August 16, 2008 - When Pretty Tough athlete Erica Bartolina finished third in the pole vault at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Ore. we cheered her on. That day Bartolina didn’t just vault her way onto the Olympic team, she sprang to hero status in our eyes.
Erica has an inspirational story and it’s worth telling. She lost her right eye in a freak car accident as an infant (a pair of freshly sharpened trimming shears slid across the dashboard into her eye - yikes!). Doctors tried to save Erica’s eye but the prognosis wasn’t good and she was eventually fitted with a prosthetic eye.
Her parents wanted Erica to fit in and be as normal as possible. In time, Erica grew to embrace her uniqueness but her hand-eye coordination was limited, making sports a challenge. Softball and volleyball particularly were difficult.
Track and field was another matter.
Erica took up pole vaulting as a 14-year-old high school freshman and compensated for her limited vision with an innate sense of timing, honed intuitively over the years.
Like everything, Erica tackled the sport with obsessive zeal. She developed into one of the top pole vaulters in the state at Philomath High and earned a scholarship to Texas A&M. At A&M, she was the first female pole vaulter in school history and won two Big 12 Conference titles.
During her first two years as a pro, Erica gradually improved her marks, finishing ninth at the Olympic Trials in 2004 and fourth at the 2005 USA Indoor Championships.
Just when it seemed Erica was poised for a breakthrough she suffered another fluke injury and dislocated her hip and fractured two vertebrae in her back.
Coached by her husband, Mike, Bartolina returned to the track in the winter of 2007 with renewed vigor. Finally healthy, Bartolina started vaulting with more consistency, and her confidence grew. In practice, she started to clear heights above her personal best mark of 14 feet, 5.25 inches.
Buoyed by a small group of friends and family (she grew up in Oregon, an hour away from the Eugene Trials), Bartolina enjoyed the meet of her life, clearing personal-best marks not once but twice. She eventually finished third at 14-11 and joined Team USA to compete in China at the Summer Games.
Heading to Bejing, Bartolina’s goals were modest. She wanted to make the finals and give herself a shot at a medal. World-record holder Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia and American record-holder Jennifer Stuczynski are heavy favorites for the gold and silver medals. But after that, the competition appeared wide open.
A pair of Americans will be in the women’s pole vault final Monday night but Bartonlina won’t be one of them. Stuczynski cleared 4.50m/14-9 on her first attempt to advance, while April Steiner also cleared 4.50. Unfortunately, Bartolina failed to make her first height of 4.30/14-1.34 and will not be in the final 
Regardless of her Olympic results, Bartolina’s career has elevated to a new level and we’re confident this competitor will continue to perform well on sport’s grandest stage.
Visit — www.ericabartolina.com — for more info on this amazing athlete and be sure to order a copy of the calendar she sells online to help fund her career.
Congratulations Erica - Stay Pretty Tough!
Filed under: Athletics, Track & Field by jane
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August 20, 2008 - With no shortage of sports activities happening this summer (including this little event in Beijing called the Olympics) Nike is hosting one of the world’s largest one-day running events at the end of the month.
Pioneers
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