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"Off The Record"
A Blog by Jill M. Geer

Hardee a champion on the track, between the ears

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

BERLIN - Athletic pursuits are by their very definition physical. Men and women train to push themselves to their physical limits and to test those limits in competition.

But the difference between an athlete and a champion has more to do with psychology and maturity; with how an athlete sees and him or herself. Only when they are in the right place mentally can they turn in the performance under pressure that is necessary to win.

Thursday at Olympic Stadium Trey Hardee unmistakably showed, with his performance, that he has what it takes in his mind to be a world champion.

"TREY" BIEN!

The emergence of Hardee as the decathlon gold medalist had to be the Team USA surprise story of the meet thus far. Trey is an immense talent who is the collegiate record holder, was second at the 2008 Olympic Trials behind eventual gold medalist Bryan Clay, and won the 2009 title in a field absent of Clay. He has an almost ideal build for the decathlon, tall (6-5) and lean (215 pounds), with enough strength to keep him competitive through the power events.

That Trey won on Thursday can't be considered a fluke. A person can have a "Beamonesque" moment in a single event, but "Beamonesque" can't be applied to a two-day, 10-event competition.

With Trey, I believe that what was Beamonesque was the leap in his mind. Rather than being considered the #2 American in the field, he was #1 from the very first event. He started performing like #1 and kept rolling. With each solid performance, his confidence grew.

Of course, all of this is armchair analysis. But there has to be a mental difference between the guy who no-heighted in the pole vault during the 2008 Olympic decathlon and the guy who almost matched his PR in the vault in Berlin.

In fact, watching Trey in the pole vault on Thursday is when I realized he had already become the champion, with two events remaining in the competition. Rather than being one of the invisible masses who competes in the wake of Clay and Roman Sberle, he was the man in the spotlight, and he embraced it. Getting ready for his final attempt, he rallied the crowd to clap rhythmically for him, and they were happy to oblige. This packed stadium knew he was in the lead. They knew he was the top vaulter of the day. The entire stadium joined in the clapping.

"Trey," I thought. "You are now the man!"

DESERVING DEMUS

It has been a great pleasure for me to watch the athletic and emotional maturity of Lashinda Demus over the years. Always possessing great speed and immense talent, Demus came out of the University of South Carolina a bit rough around the edges and didn't engage or embrace the press. I wasn't sure if, regardless of her future athletic accomplishments, she would be an athlete who could be in the spotlight in the way that Sanya Richards, Allyson Felix and Kara Goucher represent the sport.

But in the last few years, I have seen the now-27-year-old become one of the athletes I most admire for what she has been able to accomplish in her life, and how she carries herself.

I had never really gotten to know Lashinda, in part because I never thought I could really approach her. Once she had twin boys in 2007, life irrevocably changed for this uber-talent. Motherhood, as they say, changes you. But Lashinda had more than just the usual changes wrought by motherhood. She had motherhood x2 as she attempted to get into shape in just one year and qualify for the Olympic Team in arguably the toughest event on the track, the 400-meter hurdles. You need speed, strength, endurance, and abs to run the 400 hurdles. Ask any mother with a 1-year-old (not to mention two 1-year-olds) if they have even two of those qualities.

You get the picture.

Even more remarkable was that she was pursuing this Olympic dream while only she and her husband provided child care for – have I mentioned this? – TWIN boys. No nannies, no daycare. Just Lashinda and her husband. And … TWIN boys.

In 2008, we invited her to be part of the USOC's Media Days in Chicago, leading up to the Olympics. In describing her life and her training, she was warm, humble, and above all, just real. She was someone who was comfortable in her own skin and who seemed incredibly approachable. She instantly became someone I was awed by. I had the same question as everyone else: How do you do it?!?!?

Things have changed again for Lashinda since she placed a heartbreaking fourth at the 2008 Olympic Trials. In order to best manage her family and her athletic career, she and her family relocated to her home state of California, where her mother now coaches her and her husband is her agent. That is an awful lot of family togetherness, but it has paid of in spades for Lashinda.

I know that her silver medal here in Berlin is bitter for her. She was the favorite entering the final. Entering the stretch even with Olympic gold medalist Melaine Walker of Jamaica, she clipped a hurdle and was beaten by a championship-record, #2 all-time run by Walker. Equally frustrating must be that Walker has not been in good form this year, with her best time entering Berlin just 54.20 to Demus' world-leading 52.64. Seeing a shot of Lashinda after the race, she was both disappointed and mad. Completely understandable from an athlete who rightly expected to win.

This singular loss can't change that Lashinda is a different athlete now. Maybe the change has been with me. Maybe it is my perception of Lashinda has changed more than she has. Whatever it is, I wish I managed to juggle what she does and accomplish what she has.

Maybe sometime between winning medals, taking care of her boys, and being a wife and daughter, she can give me a few tips.

EPILOGUE

I can't write about Thursday without writing about Bolt. He ran 19.19 to crush his own world record and make Michael Johnson's 19.32 look like the JV race.

I take that back. I can't possibly write about Bolt's performance. There are no words.

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Jill M. Geer is Chief Public Affairs Officer of USATF. She recently completed her first marathon at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, where she qualified for Boston. Follow her professional exploits as the USATF spokesperson and her adventures as a mid-pack marathoner -- Off The Record.