WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — WPTV's Frances Peyton and Todd Wilson are reporting from Paris for the Summer Olympics starting this week.
For months they have brought you stories of Florida athletes fulfilling lifelong dreams.
Peyton met up with Lara Dallman-Weiss, a U.S. sailor who has punched her second ticket to the Olympic Games. She is a Minnesota native but graduated from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg.
"My dad taught himself how to sail, and so he then would take me sailing," Dallman-Weiss said. "He'd take me racing."
Dallman-Weiss fell in love with the sport of sailing at a young age, wanting to share her passion, she taught her friends.
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"I just loved sailing with friends, and that's really the memory that sticks out. I didn't care about choosing a teammate to win," she said. "I chose someone that I could introduce to the sport, and we'd just bring a shower radio, and we'd laugh, and we'd dance."
"Were you essentially kind of a one-man show on this two-man boat when you just brought an entertainer aboard?" Peyton asked.
"Each friend would take it to the level they wanted," Dallman-Weiss said. "Some of them were curious and wanted to learn and be hands-on. Some were just, like, 'Ferry me around.'"
She will be competing in the Mixed 470 with ferry teammate, Stu McNay, a five-time Olympian. In just two years together, they combined their styles and then qualified for the Paris Games.
"We had the most special and incredible trials event. It was here in Miami in our home waters," Dallman-Weiss said.
Her family watched with excitement.
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"This time it felt like the pressure was a little higher, but they had all the tools and everything they needed to do but the still had to execute," her father said.
"That last day, 'Oh man, it was just neck to neck, and it was so exciting," her mother said. "We were all out there on the Harken boat. We were all yelling and screaming and cheering and of course, we started to cry."
Dallman-Weiss said her Olympic journey is more than being the best at her sport. She takes pride in representing the U.S.
"Both my grandfather and my grandpa fought in World War II, Vietnam," Dallman-Weiss said. "They were aspiring athletes and just being able to live out their dream too, and it means so much."
Dallman-Weiss said her grandfather could've been a pro tennis player but diverted his career due to the war. She and Stu will begin their competition starting Aug. 2 in Marseille, France.