Not Jumping for Joy

Things are looking up for Jeremy Fischer, the economy-sized high jumper who was bitterly disappointed at failing to qualify for the U.S. Olympic track and field team three weeks ago.

Fischer, 1994 state champion as a Camarillo High senior, figured his season was over after tying for seventh in the men’s high jump on the final day of the Olympic trials at Cal State Sacramento on July 23.

But recent developments could land the 5-foot-9 1/2, 145-pound jumper in some European meets starting at the end of this month.

“It was a huge disappointment,” Fischer said about the Olympic trials last week. “I’m a generally happy person, but I think I have been in a clinical state of depression. I haven’t even felt like eating. . . . I need to strap it back on and get on out there, but I just haven’t felt like doing anything.”

Fischer did finish second in the North American, Central American and Caribbean championships in Monterrey, Mexico, on Aug. 5, but his performance of 7-0 1/2 was well below his career best of 7-6.

“I cleared [7-0 1/2] on my first attempt, but I called it a day after [missing] my first try at [7-2 1/2],” Fischer said. “I hurt my foot again on that attempt and I just didn’t think it was worth it to keep jumping.”

Fischer, 24, bruised the underside of the base of his big left toe in the final of the Olympic trials when the arch and heel counter on his shoes tore away from the upper part as he planted his takeoff foot for his first attempt at 7-3 1/4.

Fischer didn’t know what happened initially, but sensed he was in trouble when he examined the shoe.

It was in no condition to jump in, but Fischer had no choice because his other spikes were in his hotel room.

He cleared 7-3 1/4 on his third--and final--attempt after taping up the shoe, then missed three times at 7-5 1/4.

He appeared to have the height necessary to clear the bar on his first attempt at that height, but brushed it off with his heels.

As it turned out, a clearance on his first attempt would have given him the third--and final--spot on the Olympic team for Sydney.

“That’s what made it so disappointing,” Fischer said. “If I had cleared 7-7 and four or five guys beat me, I could have accepted that. But no one other than [defending Olympic champion Charles Austin] jumped very well.”

The shoe debacle was doubly frustrating because he switched brands a month before the Olympic trials.

The shoe company didn’t pay Fischer to jump in its shoes, but a shoe contract probably would have been offered had he made the team.

“Looking back, it was stupid to change that close to the trials,” Fischer said. “I should have stuck with what got me there. But I’d never had a shoe company express interest in me like that. It was hard to say no.”

Call it a painful learning experience for a track athlete trying to make ends meet.

Fischer is among the top 10 high jumpers in the nation, but he probably makes about a hundredth of the money off track that superstars such as Michael Johnson, Maurice Greene, Marion Jones and Hicham El Guerrouj do.

“I’m not in it for the money,” Fischer said. “I’m in it because I love track and field. But it would be nice to make a living doing it. I’ve never been a person who wants to be rich, who wants to drive a Mercedes Benz. But it would be nice to be able to pay the bills and be comfortable.”

With that in mind, Mark Napier, his coach, has spoken with several track agents on Fischer’s behalf in the last week.

One of them, Kim McDonald, is trying to get Fischer into some meets in Europe later this month.

Fischer won’t get rich off those meets--unless he somehow breaks the world record of 8-0 1/2 set by Javier Sotomayor of Cuba in 1993--but performances in the 7-6 1/2 or 7-7 range could lead to a contract with a shoe company that would allow him to train full-time and offer him performance bonuses.

Financial security would be nice for Fischer, who would like to compete through the 2004 season and possibly longer.

Napier, a Wisconsin assistant, has worked with Fischer since 1995 and says he can be one of the top jumpers in the world in four years.

“This is the first year that he’s shown his true potential,” Napier said. “Two years ago, you could watch him jump and say, ‘You know, if he puts it all together and gets everything right, he could clear 7-6.’ But now I don’t know what the limit is.”

Fischer’s relatively short stature has been viewed as a detriment in an event in which the top jumpers often stand well over six feet. But it didn’t prevent him from clearing a region-record 7-4 as a Camarillo senior.

Various injuries--brought on by competing in the long jump and triple jump as well as the high jump--and a revamped approach to the bar hampered him during his first three seasons at Wisconsin. But he upped his career best to 7-4 1/2 and placed second in the 1998 NCAA championships as a senior before an ankle injury limited him to a best of 7-3 3/4 last year.

He cleared 7-4 1/2 in an indoor meet in Madison, Wis., in late January and then made a career best of 7-5 1/4 to tie Austin for second in the USA Track & Field indoor championships at the Georgia Dome in March.

That was followed by a career best of 7-6 to place second in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in April and a 7-4 1/2 jump for second in the Pontiac Grand Prix invitational at North Carolina State in June.

Fischer needed three tries to clear the opening height of 7-2 1/2 in the qualifying round of the Olympic trials, but Napier liked his chances in the final.

“There’s no way he shouldn’t have made that team,” Napier said. “He cleared 7-3 1/2 in warm-ups off a five-step approach and he had never done that before. He was ready to go 7-7. . . . We had been working toward that [day] to a tee for the previous 14 months. I think we did everything right, except for switching shoes at the last second.”