US star Olivia Weaver explains why squash belongs on ‘greatest stage’ of Olympic Games
World No 4, one of several academically inclined players at the world team championships, set to return from injury for Malaysia semi-final
Squash world No 4 Olivia Weaver says high academic achievers excel in her “bloody hard” sport because it asks you to “make so many decisions under incredible pressure and physical stress”.
Weaver is set to play in the United States’ World Squash Team Championships (WSTC) semi-final against Malaysia on Friday, after the back injury that forced the American to retire from her Hong Kong Squash Open semi-final last week condemned her to a “brutal” few days on the sidelines.
A graduate of Princeton University, where she majored in anthropology, 29-year-old Weaver was a semi-finalist at this year’s world championships. Men’s world No 1 Ali Farag, who has a mechanical engineering degree from Harvard, is the highest-profile of several academically gifted squash stars.
“You have be able to remain composed and focused … if you check out upstairs, you can blink and a match is over,” Weaver told the Post.
“The ability to read situations, then quickly adapt, is key, so squash lends itself to [scholarly] people.”
Weaver is tentatively eyeing the “unbelievable honour” of representing Team USA when squash makes its Olympic Games debut in Los Angeles in 2028.
