Stephanie Brown-Trafton, surprise winner of the women's Olympic discus title (© Getty Images)
BeijingForget Tyson Gay, forget Reese Hoffa, forget Lauryn Williams, forget Mary Lou Retton. Actually, no, don’t forget Mary Lou Retton.
After Gay, Hoffa and Williams failed to deliver the first gold medal of these Olympics for the United States, the job fell to little-known Stephanie Brown Trafton. Or was it Trafton Brown, reporters ill prepared for an upset in the women’s Discus were asking.
And when Brown Trafton left the track for the bowels of the National Stadium where the media had gathered to learn more about her, she was quick with her request. “I want to meet Mary Lou Retton, Brown Trafton pleaded. “Please, somebody hook me up. I have to meet Mary Lou.”
Retton, as the individual all-around champion in gymnastics, was America’s darling during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Stephanie Brown, as she was then, was four years old. “She was my idol,” she said. “I had a leotard just like hers that I wore all the time. But I grew out of it quite quickly.”
Growing and growing, and not stopping until she reached the 6ft 4in she is today, the would-be gymnast became a basketball player and finally, after serious injury, a Discus thrower. And a Discus thrower who got two wishes on one night. The first was the gold medal. The second was one more.
The US team had waited four days for their first gold and Brown Trafton had never imagined it would be her delivering it. “I am surprised that we haven’t won more golds but I hope to set the trend,” she said. “I wish we could win more golds. Go USA.” Barely 60 minutes later, along came Angelo Taylor with victory, at the head of a US clean sweep, in the men’s 400m Hurdles.
In a low-standard competition, Brown Trafton seized her chance. A first round throw of 64.74 stood as the leading mark to the end, though six other women have thrown further this season. So little experience has she had at this level that, although it was her second Olympics, she has never qualified for the World Championships.
At the 2004 Athens Olympics, she didn’t make the final, finishing 11th in her group. At the US Olympic trials this season, she was the last of the three athletes in the event to book her place. “2004 gave me an awesome experience,” Brown Trafton recalled. “I came into the Olympics being just out of college. I was really nervous.”
Aged 28, Brown Trafton is a part-time professional athlete from California, working 15 to 20 hours a week in the Information and Services Technology department at Sycamore Environmental Consulting.
Was the part-timer surprised she had won? “Yes, I’m a little bit surprised,” she admitted. “There are some excellent throwers here who have been to tons more Olympics than I have. I don’t have as much experience as they do and it’s an awesome thing to go out and have the peace of mind to throw far.
“I think I was the tallest person out there and that helps a lot because I’ve got long arms, long legs, and I know that the physique necessary to be a good Discus thrower includes long arms and long legs. I’m working on my strength and speed. Those things are going to come in time and it can only get better form here.”
Brown Trafton explained the path which led her into taking up the Discus. “I got a basketball scholarship, and I wanted to be a basketball player in the Olympics,” she said. “But I tore my ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) when I was in college and I lost the level for basketball. So I tried to focus on track and field and being a Discus thrower and Shot putter at the time.
This was the first Olympic victory for the US in the women’s Discus since Lillian Copeland’s in 1932. “The US in the past has won gold medals in a lot of the events,” Brown Trafton said. “Hopefully now we can show that all the throwing events can have the potential for being no less consistent. I am still going to be around for 2012 so, hopefully over the next four years, I can keep getting better.
“The coaches in America are awesome and we just have to have that confidence. I hope this gives all the kids in high school and college the confidence to medal at the Olympic Games.”
Whether you’re Mary Lou Retton or Stephanie Brown Trafton an Olympic gold medal is an Olympic gold medal.
David Powell for the IAAF
