COMMENTARY : Hartwig emerges as unlikely Olympian
Posted on Thursday, July 3, 2008
EUGENE, Ore. — Just as 18-yearold Jeffrey Demps — dreadlocked, lithe, taut as a bowstring — lined up for a 100-meter semifinal Sunday, a middle-age guy with bangs named Jeff was making his own unlikely Olympic bid in the pole vault pit.
Although Demps did not qualify at these U. S. Olympic track and field trials, Jeff Hartwig, who will be 41 in September and who was a first-time Olympian when Demps was a firstgrader, did.
Afterward, as Hartwig (Arkansas State, Jonesboro ) climbed onto the podium with fellow pole vault qualifiers Derek Miles and Brad Walker for their postevent interviews, Hartwig moaned.
“Is it bad that my knees hurt ?” asked Hartwig, who said he planned to celebrate his good fortune with a massage.
No, but it’s surprising that the elated Hartwig, who is now the oldest American Olympic pole vaulter ever, could feel any pain at all after locking up his unanticipated trip to Beijing.
“He’s amazing,” said Earl Bell, his coach. “He’s like Tarzan.” Hartwig’s windswept leap of 18 1 feet, 8 / 4 inches was second-best to the 1 35-year-old Miles’ 19-0 / 4. Walker, 27, the world’s top-ranked vaulter in 2007 and the man who broke Hartwig’s U. S.
1 record, was third at 18-6 / 2. After making the U. S. Olympic team in 1996 — he finished 11 th in Atlanta — and setting an American record (19-9 1 / 4 ) in 1998, Hartwig no-heighted at the 2000 and 2004 trials. After that second failure, in Sacramento, Calif., he glumly forecast that the bar for his Olympic dreams might have been set too high. There was no way, he said then, he’d be back at the 2008 trials.
“But I just never went away,” he said. “I was 36 at the time, and I never thought that I could be at anywhere close to this level as a 40-year-old. But I just never quit.”
What Hartwig discovered was that as much as he loved his wife, Carol, and daughter, there was nothing else to replace the ups and downs of vaulting. So he kept at it, always careful to shut down whenever he felt a twinge in his aging body.
“In 2000, it was a heartbreaker,” he said. “In 2004, it hurt, too, but I think the three guys who made the team that year were better than I was. I think I may be better now than I was then. We’ll see. Hopefully, I can hold together through the summer and go from there.”
While Walker has been the dominant U. S. vaulter for the past few years, Hartwig, who grew up in St. Charles, Mo., has leaped along in the shadows.
“It’s funny, but every year I go to a meet and someone will say, ‘I thought you retired,’” Hartwig said. “At the end of each year, I’d decide whether to keep going or not. But I can say pretty much, guaranteed, for sure, I’m done after this year.”
Hartwig said vaulters like Miles and Walker are responsible for his longevity in the sport. He has been competing at the national level since 1989. “Those guys, the other vaulters I compete against, are my best friends in the world,” he said. “If it wasn’t for that camaraderie, I don’t think I’d be here.” He almost wasn’t. He missed on his first two attempts Sunday, then salvaged his dream by going over the 1 bar at 18-0 / 2 on his third and last effort.
1 He eventually cleared 18-8 / 4 on a day when the wind seemed to bother most of the other, younger vaulters.
“The conditions, I think, played to my favor,” he said. “They were really tricky. Almost every time down, the wind was blowing a different direction.”
Sunday’s nine other vaulters, none of whom was anywhere near as old as Hartwig, can take inspiration from his success.
“It motivates everyone to see Jeff out there,” said Paul Litchfield, a former Idaho State star. “It shows you you can chase your dreams as long as you want. Maybe your prime isn’t exactly where the scientists and doctors have been telling you it is.”
So where will fate find Hartwig when the Olympics are over ?
He and his wife could expand their business — even though, since they raise boa constrictors and pythons for pet stores, that could be risky. Or he could become a coach. Perhaps he will even take a crack at a third Olympic appearance.
“If I honestly thought I could go 10 more years, I would,” he said. “I love the sport that much. But I can tell you now for sure, in four more years, I may be at the trials, but it will be as a spectator.”
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