Most think being a professional athlete is all glitz and glamour. Big money, fancy cars and big houses. For Priscilla Frederick-Loomis, those aren’t a reality unless it’s a house she’s cleaning.
The New Jersey Olympian competed for Antigua and Barbuda at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio and took 28th in the high jump. The experience convinced her to pursue the Olympic dream again in 2020, but she had to fund her training. Her husband, a teacher and football coach at Wildwood High in New Jersey, took a third job as a bartender to help support her pursuit of a gold medal. They also took a loan and started a GoFundMe page to help with the training costs.
But Priscilla needed to find a job with flexible hours to support her dream. So in 2016 she turned her obsession with organization and cleanliness into a cleaning business.
Armed with her Swiffer, affectionately known as “my boo”, Priscilla gets up at 6am to travel to different neighborhoods to earn her way to Tokyo. It’s a grueling schedule but one she has to maintain in order to train in the afternoon.
In an interview with Steve Piloti of NJ.com, the aspiring two-time Olympian describes her reality.
“If I want to make another Olympics, I knew I needed to make it happen,” she said to Piloti. “So I asked, ‘What do I love to do?’ Well, I love to clean. I have OCD. I love organization.”
Frederick-Loomis’ cleaning job is fueling her dreams. It’s the not job she wanted, but it’s one that works for her.
“I can’t complain, I really can’t,” she said. “Obviously, there are people who have it easier. They perform better so they get more resources. … I can’t look at it like, ‘Well, this sucks, I have to clean toilets so I can train for the Olympics.’ That’s just the reality.”
But then the reality of COVID struck and the Olympic hopeful suffered her first setback when gyms shut down.
Unlike top tier athletes, she doesn’t have sponsors or access to private gyms. So instead, she adapted.
Training sessions with sand filled jugs moved to the driveway. Cleaning jobs helped her burn calories. It seemed things were progressing; uncertainly, but moving forward nonetheless.
Then a second setback occurred when the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo were postponed to 2021.
A disappointment for all involved, but the correct decision based upon the virus’ continued path of destruction.
Then at the start of this year, she contracted the virus and that’s when things really changed.
At first she rested for a week alongside her husband, Ken Loomis, who also came down with it.
A month later she was in the emergency room with chest pains. While doctors informed her that it was an expected side effect, they had no timetable for her full recovery. That meant both her training schedule and career were in jeopardy.
“I’ve already had one panic attack about it. COVID is such an unknown,” Frederick-Loomis told NJ.com. “I could push myself and nothing could happen. Or I could push myself and, within a week, I could be back in the hospital with serious complications.
“I broke down in tears, realizing that I might have to retire under these circumstances.”
Her recovery has been slow. And while she feels little better, the chest pains remain. That has given her doctor pause in clearing her.
As of today, her career rests on the diagnosis of her cardiologist.
“Depending upon what the doctor says, I have to honor it,” she told Justin Walters of PIX11. “But I am willing to put myself in a massive amount of danger to make this Olympic team. I owe it to my country, to my husband, to my fans.”
It’s a frustrating time for Frederick-Loomis, but there’s not much she can do until the diagnosis.
“It’s a tough decision to push myself and put myself in more harm to make this Olympic team, but honestly, it’s what I have to do,” she said. “It’s not logical. It’s not rational. But it’s why I’ve spent the last five years training. It made me who I am. It gave me so much.”
In the meantime, she continues to clean with Olympic visions in every job.
You can read the full story on NJ.com here.
