SPRINGDALE : Olympic athlete receives welcome
Posted on Tuesday, August 26, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/235431/
SPRINGDALE — When pole vaulter April Steiner-Bennett walked out of a long tunnel and into the bright lights illuminating the field at Beijing’s National Stadium, her banter with other athletes halted and her eyes filled with tears.
“I looked up at that flame and I thought ‘I get to see this. I’m in the middle of it, ’” she said.
Competing in her first Olympics, Steiner-Bennett finished eighth in a field of 12 on Aug. 18, clearing 14 feet, 11 inches.
At the same time on the other side of the ocean, children at Springdale’s Hellstern Middle School, where Steiner-Bennett teaches physical education, prepared for their first day of school.
The 16-year journey from her hometown in Mesa, Ariz., to the most-watched athletic event in U. S. television history was fueled by inspiring coaches, family members and friends, Steiner-Bennett said.
On Monday, tears returned to her eyes as her big dream turned into a big responsibility — passing her inspiration and motivation on to the children she teaches.
Children crowded the floor of Hellstern’s cafeteria for a presentation welcoming their teacher back to school.
Teachers ushered Steiner-Bennett, wearing the Ralph Lauren sportswear designed for U. S. athletes’ opening ceremonies, to stand atop a hand-painted cardboard medal platform on the school’s stage. They put a gold-colored medal around her neck and handed her a bouquet of flowers before the curtains opened behind her, revealing the Har-Ber High School band as it played the national anthem.
Steiner-Bennett is the first Springdale school teacher to compete in the Olympics.
Principal Angela Coats said she hoped students could view their P. E. teacher as a model of working hard to do great things.
“She really defines what it is to be a hero,” she told pupils. “You may not go to the Olympics, but there can be something bright in your future.”
Beginning at 12 years old, determined one day to compete in the Olympics, Steiner-Bennett tried sport after sport before she started pole vaulting in college, finding the right fit for elite competition.
She was a four-time All-American at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville after transferring from Paradise Valley Community College in Arizona.
Steiner-Bennett told the young crowd of leaving school after work and heading to the gym or the track, of six-day-aweek workouts that lasted until 7 p. m., and of waist-deep 52-degree baths she took to prevent muscle injuries.
“It’s the journey,” she said. “You have to appreciate every step of it.”
When she felt herself losing motivation, she’d look at an Olympic logo ring she wears along with her wedding ring — a gift from a girl she mentored who later died of cancer.
“These rings have never meant more to me than when I made the team,” she said.
Springdale Mayor Jerre Van Hoose presented Steiner-Bennett with a key to the city, telling students “she gave herself a chance to be up here by doing hard work.” The Olympics led to many memories and good stories to tell, like trading hugs and jokes with former President George H. W. Bush, getting into a brief staring contest with President George W. Bush and walking out in the opening ceremonies next to NBA star Kobe Bryant. But more than any anecdote, the Olympics were a chance to compete at the sport Steiner-Bennett worked hard for. “I walked out of that tunnel and I said ‘ It’s on, ’” she said.
To contact this reporter: eblad@arkansasonline. com