Dear Tommy,
The other day I Googled your name. I do that from time to time, on the off-chance that there is some new result posted somewhere with your name in it. Perhaps some faraway meet in Europe. Or a funky vault-only exhibition some place nearby.
But when I noticed a recent forum thread at Polevaultpower.com, it gave me pause.
On behalf of your fans: Please reconsider any decision to retire from track and field just yet.
Track and field needs you, Tommy. More than ever this sport needs your magazine-cover good looks, your whole-milk wholesomeness. It needs your story line. This sport can’t afford to lose it’s bankable stars.
But here’s the thing, and I don’t think I am alone in suggesting this: Do all 10.
Your path to a Wheaties box begins with the acceptance that your best shot to capture imaginations and inspire kids is with the decathlon. What about Ashton Eaton? I’ll get to him in a moment.
In 2008, at the Trials in your home stadium, the moment you’d worked for all those years slipped away. A no-height. We saw your emotion in the mixed zone. There was rage and frustration there. And it was understandable.
You deserved to take a break. The work of a pro track athlete is monotonous and unappealing at times. It’s no fun. And after you are idle for a while, your sponsorship deal goes away.
The pole vault is a cold-hearted mistress. There is a rush, a thrill, soaring over the bar two stories off the ground. We know you are drawn to that. The chance to become America’s answer to Sergei Bubka has an intoxicating appeal to it, sure.
But the pole vault will also cut your heart out and show it to you. Just ask Dan O’Brien. No, don’t. You already know.
Be the guy who can do it all, like Jenner, O’Brien or Clay. Because we know that you belong in that company. You are not a specialist. You are a worker.
It’s going to be harder, for sure. It will exhaust you.
But the decathlon allows you to redeem yourself. If you make a mistake, you can forget about it and move on.
You are a great multi, just like Ashton. We know you can throw, maybe not as far as Art, but you honor him every time you pick up a javelin. We know you can run. You were the state champ in the 100.
We know you can handle all 10 events, the way you did when you won the Pac-10 Conference title as a freshman.
I’ve added it up, Tommy. Your personal bests – almost all of them at least five or six years old now – come to 7,958 when you plug them into the decathlon table.
Your pole vault PR alone is worth 1,161 points!
The thing that makes you special, and compelling, isn’t merely the pole vault. It’s the fact that you can rise to meet challenges, and that your athletic talents are versatile. So you could score 8,000 points, and probably a lot more. Please don’t retire before we know what that number is.
So here’s the thing. There has been some discussion of starting a post-collegiate group for multis in Eugene. I believe that came from Vin Lananna. I’m not sure where it stands today.
Have you met Ashton Eaton? Are you friends with him? (I would have to think if you both are in Eugene there’s a chance of that). Do we need to set up an introduction?
Your personalities are a pretty good match. You are two of the genuinely nice, humble athletes I’ve ever met. You should get know Ashton if you don’t already. You’d like him.
And you would make each other better. If you trained together, supported one another, as teammates, you could push Ashton to an Olympic medal, maybe as early as 2012. Or vice versa.
How would that be, compared to 2008?
There’s a much greater chance at finding satisfaction this way, wrapping yourself around the whole of the sport and not just a sliver of it. And the Hayward Field crowd might just help you both get to London.
Sincerely,
Doug Binder
