THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, AUGUST 18, 2008
SPORTS
9B
OLYMPICS
Kansas grad student makes Olympic debut
Scott Russell will fulfill his Olympic dream and throw the javelin for the Canadian team on Wednesday in Beijing
Scott Russell prepares to release the javelin during the final round of a competition in the Kansas Relays in 2007. Russell, a graduate student from Windsor, Ontario, will compete in the javelin throw in Beijing on Wednesday as a member of the Canadian Olympic team. Russell qualifies for the team after finishing first in the Canadian Track and Field Olympic trials for javelin throw with a throw of 83.02 meters, or 272.97 feet.
BY RUSTIN DODD
dodd@kansan.com
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
A dog barked for the second time, and Scott Russell apologized. Being an Olympian doesn't mean you're exempt from babysitting your pooch.
"I'm sorry," Russell said. "I'm trying to let my dog outside."
That was a month ago, when Russell was still in Lawrence. He's in Beijing, China, now, or at least close to it. In two days, Russell will step into the Bird's Nest — the nickname for the Olympic Stadium
— in Beijing and try to throw a javelin higher and farther than he ever has before. He'll need to if he wants to win.
Russell, graduate student and a former Kansas javelin thrower, has been thinking about this moment for years. He thought about it when he was a junior in high school in Windsor, Canada. He thought about it when he was named All-American during his career at the University of Kansas. And he thought about it when injuries kept him off the Canadian Olympic team in 2004. The time for thinking is done. Russell's Olympic odyssey begins on Wednesday. The 6-foot-9, 270-pound Russell is about to step out on the biggest stage in the world.
--his Olympic dream.
The throw that qualified Scott Russell for the Olympic Games in javelin is immortalized on YouTube — albeit with a slight caveat.
Through grainy home video, you can see Russell skipping down the javelin run-up, reaching full stride and uncorking a violent throw punctuated with a grunt. The result? A throw of 83.20 meters, or 272.97 feet, and a throw long enough to give Russell the Olympic A standard. The translation? Russell had qualified for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
This is where the caveat comes in. In order to earn a spot on the Canadian Olympic team, Russell had to go through a little formality known as the Canadian Track and Field Olympic Trials. But because Russell was the only Canadian javelin thrower to earn the Olympic A standard, he just needed to finish in the top four.
"I was the most relaxed I've ever been for an Olympic Trials or for a national championship," Russell said.
And it showed. In his hometown of Windsor, Ontario, in front of nearly 40 friends and family members, Russell finished first at the trials on July 5 with a throw of 74.74 meters.
"The pressure was being in front of my family and friends," Russell said.
One man in the Russell clan stood a little taller than the rest on that day in Windsor. And to understand all of Russell's triumphs and failures, all his records and injuries, you have talk to his father, Dan Russell.
--his Olympic dream.
His phone rang back in Windsor on June 15. The person on the other end said just one word and Dan knew exactly what had happened.
"Bangarang," Scott said from miles away in British Columbia.
"When he said 'bangarang,' I knew exactly what he meant," Dan said.
With the home camcorder recording, Russell had thrown the javelin 83.20 meters that day. He was that much closer to realizing
Dan had always steered his children toward the basketball court. He had grown to love the game
in high school and went on to play basketball in college. He coached his children as they grew up — and up. Dan's son, Scott, would grow to be 6-foot-9. Russell had game, too. Hed
make two all-city teams in high school and he attracted interest from the University of Windsor and the University of Detroit-Mercy.
"I was the most relaxed I've ever been for an Olympic Trials or for a national championship."
realized that his future was in track and field and not on the basketball court.
But by that time, Russell had
SCOTT RUSSELL
Former Kansas javelin thrower
Russell started throwing javelin
"This isn't my game," Russell told his dad.
in the ninth grade. But success wasn't immediate.
javelin would help his basketball.
But at the urging of his Dad, Russell stuck with it. Dan hoped the
"You'll get in the weight room and you'll get stronger," Dan said to his son.
If you listen to Dan long enough, he'll tell you all about his son's successes. Russell won the All-Ontario javelin and discus titles during high school. He was an All-American at Kansas. He set the Canadian
javelin record in front of 45,000 Canadians in the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton. And he's won seven of the last eight National Canadian javelin championships.
But Dan talked about the setbacks
performances.
With his funds dwindling, Russell nearly gave up on his dream. But sitting out at dinner one night
too. There was the groin injury that hampered Russell's attempt at qualifying for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, and the period in 2005, when Athletics Canada quit funding Russell after a string of poor
"It's just a relief to finally accomplish a life-time dream."
SCOTT RUSSELL
Former Kansas javelin thrower
Beijing's night sky explodes with color during a firework show for the 2008 Olympics Open Ceremonies. The Opening Ceremonies also featured a cast of 15,000 performers completing acrobatic acts and synchronized drumming routines inside the National Stadium. Most of the 11,028 athletes participating in this year's games, including former Kansas athlete Scott Russell, participated in the traditional Opening Ceremony parade inside the Olympic stadium.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
in 2005, Russell's former coach h a n d e d him a letter. Enclosed was a $2,500 check from an anonymous donor who wanted to see Russell continue to
pursue his dream.
"Other people cared enough about him and had enough confidence in him to do something like that," Dan said, "Imagine, what are they thinking right now?"
A month after receiving the check, Russell set a new Canadian record of 84.41 meters or 276.94 feet.
Russell's funding returned and he began to look towards the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
He had to choose between the Olympics and Scott's upcoming wedding. He'll follow the games from home, and if he wants to see his son's Olympic throws, he may have to upload another grainy YouTube video
---
Russell walked into the Bird's Nest on August 8 under the red and white Maple Leaf.
Dan was thousands of miles away, in Canada.
He says if his son makes top 12 in Beijing, the trip will have been a success.
To do more than that, Dan says, his son may have to throw farther than he ever has.
"Possible? Maybe it's possible"
Dan said.
Anything seems possible when your son is an Olympian.
And as Russell says, "It's just a relief to finally accomplish a lifetime dream."
Edited by Brieun Scott