Bobby Finke (Photo by JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images)
The annual legal profession hazing ritual licensing exam is underway! In many jurisdictions around the country, today is day one of the bar exam. It’s pretty much the most important test in a recent law school graduate’s burgeoning career. No pressure, though!
The Summer Olympics is also going on. That’s a bummer for sports fans who wanted, for example, to see Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee, Jade Carey, and Hazly Rivera dominate artistic gymnastics and win team gold. That is, at least if live sports matter to you (there’s always the primetime re-airing on NBC).
Anyway, the sting of missing out on the real-time excitement of the Olympics is particularly sharp for one University of Florida Levin College of Law grad. Autumn Skye Finke had to miss out on her brother Bobby Finke’s attempt to defend his gold medal in the Olympic men’s 800-meter freestyle earlier today. Not only is she missing out on the ambiance of Paris, but she can’t even check to see the results of the race until after she’s done with today’s bar exam session.
Bobby Finke credits his sisters (there’s a third Finke sibling, Summer) with honing his swimming — and competitive spirit.
“My older sisters definitely taught me to be competitive,” he said. “One of the reasons I like swimming was because I wanted to beat them.”
“He wanted to beat us all the time,” said Autumn, with Summer adding, “Even before he could talk, he was just racing.”
“It would go well beyond swimming,” continued Summer with a smile. “We’d run to the car to see who could get the best seat in the car. We’d run to the water fountain, and we’d see who could be first in the pool. Everything was pretty much a race or a competition between the three of us.”
“Eating dinner was a race!” added Autumn. “Not a good one.”
Spoiler alert for Autumn: baby brother Bobby took home the silver medal, behind Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen.
Bobby Finke is also racing in the 1,500-meter freestyle. That race will take place August 3rd (prelims) and 4th (finals) — at least Autumn will be able to watch those live.
