Pass Christian native Cory McGee’s Road to Tokyo Olympics

Last week, Pass Christian native Cory McGee ran the 1500-meter race of her life, setting a new personal record by more than three seconds.

Now a first-time Olympian for Team USA, McGee says her road to Tokyo started on just about every road in Pass Christian.

“I laugh. I think I’ve run – I mean I’ve probably run on every street in Pass Christian.” From the Old Pirate’s Cove to Memorial Park or sometimes the Pass Christian Yacht Club, Cory McGee’s picture-perfect memory of her old stomping grounds goes stride-for-stride with her passion for literally stomping the ground. “I mean I know where all the potholes are. I know where every little divot is. I just – it’s all in my mind. My grandpa would often bring us ice cream, and those were some good times, so I loved running along the beach right there in those few miles, and those are my earliest memories of running are right on the Coast.”

Overtime, Cory traded out those post-run frozen treats for the latest in neck ware fashion. Twenty-two state championship medals as a Pass Christian Pirate and more recently a silver medal in the women’s 1500-meter Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon. “I was running a three-second PR, which is a pretty significant PR in my event at this level. And so, to run three seconds faster than I ever have hit me a little bit in that last 100 meters and I tried to stay composed and just focus on the fact that if I messed it up, then I would never be able to live with myself.”

No pressure or anything, Cory finished with a time of four-flat and some change, plenty fast enough to live a life without regrets as a first-time Olympian at the 2020 Tokyo Games. “It still sort of feels a little bit like, oh wow, is this actually happening?”

“Every other minute of my life I have a moment of thinking okay, like I hope – I hope I can do it. It’s something that is genuinely on my mind all the time, and has been for many, many years, and so to finally be able to say wow, I can kind of take that deep breath and know it actually happened and I’ve actually taken that big step towards a lifelong dream, it’s really gratifying.”

Before Cory takes the starting line in Japan in early August, the pride of the Pass has two July races to run, starting with the Monaco Diamond League where she’s aiming to break the four-minute mark for the first time in her life and if all goes according to plan, certainly not the last. “Team USA enters into the games expecting to make an impact and bring home medals, and I expect myself to put myself in the final and then try to mix it up with the best in the world.”

The rest of her time will be spent training in Saint Moritz, Switzerland more than 5,000 miles away from where it all began. “Well, I’m always Cory McGee, the girl from Pass Christian. I think it is hilarious, honestly, to look back on how much I enjoy running as a kid and I don’t know what it is that’s programmed in my brain to enjoy running as much as I do, especially growing up somewhere where it wasn’t super popular. But yeah, track and field – I think – is the greatest sport in the world and I’m very, very happy to be on Team USA.”