For Santiago Lorenzo, the first day of classes is much like any other University faculty member’s.
Soon after the syllabuses are passed out and the class guidelines are covered is when his curriculum takes a sharp 180-degree turn from anyone else on campus.
With his growing trademark smile, he tells the class he’s an Olympian.
Class is in session.
A doctoral student in human physiology at Oregon who teaches several classes in P.E. and physiology, “Santi” finds his unique introduction is the best way to catch his classes’ attention. The 29-year-old won two Pacific-10 Conference decathlon titles at Oregon, the 2001 NCAA decathlon title and represented Argentina in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, in the same event.
“Most of my classes are at like 8 o’clock, 9 o’clock, 10 o’clock; so usually the students are kind of sleepy,” Lorenzo said, “but when you say that I was a Duck and then I went to the Olympics in Athens and I was a national champion, they kind of wake up a little bit.”
Although he didn’t know it at the time, his 24th-place finish in Athens served as the culmination of a remarkable athletic career that was seemingly predestined by his parents. Lorenzo expected to be in the race for a bid to Beijing this year before a longtime calf injury that he “tweaked” in March ended his plans. The injury may have been a blessing in disguise – but Lorenzo hasn’t completely ruled out a shot at 2012.
“I wasn’t doing a lot of work here in the office because I was constantly thinking about my leg, and I wasn’t competing,” he said. “Bottom line, I was wanting to do too many things at the same time, and not getting anything done.”
Former Oregon decathlete Cody Fleming, a training partner of Lorenzo’s the past 3 years, witnessed Lorenzo’s successes and frustrations firsthand.
“When Santi’s healthy and can put together four to five weeks of training, he’s one of the best in the world,” Fleming said. “He just couldn’t ever be consistent with his training and it frustrated him more than anything.”
Now, the same guy who called himself a “track and field major” as an undergrad has devoted his full effort on helping future athletes through the science of exercise and heat physiology. In fact, Lorenzo gave lectures to coaches and athletes about proper hydration, his specialty, before the 2008 U.S. Olympic Track & Trials began.
A decade after he moved to the United States, he’s excited about his life’s newest path – even if it’s beyond anything he envisioned while in Argentina.

Lorenzo, athlete

Lorenzo’s achievements, for all their rightfully deserving praise, are old news at his family home in Buenos Aires.
His dad already beat him to the Olympic Games – twice.
Gerardo Lorenzo played field hockey for the Argentinean national team during the 1968 and 1972 Olympics. His mother, Mariana, at six feet tall, was a standout volleyball player.
“I saw his medals at home and I always wanted to become an Olympian, too,” Lorenzo said. “It’s just a sports family.”
Growing up, Lorenzo didn’t make it easy to project what sport he would be best at. He followed his father and played for Argentina’s national field hockey team, but also played rugby, soccer, tennis and cross country.
Torn between sports, Gerardo offered a piece of advice for his son: Pick a sport and stick with it.
He went with track – but his coaches chose the decathlon.
They always had the decathlon in mind, Lorenzo said. “I kind of got pushed into it without really knowing it. I took it as a challenge and I’m glad I did.”
Lorenzo quickly proved his coaches’ instincts were right.
Two years after starting the event, he was ranked first in South America. He would go on to win national and South American titles at both the junior and professional levels and hold the Argentinean 19-and-under decathlon record and is still second all-time in Argentinean history.
At the 2001 NCAA Championships held at Hayward Field, he proved he wasn’t just good, but clutch. In third place entering the final event, the 1,500 meters, he won the event with an eight-second personal best, clinching his victory.
At the 2004 Olympics, Lorenzo won the 1,500 meters too, but it left him with mixed feelings instead of a title. He finished 24th out of 30 competitors. Like winning his NCAA and Pac-10 titles, it’s a moment that he now cherishes despite mixed feelings at the time.
“I have a special space in my heart for each of these moments,” Lorenzo said. “At the moment, I was more pissed off than anything. Being able to win took away some of the anger.”
His name still dots the Oregon record book as well.
He stands fifth all-time for Oregon outdoors, and held the indoor school record until Oregon’s Ashton Eaton broke it in February.
Eaton won the 2008 NCAA Championship decathlon earlier this month, the first Duck to do so since Lorenzo. Having picked up the decathlon only two years ago, Eaton’s story reminds Lorenzo a little bit of himself.
“Honestly he might have a shot at making the U.S. Olympic team this year,” Lorenzo said. “He can do anything and be extremely successful at it. You’ve got to have a special character, and I think he has it.”

Lorenzo, scientist

Hang around a track long enough, and the word “technician” can be heard when athletes talk about themselves. It’s perhaps the most appropriate when used with decathletes, those who try to master the intricacies of 10 events.
Lorenzo prefers “scientist.”
He should know. A veteran of dozens of decathlons, he has been somewhat of an unofficial doctor in the science of sports since he began as a teenager in Buenos Aires. The only difference is that now, he’ll have the doctorate to prove it.
“I think I became a better scientist because I’m an athlete,” Lorenzo said.
Fleming can vouch for Lorenzo’s devotion to science.
“I sat through his Master’s thesis, and I mean I’d seen him for every day for three years and sat there for two hours and didn’t understand a word he said. He was speaking in such a technical language,” Fleming said. “He never ceases to amaze me.”
In a perfect world, Lorenzo wants to focus his research on athletics to be around athletes for his career. When he finishes his doctorate next year, he says that a shot at the 2012 Olympics in London will almost entirely be put to rest.
Then again, he’s the man who “wasn’t quite ready to be done after ’04,” he said. “Even I thought I was done – I told my advisor I was done so I could focus on school.”
He takes heart that the 2007 world decathlon champion was 34, the same age Lorenzo will be in four years.
“I’ll never bet against Santi,” Fleming said. “I think when he’s 35, 36, he can still put up big marks.”
But even as he might privately entertain thoughts of a comeback, he knows his eventual future will still involve athletics. Knowing his background, there’s no way it couldn’t.
“I don’t think sports is ever going to go away from my life,” he said. “In one way or another I’m going to be involved.”
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