For this City Light employee, Olympic competition is a family tradition. Joe Andrade is a Seattle City Light lineworker with dual citizenship in the United States and the small island nation of Cape Verde. He’s also an accomplished athlete; Joe placed first in the California state competition for 300M hurdles in 1973, and at one point he was ranked #7 in the United States for that event.
Unfortunately, an injury prevented Joe from competing in the Olympic Games, but the urge to accelerate towards greatness runs in his family. Joe’s brother Henry Andrade represented Cape Verde in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, and this year his son Jordin Andrade made Olympic competition a familial tradition by running the 400M hurdles in Rio de Janeiro.
Like Joe, Jordin is a dual citizen of the United States and Cape Verde. In 2015, Jordin graduated with a degree in Environmental Studies from Boise State University, where he holds the record for the 400M hurdles. Jordin’s training on the track paid off on the international stage this year when he made it to the 400M semifinals at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Jordin Andrade with his proud father, City Light’s Joe Andrade
Jordin’s time in the Olympic 400M this year wasn’t fast enough to medal or make it to the finals, but it does place him among the world’s track and field elite. Running the event in 49.35 seconds, he was only 1.59 seconds away from the time of gold medalist Kerron Clement and he still placed 16th overall amongst his global peers.
Jordin Andrade in competition
Jordin represented Cape Verde well in this year’s Olympics, but he’s not done yet. He says he’s “happy but not satisfied” with his results and plans to continue training so that he can compete in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.