ITHACA, N.Y. — Rising senior Rudy Winkler's excruciating wait is over — he is now bound for the Olympics. An invitation to the 2016 Summer Games was an uncertainty despite Winkler's victory in the 2016 United States Olympic Trials last week, but he finally received word from the International Association of Athletics Federation on Wednesday that he would be bound for Rio de Janeiro later this summer to compete for the U.S. in the hammer throw.

"I can't really describe it, especially because I've been having the anxiety the past couple of days, waiting for the invite," Winkler told the Albany Times Union. "I've been trying to keep cool because there's nothing I really could have done, but I was checking my email like every 15 minutes the past couple of days because I didn't know when they were going to do it."

The selection process is a bit complicated in the field events. The automatic event standard in the hammer (77.00 meters) has only been met by 18 men, two of whom are from Russia, a country no longer invited to this year's Olympics. The International Olympic Committee ultimately invites a field of 24, but it was uncertain if Winkler would be included despite his Trial-winning throw of 76.76 meters last week. Winkler was the NCAA runner-up in the hammer outdoors this past season after placing eighth in 2015 to claim All-America honors. His throw in Trials was a record for any Heptagonal athlete.

Winkler becomes the sixth Cornellian to qualify for the Olympics, joining alumni Tracy Eisser '12 (U.S. rowing, women's quadruple sculls), Alex Karwoski '12 (U.S. rowing, men's eight), Muhammad Halim '07 (Virgin Islands track & field, triple jump), Bruno Hortelano-Roig '14 (Spain track & field, 100 meters) and Stephen Mozia '15 (Nigeria track & field, shot put).