Ironing Out Her Problem

With six national titles in the 1,500 meters and victories in the past two Olympic track and field trials to her credit, Regina Jacobs cringes at the thought of being regarded as a head case.

The 1981 graduate of the Argyll Episcopal Academy for Girls--now Campbell Hall High in North Hollywood--is a warm, gregarious person who smiles frequently and likes to crack jokes. She becomes quite serious, however, when asked about her reputation, which stems from a failure to advance to the finals of the 1987 World Championships and the ’88 and ’92 Olympic Games.

“I never thought about it as a mind thing,” said Jacobs, 32, who will run Wednesday in a first-round heat of the Olympics. “I knew others did because they were on the outside looking in. But I always felt that there was something else going on. I always felt like something was physically wrong, although we could never put our fingers on it.”

Until 1993, that is.

Shortly after Jacobs finished 11th in the national championships that year, a hematologist discovered that her blood iron levels were chronically low.

The deficiency meant that her body couldn’t produce the proper amount of red blood cells, which are essential in the transfer of oxygen through the bloodstream. The discovery was a relief to Jacobs, who has corrected the problem by taking iron and additional supplements.

“It was almost like when a person who is nearsighted discovers that they need glasses,” she said. “All of a sudden, they’re able to see the chalkboard in school and read street signs. They’re like, ‘Wow. So this is what it’s supposed to look like.’ I was like that when I got my iron levels back up. I could finally train hard for more than two weeks and feel like I wasn’t going to die. I was like, ‘So this is how I’m supposed to feel.’ ”

With her iron levels up, Jacobs’ training took off. The Oakland resident ran up to 100 miles a week in late 1993 and early ‘94--after logging a maximum of 40 before--and the hard work paid dividends.

She garnered her first No. 1 national ranking in 1994, posted a season best of 4 minutes 2.15 seconds--her fastest since a career-best 4:00.46 in ‘88--and outkicked defending Olympic champion Hassiba Boulmerka of Algeria in the USA-Africa meet.

That victory and a win in the 1995 World indoor championships in March had Jacobs tabbed as a possible medalist in the World outdoor championships last August in Goteborg, Sweden. But when she withdrew from the meet because of an arch injury, she lost the chance to rid herself of the “head case” label.

“That was incredibly disappointing because I felt like I was ready to medal in Goteborg,” she said. “I remember how sad I was when my manager called me from there on his cell phone and told me how the race had [come down to a kick.] I remember I cried from 8 in the morning the next day to 1 in the afternoon.”

It wasn’t the first time that the 5-foot-6, 115-pound Jacobs broke down in tears because of the results of a major meet.

She had wept openly after failing to advance to the final of the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. She finished 12th in her semifinal heat in 4:21.55 after winning the U.S. trials six weeks earlier in 4:03.72.

Failing to advance to the final in Barcelona might be one of the most disappointing moments of Jacobs’ athletic life. But thanks to her rival, Boulmerka, the Games eventually turned into an uplifting and valuable learning experience.

Boulmerka approached Jacobs after the semifinals and asked whether she was OK, though the two had never spoken. The gesture was not lost on Tom Craig, who had begun coaching Jacobs earlier that year and is now her husband.

“It took Regina a while to realize it, but it was obvious to me that Hassiba recognized her as a fellow champion and she was genuinely concerned about what had happened,” Craig said. “She considered Regina part of the wolf pack and not just some scraggly dog that was hanging around.”

Nonetheless, Jacobs didn’t intend to watch her fellow pack members in the Olympic final two days after her semifinal debacle.

She wanted to lick her wounds in solitude, but Craig wouldn’t allow that. He forced her to attend the final and they also watched the finalists warm up on a nearby training track.

There, Jacobs saw the intensity on the faces and in the eyes of the 12 finalists as they prepared to race. Boulmerka, in particular, seemed to shoot darts at her opponents when she made eye contact.

“I told Regina that she needed to have that kind of intensity if she ever wanted to compete at that level,” Craig said. “It didn’t mean that she had to stare people down like Hassiba because that’s not Regina’s personality, but she had to be able to focus with that kind of intensity.”

Although Jacobs prefers not to dwell on her subpar performances of the past, Craig admits that until the last few years “her whole career had been about beating herself,” the iron deficiency notwithstanding.

“You know and I know that she is a very talented runner,” Craig said. “But Regina can be very emotional and sometimes that can cause problems. We’ve tried to create the right emotional environment for her in the last few years to help carry her through times of stress.”

Sports psychologist Jerry Lynch and physical therapist Sharon Sorenson have helped create a comfortable psychological habitat for Jacobs.

Lynch helps Jacobs envision herself staying composed and running well in big meets and Sorenson prevents the typical aches and pains of a world-class distance runner from developing into anything serious.

Sorenson was particularly valuable after the Olympic trials June 23, where Jacobs won her second consecutive Olympic trials, running the 1,500 in 4:08.67. However, the hard Mondo track at the Centennial Olympic Stadium in Atlanta led to tendinitis in the lower part of Jacobs’ left leg.

The injury forced her to miss a few days of training earlier this month, but she expects to run well at the Games.

Her confidence also had been boosted when she posted times of 4:05.91 in the 1,500 and 2:02.41 in the 800 on the European track circuit in late May and early June. In addition, she spent the first three weeks of this month training at the 6,500-foot altitude of Soda Springs, a small town near Lake Tahoe.

Jacobs said that racing in Europe before the trials, rather than after like many of her opponents, will leave her well rested for the Olympics, and the altitude training will have her in peak condition for the Games.

She is also counting on plenty of support from the home crowd.

“I’m betting on there being more Americans in that stadium than anyone else and on them cheering on one of their own,” she said. “That’s what happened in the USA-Africa meet [in 1994 in North Carolina]. I found energy I didn’t think I had because of that crowd. It was amazing.”

Home crowd or not, Jacobs will need to run the race of her life to become the first U.S. Olympic medalist in the women’s 1,500.

Boulmerka, Kelly Holmes of Great Britain and Carla Sacramento of Portugal, the top three finishers in the 1995 World Championships, are scheduled to run, as are Sonia O’Sullivan of Ireland, who is favored to win the 5,000 today, and Maria Mutola of Mozambique, who is favored to win the 800 Monday.

Boulmerka ran a career best of 3:55.30 in the ’92 Olympics to win a superb race that saw four runners break 3:58, but Jacobs expects the final Saturday to be a more-tactical affair because of Atlanta’s heat and humidity.

“The final is going to be slower than if the Games were held in a cooler environment like Europe,” she said. “You’re not going to see a sub-four race.”

A tactical race should improve Jacobs’ medal chances because she possesses a powerful kick, yet Craig realizes that his wife’s ability to control her emotions could ultimately determine her success.

“If she’s stressed, her adrenal system goes crazy and all kinds of bad things happen internally that prevent her from performing well,” Craig said. “But she’s talented enough that if she’s on, she can win the gold. Of course, if she’s off, she might not get out of her heat.”

Jacobs’ physical talents have never been questioned. She ran 2:09.7 in the 800 as a 13-year-old eighth-grader in 1977 and clocked 2:06.47 in the 800 and 4:25.0 in the 1,500 as a high school senior.

She didn’t compete in the State high school championships because the Argyll Academy did not have a team, but her accomplishments at the age-group level helped her earn an athletic scholarship to Stanford.

Although she never won an NCAA title, she did place 10th in the 1984 Olympic trials as a junior and lowered her career best to 4:11.33 that year. In 1986 she was ranked eighth, garnering the first of seven top-10 U.S. rankings.

She won her first national title in 1987 with a time of 4:03.70, but when she clocked 4:12.51 to place a non-qualifying seventh in a heat of the World championships in Rome that summer, a reputation for performing poorly in major international meets began.

It’s an unfair distinction if you ask Jacobs, but it’s also one that she knows will vanish with a medal-winning performance at the Olympics.

“In the last two years, it was very important to make the team again,” she said. “But now that I’ve done that, it’s even more important to run well in the Games. It’s not about age. I think I can make the team again in 2000. It’s just gotten to the point that I really want to run well in the Games.”