Greenville Reporter

The athletes are in Greensboro this week to compete in the Junior Olympics, which runs through Saturday.

"I am very excited like I am so excited to have this opportunity,” Keira Rosenmarkle, a wrestler from Chapel Hill, said in a WFMY report. “I think it (winning gold) would be the highlight of my wrestling career.” 

This year’s edition is the 56th annual AAU Junior Olympic Games, and it’s the second time the competition has come to Greensboro since 2019.

Various sporting events will be held at the Greensboro Coliseum, Aquatic Center, North Carolina A&T University and Wake Forest University. The city is welcoming nearly 20,000 athletes to the competition. The Junior Olympics offer a range of sports, including karate, swimming, gymnastics and more. 

The city is glad to host the games because of the economic boost. 

“Nineteen thousand athletes coming in to compete for 13 days, which will bring with it a $38 million economic impact,” Greensboro Area Convention and Visitors Bureau President Henri Fourrier said in projecting the amount of money coming to the city. The impact will come from people eating in restaurants, staying in hotels and shopping.

Businesses that are near the venues will see things pick up. Stamey's BBQ manager Haley Saunders recalled what happened during the early days of the tournament.

“So, we got an influx of people all at one time, of course, probably as soon as an event ended,” Saunders said. “So it's never a bad thing when they come, but when they come all at once it got a little flustering at first, but we ended up handling it like a champ."