Raising the Bar With Laughs

Pole vaulter Toby Stevenson wears a roller-blade helmet as a precaution against possible injury, but what about insult?

Because Stevenson celebrates successful jumps with his own private game of Landing Pit Charades -- look, he’s a robot, he’s a bull rider, he’s a cowboy with a six-shooter -- someone had the audacity Sunday to call him “the Terrell Owens of pole vaulting.”

Except Stevenson never competes equipped with Sharpie and/or cheerleader’s pom-poms. He doesn’t need the extra weight. And when he maneuvers down the runway, his approach is always straight and narrow. If the start point is San Francisco and the bar Baltimore, there’s no peeling off midway and heading for Philadelphia.

Besides, is Athens ready for the Terrell Owens of pole vaulting?

OK, bad question. As we all know, Athens isn’t ready for a lot of things.

But, ready or not, Stevenson is going to Greece. He qualified for his trip Sunday by jumping 19 feet 2 1/4 inches at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials, good enough for second place behind Tim Mack’s mark of 19-4 1/4.

Derek Miles cleared 19-0 1/4 to take the third and final Olympic berth.

“I’m super stoked to make this,” said Stevenson, who not only looks like a skateboarder in his black protective helmet but also talks the part. “It legitimizes my jumping and my career. The last 15 years, I’ve dedicated myself to this. Now it’s time to go get a medal.”

Stevenson, 27, is a serious vaulter. In May at the Modesto Relays, he joined the rarified six-meter club by clearing 19-8 1/4, the second-best mark recorded by an American. The U.S. record, set by Jeff Hartwig in 2000, is 19-9 1/4.

The helmet went airborne that day. Stevenson flung it in a spasm of spontaneous jubilation, unlike the mini-celebrations that accompanied every clearance on Sunday.

Those, Stevenson practiced in advance in front of the mirror.

“The other two vaulters were giving me trouble,” he said with a grin. “They were like, ‘You practice those moves in the mirror?’

“I was, like, ‘Yeah, that’s how I warm up for the meet.’ ”

A reporter asked Stevenson if he planned to cool it for the Olympic Games, citing the recent U.S. Olympic Committee directive that athletes “tone down” celebrations and gyrations while competing in Greece.

“You know, honestly, I haven’t thought about it yet,” he replied. “It’s an important part of what I do. I hope they don’t see it as showboating.

“I’ve been overseas before, for several big meets, and I’ve done it over there. And the crowd loved it over there just as much. I think, plain and simple, there’s going to be track fans. Forget country. That’s what the Olympics are about. Putting down the guns and coming together for a united front in athletic competition. And I think it will be the same this year.”

Stevenson says his celebrations are “me just reacting to having a good time, and showing the crowd a good time too.” Unusual, yes. But on the day a vaulter first decides to pick up a fiberglass pole and stare down the runway, isn’t unusual a required admission on the application form?

“I definitely consider it an extreme sport,” Stevenson said. “In terms of having a screw loose, sure, we’ve all got something loose in there.”

As such, pole vaulters form an odd, closely knit fraternity. Nick Hysong, the 2000 Olympic champion, failed to qualify for Athens, but said he was thrilled for the trio making the trip overseas without him.

“It was a great day,” Hysong said. “This was a fun day to jump. We had good conditions, the crowd was great, the athletes were jumping out of their minds. I couldn’t be happier for Toby and Tim and Derek Miles. This is great. I think the U.S. is going to go with an extremely strong team to Athens. They’ve got a solid shot at three medals.”

Stevenson said the U.S. vaulters are “all great friends. I mean, I’m just as excited making the team with those guys.... We’re all supportive of each other, because we compete against the bar. Not each other. And if we beat the bar, then we can beat other people.”

Athens had best be prepared for them.

With a mischievous grin, Stevenson said by way of warning, “I’ve got a lot of surprises for the Olympic Games.”