Earlier today I was able to sit down with former Bearcat superstar and olympic gold medalist Jordan Thompson. Thompson just got back from the 2020 Toyko Olympics where she became the first Volleyball player in Cincinnati history to represent the red, white, and blue on the biggest stage. The former Bearcat is very happy to be back home within the city of Cincinnati after a long journey of training and competing for the olympics this last year and half.
Thompson walked into the room today with a big smile on her face, rocking her new jewelry, her 2020 Toyko gold medal. You could tell the former bearcats superstar was happy to be back on campus representing Cincinnati in the best way she can, as she did it from 2015-2019 during her playing days at Cincinnati University.
I was able to sit and ask Thompson the former bearcat superstar about her experience at the Toyko Olympics, her first of many Olympics hopefully. Thompson played a huge role for team USA as she dominated the Olympic games and propelled team USA for the first four games before sustaining her ankle injury versus the ROC.
I asked Thompson “about her experience in Toyko, knowing she got off to a dominant start to her Olympic career, I asked her about her 34 point performance versus China in pool play.”
“Thompsons response is as followed”
“Yeah it was a surreal experience, I didn’t go into it thinking that’s how it would play out, but I was really excited to to be playing well, excited to be able to help my team out. Obviously with me getting injured that is really unfortunate, but I tried to just play my role on the team to the best of my abilities and try to continue to encourage and be really good eyes for my teammates who are on the court, because I still knew that if I wasn’t playing, I was still apart of the team, I was still contributing in some way, and so I was just thankful to be able to still have that opportunity to be with them. I think it started off really amazing and exciting, then hit a little road bump but in the end coming out with a gold medal was obviously the best case scenario so that was awesome.”
Thompson also spoke about her transition from an outside hitter to a right-side hitter and her ability to see the court differently as coach Alvey mentioned prior to us and how it has helped her take her game to the next level.
“Yeah I mean I think for me as a player, Im comfortable hitting on the outside and the opposite ( right side), I think you know going from playing opposite to outside is a little more challenging, you have to worry about passing, playing middle back defense and stuff like that, things that are a little more difficult I think with less practice, which I think I have some experience playing outside obviously but especially at that level its a whole different game. I think going forward playing outside back to the right side, feels really natural for me, so I think having that experience at both positions, I am able to help my team in sort of a different way. Going back to the right side I’m really comfortable there, I just really want to be on the court, either way Im just happy to be there.”
As coach Alvey mentioned Thompson playing on both side of the court is very beneficial to a player like her caliber and has helped her take this jump in her playing career. Thompson who started her career as an outside at Cincinnati made the transition to right side hitter when she began her pro career upon graduating Cincinnati in 2019, everyone who knows volleyball knows how much of the court and game the outside hitters pick up on when it comes to the knowledge of the sport as they play all six rotations compared to just the front three rotations the right side would play and you can see how much it benefited for a player like Thompson and see why she has had the success she did at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Thompson was very happy to show off her new flashy gold medal. Coach Alvey talked about her relationship with Thompson and I asked Thompson what it was like to share the gold medal with someone who means a lot to her, and someone who has played such a key role like Coach Alvey has in her career, as Thompson said in the past she “hit the jackpot” with the coaching staff here at Cincinnati.
” I think back to when I first got on campus, when I first committed to this program, thinking about the vision coach Alvey had shared with me about the program and just buying into that. I got to start my career here with her, and to finish it with her, do some really amazing things with this program, and then to have her support throughout my journey professionally so far, just getting to connect with her while I was in Toyko, having her support was really helpful because I feel like she really helped me stay grounded and not let the moment get to big, her words are so valuable and precious to me, so whenever I have her support it feels amazing and really important to me. To come home and celebrate this and see Coach Alvey, to meet me at the airport, I got to show her my medal, then we cried, hugged and that was just a really cool moment I will never forget.”
Thompson on the first phone call from coach Alvey after winning the gold medal.
“Yeah I think she sent me a voice message, at that point my phone was blowing up with messages from friends and family, I as trying to get back to everybody, and then the time change, I wasnt trying to call people in the middle of the night. Im pretty sure she sent me a voice message saying
” How proud she is of me and how excited she is” that was really cool, even though I didn’t get to talk to her on the phone right away after the game just getting to hear her voice, to hear how proud she was, really hit home for me.”
Thompson took some time to meet with the Bearcats volleyball team earlier today that includes some of her former teammates like Maria Mallon, Shannon Williams, to spread some insight on what she learned from competing on the biggest stage in the world. Here is what Thompson had to say about her realtionship with bearcats Senior outside Maria Mallon, who Thompson set for the final kill of the 2019 upset vs Pittsburgh to advance to the sweet 16 and what kind of leader she will continue to be for players within the Bearcats volleyball program.
” I think it goes back to that team mentality and I’m still close to Maria Mallon to this day, we still keep in touch, she will keep me updated on how the team is doing and stuff like that, so whenever we have the opportunity to talk I am always going to be there for her and share experiences I have had overseas, even just watching practices, if I see something during practice then I will give her a tip here or there, but I think we had a really awesome relationship as teammates and still continue to have an awesome relationship as friends. In whatever what I can be there for Maria (Mallon) I try to be just because I know that people who were playing professionally while I was still in college that gave me advice, gave me tips here and there, it was so valuable and so I really want to do a good job of passing down that gift to others and I think Maria is someone I try to do that with as well.”
Thompson took some time to talk about some other memories from her first olympic games and some of her favorite memories outside brining home the gold medal.
Heres what she had to say.
” I think just being in the village, being surrounded by so many other athletes who are at the pinnacle of their sport, I didn’t necessarily spend a lot of time talking to a bunch of other athletes just because you want to be safe with Covid-19 and everything like that, but just walking around and seeing these people who I dont know but I feel this really intense bond and connection too, just based on the fact that we all fought through a pandemic as well as everything else that comes with being an athlete and trying to compete at that level, it felt really special because you know that you are such a small percentage of the population that gets that opportunity and it is so special, its so difficult to get there, so I think having that bond with people was just a really intense feeling for me while I was in the village while walking around and seeing all of the athletes there. That was really cool.
Piggybacking on how Thompson said it was extremely difficult to get to the Olympics, I asked Thompson on what it feels like to be the first every Bearcat volleyball player to play in the Olympics.
” That’s amazing, I mean you think of all the different ways that we made history as a program, its not just the USA team it trickles down to where we came from, so just to see all the different ways in which we made history is really special. To be able to be the first Woman’s volleyball player from Cincinnati who went to the Olympics and was apart of that team that won a gold medal, its just an indescribable feeling.
The former Bearcats superstar will be honored tomorrow at the Bearcats exhibition match where they take on Pittsburgh, the same Pittsburgh team that Jordan Thompson and the Bearcats beat in the 2019 NCAA tournament to pull of the upset to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history. First serve will be at 1pm at 5/3rd Arena, make sure to get there early as Jordan will be in attendance and doing a lot of festivities before the match.
