28/08/2023
Having been an educationally upskilled recreational athlete for many years, now an aging one, I second this world champion's comments on the importance of listening to your body and weighing up the cost/benefit of pushing beyond your limits at times. Of course though this is a natural part of competition and training, it should be done with a grounded mind prioritising the importance of long term health and vitality, for without that, optimal performance, and the chance of continuing robust lifelong health, can be challenged.
To say that I’ve seen mixed reviews about our decision to share the win would be an understatement. While part of me doesn’t want to entertain the negative comments, I would like to help enlighten those that are calling us “cowards”, “shameful”, “pathetic” etc. I know you can’t make everyone happy in this world, but in an effort to help people understand the sport that I love so much, I would like to explain my mentality in that moment. The pole vault is not an endurance event. We have a short window of jumps. Once the fatigue sets in, it not only becomes more difficult, but dangerous. The sport has seen everything from athletes just landing funny with minor tweaks, to horrific accidents. We had jumped an entire competition, vaulting for almost 4 hours in 85 degree heat. The competition ended, and we were exhausted. A World Championship is incredibly emotionally draining-even more so than a regular competition. My step (the point where I jump off the ground into the takeoff) to vault safely has to be in almost the exact same spot every time, give or take a few inches. My last few jumps, that takeoff step was moving further and further out, giving us real data showing my fatigue even with adrenaline. To walk away healthy and with a gold medal, while celebrating with my friend that had jumped just as well, was a no-brainer. Part of the reason we’ve reached the highest level is by listening to our bodies, and knowing our limitations. We decided that in this particular moment, sharing glory was just as good as earning it outright. I understand that people want to see a clear winner. It is the exciting part of sport. But in this instance, it was without a doubt the right decision, and one that I will never regret. Contrary to popular belief, you do not need a “win at all cost” mindset to have a champion’s mentality.
