Yahoo Finance Olympic Medalist Anastasija Zolotic, 18, Skipped Prom for Taekwondo — and Says It Was Worth It
Wang Yuguo/Xinhua via Getty Images Anastasija Zolotic
At just 18, Anastasija Zolotic this week became the first American in history to win a gold medal in women's taekwondo at the Summer Olympics. And with that victory, the sacrifices she's made get put in perspective.
"I've never been to a homecoming," the Florida teen tells PEOPLE after her win, adding she also skipped high school graduation. "I didn't go to my prom, never went to those football games when everybody ... wears the team jerseys."
She continues, "It's been super hard and it's kind of upsetting, because I want to be able to dress up. I want to be able to go out with my friends and have sleepovers. But, I mean, you're only an athlete for this much of your life. You can still be all that other stuff afterward. They'll throw my prom after I'm done."
Zolotic says that the things she had to give up made her think about walking away from taekwondo two years ago. But her coach, Gareth Brown — whom she says has "gone through a lot with me" — encouraged her to keep going.
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"At the time I'm like, 'Do I really want to do this?' " she recounts thinking. "'I don't really know if I want this.' "
But with Brown's urging, she surged forward and now, Zolotic tells PEOPLE, "this is what I was doing it for."
On Sunday she defeated Russia's Tatiana Minina in the featherweight division title, winning 25-17. In addition to being the only American women's taekwondo gold medalist, she was also only the second woman — and fourth U.S. Olympian — to ever make it to the finals.
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Of winning the gold, Zolotic — who first got into the sport at age five, when her father put her and her younger sister Natalija into a taekwondo after-school program — tells PEOPLE, "I don't think it's hit me yet."
She actually thinks she "was a bit more nervous" for the medals podium "than I was when I was fighting."
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"A year has gone by where we're training in basements, training in our gym, training in different gyms, training outside on tennis courts and basketball courts, just so we can get some sessions in and work our way around COVID," Zolotic says, "but it's just been super unreal and grabbing my own medal, like off the tray. ... It's like taking that initiative again, like asserting your dominance is what I've been saying all day."
Now, she's looking forward to a break — and going home to see her parents and sister.
"My sister's been messaging: 'When are you coming home?' " Zolotic says.
To learn more about Team USA, visit TeamUSA.org. Watch the Tokyo Olympics now on NBC
