Erie athletic trainer Elizabeth Darling set for fourth Summer Olympics with Team USA

Someday soon, Michael and Charlotte Darling will understand.

Recently, though, the 12- and 11-year-old children of Elizabeth Darling have asked variations of the same question they also had three or four years ago.

“They’ll say, ‘Do you have to go to the Olympics?’” Elizabeth Darling said. “Eventually, they’ll know how spectacular it is.”

Darling, a 47-year-old Erie resident and veteran athletic trainer with USA Gymnastics, departs Aug. 1 for Paris, where the 2024 Summer Olympics start Friday. The Rise Up Physical Therapy employee will be there for the Games’ final weekend, specifically the women’s rhythmic gymnastics meet.

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Darling will tend to Evita Griskenas, the lone American who qualified in the individual all-around field. It will be the second Olympic experience for the Chicago native, who placed 12 ^th for the 2020 Tokyo Games that were postponed a year because of COVID-19.

Griskenas’ Olympic total is half the number of times Darling has been part of world’s greatest athletic competition.

“This really is an honor,” Darling said. “I still feel like I’m so lucky and so blessed.”

Possibly passing the torch

Darling has been with USA Gymnastics long enough that younger physical therapists she’s helped train are now joining her at international competitions with increased frequency.

Some are even usurping Darling’s influence, which is fine with her.

There was no better example of that than last month’s U.S. Olympic Trials at Minneapolis.

“We had an amazing staff there,” Darling said. “Before (the gymnasts) would be, ‘Where’s Elizabeth?’ That was maybe the first time where they’d come in and say, ‘Who’s available?’”

“We’ve established a nice medical team, which is awesome.”

Matt Darling, like his children, has adjusted to his wife departing for major athletic events at distant locales.

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Unlike his children, the women’s volleyball coach at Gannon University remains enthusiastic about his wife’s prominent trips and assignments.

“It is funny the things you get used to,” Matt Darling said, “but it is cool. We’re an athletic family, so for her to have the opportunity to so frequently involved (in the Olympics) is something to admire.”

Elizabeth Darling won’t need her passport if she’s working with American athletes for the next Summer Olympics. The 2028 Games are scheduled at Los Angeles.

Darling, though, hedged on if she’ll be there. At least in any official capacity.

“My family sacrifices every time I go on one of these trips,” she said. “Honestly, I’d like to see some of our other medical providers be at the ‘28 Games. It would be nice to experience them live with my family.”

Contact Mike Copper at mcopper@timesnews.com . Follow him on X @ETNcopper.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie athletic trainer Elizabeth Darling set for fourth Summer Olympics with Team USA