Every four years come the Summer Olympics, bringing in millions of hardworking athletes from all over the world to compete in multiple sports to win the gold for their representative country. This year’s Olympics in Rio, Brazil is no exception; every race, religion, and gender have come to break records and barriers in sports like gymnastics, swimming, and fencing.

In gymnastics, Simone Biles became the first African-American woman to win 4 gold medals and an Olympic all-around gold. Simone Manuel managed to become the first African-American woman to win a gold medal in individual swimming, and Ibtihaj Muhammad was the first female fencer to win a medal while wearing a hijab. Swimmer Katie Ledecky shattered her own record and set 10-13 more, while Michael Phelps raced to finally beat Leonidas’s centuries-old record of the most medals. Caster Semanya became the first female intersex athlete to participate in track-and-field, and boxer Nicola Adams (among many others) is openly bisexual.

But why is this so important? For much of today’s youth, many of these athletes are encouraging them to go out and pursue their dreams and passion, despite any barriers that might have been there before.

Freshman Emily Bethea stated, “I think this year’s Olympians inspire the younger generation to follow their dreams despite their race, gender, or height because on the Olympics we can see how hard-working and talented they are despite all these things.”

According to the Stamford Advocate, some people are calling this the ‘Olympic Effect,’ where there is a noticeable increase in athletic participation because they’ve become so inspired by those who’ve won medals, and Bethea agreed that where others have claimed they could not do something because of a prejudice or stereotype, they help to break those prejudices and stereotypes.

Even for people who haven’t devoted time to watching any of the events notice that this is indeed a landmark in diversity of role models. Senior Jacob Little agreed that this incredible series of events in the Olympics is inspirational, especially accomplishments made by female athletes.

Junior Tommy Decker expressed his favorite athlete to be Michael Phelps who broke a 2000+ year old record with his total number of medals.

The many athletes who have broken through barriers of all kinds will help bolster the confidence of potential future Olympians and future barrier breakers.