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LONDON — She started in Sydney, was a veteran at 23 in Athens, won silver in Beijing and is back in London as the elder stateswoman for the U.S. Women's Olympic volleyball team. Logan Tom is also one of Utah's own.
Tom was born in California but grew up and graduated high school in Utah before going on to have an Olympic career that is spanning 12 years.
At age 31, Tom has been dubbed "the mom" of the team — a nickname she says she's OK with — and is just the sixth American woman to play volleyball in four different Olympics. Now she's hungry for her first gold medal.
"I've trained since I was, what, 16 for it? So yeah, it does ... It's scary as hell to be like, 'I want this,'" Tom said. "But you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way."
But she's hardly starving for attention. Tom's about the most unassuming member of U.S. Olympic royalty.
"I still love playing the sport, it keeps me in good shape, it's a paycheck ... you know, there's not a lot to complain about," Tom said.
She grew up in Sugar House and was back home recently to attend her best friend's wedding.
"She's a very busy woman," her friend to KSL News. "I'm happy that she came out to be with me on a special day. You know, it means a lot to me."
"When you play sports (and) you're good at them, everyone thinks you're automatically cool. We weren't," Tom said, recalling her high school days.
But she was dominant on the Highland High School volleyball court, and her perfect 4.0 GPA helped her win a scholarship to Stanford. Her team won a national championship in 2001, and that was the year after her Olympic debut in Sydney.
"Sydney's probably one of my proudest achievements," Tom said.
And then came a dozen years of professional volleyball all around the world. Tom played in Brazil for a year, then in Italy for two years. She also played in Russia, Spain, Japan, China and Turkey.
And though London marks Tom's fourth trip to the Olympic Games, she says it doesn't get old. This time around, her team is ranked No. 1 in the world, and the way they're playing, they are the gold medal favorites.
Team USA Women's Volleyball is schedule to play Serbia and Turkey on Friday and Sunday before the quarterfinals.
