News21 Aug 2009


For Hardee, Decathlon victory brings him his first gold in 25 years

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Eventual Decathlon winner Trey Hardee of the United States throws three personal bests in the men's Decathlon Javelin Throw in the Berlin Olympic Stadium (© Getty Images)

If there was a moment where Trey Hardee wavered momentarily on his way to Decathlon gold in Berlin, it was when the time came to pick up his pole vault. It was at this stage last year in the Bird’s Nest in Beijing that his world caved in. He had hurt his wrist and he no-heighted and that was the end of his Olympic Games.

“I felt great until the pole vault,” said Hardee, talking about the two-day event in Berlin. “Suddenly I wasn’t feeling that good. The warm-up was really hard and it was strange because we had been working on my diet and maintaining hydration and blood sugar levels over the two days. There was something wrong. I just couldn’t get into a rhythm. But then I picked up the pole and something just clicked and I started to feel great.

“In the end I had a good day. I could not have asked for anything better after last year when I felt as though I had let so many people down.”

The Pole Vault has played a significant part in Hardee’s life. It was when he was at Vestavia Hills High School in Alabama that he put all his energies into forging a career in basketball that was to grind to a dramatic halt one day when his coach took him to one side and said. “Why don’t you try the pole vault. It’s not working out.” From there he progressed to the Decathlon.

It was in 2005 that his present coach, Mario Sategna, an 8000-plus decathlete himself, took over the reins at the University of Texas and brought Hardee on.

As he wearily entered the mixed zone in the bowels of the Olympic stadium, Hardee briefly stopped to shake hands with one of the modern greats of the decathlon, Roman Sebrle, and then talked about his reactions to his World title.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet, I’m trying to catch my breath to enjoy the moment. Everything happens for a reason. It was a very humbling experience. I represented a team and wanted to perform to the best of my ability. I can’t ask for more.”

As he was taking a victory lap around the Olympic stadium, he stopped to put an imitation gold medal round his neck. It was still there when he came into the press conference and he placed it alongside his name-plate on the top table. “It was given to me by a group of Swiss men,” he explained. “It’s made of cardboard. It will do until I get the real thing tomorrow. My first gold medal in 25 years. It’s going to be special.”

So what now for the new World champion? He established three personal bests and set eight season bests in the course of the two days for a total of 8790, a massive improvement on his previous mark of 8534. Where would he look for improvement?

"Well, first of all, Beijing was unbelievable motivation. And Gotzis was also a big confidence booster. I went there after having six weeks off with a hamstring injury. We had not done anything and we went to Gotzis to test it out. After the confidence booster of Gotzis we really put the hammer down. We then trained right through the US championships (which he won). But as for the events, the javelin is going to go far, but sometimes it’s better to think of the decathlon as one event, not ten, and I just want to get better at that. I want to do the decathlon better.”

And when he is not at the track, what does Hardee do to pass the time? Well, absolutely nothing. “Tomorrow, for example, I’ll turn the alarm off and have no obligations at all.”

Interviewed by his local newspaper he once expanded on the subject. “If you gave me the option on my day off to do anything I wanted to do, it would be to sit in my apartment, watching TV or playing guitar and napping. It would clearly just be doing absolutely nothing."

After watching him for the last two days and considering the amount of training decathletes do, it is not so surprising. But his hobby of not watching the clock came in handy during the extra long second day in Beijing which lasted for over 12 hours on the hottest day of the summer in Berlin with the temperature nudging 32 degrees.

“I never look at my watch during a competition. I don’t even know what the time is now,” said Hardee as the little finger passed eleven in the press conference room. “I didn’t want to get caught up in the time thing. In fact, it didn’t seem to take that long.”

It only remains to reveal Trey’s real name: James Edward Hardee III. Maybe Trey is easier after all.

Michael Butcher for the IAAF
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