{"id":7276,"date":"2024-08-06T09:13:02","date_gmt":"2024-08-06T13:13:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=7276"},"modified":"2024-08-06T09:13:05","modified_gmt":"2024-08-06T13:13:05","slug":"how-mondo-won-the-gold-and-started-a-dog-fight-almost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2024\/08\/06\/how-mondo-won-the-gold-and-started-a-dog-fight-almost\/","title":{"rendered":"How Mondo Won the Gold and Started a Dog Fight (almost)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(This should be a \u201cSunday Story\u201d, but it\u2019s too long to wait!!)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Olympics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the best week of the Olympics.  Sure, last week was the week of Simone Biles and Gymnastics (and the guys did well too).  There was all of the swimming, Ledecky, Leon and the rest.  And, surprising for me, there was even two men\u2019s basketball games.   This from a guy who\u2019s only watched three NBA games in his life (one live in Cleveland).  But there is something compelling about the best of the best finding a way to work together, as the \u201cunderdog\u201d rest of the world tries to find a crack in the armor.  Lebron, Steph, KD, and the rest are so good; they just raise their game to a step (maybe two or three) above the rest every time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But my best week is this week, because this week is track and field.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(If you don\u2019t know, I coached track and field at the high school level for forty years, and I\u2019m still a track official, and a \u201cclinic\u201d pole vaulting coach).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know why, but my wife, Jenn, is tired of track.  It might be because it\u2019s on all day (Paris is six hours ahead), and then there\u2019s the \u201chighlights\u201d that are on all through primetime.  The phrase, \u201chaven\u2019t I seen this before\u201d has been uttered more than once, as has the suggestion to watch reruns of the \u201cYellowstone\u201d series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Track and Field<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s the Olympics, and it\u2019s track and field.\u00a0\u00a0Once every four years I get to see \u201cmy sport\u201d highlighted to the world.\u00a0\u00a0While I made my \u201cmark\u201d as a pole vault coach, I coached every other event as well.\u00a0\u00a0So I was fascinated by the men\u2019s shot put finals (it rained, and these highly prepared Olympians were completely non-plussed by a slick ring), or the heats of the 200 meter dash, or the strategic 1500\u2019s.\u00a0\u00a0And I definitely am a \u201crelay\u201d guy.\u00a0\u00a0The dreaded 4×100\u2019s start on Thursday.\u00a0\u00a0The US should win both men\u2019s and women\u2019s races, but we have blown exchanges in the past as often as gotten on the podium, so there\u2019s always that tension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there\u2019s a \u201cnew\u201d way to watch the games, one that makes a coach like me very, very, happy.\u00a0\u00a0Instead of just seeing the highlights of a field event, shot put or discus or pole vault; you can click on a streaming service (Peacock) and watch the event start to finish, without interruption.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s just like being there, even to hearing the \u201cprivate\u201d conversations between the athletes and their coaches on the sidelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prelims<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I was up at 4:15 am to watch the men\u2019s pole vault qualifying.\u00a0\u00a0The technical detail:\u00a0\u00a0the Olympic pole vault starts with thirty or so competitors.\u00a0\u00a0They have a preliminary competition on side-by-side runways, whittling the competition down to the final thirteen or twelve.\u00a0\u00a0Then they stop, bringing the finalists back for a brand new competition in a couple of days.\u00a0\u00a0So at 4:15 I got to watch a split screen vault, two pits going at the same time, and for a couple of hours there was the \u201cthrill of survival, and the agony of defeat\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Survival to make the finals or defeat by failing to clear high enough to go on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monday, those surviving athletes came back for the Olympic men\u2019s pole vault finals.  And again, it was streamed live, start to finish.  This time it was an evening competition, which meant that it was on all afternoon here in the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mondo<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Now I\u2019m not going to get too technical.  But here\u2019s the \u201cscouting report\u201d.  The pre-eminent pole vaulter of our time is a twenty-four year old from Louisiana named Armand Duplantis, but known by his nickname, Mondo (also the name of the most expensive track surface).   He owns the world record, and was the gold medalist in the 2020 (2021) Tokyo games.   So here\u2019 the \u201cjoke\u201d about Mondo:  what would you get if an American world class pole vaulter and a Swedish world class heptathlete and volleyball player had a baby?  The answer is Mondo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He vaults for Sweden, even though he grew up in Louisiana.\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s a long story about that, the dreaded politics of track and field and a terrible decision by the USA Track and Field powers back when Mondo was fifteen.\u00a0\u00a0Suffice is to say, Mondo started vaulting before he could talk, and he \u201cvaulted his age\u201d from the time he was seven until he was twenty. (A note:\u00a0\u00a0the best vaulters in the world are in the \u201c6 meter club\u201d, that\u2019s a little over 19\u20198\u201d inches.\u00a0\u00a0Only twenty-four vaulters in history have cleared that; only seven are still active today).\u00a0\u00a0Mondo is coached by his Mom and Dad.\u00a0\u00a0Mom does all the conditioning training, Dad, a 19 foot vaulter of the early 1990\u2019s, does the technical training.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

World Class<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Did I say I wasn\u2019t going to get too technical?\u00a0\u00a0Oh well, anyway Mondo has been world class since he was eighteen, and some older vaulters took him under their wings, that is, before he flew far over them.\u00a0\u00a0The best known of those are the former world record holder French vaulter Renaud Lavillenie, and the best \u201cAmerican\u201d vaulter, Sam Kendricks, both\u00a0\u00a0\u201c6 Meter\u201d guys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Olympic men\u2019s pole vault, there were really two competitions going on.\u00a0\u00a0The first was the battle for silver and bronze medals: who would get on the podium.\u00a0\u00a0There were good vaulters from China, Philippines, Turkey, Greece, and Sam from the USA. (Renaud is recovering from injury and unable to vault.\u00a0\u00a0He sat with Mondo\u2019s Dad in the stands).\u00a0\u00a0They battled through to 5.95 meters (that\u2019s about 19\u20197\u201d).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0Sam Kendricks won with a great clearance, beating the young Greek vaulter,\u00a0Emmanouil Karalis.\u00a0\u00a0The joy both of them showed, clearing their best heights (Karalis went 5.90, 19\u20194\u201d) and earning medals\u00a0was exciting.\u00a0\u00a0And the camaraderie of the vaulters, winning and losing was uplifting.\u00a0\u00a0There are so few who understand what it takes to be that good, their shared experience makes for a tight \u201cclub\u201d of competitors.\u00a0\u00a0The battle is as much against the \u201cbar\u201d as it is about the others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bar<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Oh, and that second competition; Mondo versus the bar.\u00a0\u00a0He took vaults at 5.70, 5.85, and 5.95 clearing each bar by \u201ca mile\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0At 6 meters, it was just Mondo and Sam left (vaulters from Louisiana and Mississippi, Sweden and the USA, both coached by their Dad\u2019s).\u00a0\u00a0Sam made three great attempts at the bar, but failed to clear.\u00a0\u00a0Mondo \u201csmoked\u201d 6 meters to win the gold.\u00a0\u00a0He then moved onto the Olympic Record, \u201conly\u201d 6.10 meters (a shade over 20\u2019).\u00a0\u00a0And he smoked that as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which left only his own world record height.  Mondo set the bar at 6.25 (20\u20196\u201d), one centimeter (about \u00bd an inch) over his own record of 6.24.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was \u201cfired up\u201d, a crowd of almost 60,000 focused on the vault and clapping in unison (literally directed by Sam at the end of the runway).  His first two attempts were close \u2013 and it allowed Mondo (and Dad and Renaud) to get the crossbar adjusted to the exact right place.  So he lined up for his final attempt (you get three \u201cfails\u201d, then you\u2019re out).  Sam got the crowd going again, and everyone was on their feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Vault<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Here in Pataskala, so was I.  And for a moment, I forgot that I was surrounded by five snoozing dogs, our rescue \u201cpups\u201d who were wonderfully calm through the entire competition.  I know better, I can\u2019t get too excited watching the Bengals football games, my yelling makes them all go nuts.  But it was Mondo, and the world record, and it was going to happen\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mondo came down the runway, one of the fastest men ever to pick up a pole.\u00a0\u00a0He hit the plant, and swung upside down on the bent pole, made personally for him by the Spirit pole manufacturer.\u00a0\u00a0It shot him vertically up in the air, just barely over the bar. And Mondo snaked his body, chest, and arms over the top of the barrier.\u00a0\u00a0It stayed up without a bounce \u2013 a new world record, on the biggest stage in track and field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dogs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

So I did yell a little \u2013 just like I would from the sidelines of a vault competition.  I yelled \u201cGET IT\u201d as he slid over the bar.  And I found myself surrounded by three barking dogs, one in full \u201cwolf howl\u201d mode, shocked to action by my cry.  So while Mondo celebrated on the track, I tried to calm everyone down, before three over-excited dogs turned into a dog-melee.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They finally chilled, distracted by the promise of dinner coming soon.\u00a0\u00a0And Mondo, Sam, and the Greek kid celebrated their medals together, posing with their national flags around the track.\u00a0\u00a0Sweden won, the USA second, and Greece third.\u00a0\u00a0But what I saw was one of the reasons I got involved in pole vault in the first place.\u00a0\u00a0Three vaulters taking joy in their shared success in an event that can sometimes give joy, but can just as often cruelly end up in failure.\u00a0\u00a0It was a great competition \u2013 and there were no dog fights either!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sunday Story Series<\/h5>\n\n\n\n