A local woman has been watching her daughter on television this week as she competes in the Olympic Games from Tokyo, Japan.
Toya Norman is the mother of Erica Bougard, a Mississippi State alumna who is competing in the heptathlon as a member of Team USA in track & field.
Ms. Norman lives in Lexington and works in Rogersville. She is watching the Olympics from home because spectators are not allowed in Tokyo’s Olympic venues due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Erica Bougard was born in Memphis and graduated from Byhalia High School in Byhalia, Mississippi. Her current home is Chula Vista, California.
The 28-year-old Bougard is Mississippi State’s most decorated athlete, having earned 16 career All-American honors, more than half of which were first-team selections. She graduated from MSU in 2016.
Bougard holds five school records; won the 2013 NCAA pentathlon title; was a three-time SEC Field Athlete of the Year; and was the first Mississippi State female athlete named to the watch list for The Bowerman award, which is presented annually to the most outstanding NCAA male and female track & field athletes in the nation.
Bougard has been competing this week in the heptathlon, which is comprised of seven events: the 100M hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200M sprint, long jump, javelin throw, and 800M run.
The heptathlon is scheduled to wrap up on Thursday, August 5, with the 800M run beginning at 7:20 a.m. Central Time. The 100M hurdles and high jump took place on Tuesday.
Wednesday’s (August 4th) heptathlon events are the shot put (completed), 200M sprint (completed), long jump (7:40 p.m. CT) and javelin throw (10:30 p.m. CT)
[Note: See bottom of article for update.]
Erica earned her ticket to Tokyo by finishing third in the USA Track & Field (USATF) Olympic team trials in June. She had already qualified to compete in the Olympics in 2020, but after the games were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, she and others had to requalify for Team USA.
Toya is very proud of her daughter and her accomplishments on and off the track.
On Monday, one day ahead of the first heptathlon events, Toya stated, “This shows that no matter where you’re from, even a small town, with hard work and determination you can do anything. I am so very proud of her.”
Toya added, “No matter what happens this week, Erica will always be an Olympian.”
You can watch the Olympics on NBC and NBCUniversal cable networks, plus various streaming apps/channels (NBC Sports, Peacock, Peacock Premium and fuboTV), NBC.com and NBCOlympics.com.
You can also sign up for live TV streaming options such as YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV.
Visit Olympics.com and NBCOlympics.com for news and updates.
Update, Thursday, August 5 – Bougard finished in the top half of the heptathlon field — 9th place overall out of 20 finishers. Among the individual events, she finished 2nd in the high jump and 4th in the 100m hurdles.
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