The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris has captured the whole world’s attention this week and many incredible athletes have been making history.
Here in the USA, we’ve watched the women’s gymnastics team take home the gold in their “redemption tour,” and Simone Biles became the most decorated US Olympic gymnast in history.
And the team owes thanks to an unusual but crucial new member of their team: a therapy dog named Beacon!
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Beacon, a 4-year-old golden retriever, is USA Gymnastics’ first-ever therapy dog. This year, he played an important role in keeping the athletes calm and collected during the Olympic trials.
Beacon was adopted as a puppy in 2020 by his owner Tracey Callahan Molnar, after her previous dog Tulsa passed away, according to USA Today. When Molnar saw how much Beacon loved and gravitated towards people, she knew he could potentially follow in Tulsa’s footsteps as a therapy dog.
Molnar is also friends with Caroline Hunt, vice president of the rhythmic gymnastics program at USA Gymnastics — and as luck would have it, Hunt was considering adding a pet therapy program to USAG.
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The dog therapy program launched in February 2023 at a rhythmic gymnastics program in Indianapolis. Overcoming skepticism, the program proved to have mental health benefits for the competitors.
“They saw the benefit,” Molnar told USA Today. “They heard their daughters or their gymnasts talk about how much better they felt, how much calmer they felt going onto the competition floor and they credited being able to spend time with the therapy dogs in advance of the competition.”
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Beacon and the burgeoning therapy dog program received national attention after he comforted the gymnasts and coaches during the Olympic trials in June, the high-stakes event in which athletes competed for slots on Team USA.
Before and after the trials, competitors were able to visit Beacon and his fellow therapy dogs, who greeted them enthusiastically. Spending time with a therapy dog has been known to reduce stress and anxiety — as the owner put it, Beacon “absorbs the stress” of those who turn to him for comfort.
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