His Back to the Wall, Hintnaus Makes Brief Appearance at Meet

One day back in 1980, pole vaulter Tom Hintnaus got it in his head to try vaulting over the Great Wall of China.

A member of a touring athletic contingent, Hintnaus actually tried the maneuver but ended up stuck to the middle of the structure. He crawled the rest of the way to the top.

That was in 1980 B.C.

Before Calvin.

Calvin Klein.

A few years ago, the fashion designer had Hintnaus again adorning the face of a wall. This time, however, it was the pole vaulter’s back that was plastered to billboards advertising a new line of underwear.

At the All-Comers Track and Field Championships Friday night at Birmingham High, Hintnaus ran into an athletic wall, the type that keeps an athlete from doing his best.

Hintnaus missed three times at 17 feet, 6 inches--the opening height--and lost the competition to Chuck Suey.

“That’s two weeks in a row that I haven’t made height,” said Hintnaus, who earlier this year vaulted to a lifetime best 18-8 1/2. “I guess it’s good to get them out of my system before it really costs me.”

If anyone knows about losing out, it’s Hintnaus.

At the the 1980 Olympic Trials, he won the pole vault at 18-4 1/2 to qualify for the Games in Moscow. The U.S boycott kept him home.

“I was ready to go,” Hintnaus said. “The boycott was tough to take. My body was in real good shape at that time.”

In the ’84 Olympic Games, Hintnaus, who was born in Brazil, took advantage of his dual citizenship to represent his native country.

This morning, he boards a plane for Europe to compete on the lucrative 17-day Grand Prix track circuit.

The 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea, are not out of the question.

“I think I can last that long,” said Hintnaus, who is currently appearing, shirtless, in commercials for the Milk Advisory Board. “If my body just holds up.”

And while he didn’t clear 17-6, he did take time to clear the air.

Legend has it that Hintnaus got the underwear job when Klein saw him jogging down Sunset Boulevard.

“That must have been someone else he saw,” Hintnaus said. “Because it wasn’t me. I had already worked in commercials for him. That story was made up to sell the underwear.”

Fellow ’84 Olympians Tonie Campbell and Pam Page fared better than Hintnaus on Friday.

Campbell, who is also departing for Europe, won the men’s 110-meters high hurdles in 13.62.

Page won the 100-meters low hurdles in 13.79.

Doug Lewis, who has jumped 7-8, won the high jump at 7-2.

Greg Holmes ran a 21.41 to win the 200-meters. Aaron Buckholtz won the shot put at 47-6.