Eugene will be well-represented in next month’s Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Six former Ducks and Eugene residents have qualified for the Olympics in the track and field portion of the international competition.
Hammer thrower Lance Deal is the only Oregonian in this year’s Olympics who owns a medal. Deal was the silver medalist in the hammer at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. This year, Deal is making no predictions about a medal.
“My goal for Sydney is very simple,” Deal said in an earlier interview with the Emerald.
“It’s to throw a personal record in the final. That means taking care of the technical aspects of the throw. Distance takes care of itself.”
Deal’s personal best is 270 feet, 11 inches, which is also the American record. The four-time Olympian won this year’s Prefontaine Classic with a throw of 262-9, his best throw this year. The Olympics will be Deal’s last competition ever.
Former Duck Nick Rogers surprised the crowd at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento last month with his third place finish in the 5,000 meters.
Coming into the competition as a dark horse at-best, the 22-year-old Rogers tucked in behind favorite Bob Kennedy for most of the race before taking the lead for the final two laps. Rogers was out-kicked by winner Adam Goucher and Stanford’s Brad Hauser with 200 meters to go.
Marla Runyan provided the feel-good story of this year’s Olympic Trials with her third place finish in the 1,500. Runyan had been hampered by a knee injury all season and considered scratching from the race beforehand, but still managed to qualify in a time of 4:06.4.
The former heptathlete finished behind four-time Olympian Regina Jacobs (4:01.1) and former Eugene resident Suzy Favor Hamilton (4:02.1).
Runyan is the first member of the Olympic team who is legally blind. She suffers from a condition called Stargardt’s disease, a macular degeneration syndrome that leaves her with 20/200 vision.
The third former Duck who will compete in Sydney is heptathlete Kelly Blair-LaBounty. She finished third in the seven-event competition despite winning only one event.
Blair-LaBounty tied for first in the long jump and placed third in the 800 and javelin throw and tallied 6,180 points, 163 points behind winner DeeDee Nathan.
Former Oregon runner Karl Keska qualified for the Olympics on Great Britain’s team. The former Pacific-10 cross country champion placed third in the 10,000 in the British Trials in July. Keska is ranked 23th in the world among Olympians with a personal best 28:00.5.
The track and field portion of the Olympic Games takes place from Sept. 22 through Oct. 1.