio State there would be so much more potential for me to grow and constantly be competing against these high-level athletes.”

The Ohio product explained she was underweight and not a great thrower yet coming out of Magnificat High School, despite setting school records in shot put and weight throw. After getting to Columbus, she committed herself to the weight room and focused on the technical details of her throw in order to improve. Another reason for Acquilla’s incredible growth has been coach Ashley Kovacs, who was recently hired by Vanderbilt after seven years with the Buckeyes.

“Ashley had so much experience in her collegiate career. She knows what it looks like to compete at all these different levels. To have her expertise, as well as her husband, who has competed internationally and won world championships,” Aquila explained. “If you want to go professional in track, they have all the resources on what you need to do, how far you need to throw. Learning from Ashley and Joe has just been a great resource for me and everybody else on the team.”

Aquilla elevated her performance to a new level in 2019, earning second-team All-American honors, before going on to dominate even more the following two years. She secured the Big Ten indoor championship in 2020 and 2021, first-team All-American recognition in 2020 and 2021, and both NCAA indoor and outdoor championships in 2021. Aquilla was also named Ohio State’s female athlete of the year on June 17, 2021.

“It’s been very overwhelming almost. I still have the mentality that I’m a walk-on and I don’t really belong up there with all these great throwers. It’s weird for me to shift my mindset and realize that I’m an elite thrower at the collegiate and professional level,” Aquilla said. “It’s really just a blessing to bring home two national championships and three Big Ten titles in the last three years. It’s been a good ride.”

Following the collegiate season, she qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after finishing in third place at the United States Olympic Trials in June. Aquilla discussed her Tokyo experience: “The whole stadium was beautiful. It was something I’ve never seen before. It was awesome to compete over there. A little weird without fans and everything because it was so quiet. It was a weird adjustment coming from the Olympic Trials because that stadium was nearly full.”

Aquilla, who currently has personal best throws of 18.12 meters indoor and 19.12 meters outdoor, has one outdoor and two indoor seasons of eligibility remaining at Ohio State.

After increasing her distance by 17+ feet since high school, Aquilla hopes to set the national indoor and outdoor distance records and continue to make history: “Break both of those and then the next big goal after that is to throw 20 meters.”