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RIGHT NOW N O T H I N G E L S E VAULTER
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MATTERS TIME TO FLY
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OCTOBER 2016 ISSUE
CONTENTS r e b cto
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8 FROM THE EDITOR
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THE CASE FOR COUNTING BACKWARDS
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THE OLE MISS REBELS
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THE IMPORTANCE OF CROSS TRAINING FOR HIGH-LEVEL ATHLETES
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CHASING THE SKY
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30 Cover photos by Joshua Taylor McCoy
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FROM THE EDITOR Happy October! Indoor season is just around the corner, can you believe it? This month we have a very Halloween-filled magazine for you! We have some recipes for you to try to keep it a little healthy while all the Halloween treats are tempting you. Don’t worry, they are actually pretty good and give you the sweet cravings you need.
Also in this month we have a quick article about some benefits of cross training. Of course it’s important to train all the muscles that you use for pole vault, but it is also beneficial to train the muscles that you don’t use so much. When all your muscles are in shape and have the endurance you need to compete for a long period of time, that is when you jump new heights. This article could help you train to the next level, check it out! David Brannan has written an article for us that tells you the benefit of counting your steps, and counting them backwards. Though some of us think that could be hard to do in the moment, David assures you that it’s not as hard as it sounds and that it could actually be better than counting forward. David graduated from Brigham Young University, set a school record of 5.45 meters. He currently works and lives in Salcha, Alaska as a teacher, programmer, and track and field coach. When David is not grading papers, you can find him in his backyard teaching his three children (and their friends) how to pole vault. David loves helping athletes and would love to hear from you,
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or you can meet him in person at the Reno Pole Vault Summit where he jumps with his two sons and daughter every year. His article is an enjoyable read and one that could really help you— don’t miss it!
When Sandi Morris returned home from Rio, she wrote a huge blog about her Olympic Trial and Olympic experiences. We have taken a segment of her blog and published it in this issue for you to read. This blog covers when she broke her wrist, what she thought when she was competing in Rio, and what she learned competing at the Olympics. She is such a fun writer, enjoy!
Our awesome, creative team on the cover this month is the Ole Miss Zombie Crew! If the creative cover weren’t enough to tell you how fun this team is, then their article will tell you! This team is like a family and that they are on their way to success. Coach Brian Porter gives his vaulters the coaching the need to be successful pole vaulters and with the new track and field facility, there is no doubt that this team will make it happen. Personal Records are in their future! Check out this team—they are worth your time! We hope you enjoy this Halloween issue. We enjoyed creating it! Keep training hard in the offseason and keep us updated with all of your success. Until next month, vault high and have fun!
Editor Sadie Lovett Sadie@vaultermagazine.com
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RIO Olympics Training Facility
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Dawson Brannan
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THE CASE FOR COUNTING BACKWARDS By: David Brannan
In an ideal world, pole vaulters would be able to step on a runway, raise their pole, and begin their approach on auto-pilot—building speed slowly, confident in their steps, lowering the pole at the perfect time, and hitting their absolute top speed at take-off. Perhaps some elite athletes are able to do precisely that, however, most athletes resort to counting steps.
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In the pursuance of confidence and consistency, many coaches have their athletes count the number of times their take-off foot strikes the ground as they proceed down the runway. For instance, a right-handed pole vaulter will place their left foot at the start mark of their approach. The athlete will then take the first step with their right foot and begin counting each and every time their left foot touches the
runway all the way through take-off.
A typical 9-stride approach might be to build speed consistently on strides 1, 2, 3, accelerate through 4, 5, 6, start lowering the pole on 7, last burst of speed on 8, followed by the plant and take-off on 9.
The only problem with that scenario is vaulters vary their approach length depending
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on conditions or poles used. For instance, a typical 7-stride approach might be to build speed consistency on strides 1, 2, 3, accelerate through 4, 5 (start lowering the pole on
5), last burst of speed on 6, followed by the plant and takeoff on 7.
Unfortunately, counting forward may give athletes
reason to pause. This first became evident to me when my oldest son lengthened his approach and was confused about when to start lowering the pole, not to mention being
David Brannan
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out of control on take-off due to reaching his top speed too early. Enter the role of counting backwards.
If an athlete is counting backwards they will always start their approach by building speed consistently, accelerating through strides 6, 5, 4, start lowering the pole on 3, add their remaining speed on 2, and plant tall with a perfect take-off step on 1. An athlete can shorten or lengthen their approach and these variables will always be the same— every time, the same action invariably on the same stride number. As an added bonus, an athlete will mentally repeat the length of their run-up with their very first stride, making it virtually impossible to forget their approach length halfway down the runway (don’t laugh, we have all done it).
A few coaches may feel it takes more mental effort to count backwards, but I will argue that vaulters can do the math and maybe even chew gum at the same time. Some elite athletes have automated their entire approach and do not need to count their steps, but if you do, you might consider counting them backwards instead of forward. Counting may not be like autopilot, but it will simplify your run-up and keep it consistent through any approach length.
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David Brannan’s Pole Vault Pit in His Backyard in Alaska
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MAGAZINE Rick McWhorter, David Brannan, Ron Shalvis
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OCTOBERWWW.UST-ESSX.COM 2016 ISSUE
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Sam Kendricks
Vault with Confidence The lightweight Kendricks Special Edition and Recoil Series poles by UST-ESSX are engineered for superior power, stability and consistency. The world’s best vaulters trust our technologically-advanced designs to help them reach their full potential, from approach to push off. Jump with UST-ESSX, and start raising the bar on your level of confidence.
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The Ole Miss
REBELS By: Sadie Lovett
If you make your way southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, you will find yourself in Oxford—the home of the University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss. Ole Miss, the Alma Mater of bronze medalist, Sam Kendricks, has been producing incredible pole vaulters for years and this year is no exception.
Coach Brian Porter has been a pole vault coach for seven years (starting his eighth with the 2016/2017 season) but is starting his second year on the Ole Miss coaching staff. Coach
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Porter was a pole vaulter for Texas Tech University and after he graduated, he stayed for another two years to be a volunteer pole vault coach under Coach Rock Light. After his two years at Texas Tech, Coach Porter took a pole vault coaching position at Southern Illinois University for three seasons before heading south to Ole Miss. Ole Miss has six track and field coaches including Coach Porter who is specifically dedicated to the pole vault. When recruiting pole vaulters, Coach Porter looks at those
who have a PR that would be competitive in the SEC Conference. Walk-ons are welcome and he likes their PR’s to be around 12 for women and 15’6 for men. The vaulters on the team are very close. “We are family here at Ole Miss,” says Coach Porter. He believes that the family atmosphere is the reason why Ole Miss is such a great fit for so many athletes who attend. “We want athletes to feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves—that they are working for a bigger
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Lindey Murray © Joshua Taylor McCoy
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cause. We really harp on the team aspect of track and field here at Ole Miss,” Coach Porter tells us.
FUN FACT DID YOU KNOW? When Sandi Morris jumped 5.00 meters, she was the third woman vaulter in history to jump 5.00 meters or higher.
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This season, the Ole Miss Vault Crew is a decent size: there are three men vaulters and six women vaulters. There is no specific team captain of the crew, but rather a leader in all of them. The whole group feeds on each other—all encouraging everyone to be their best on the track, pushing them to higher heights, and in the weight room. “I love how our group is always giving 100%,” Coach says. On the team, they have a women vaulter who is a 2-time All-American and has a PR of 14’2. Their highest male vaulter has a PR of 16’7, which he vaulted at the SEC Outdoor
Championships. “The biggest thing I feel that our vault squad has done this year was each member hit a lifetime best. As a coach, that is all I can ask for,” says Coach Porter.
When buying poles, Coach Porter doesn’t order a specific type of pole, but instead buys the kind that his vaulters like and the kind that he thinks would be best for the individual vaulter. The majority type of pole they have, though, is UCS. But some vaulters feel more comfortable with other brands, which is why Coach will buy them the brand they want. This year, Ole Miss finished the construction of a brand new track and field facility. There are eight different pole vault boxes, allowing the Callie Watson © Joshua Taylor McCoy
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team to take advantage of any wind there in Oxford.
Lindsey Murray Š Joshua Taylor McCoy
Ole Miss is in the Southeastern Conference, the SEC, and that is one of the most competitive conferences in the country. The Ole Miss season starts early September with their conditioning workouts that will continue through October. It is then that they start their full-time practice season with all the technical sessions. The technical workouts continue until Christmas break. The competition season begins the second week of January and continues until mid-June through the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Since the competition season is so long, Coach Porter likes for his vaulters to take a few weeks off before they begin some summer training. Coach Porter sends the vaulters voluntary, summer workouts, but only after they have taken time to get the rest they need to fully recover from the busy season. If some of the vaulters want to compete during the summer, Coach Porter still prefers that they get enough rest before those competitions so that they are ready for fall training. For workouts, Coach Porter has the vaulters do a lot of sprint mechanics and runway
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Order from left to right: Austin Garrett, Katy McAuley, Sandra OCTOBER 2016 ISSUE Brown, Peyton Moss, Lindsey Murray, Callie Watson, Lyndsey WWW.VAULTERMAGAZINE.COM Murray, Cole Colozzo, Barclay Angle, Nicole Kallenberger © Joshua Taylor McCoy
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work. “I harp on pole runs a lot in our training,” Coach says. The team also does a lot of sand vaulting and gymnastics drills to help with muscle memory of all the phases of the vault. During the off-season, the team is in the weight room three times a week and then twice a week during the competition season.
As a team, the vaulters like to spend time together outside of track, so it is not hard to get them together for something other than practice—because they are most likely together anyway! When Coach Porter wants the team to rest, he has the team do things like pool workouts or play some sand
volleyball—something that is keeping them active, but relieving some of the stress they may have from track. With four new freshmen on the team, there is an even better atmosphere of the vault squad. With all of Coach Porter’s pole-vault knowledge these vaulters will no doubt succeed this year. Lindey Murray © Joshua Taylor McCoy
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Callie Watson with Coach Porter © Joshua Taylor McCoy
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Katy McAuley © Joshua Taylor McCoy
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THE IMPORTANCE OF CROSS TRAINING FOR HIGH-LEVEL ATHLETES By: Warren Race There are many sports in the world, so why be limited to just one? Many sports have very specific movements that are necessary, but there is a high importance for all muscles in the body. It has been an issue with many athletes to the extent that they can’t even perform the simplest movements of any other sports including simply throwing a ball. To start, this as basically as possible, lets discuss the importance of daily life and athletic movement balancing. In most athletic movements, the general direction is forward and pronating: pronating being the movement of the palm of your hand facing towards
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your body rotating away from your body. This is very important to realize because while most athletes train the muscles they use for the movements for “sport-specific” activities, many do not concentrate on the compensating muscles.
For example, many people work on a chest workout, but do not usually focus on strengthening the back muscles that correspond to the movement. Their chest muscles then become too strong for their back muscles to keep up with. In pole vault, you should do a lot of core workouts, but to keep your muscles balanced, you should also do a few back exercises as well. This directly
correlates to cross training because every sport requires different movements and working on as many different, safe movements is important on stability of the overall body. Another example would be if a tennis specific athlete were to never play another sport. There are many tennis players, or even other athletes, who can hardly throw a ball with proper form and distance because they have no muscle memory of basic movements or strength in the muscles. An issue with “sport-specific” training is that most people who say they are experts on the sport, will not actually improve the trainees. The main impor-
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tance of sport-specific training is not just adding weights to the sport movements, which is what most trainers will provide. A key issue is that a sportspecific movement is not adding weight, but it is making the athlete understand the angles and muscles needed to be used for each movement and working to improve these functions. It is great to do sport-specific training, but it is also very im-
portant to work reverse muscles for longer duration in the sport by decreasing chances of injury.
In addition to the muscle training and stability of smaller muscle groups, there is a big concern with understanding tactics and strategies of sports. While obviously there is a big issue in skill level and physical
ability, a major part of almost every sport is the understanding and mental ability to continually improve and push past previous limits. I have found that athletes who have competed in every sport possible have a higher understanding of the improvement and requirements to compete at their current level and even to build themselves to the next level if that is their goal. Rope Climp
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Cross training is overall good for muscle stability and strength. Other sports give you movements that will actually benefit you in pole vault: basketball could help you with the quick sprinting and agility, volleyball could help you with the explosiveness in jumping you need for takeoff and serving or spiking could help you with the strength in your top-hand shoulder. Doing circuit workouts will help you with endurance and teaching your muscles to work at a high level for a longer period of time. This will help you stay in the competition longer because you will have trained you muscle to be more efficient and effective for a longer period of time. When
Cross-training
your muscle can process the oxygen more officiant and effective, then you will be able to practice longer and stay in the competition for more heights and not have to worry about exhaustion affecting your run. When you want to be successful, you need to think of
ways that can help you achieve your goals without exhausting your body with too many workouts during the day. Find what works for you and do it. Maybe cross training will be the change you need to achieve your goals.
Cross-training
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HISTORICAL IMAGE Bob Mathias November 17, 1930 – September 2, 2006
At age 17, he qualified for Team USA and won the gold medal in the Decathlon at the 1948 London Games. He was honored with the James E. Sullivan Award presented each year to America’s top amateur athlete. In 1952, Bob won the Olympic Gold in the Decathlon at the Helsinki Olympic Games, setting a new World Record.
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CHASING THE SKY By: Sandi Morris
Sandi Morris Olympics 2016
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Sandi Morris Olympics 2016
Seventeen years of “the grind”. Four years of anticipation. A lifetime of talent. Everything came down to one single day. A day where I was to either become an Olympian… or I wasn’t.
July 10th, 2016, at the age of 24 (and two days to be exact) I solidified my spot on the U.S. Olympic team. I am heading to Rio. My 2015 season was my breakout season. Myself and Demi Payne exchanged the indoor and outdoor collegiate records a handful of times. I came out on top indoor season and won the NCAA Indoor Title, but she still holds the indoor record. Outdoor season rolled around, and I broke the record, then
she broke the record. I broke it again at SEC Outdoor Championships, and that record still stands. NCAA Outdoor Champs rolled around, and she ended up beating me that time. I truly believe that everything worked out for the absolute best. She has the indoor record, I have the outdoor record. She has the outdoor title, I have the indoor title. That ended up being the most balanced rivalry that ever could have taken place. We were neck-and-neck that season, and brought much needed attention
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to the sport of women’s vault in America. There is even a book being written about our rivalry. Needless to say, a lot happened in my 2015 season, and it really set me up to be a competitive monster this year, 2016. I have learned how to compete. Rain or shine, I will jump.
Wind in my face? I will take off. I may end up with a broken wrist, but I will take off. What am I talking about? Oh, about seven weeks before the trials I fractured my wrist when I broke a pole overseas.
When my pole broke, I hit the mat, and immediately grabbed
my shoulder. It was the worst pain I have ever felt… a piece of the pole flew through the air and smashed into my arm so hard that it deeply bruised it. When watching the video in slow motion, there is a frame where you can see the skin of my shoulder almost completely wrapped around the pole because it was so deeply embedded in my muscle. Yeah, it felt like somebody lit my shoulder on fire. I remember hitting the mat, feeling absolutely nothing for a split second, and then WHOOSH, the worst pain I have ever felt in my life rushed to one very concentrated spot.
And it’s funny…well, not “ha ha” funny… but interesting… because my shoulder ended up being fine. Yes, it hurt SO badly, but it turned out that my wrist was the thing most injured. The shoulder would hurt for a couple weeks, but nothing was torn… only deeply bruised and swollen. I thought my wrist had a minor sprain, but the X-ray would soon reveal a different story.
Sandi Morris 2016 Olympics
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Doc: “So… remember our first appointment when you asked ‘a fracture would hurt more, wouldn’t it?’ Well, apparently not, because the X-ray confirmed that you have a hairline fracture on the end of your ulnar styloid….”
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I stared back…
Me: “My what?”
He proceeded to tell me I couldn’t vault for 4-6 weeks. Most likely closer to 6. I was 7 weeks away from the Olympic Trials.
“So…what can I do?” I asked. I knew it wasn’t a serious injury—definitely not careerending—but with only being 7 weeks from the trials, needless to say I was nervous. Doc: “Well, anything not involving your left wrist.” *Stares back some more*
Me: “Um. So. Yeah, okay. I can train. But everything in the vault involves my hands and arms…”
Doc: “You and your coach are about to have to get very creative. I know this is scary, but this is a very small hairline fracture. If you are sure to rest it, then it is almost guaranteed to be totally healed and feel almost 100% by the time your competition rolls around.”
They fitted me for a splint, and after talking with some physical therapists, I went to the car and just… kind of… sat there. I knew it wasn’t a terrible
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break in my wrist. If it had happened at the end of a season, I would laugh about it and probably go have a margarita on a beach somewhere knowing that by the time the next season comes around in three months it would be completely ready to go. But no. This happened 7 weeks from the biggest meet of my life. Making an Olympic team is something I had dreamt about since childhood. Yeah, I was already a 2-time World Championships competitor. I had just come off an insane indoor season, winning my first U.S. title and taking home a silver medal from World Championships. I had just become the third highest female vaulter in history. And boom. Suddenly I was dealt a bad hand—a broken wrist—and couldn’t vault at all almost until trials. Well, all my worrying didn’t help, and I knew it wasn’t helping, so I hit training hard. After I shed a few tears and got over the “woe-is-me” I got back to work. Ok. Four weeks without carrying a pole, then re-evaluate and take it from there. Let’s do this. My coach and I worked through it, and found ways for me to do things that I never thought I could, such as onearm swing up drills.
Four weeks soon passed, and I was in amazing shape. I had
an x-ray and the doc told me I needed at least another week to heal before hitting a takeoff, but that the bone was strong enough for me to carry a pole. Week 5 was spent doing most of the things I had been doing for the first four weeks, but we had two practices where I carried a pole for the first time. Man, did it feel weird. My wrist did hurt, but not badly…it more just felt very weak. It did not want to bend back enough to carry the pole. The flexibility was gone. So week 5 was all about strengthening those muscles in my grip and gently working on the flexibility.
Week 6 I got another X-ray, and low and behold the doc said it was ready to start “testing the waters”. The bone was solid enough to where some impact would not damage it. It’s like pouring fresh concrete. There are stages where the concrete will be solid, and you can walk over it, but if you were to drive a truck over it, it would be permanently damaged. The bone was somewhere between “you can walk on it” and “you can drive over it”.
After this news, we decided to try planting a very soft, very small pole from 3 lefts.
Pumpkin
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Ice Cream
It’s pumpkin-everyying season! And you’re in training. Though at may not stop you from getting a much-nnded pumpkin spice latte, here is a yummy recipe at you wi love and not ffl so guilty having after practice! Yield: 2 Ingredients: • 2 Bananas – Sliced and Frozen • 3 Tbsp of Maple Syrup • 2 Tbsp of Pumpkin Spice • 1/2 Cup of Pumpkin Purr Directions: 1. In a food processor, blend a e ingredients until smooo and creamy. Transfer to a glass container and frrze for about an hour. 2. If it frrzes hard, let it sit on e counter for a few minutes. Serve wii some sprinkled chopped nuts.
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Things went well. The wrist bugged me about as much as a shin splint.
World Indoor 2016 Sandi Morris
Trials rolled around, and I felt pretty normal in prelims, but when finals came a couple days later, the wrist was sore from prelims. I knew it wouldn’t matter as long as I fought through it and brought steam down the runway like usual. The plant may sound like it would hurt the wrist most, but it was actually the motion of bending my wrist in a funny way when I swing up the pole… Things were shaky at first, but I pulled it together and ended up jumping 4.75m/15’7.75 as my final clearance. I took home a silver medal at the Trials, and solidified my spot on Team USA. I can’t even express how happy and relieved I was to pull it off even after the wrist. Now, it was time to get down to business and work on jumping back up around my PR…. I would have about 3 more weeks to train and prepare for the Rio Olympics. I proved to myself that regardless of some wrist discomfort, I could do this thing. I was going to go out and give it my all, and with confidence. __________________________________
It’s August 30th, 2016 - After the fact
How does it feel? Well, it is surreal. To achieve something that I have dreamt of since childhood is hard to express. It’s hard to believe the Games are over… there was so much anticipation, and it feels like they were over in the blink of an eye. I’m just so happy that my experience was a positive one, and not only did I leave with
a silver medal, but I left with unforgettable memories.
The competition itself was a learning experience. I had jumped against all of those competitors before, but this was different. This was the Olympics. This is the one meet that people all over the world know of. It carries with it an entirely different level of prestige because the eyes of the earth are watching.
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It took me a bit to get into a “groove”…I was making bars consistently on first attempts until 4.70m where I “blew through” my pole. It was moving too quickly to connect with it and catch the ride. I made some adjustments and made that bar on my second attempt easily.
I fought my way up heights. When I cleared 4.85m/15’11 that bumped me from 5th place to 2nd. I knew I was going home with a medal that day. It was time to loosen up and bring everything I had down that runway to try to take home gold.
My first two attempts at 4.90m were not so good, but on my third attempt, I was confident and was strong down the runway. Right before my attempt, we stopped for the national anthem of a gold medalist standing on the podium. I don’t remember what nation or what athlete it was because I was so focused on what was ahead. I was about to take my last gold medal attempt. The moment that anthem ended, I took a deep breath, picked up my pole, and went to my mark on the runway. I brought everything I had, I flew up into the air,
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and came within the brush of a thigh of making that 4.90m bar. I thought I was clean over, until I was falling on the other side and watched it wiggle slightly and fall off. I knew I was a silver medalist. For a fraction of a second, I was about to be disappointed. I rolled out of my fall and smacked the mat in frustration because I hardly brushed the bar with my leg, but it was enough to make it fall. Instead of being angry, I thought to myself “you idiot…” because a few weeks prior, I was struggling to even make the Olympic team coming off a broken wrist. I was not about to let myself be upset. (All of these thoughts flashed through my brain in probably a 3-second time frame…) By the time I stood up off the pit, I was happy.
I was smiling.
I was an Olympic silver medalist.
I turned and blew a kiss to the crowd, thanking them for cheering me on in my endeavor to become a gold medalist. I hugged the champion, Katarina Stefanidi of Greece, and prepared myself for the rush
of questions from media (and fans) back home about my last attempt at the gold medal bar. I knew people would want to know if I was devastated. Honestly, it’s quite the contrary. I feel like the most blessed and lucky girl in the whole word. I believe everything happens for a reason. I know that missing the gold medal will fill me with drive—it already has. I truly believe I am more likely to win Gold in Tokyo because of the tiny taste of Gold I experienced in Rio. All you can do is bring your best every single day, and whatever medals and awards you come home with are just a small portion of the reward of being a professional athlete. The experience is what it’s all about. I can’t wait to tell my children about my life vaulting around the world, and I hope they are lucky enough to get to experience something like this, too.
Cinnamon
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Chrisps
Prep Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 2 hours 30 mins Total Time: 2 hours 45 mins Serves: Serves 4
Ingredients - 4 Apples – Cored and sliced ” ick - 1-2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon - 1-2 tsp. Granulated Sugar – if nnded - Cooking Spray Instructions 1. Preheat oven to 200 degrrs Fahrenheit. 2. Add e sliced apples to a large bowl en coat e apples wii e cinnamon and/or sugar. 3. Spray a baking shht wii cooking spray and line e apples flat on e pan. You may nnd to use two pans so at ey are not overlapping. ove 4. Bake 2-3 hours until e chips are dry yet sti soft. Aow to cool completely before placing em in an airtight container for up to 4 days (if ey last at long!). These wi be a perfect snack for practice and en later in e year for mmts! They’re easy to put into a Ziploc bag and stick in your backpack or practice bag. They’re also cheap and heally to make! Be careful who you share it wii, ese apple chips are a lot like being e person who has a pack of gum—by e time e bag gets back around to you, won’t beMAGAZINE any left! 2016ere VAULTER
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