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OLYMPIC GAMES RIO 2016: GOLF

August 16, 2016

Alena Sharp

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Q. What are you feeling like after a few days of being here in Rio?
ALENA SHARP: It's been an amazing experience so far. Just being in the athletes village, seeing all the other athletes, being part of the bigger Team Canada, and then Brooke and I have had a good two days here. We're ready to go tomorrow.

Q. What kind of stuff have you done?
ALENA SHARP: I haven't done any pictures yet but I would love to get a picture with Simone Biles. I think she's just an amazing athlete. I saw her in the cafeteria the first day. Seen some other Canadian athletes that are well known in Canada.
At the end of the men's event, I saw all the guys. Which you see them on the TV, we are not really around them all the time, so seeing them up close, that was kind of cool. I saw Sergio and I actually saw Nick Faldo in the crowd and Pádraig Harrington, so that was kind of cool.

Q. Do you feel like for women's golf, this is as good as it could possibly get?
ALENA SHARP: Yeah, this is a pretty cool thing for women's golf. I think we are getting more on the map globally with this event. For all the tours to come together and play at the Olympic Games, everybody is playing for their country, it's a little different.
But it's a huge event. I hope we get crowds like the men, like when I was here on Sunday, how many people were out watching, it just made it feel a lot different than a regular Tour event.

Q. Not just golfer this week; you're an Olympic athlete. What's that sound like to you?
ALENA SHARP: Something that you never really think about, being a golfer. Growing up, I never thought I could be an Olympic athlete. I played hockey, but I wasn't good enough to get a Division I scholarship to try to play professional or play on Team Canada.
So when this came out in 2009, I was really ectatic and made it one of the goals in the back of my mind. I didn't put a lot of pressure on myself to make the team, but after having a good couple years, I got on the team and now I'm an Olympian, and it's something no one can ever take away from me.
When I look back when I'm 80 years old, I'll always have that accolade.

Q. As far as the golf course is concerned, I know Amy Alcott played a role, Gil Hanse, designing this golf course. What's your take on it from a playability standpoint and from maybe a personal standpoint of whether it fits your game?
ALENA SHARP: I really like it. I think that it has a lot of different elements to it. They can move the tees around. The greens are tricky and you have to be in the right spots on the green. You have to hit on the right side of the fairway. Even though the fairways are wide, you can get into trouble.
I think it suits my game. I feel like I have a good game plan. I have good targets. It reminds me of Blue Bay a little bit, the way the mounding is. It's deceptive. You really have to know where you're going. And I think spending two days on the course now, I have a good handle on where I want to be and my carries. I spent a lot of time chipping and putting in the little dippy areas think that I can get you if you're not used to chipping out of those. I'm really looking forward to teeing off tomorrow.

Q. Matt Kuchar said that he got his podium jacket when he got here and that every athlete gets this podium jacket. He's like, this is cool. But he never knew if he would have a chance to wear it. When they handed you that, have you allowed yourself to look that far ahead?
ALENA SHARP: When they gave us the jacket, you get the kit and it says, okay, this is the podium jacket. Yeah, you do dream about being on the podium, and I think it's okay to think about that until the tournament starts. Then you've got to be one day at a time.
But I'm hoping on Friday night, I pack my bag and I have that podium outfit in there just in case. Any medal here would be awesome.

Q. If you were sending this interview back home to people, and you could tell them one thing that's really stood out for you being in Rio thus far, what would you tell people?
ALENA SHARP: I think I would tell people that even though athletics seems easy, it's harder than it looks. There's a lot of different athletes here. It's amazing to see like their work ethic and their scheduling and just in the village, you see people training. This is their downtime and they are still working on their technique or getting ready for their game or their race.
I know as golfers we do that on the golf course, but they are doing that in the village on their downtime. I think that was eye opening, just seeing all the different athletes. And from all different ages, too. It's been an amazing experience.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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