Izzo, a therapy dog who worked with swimmers at the U.S. Olympic trials earlier this month and was named honorary member of the team heading to Paris for the Summer Olympics next month, has died, WTHR Channel 13, NBC affiliate in Indianapolis, Indiana, reported. The ten-and-a-half-year-old Labrador-husky mix was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer before the trials and given just a few weeks to live, according to The Washington Post.
For the past eight years, Izzo was a therapy dog, working at schools, libraries, health-care facilities, and sporting events across central Indiana to support people of all ages. The Olympic trials were his final assignment. Upon learning of his imminent retirement, USA Swimming, the sport’s national governing body, had decided to make him an honorary member of the Olympic team. “Izzo is a lovable floof,” Nikki Warner, director of communications for USA Swimming, said at the time. “It just seemed like the right move.”
“I can’t imagine a more perfect event to cap off his career,” Megan Montague, Izzo’s handler and a volunteer with Paws & Think, Inc., a nonprofit organization in Indianapolis that connects people with therapy dogs, had told The Post. “It’s been very rewarding for him.”
Though low on energy, Montague said, Izzo walked laps around the athletes’ lounge to greet all the swimmers, and still took his job very seriously. “He approached every therapy visit with the same enthusiasm that he always has, despite the effects of his cancer,” she said.
Montague realized Izzo would make a good therapy dog when she brought him to visit a third-grade class, as her mother was a teacher. The kids—and Izzo—couldn’t get enough of each other. “I just watched Izzo absolutely come alive,” she said. “He loves people and loves to be petted.”
On his death, she told WTHR Channel 13, “It’s been an honour for me to be the one to guide him as he spread smiles all across central Indiana, and in the end across the world as he went viral working his final event. I think his legacy will be in those smiles and the joy he spread.”
Since the trials began on June 15 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, about 60 therapy dogs were hanging out at the athletes’ lounge every day. Their purpose: to comfort the nearly 1,000 swimmers there, who faced intense stress as they strove to earn a spot at the Paris Games.
“So many people find animals as a calming essence,” Emily Klueh, manager of mental health and emotional wellness for USA Swimming, explained. “That’s what athletes are looking for…. In high-energy environments like this, we have to have environments where they can get away from the hype, calm their nervous systems down.”
The Paris Olympic Games begin on July 26.
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