By Emma Decker
While the Olympic Games give athletes a world stage to compete on and a country’s hopes to compete for, some U.S. athletes—where competition fields run deep—cite the trials as one of the most stressful moments of the Olympic journey.
To have years of training, technique and determination all line up perfectly on one day against the best in the nation can be tough.
This sentiment was shared this week across disciplines—from swimmer Michael Phelps at the swimming trials in Omaha to runners in Eugene who are competing at the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials at Hayward Field, which run July 1-10.
“A lot of times you do feel like it’s this bigger thing than the Olympic Games,” said Allyson Felix, who will run the 200- and 400-meter races in hopes of qualifying for her fourth Olympics despite a recent ankle injury. “A lot of other people from other countries, they don’t have that pressure that you have to go through here. It’s the hardest team to make,” she said.
The trials in Eugene are a 10-day event, where athletes who have hit qualifying marks will compete for three slots per event on the U.S. Olympic team.
English Gardner graduated from the University of Oregon in 2013 and is the top- seeded athlete for the 100-meter dash. She thinks the trials overshadow the Olympics because of the depth of American competition. She remembers competing at Hayward for a World Championship qualifier where a 10.9 for the 100-meter dash didn’t even make it to the finals. “That’s unheard of,” she said.
Sprinter Justin Gatlin echoed his fellow sprinters, saying the trials are when he feels his competitors are the most deadly, the most willing to do whatever it takes to cross the line first. “These people are running with dreams in their eyes,” he said. “They want to go out there and make it happen.”
Decathlete, Oregonian and Oregon alum Ashton Eaton noted that although the stakes are high, the heightened pressure at the trials could also be beneficial for the people who do make the Olympic team. If they make it through the trials, he said, “they have some extra tools mentally that they can use on the bigger stage.”
