Air Force Backs 3 Olympic Hopefuls Through WCAP as Iran War Tops 13,000 U.S. Strikes
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Aug 14
Air Force Backs 3 Olympic Hopefuls Through WCAP as Iran War Tops 13,000 U.S. Strikes
1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Aug 14
Summary
Three active-duty Air Force athletes — Anita Alvarez, Texas Tanner and Wyatt Hendrickson — are using the World Class Athlete Program to train full time for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics while remaining in uniform.
WCAP keeps them on active duty, assigns them to elite competition and returns them to conventional military jobs afterward, giving the service recruiting visibility even as U.S. forces continue combat operations against Iran.
Alvarez, a 2024 Olympic silver medalist recruited into WCAP after basic training, has added 1 World Cup gold, 3 silvers and 4 bronzes since joining the Air Force.
Tanner won the U.S. discus title at 65.46 meters weeks after commissioning in 2026, while Hendrickson secured a second straight U.S. world-team berth after beating Mason Parris at Final X.
Retired Lt. Col. Chad Senior, a former Olympian who later deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, said the program’s payoff extends beyond medals by turning elite athletes into future operational officers.