ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Day 7 of the 2024 Paris Olympics has come to a close. All week, several have been talking about different iconic moments that have taken place. Especially the U.S. men’s gymnastics team’s historic bronze medal, that broke the team’s 16-year dry spell. But did you know one of the people on the 2008 team calls Albuquerque home?  

Local gymnast turned firefighter Joseph Hagerty helped the U.S. men’s gymnastics team win bronze back in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. 

“Having the feeling of putting the metal around your neck. There’s nothing like it. You worked your entire life for that moment. And it’s going to be with you forever,” Hagerty said. 

He’s taking a walk down memory lane.

“It gives me chills every time,” Haggerty said as he put his bronze Olympic medal on. 

16 years ago, he and his team won bronze in the men’s artistic team all-around. He was just 26 years old at the time.

“For event finals, you put your three best up from your team on each event I did parallel bars, high bar and floor,” he said. 

Until this week, no other U.S. men’s gymnastics team had medaled since Hagerty and his team.  

“It feels good. But it’s still kind of sad, you know, you want every team every year to do well, you know, you want to represent the USA to the best of your ability,” Hagerty said. “But it’s good that they finally got that dry spell out of the way. It’s feels good to pass the torch.” 

He watched with pride as this year’s team took the bronze.

“It’s exciting watching them, they were a tight-knit group, just like we were in 2008. And just to feel the excitement of what they were going through, brought back so many memories. My teammates just start texting me like crazy,” said Hagerty. “And we’re still really close. And this team, they’re going to be really close forever for the rest of their lives. And just seeing them put on that metal. It brought, I teared up a little bit.” 

He and his teammates still keep in touch. He says they’re planning on meeting in Los Angeles for the 2028 Olympics. 

His advice for the 2024 Olympians: enjoy every moment:

“You got to cherish every second at the Olympics. Go see other people. Go watch basketball. Go watch swimming, go watch Ledecky destroy other countries. Stay in the moment, but enjoy every second of it,” he said. 

After retiring from gymnastics, he worked at Disney World as a “tumble monkey” at the Festival of the Lion King at Animal Kingdom. But then the COVID-19 shut down the show for three years. So he and his wife, who was pregnant with their second child at the time, decided to move back home to Albuquerque, where he became an Albuquerque Fire Rescue firefighter. 

“Being on that team at the Olympics to this team is it’s one in the same you’re family. There’s nothing like it and being able to spend 48 hours with these guys as a family,” Hagerty said. “You know, getting under each other’s nails and having fun and just staying in the moment.” 

KOB 4 asked him why he wanted to become a first responder.

“Just giving back to your community that’s given back so much to us with the support and gymnastics at the Olympics,” said Hagerty.

Hagerty has been with AFR for three years now. He says the crew quickly found out his Olympic past and even ask him to do backflips from time to time.

SANTA FE – Today, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is traveling to India until Aug. 10 to discuss New Mexico partnerships with higher education, business and government officials.  

 The governor’s itinerary includes stops in New Delhi and Chennai. She will travel with the First Gentleman, Manny Cordova, and a state delegation that includes the Office of the Governor Deputy Chief of Operations, Caroline Buerkle; Director of the Office of Strategy, Science, & Technology at the New Mexico Economic Development Department, Nora Sackett; and New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department Cabinet Secretary-Designate, Melanie A. Kenderdine. 

The New Mexico Partnership is paying for the delegation’s travel. 

 Lt. Gov. Howie Morales will assume the role of New Mexico governor during her time overseas. 

NEW YORK – Echoing recent calls to action from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, the Catholic Bishops of New Mexico have spoken out on the need for the government, non-profits, and citizens, to all come together to address public safety challenges in the state.

In a July 29 joint statement, the bishops of New Mexico specifically highlighted the need for the state to address mental health issues and alcohol and drug addictions, which they argue are the main root causes of the public safety challenges in the state.

A place to start, the bishops said, is creating a public private campaign.

“We believe that state leaders, anchor organizations, and advocates can come together to find the funding sources for treatment of mental health, alcohol, and drug addictions,” the bishops said.

“This would be the correct order of placing the horse before the cart,” the bishops continued. “It is essential, in the efforts of tackling the epidemic of behavioral health issues in our state, that these resources be in place before we have the conversation about mandatory treatment by the courts. We may not know the full solution, but everyone recognizes the need.”

“If we can’t provide the services for voluntary treatment, how will we ever implement a system for mandatory treatment?” the bishops added. “This responsibility falls on the shoulders of the government, non-profits, and every citizen of the state. This crisis includes people suffering from mental health issues who many times turn to drugs for self-medication.”

Grishman has floated multiple proposals related to mandatory treatment by the courts – expanding court-supervised outpatient treatment for people with mental illness, and/or broadening eligibility for someone who could be ordered by a judge into involuntary mental health treatment – in recent months. Essentially, the bishops argue that before those kinds of proposals are discussed by lawmakers everyone needs to come together to increase the number of resources that are available.

The statement was signed by Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, Bishop Peter Baldacchino of Las Cruces, and Bishop James Wall of Gallup. The statement was also signed by Allen Sánchez, Deacon Steve Rangel, and Rebecca Lucero, who are the respective executive director, associate director and advocate of the New Mexico Conference of Bishops.

It comes amid a push by Grisham for legislative action.

Grisham, a Democrat, convened a special session of the New Mexico State Legislature on July 18 to address public safety concerns in the state. Specifically, she focused on the need to reform criminal competency and mental health treatment standards, as well as issues with inconsistent crime reporting, pedestrian safety, gun violence, organized crime, drug overdoses, and recent fires.

Out of that special session the only bill that was passed was HB 1, which appropriates $100 million to support recovery efforts following the South Fork and Salt fires, as well as ongoing flooding. None of the proposals related to other public safety concerns – including mental health and drug addictions – passed, reportedly as Democrats look to address those needs during the next regular session in January.

In a news release on July 31, Grisham said that “the legislature’s failure to prioritize public safety for New Mexicans during the special session is deeply disappointing.”

The bishops of New Mexico, meanwhile, kept the focus on the need for mental health resources in the state. They maintained that if all sides come together they can rebuild the state’s mental health system.

“Together, we can rebuild the mental health system of the state,” the bishops said. “We, the Catholic Bishops of New Mexico, remain hopeful that the task before us can be accomplished in the same magnificent ways of the Early Childhood campaign and with the hope that these challenges do not also take us a decade to resolve.”

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