MEGAN ZIMLICH 38
Destination: TOKYO When did you realize that you wanted to take a shot at making an Olympic team? I have always dreamt of going to the Olympics since my younger days in gymnastics. But as far as pole vault goes, I committed to going for it in 2018. After completing a twoyear, full-time MBA program and graduate assistantship at the University of Arkansas, I found myself at a crossroads. Scott and I were in a long-distance relationship by then. He and a few others, supported my desire to keep pole vaulting and to find a way to make it work. I considered a few different locations, but ultimately chose to go all in with him in North Carolina. When I took that leap, it changed my life in a wonderful way and was very liberating! Who has been the most influential person in your athletic development and why? My mom. She has been my biggest athletic supporter from the beginning and still is very supportive of me today. She instilled me with self-belief that I was different and capable of great things. She helped me succeed in gymnastics by coaching me to learn new skills and put in extra work using a little gymnastics setup we put together at home. My mom’s incredible determination and strength has been an inspiring example for me to follow as an athlete. After gymnastics, my mom supported me the same way in every sport I chose – diving, swimming, and track and field. We spent so many hours traveling to practices and meets that we truly became a team. She gave me every opportunity and privilege to go big and go far. It has meant a lot to have someone learning all the technical aspects of these different events alongside me. She has also supported me financially – she bought me my high school poles and my first post-collegiate poles. I am so lucky to have an amazing mother like her! What changed in your training to take you
T A K E O F F
M A G A Z I N E
from an average pole vaulter to an Olympic hopeful? A combination of getting stronger, faster, and becoming a better technical vaulter… all with a focused desire to give my best effort in practices and competitions. How did the postponement of the 2020 Olympics affect you or help you? The postponement definitely helped me. I was not in a good head space this time last year to perform my best. I had put so much pressure on myself to perform and it just backfired on me completely. The extra time was ideal to help me relax, reset, and put in some more good work to get better – which I did. How have you handled adversity or setback in your athletic career and what was the process like? Adversity and setbacks are things we often deal with as athletes, and they come in many forms. In my career, I have handled some situations fairly well, and others not as well. What I have learned is that the biggest difference in how we come out the other side of these challenges is largely determined by our outlook. We can prolong and magnify our setbacks with a bad attitude, or we can accelerate and diminish our setbacks with a positive, determined spirit. Most recently, I competed in the American Track League final in Arkansas at the end of February with an ankle injury. I hurt it the week before and couldn’t run or do anything on it. I hopped in the car to drive across the country to Arkansas with my training group, not knowing if I would physically even be able to compete. With that possibility in mind, I set my attitude to enjoy the experience and people around me, regardless of what happened. At the meet, I jogged around before warmups and still didn’t feel like I could even run
