Olivia Hassler Awarded With Wilma Rudolph Student-Athlete Achievement Award
June 26, 2015
COLUMBIA, S.C. – It began just a few short months ago, when Gamecock track and field athlete Olivia Hassler decided to share her story of being a victim of abuse to a modest crowd at the Russell House Theater on campus. It was the first of many times she would take up the microphone with the hope of emboldening fellow victims who were afraid to express themselves and find peace with a decidedly violent experience. On June 13, though, she spoke out in a unique environment ââ’¬” to the National Association of Academic Advisors for Athletics (N4A) Convention in Orlando, Fla.
It was there that Hassler spoke as one of six recipients of the prestigious Wilma Rudolph Student-Athlete Achievement Award, given to honor student-athletes who have overcome great personal, academic, or emotional odds to achieve academic success while also competing in college athletics. She joins former Gamecock standout Ronnetta Alexander, who won the award in 2009.
“It was awesome, the ceremony was at least 700 people and five other athletes were there to receive the award,” Hassler said of the event. Each of the recipients of the award spoke to the crowd, and she focused her speech towards giving a different narrative to athletes and abuse.
“Athletes are expected to ice up, put a Band-Aid on it and do whatever you need to do to push through the pain and that’s why I wanted to speak up,” she said. “That’s what I was trying to do, and in this instance it’s wrong. Athletes can sometimes be bigger than life, but the reason why I shared my story is because no athlete has really admitted to being the victim, we’ve only seen some at the abuser. You can’t bandage everything, you need to deal with your problems.”
Along with balancing her classwork and her efforts on the field as the team’s veteran javelin thrower, Hassler took time out to speak locally with numerous groups and media outlets to share her message to an audience that resides in a state with very grim statistics. In 2014, South Carolina had the highest number of women killed by men, and it has been in the top ten states in the prior 15 years leading up to that. Rather than seeing a disadvantage in living in a state with that track record, Hassler embraced the challenge and found that her message spread like wildfire.
“This is where I wanted to be, but this is more than I had expected,” she said. “I had an athlete from another team reach out to me during regionals who I hadn’t met before but he read my story and wanted to talk to me about it. It makes me feel good that people all over ââ’¬” not just USC ââ’¬” are being affected by it.”
What started as a point of personal pride and finding personal closure has now developed into a career aspiration for Hassler, and she is more than equipped for the job.
“Now I feel like I’m at a place where I want to keep pursuing this,” Hassler said about her advocacy. “My ultimate goal post-graduation is I would like to speak directly with athletic departments and athletes about what relationship violence is and what you should do. I feel like being a Division I athlete allows me to be able to speak to athletes of all ages.”
Entering her senior season now, Olivia will continue to speak on campus to share her story. Her one regret now serves as a motivation to stay active.
“I wish I would have done this sooner. The ball has to keep rolling on this, not necessarily my story but the awareness that it created.”
Wilma Rudolph Student-Athlete Achievement Award Winners:
Courtney Boyd, Wright State University
Emily Fogle, Purdue University
Olivia Hassler, University of South Carolina
Blair Holiday, Duke University
Sean Karl, University of Tennessee
Shaquielle McKissic, Arizona State University
