Olympic Dreaming on the Texas High Plains

Eran Siboni is a senior at Texas Tech. He’s originally from Israel but has been a Red Raider for the past two years and a member of the track and field team. While Siboni is thousands of miles away from his home and family, he spends most days dreaming of representing his country on the world’s biggest stage – the Olympics.

“The next one is in Paris 2024 and that’s my big goal,” said Siboni. “This is the main goal. This is almost the end goal. But the journey along the way is what matters.”

Siboni hopes to compete in the 400-meter race, his best event, and though he wouldn’t be the first Red Raider to represent his country in the Olympics, he would be the first in 16 years. Five Texas Tech alumni have competed for their nations. The most decorated Olympian from the school is 3-time gold medalist Sheryl Swoopes. The former WNBA star, who was on the 1993 women’s basketball national championship team, credits her time at Tech in part with her work ethic to get to the Olympics and become a premier athlete after graduation.

“Once I got that opportunity to go to college, I worked twice as hard at it," said Swoopes when recalling her time at Texas Tech for an ESPN feature before her 2016 Hall of Fame induction.

Texas Tech’s four other Olympians competed in track and field, the sport Siboni hopes to one day compete in under the Olympics rings. Former Texas Tech track and field student-athlete and 2004 Summer Olympian, Jonathan Johnson knows how hard the path is to the Olympics.

“It’s less than like 0.5 percent that will ever be able to call themselves an Olympian,” said Johsnon in an interview with KTAB in Abilene, Texas. “So it’s so rare. It’s such a rarity that to be a part of a unique club, it means everything to me.”

Israel doesn’t have the same qualifying trials as the U.S. team, so Siboni knows exactly what he needs to make it to Paris in 2024.

“We, as a small country, don’t have trials. If you hit the Olympic qualifying mark, you’re going. It’s unlikely that enough people will also hit the mark in your event…. I need to be hitting the automatic qualifying or being in the top-48 in the world based on ranking,” said Siboni.

The period to qualify starts July 1 this year and ends on July 2, 2024, which also happens to be Siboni’s birthday. Asked if that would be the ultimate present, Siboni replied simply, “It would be amazing.”

Though the road to becoming an Olympian is a hard one, Siboni said he tries to stay focused on the present.

“The biggest piece of advice has been to forget about that goal… Focus on being here, being in the now and not think of 2024,” Siboni said.

But he does admit that becoming an Olympian would be the culmination of the years of work and dedication he’s given to the sport. To sum it up in one word, he says it would be an accomplishment.

“Accomplishment of everything I’ve done so far,” Siboni said. “Getting there would mean that the journey is completed.”