USA National Team player Gary Hines celebrates after hitting the buzzer.

Well Team USA won’t be at the Rio Olympics, but long time Men’s National Team Player, Gary Hines is having some success off the handball court as a Ninja Warrior.  Hines, who plays handball professionally for HSC Bad Neustadt in Germany’s 3rd Division is competing in Ninja Warrior Germany.  Shown on German TV Friday night, he successfully completed his preliminary run and is one of 28 qualifiers for the finals.

Video of Hines completing the course: Link

Hines is not the first handball athlete to have success at Ninja Warrior.  Notably, Japanese handball player Daisuke Miyazke was a top competitor on the original Japanese show: : Daisuke Miyazaki: The Ichiro Suzuki of Handball (or maybe the Kyle Rote Jr.) (Jun 2010):  Link

And, here’s the closing paragraph from that commentary:

“I’ve noticed that a U.S. version of the Japanese obstacle course called Wipeout is starting up again. For some strange reason, ABC somehow thinks it’s more interesting to have out of shape nobodies try to complete the course. I’m predicting, though, it’s only a matter of time before they wise up and get some real athletes taking part. And when they do why not get a Team Handball athlete to take part? I think somebody like Gary Hines would do well.”

Nothing more satisfying then seeing a prediction come true, even if it does take 6 years!