Nick Hysong (USA) (© Getty Images)
Nick Hysong is back on track in his quest to become the first man since Bob Richards 48 years ago to retain the Olympic Pole Vault title after recovering from two and a half years of injury torment.
Sydney surprise
The American athlete provided a shock when winning the Olympic title in Sydney, as despite coming fourth equal at the World Championships in Seville the previous summer, he had never previously finished higher than second in the US Championships.
In 2001 Hysong again performed well when it counted, claiming the bronze medal at the World Championships in Edmonton.
Persistent injury
However, since then he has struggled to reproduce his Olympic form because of persistent knee problems.
He underwent an operation on his right knee for a bone spur and tendon problem two years ago but continued to encounter pain.
He failed to make last summer’s US World Championship team in Paris and had to frustratingly sit and watch as Italian Giuseppe Gibilisco ‘did a Hysong’ by coming from nowhere to win a major championship gold medal with 5.90m – exactly the same height Hysong achieved to strike gold in Sydney.
“It was hard to sit and watch,” he said of the World Championships in Paris. “It is the first time I’ve failed to reach an American team for a long time.” (the last time being in 1997).
Unexpected cure for knee injury
The knee problems remained in the autumn but a warm-up incident during February’s Norwich Union Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham appears to have unintentionally cured his pain.
"I jumped my opening height, clearing 5.45m and felt really good," said Hysong, of his competition in the English city. "But while I was warming up for my next height, I hyperextended the knee.”
He bravely continued the competition in great pain but failed to clear his next height and presumed he faced the prospect of further treatment on his sick knee.
But the following day he was in for an unexpected surprise.
Hysong, who started pole vaulting aged nine under the coaching of his father Cranston, explained: "I was walking around Birmingham city centre doing some shopping and I had absolutely no pain. I think when I hyper-extended my leg it perhaps broke up the scar tissue, which may have moved in my knee to a place which no longer causes pain.”
The 32-year-old Arizona vaulter has suffered no problems since and is now running pain-free for the first time in three years.
Yet despite the knee problems, which started during the 2001 season, Hysong has still remained a competitive vaulter winning last year’s Golden League meeting in Oslo and vaulting a season’s best 5.78m. This leaves him optimistic of defending his Olympic title.
“I’ve still remained competitive, around 5.70-5.75m despite the problems,” he said. “I’ve pretty well achieved all my goals apart from last year and I’ve still been in the top three in a lot of the meets.
“I’ve had to jump differently because of my knee and I should be able to now go on a bigger pole.”
Under Greg Hull's eye
Hysong also draws encouragement from featuring in the same training group as women’s Olympic Pole Vault champion Stacy Dragila and Australia’s 2001 World champion Dmitri Markov under the expert eye of leading coach Greg Hull.
But he acknowledges the men’s Pole Vault is one of the most open competitions in the Olympic track and field programme and any one of about 12 athletes could strike gold in Athens.
“The fact it’s so open makes it a lot of fun,” he added. “There are no guarantees in the Pole Vault. It is not like the 100m in 1999, when Maurice (Greene) was going to win every race. There are a lot of athletes always challenging. It would obviously be nice to go through a year and dominate every meeting. But it’s still fun to have a challenge every meeting."
Second Olympic gold?
However, he believes there is no reason why he could not go on to emulate Bob Richards, the only man in Olympic history to retain the men’s Pole Vault title (1952-1956).
"I've got a good chance,” he added of the possibility of defending his Olympic title in Athens. “If things keep going well in training and I have the right mindset as 2000, it just could be my day. I've jumped well in Athens before and I think I can jump high in Athens this summer."
