Four years ago, at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento, a 36-year-old pole vaulter was feeling down. He was the American record holder in his event, but for the second Trials in a row, he was an also-ran. He failed to make his second Olympic team.
Jeff Hartwig of Arkansas, the star-crossed vaulter, told the media:
"I said after 2000 (when he failed to clear his opening height at the Trials): 'I'll never let myself be that disappointed again.' This is par for the course for me at these kinds of meets. I'm absolutely in shock. This is what I do for a living, and the Olympics are a very small part of that. It's something that happens once every four years. I believe that maybe there's a little bit of luck -- or in my case bad luck -- that sort of comes with that. I was fortunate to go to the Olympics once (in 1996), and I'll cherish that forever. But I'm obviously disappointed."
Hartwig was asked if he'd compete at the 2008 Trials.
He replied: "Absolutely not -- no chance."
Well, guess what?
He's baaaaaccckkkk!
Hartwig, now 40, owns the No. 5 vault this year in the United States (18 feet, 8 3/4 indoors) but isn't one of the favorites to make the Beijing team. Track & Field News predicts he'll finish seventh at the Trials that start this weekend in Eugene, Ore. The men's final is this Sunday. If he makes the team, he'll likely be the oldest to compete in the vault at the Summer Games.
But he might not be alone among 40-somethings on the China-bound American track team.
A 44-year-old from Manchester, New Hampshire, is a favorite to win the 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) race walk at the Trials on its final day: Sunday, July 6. Her name is Joanne Dow, and she's a mother of two. But wait! There's more! Teresa Vaill of Gainesville, Fla., has a chance, too -- at age 45. In 2004, Vaill was 43rd in the Athens Olympic 20-kilometer walk.
Track & Field News has this forecast of the women's 20K walk at the Trials: Vaill first, Dow second! Of course, finishing in the top three at Eugene doesn't guarantee you a place on the team. You also have to beat an Olympic qualifying standard. For the women, the standard is 1 hour, 33 minutes, 30 seconds. Vail's all-time personal best is 1:33:23, set in 2001. Dow's best is 1:32:55 from 2004. So they have their work cut out.
One potential Trials participant doesn't care if go misses the speedboat to China. But he's bound and determined to throw the javelin at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field on the Fourth of July. That's two-time British Olympian Arne "Roald" Bradstock of Atlanta.
Bradstock, who became an American citizen in 1996, is 46 -- and poised to be the oldest field eventer ever to compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials (at least in recent memory).
Bradstock wrote me: "I have to say that if I make the Trials, I will think of it as one of my greatest athletic accomplishments."
For now, Bradstock is playing the waiting game. He's currently 26th on the list of potential entrants, and recent practice of USATF organizers has been to invite the top 26 to the national championships or Trials.
"This is going to be very, very close," Bradstock says. "I believe I will end up being the last one in or the first one out. It is the first time I can think of that I am praying to be last!"
As best he can tell, he won't be informed of his fate until July 2 -- two days before the men's javelin prelims in Eugene. But he's been planning to attend the meet anyway, writing: "On July 2nd I will be having a javelin clinic at a local high school in Eugene: 'The Art of Javelin Throwing.' It will be free and open to athletes, coaches and the general public."
And should he make history as the oldest spearchucker in the Trials, what will he do then?
"I will be doing something extra-special for my seventh and final Olympic Trials performance: I will be debuting 'Optical' Javelins at the Olympic Trials along with matching hand-painted outfits that will match colors of the javelins. There will be three different javelins with three different matching outfits -- black and white; red, white and blue; and Olympic colors."
None of those hues would rival the sunny smile of Bradstock if he lined up with America's best javelin throwers on Independence Day. Nor if Hartwig steps onto the podium at Hayward Field after the men's vault final June 29. Masters might be in the Olympics!
Ken Stone will be writing a live, continuously updated blog at the Olympic Trials. To read it, go to: http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/weblog/track/
Tags: Track Olympics
