Nice article on Toby

[Carolina Extreme]

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/sports/artic ... 0409990001

U.S. Vaulter Stevenson Flying Toward Athens
Helmet-Clad Stanford Graduate Ready to Try to Reach Gold in Athens
By BOB BAUM, AP

PHOENIX (May 18) -- Toby Stevenson can easily be spotted at a track meet. He's the guy wearing a helmet in the pole vault.

Toby Stevenson isn't your typical pole vaulter -- he's got an economics degree from Stanford.

He's also the one clearing the bar at heights no one else is approaching this season, making him the early favorite for a gold medal at the Athens Olympics.

"I've just hit the right place in my life," the 27-year-old Stanford graduate said in a conference call Tuesday.

Ten days ago at the Modesto Relays, he became the second American to clear 19 feet, 8 1/4 inches. It was the best mark in the event anywhere in the last three years. Among U.S. vaulters, only Jeff Hartwig's American record of 19-9 1/4 -- set in 2000 -- is better

Last weekend, Stevenson showed it was no fluke by vaulting 19-5 3/4 at the Sky Invite, a low-key pole vault competition at Paradise Community College in Phoenix. They are the best two marks in the world this year.

"Six meters (19-8 1/4) is definitely a boundary to a lot of vaulters," Stevenson said. "Now that I've done six meters, it actually makes it easier to do it again. Six meters would have won the gold medal at every Olympics up to now."

So, for that matter, would his second-best jump of the year.

"It does nothing but give me confidence," Stevenson said.

The brainy vaulter -- who has a degree in economics -- could provide some much-needed exuberance to an Olympic season dominated by talk of steroids and the potential for terrorist attacks.

Stevenson is not the stereotypical introspective, serious pole vaulter. His emotions are as obvious as that snug-fitting helmet he began wearing, at his parents' request, nine years ago when he was a senior in high school.

Now, he considers the helmet a part of his uniform, and wears it for safety.

"I'm protecting the Stanford degree," he joked.

A pole vault competition can drag on for hours, and Stevenson does not sit quietly waiting his turn.

"I'm a big idiot when I jump," he said. "I do dances. I talk to the crowd. I'm talking to the other vaulters. When they call you're name, when you go up to the line, that's when you get in your 'go' mode... Between jumps I need to focus for 10 or 15 seconds."

At lower heights, Stevenson might wow the crowd with a corkscrew descent. When he cleared 19-5 1/4, he slammed his helmet down, then jumped on his pole as if it was a stick-horse and whipped away at its flanks.

"The majority of why I do it is that I'm just happy to make the bar," he said. "Basically, I'm using a stick to get over a stick. But track and field, I want to bring it back. I want to get the crowd involved. I love putting on a show."

In 1995, Stevenson was the top-ranked 18-year-old vaulter in the world as a senior at Permian High School in Odessa, Texas. But he turned down athletic scholarships because he wanted to go to a top academic school, considering Stanford, Harvard and Penn.

In 1998, he became Stanford's first NCAA pole vault champion in 69 years. As a senior in 2000, he finished second at the NCAAs, helping Stanford's men with their first national track title in 66 years.

He worked as an assistant track coach at Stanford for two seasons, an experience that brought him knowledge and patience. Now he's only coaching himself.

Recently, Stevenson moved to Chula Vista, Calif., near San Diego, where he works out at the Olympic Training Center. The move also allows him to indulge in one of his other great loves, surfing.

Stevenson had shown hints of the coming breakthrough by winning the gold medal at the Pan American Games in 2003 and the U.S. Indoor title this year. But no one expected him to soar nearly a foot higher than he had previously.

Stevenson will compete Saturday at the Home Depot Invitational in Carson, Calif. He has turned down invitations to go to Europe because he wants to focus on the U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento, Calif., July 9-18. Only the top three finishers make the team that will compete in Athens, and in the vault, a bad day is not uncommon.

Just ask Hartwig, the overwhelming favorite in 2000, who failed to clear a height at the trials.


05/18/04 19:02 EDT