By Hunter Jacobson |
There was no cake for Tina Francisco’s 19th birthday. There was no party and there were no presents. Francisco traded in her birthday hat for track spikes and a chance to compete against some of the fastest runners in the world at the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) World Track & Field Championships in Portland on March 18. She lined up at the starting block, put her fingers on the white chalk line and waited for the gun to sound. Now, she’s being considered to represent her native Guam at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.