Louisville native Yared Nuguse returns to Manual High School to celebrate Olympic bronze

Louisville native Yared Nuguse is still trying to process the fact that one of the first things he sees when he wakes up in the morning is an Olympic bronze medal draped around a lamp in his bedroom.

Visiting duPont Manual High School, where his miraculous journey to the podium began, helped.

"Every time I see some of the people who supported me along the way," he told a crowd gathered in the school's gymnasium Monday afternoon, "it kind of makes it a lot more real."

Nuguse, 25, stopped by his alma mater to celebrate his third-place finish in a captivating men's 1,500-meter run final Aug. 6 in Saint-Denis, France. While he was there, he learned Jefferson County Public Schools' annual cross-country championship will henceforth be known as the Yared Nuguse JCPS Championships.

Add it to the list of surreal moments for the mild-mannered son of Ethiopian immigrants since the day the Crimsons' longtime cross-country coach, Tim Holman, pulled him out of an Advanced Placement Human Geography class to pitch joining the team. Through them all, his mindset hasn't wavered.

"Who he is," Holman said, "is more important than what he achieved."

Nuguse's approach is twofold, and the first tenet can best be summarized in a word: fun. That's the only thing he wrote on a whiteboard while meeting with Holman’s current crop of runners privately before all the fanfare.

Running was fun for him back when his mile times were turning heads in gym class, and he continues to find joy in it despite the high-stakes work it's become.

"He's really lighthearted; and he always brings a great energy to the team," said Emerson Wyatt, a senior. "He taught us a lot about confidence and how to have fun with the sport."

But don't get it twisted; Nuguse is competitive as hell.

Don’t tell him he can’t beat his brother in the “Super Smash Bros.” video game. Don’t tell him he can’t hold his own in Manual’s Math, Science and Technology magnet while also studying violin as part of its Youth Performing Arts School. Don’t tell him he can’t major in biochemistry while competing for NCAA championships at Notre Dame. Don’t tell him he can’t come back from injuries that sidelined him from the 2020 Games in Tokyo and the 2022 World Championships. Don’t tell him the American mile records are unbreakable.

He's done it all.

"I'm not really going to be the kind of person to give up," Nuguse said.

"Because he is so good-natured and (running) isn't his whole world, people tend to think that he doesn't have that killer instinct,” Holman added. “The reality is, at the end of a race, nobody's working harder than he is."

That was certainly the case when Nuguse surged past reigning 1,500-meter gold medalist Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway down the stretch in front of 80,000 roaring fans at Stade de France to earn bronze with a personal-best time of 3 minutes, 27.80 seconds. He nearly caught second-place finisher Josh Kerr of Great Britain (3:27.79) in a wild race won by one of his American teammates, Cole Hocker, with an Olympic record time of 3:27.65.

"I felt the power of the moment," Nuguse said, "and was like, 'I've got to give it everything I have.' When I got to third (place), I was like, 'Keep going; don't let up. Anything can happen.' It’s all kind of fuzzy, honestly."

Since then, Nuguse said, it's been mostly business as usual — aside from the influx of people recognizing him at the grocery store. He only just wrapped up another season this past weekend and will give himself a month off to relax and reset, then it's back to work training for next year's World Championships.

And, of course, Nuguse is already eyeing the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles; although he said Monday that will be his last cycle. He still has to make good on his aspirations of becoming a dentist. Because, of course, he does.

"Anything truly is possible," he said.

Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Yared Nuguse, 2024 Olympics bronze medalist, returns to Louisville