CIBOLO, Texas — Beginning this weekend, San Antonio's own will go for the gold in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The highly-anticipated track and field events continue Saturday at 3:05 a.m.
Among them will be the 100-meter run featuring Fred Kerley, 29, who was born in the Alamo City.
When he's not spending time on his Texas ranch, Kerley is competing against the world's best sprinters. The 2022 World 100-meter champion will have two shots at the gold in both the men's 100-meter dash and as a member of the 4 x 100-meter relay for Team USA.
Sunday, four-time Olympian and Marshall High School graduate Keith Sanderson will hunt for his first career Olympic Games medal in the world of shooting. The U.S. Army Staff Sergeant will compete in the men's 25-meter rapid fire pistol, representing Team USA. Sanderson, 49, holds the Olympic record for the qualification round of this same event.
After securing a spot in his first Olympic games, 27-year-old Andrew "AJ" Hudson of Cibolo will compete in the men's 200-meter event Monday. The Cibolo native, however, will be representing Jamaica.
Hudson's mother, Taryn Springs, said her son's Jamaican affiliation came later in life after much reflection.
"His father is a Jamaican citizen and the only way he would be able to see AJ run was for [AJ] to obtain a dual citizenship," said Springs. "That being said, we're Texans and we love Texas. He's a homegrown Texas boy. He's even a cowboy!"
Springs says her son went through a lot to get to this point, and she's proud of his decisions to get here.
"Basically, living his dream," she added. "All I can say is I'm extremely proud of him."
Sharing those same sentiments is Hudson's former Track and Field Coach from Steele High School.
"I know he's running for Jamaica, but at Steele he's a part of us. He came from Cibolo," said Coach Mike Barcenez, who coached at Steele since it opened in 2005.
Barcenez, who retired last year, remembers other athletes telling him about the future Olympian during his freshman year.
"I hadn't known anything about him, but the kids knew he was fast. When the kids tell you he's fast, they know he's fast!" said Barcenez. "As a freshman, he came out at his first track meet and surprised everybody. Other school coaches were asking, 'Who's this kid?' We knew right away he was faster than the average freshman."
As a freshman, Hudson made varsity. His talents earned him a full-ride scholarship to run at Texas Tech University, the first Steele track and field athlete to achieve that, along with becoming an All-American.
Hudson's jersey now hangs in the gymnasium at his alma mater.
In 2023, Hudson's vision went blurry following a crash between two carts at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary. The crash sent shards of glass flying, some of which hit the athlete in the eye. He went on to finish fifth in the 200-meter semifinal and eighth in the final.
Barcenez continues to follow his former student-athlete's progress, admiring proudly from afar.
"I saw him at the local grocery store and I asked how he was doing. He said, 'I'm training, I'm competing, I want to qualify for the Olympics.' Then sure enough a couple of years later, I heard he was qualifying for the Olympics and running for Jamaica. It wasn't a shock to me. He was just that kind of athlete and had that kind of talent," said Barcenez.
While Barcenez has former football players in the NFL, he believes Hudson is making history as the only Olympian he's ever coached.
"It's one of those things that it's a dream, but it's hard to get there and they make the sacrifice to get there," he said. "It's an honor for us to see it and be part of it."
Click here to see the full schedule of when San Antonio-area Olympians will compete in Paris.