Graduate student qualifies for 2008 Olympics
Scott Russell, former Kansas javelin thrower, threw 83.20 meters to qualify for the summer Olympics in Beijing.
By Rustin Dodd (Contact)
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008
The throw that qualified Scott Russell for the Olympic Games in Javelin is immortalized on YouTube — albeit with a slight caveat.
Through grainy home video, you can see Russell, a former Kansas javelin thrower and current graduate student, skipping down the javelin run–up, reaching full stride and uncorking a violent throw punctuated with a grunt. The result? A throw of 83.20 meters, or 272.97 feet, and a throw long enough to give Russell the Olympic or A-standard. The translation? Russell had qualified for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
This is where the caveat comes in. In order to earn a spot on the Canadian Olympic team, Russell had to go through a little formality known as the Canadian Track and Field Olympic Trials. But because Russell was the only Canadian Javelin thrower to earn the Olympic A-standard, he just needed to finish in the top four.
“I was the most relaxed I’ve ever been for an Olympic Trials or for a national championship,” Russell said.
And it showed. In his hometown of Windsor, Ontario, in front of nearly 40 friends and family members, Russell finished first at the trials on July 5 with a throw of 74.74 meters.
“The pressure was being in front of my family and friends,” Russell said.
Russell is now back in Lawrence with his fiancée, Tiffany, completing a daily workout schedule in preparation for his first Olympics. He’s a little more than two weeks away from the pageantry and prestige of the largest sporting event in the world. On Aug. 8, he’ll walk in to Beijing National Stadium under the Canadian flag, as the Olympic torch is lit in front of a worldwide television audience. The odyssey that started in Windsor and was continued at the University as Russell won two NCAA individual championships will culminate with the Olympic Javelin competition on July 17. But to understand all the triumphs and failures, all the records and injuries, you have talk to Dan Russell.
*****
His phone rang back in Windsor on June 15. The person on the other end said just one word and Dan Russell knew exactly what had happened.
“Bangarang,” Dan’s son, Scott, said from miles away in British Columbia.
“When he said ‘bangarang,’ I knew exactly what he meant,” Dan said.
With the home camcorder recording, Scott had thrown the javelin 83.20 meters that day. He was that much closer to realizing his Olympic dream.
Dan Russell had always steered his kids toward the basketball court. He had grown to love the game in high school and he went on to play basketball in college. He coached his kids as they grew up — and up. Dan’s son, Scott, would grow to be 6-foot-9. Scott had game, too. He’d make two All-city teams in high school and he attracted interest from the University of Windsor and the University of Detroit-Mercy.
But by that time, Scott had realized that his future was in track and field and not on the basketball floor.
Scott started throwing javelin in the ninth grade. But success wasn’t immediate.
“This isn’t my game,” Scott told his dad.
But at the urging of his Dad, Scott stuck with it. Dan hoped the javelin would help his basketball.
“You’ll get in the weight room and you’ll get stronger,” Dan said to his son.
If you listen to Dan long enough, he’ll tell you all about his son’s successes. Russell won the All-Ontario javelin and discus titles during high school. He was an All-American at Kansas. He set the Canadian javelin record in front of 45,000 Canadians in the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton. And he’s won seven of the last eight National Canadian javelin championships.
But Dan talks about the setbacks too. There was the groin injury that hampered Russell’s attempt at qualifying for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, and the period in 2005, when Athletics Canada quit funding Russell after a string of poor performances.
With his funds dwindling, Russell nearly gave up on his dream. But sitting out at dinner one night in 2005, Russell’s old coach gave Russell a letter. Enclosed was a $2,500 check from an anonymous donor who wanted to see Russell continue to pursue his dream.
“Other people cared enough about him and had enough confidence in him to do something like that,” Dan said. “Imagine, what are they thinking right now?”
A month after receiving the check, Russell set a new Canadian record of 84.41 meters or 276.94 feet.
Russell’s funding returned and he began to look towards the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
*****
Russell was back in Lawrence last week. The trials are behind him, and so are the injuries and disappointments of the past.
The trip to China is quickly approaching. Dan says if his son makes top 12 in Beijing, the trip will have been a success.
To do more than that, Dan says, his son may have to throw farther than he ever has.
“Possible? Maybe it’s possible,” Dan said.
But as Scott says, “It’s just a relief to finally accomplish a lifetime dream.”
Dan won’t be heading to Beijing. He had to choose between the Olympics and Scott’s upcoming wedding. He’ll follow the games from home, and if he wants to see his son’s Olympic throws, he may have to upload another grainy YouTube video (original can be viewed at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl4I1Wddscg).
Of course, he may be able to catch a glimpse of his son as he walks into the Olympic stadium under the Maple Leaf — as an Olympian.
“It’s a lifetime experience,” Scott said.
— Edited by Matt Hirschfeld
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