A day in the life of Beacon, the therapy dog at U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials

MINNEAPOLIS — It’s just past 10 on Friday night and the Target Center, packed to near capacity an hour ago, falls quiet as one of USA Gymnastics’ busiest volunteers makes his way toward an exit. Beacon, a 4-year-old golden retriever, is the organization’s first therapy dog and its only part-time, four-legged staff member. He wears a credential, travels to important meets such as the Olympic trials and holds the title of USAG’s “Goodest Boy.”

Tonight, Beacon is wiped. He has spent a long day comforting athletes and coaches, calming members of the women’s national team before their first night of competition at the Olympic trials, and providing them a belly to rub and gentle face licks after a heart-wrenching meet that saw injuries to two of the country’s top prospects.

“He’s tired now,” Tracey Callahan Molnar, Beacon’s handler and a former gymnast and coach who’s never more than a 5-foot leash away, said. “I think we did important work. It was a rough night for some of the gymnasts, and I think Beacon helped celebrate the good stuff and be there and give support for the challenges.”

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