Suhr - Stuczynski Speak

[30yrs-coaching]

A great article in Rochester paper, I was waiting and finally it looks like the truth has come out. Stuczynski and Suhr have contributed so much to American pole vaulting in the last 4 years. Looks like a lot of people had this one way wrong, looks like two people achieved greatness and alot of other people were either jealous or tried to take it away. Congrats to Jenn and Rick and hopefully they remember that people are more likely to post negative comments than positive comments. There are a lot of people out there cheering for you guys!

Here is the link to the article...

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/art ... NTCAROUSEL

[Marlow]

OK, here's the real link

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/art ... 80347/1007

Many people will not given any credence to the article and still believe that he 'abused' her. I am not among them.

[guru]

Here's the proper link -

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/art ... /809180347

And this quote gives me all the perspective I need on Suhr and that diatribe of his after JS won silver in Beijing. It's crystal clear now -

They have "a close, personal relationship that has nothing to do with pole vaulting," Suhr said. "If people were to assume Jenn and I were involved, that would be a pretty good assumption."

Stuczynski said she agreed with Suhr's description of their relationship but preferred not to comment on her private life.

Also -

"If she stuck a big jump, she'd be a millionaire in endorsements. It didn't work out that way."

[SQUACKEE]

They are lovers, which changes my negative response somewhat. Alls far in love and war. :P

[lonewolf]

Coach Suhr's statement is about as un-amibigous, non-admission as you could hope for.
This renews speculation about the implication of her acceptance of the verbal abuse that many here, in a previous thread, considered unwarranted

[guru]

Had to laugh at this -

The comments have infuriated Suhr.

"Anonymous cowards hiding behind keyboards," Suhr called them.

My email and website are linked to my profile Coach. Always have been.

[SQUACKEE]

Had to laugh at this -

The comments have infuriated Suhr.

"Anonymous cowards hiding behind keyboards," Suhr called them.

My email and website are linked to my profile Coach. Always have been.

Its nice to know that Suhr saves at least some of his venom for messageboards members who dont appreciate his coaching style..

[guru]

This really caught my attention -

(Stuczynski) is proud of her medal, but also proud of the heavier replica one the U.S. Olympic Committee awarded Suhr three days after the pole vault finals. His medal is silver, just like hers. Not all coaches receive medals, but Suhr was one of the few.

"The man (who awarded it) said 'We need more coaches like you,'" he said proudly.

Now I'm curious - who else did the USOC deem "worthy" of receiveing a replica olympic medal, and who was the man who awarded it?

[Marlow]

Does Suhr have a 'surly' demeanor? Yes, it appears he does. Did he 'abuse' her in that infamous video clip? Not in any way, shape or form.

[MTsky]

The nay-sayers

It's odd how people still want this entire event to be a negative thing against coach Suhr. If we were to see the entire footage that NBC had I think perspectives would be different. But due to editing and the American way of thinking (I’ll believe anything I see on TV), others still continue to play the broken record of coach Suhr's bad. Let's start to calculate how many vault records his athletes have broken (especially when he doesn't coach at a school). People hate his style, I wonder why. Sadly, when you’re successful other coaches who can't do it, rain on the parade of those who can (Jenn and Coach Suhr). Grow up. You don't have to like him, but respect them man's ability to coach vaulters (and football players).

[Smoke]

I did not see and do not need to see it. We are talking in the moment and an athlete has asked her coach what went wrong. She did not say what happened, she asked what went wrong. The answer is going to be about what went wrong, by nature negative.
The kicker is what he said is not really negative or harsh. It was true and something they had discussed going in.
the fact that they have a life together lends even more "truth" to the words. and yes he comes across as surly, so be it. that is their relationship.
I bet a bunch of you felt JJK should have gotten a new coach also, eh...

[hammer forever]

I'm also curious about the reference to the "heavier replica" of a silver medal-

were any coaches given gold and bronze "replicas"? Was this the first year or has it been done in the past? If this isn't the first time, do any coaches have multiple medals? Do other countries do this? Was it a "one on one" delivery of the medal to Suhr, or were other coaches getting theirs also during the same ceremony in the same location? Is the medal design different from or the same as the competitors design? Since it seemed from the article that not every coach gets this, what is the criteria? Was his medal carried home in a sock, like Jenn's was?

[TrackCEO]

In one of the video clips, Jen calls the Beijing vault -- both prelims and finals -- one of the worst-run events she's ever competed in. She cited the fact that the bar in warmups had to stay at one height, and then move up, rather than go up and down according to the jumpers' desires.

I'm sure there must have been other aspects of the vault that were poorly run. Can Becca or someone else illuminate these issues?

K E N

[polevaultpower]

In one of the video clips, Jen calls the Beijing vault -- both prelims and finals -- one of the worst-run events she's ever competed in. She cited the fact that the bar in warmups had to stay at one height, and then move up, rather than go up and down according to the jumpers' desires.

I'm sure there must have been other aspects of the vault that were poorly run. Can Becca or someone else illuminate these issues?

K E N

Well, in the men's competition the equipment kept breaking!

[30yrs-coaching]

I hope this is enough. It wasn't just "well the equipment kept breaking"...with that added to the men's competition ..it must have been a disaster out there!

11:08 16.08.2008 - Athletics - Olympic Athletics Tournament
Yulia Golubchikova: we came into the sector - and got aggravated

Today, August 16th, the women’s pole vault qualifications were held at the Olympic athletics tournament in Beijing. One of three Russian participants who made it to the final, Yulia Golubchikova, complained about the disgraceful organization to a special correspondent of the Agency of Sport Information "All Sport".

“Nowhere have I seen worse organization of a pole vault competition!” - Yulia Golubchikova exclaimed. “I swear! How the Chinese arranged the warm-ups…”

- They slipped you bamboo poles?
- Well, to make do with bamboo poles here?! I’m serious! We came into the sector - and simply got aggravated! First the Chinese refused to put up the bar…

- How could they refuse? It’s like the old saying: to learn to swim, you must put water in the pool.
- They just refused. We say: we’re all ready, let's put up the bar. They answer: no. That’s it. The backlog just stood around on the track. Then they came up with the next bit of garbage: in warm-ups first everyone should jump 4 meters, then everyone 4.20, and anyone who doesn’t want to jump these heights should leave. But why should I jump 4 meters? I need to warm up at other heights. Or Yelena Isinbaeva, who declared her initial height in the qualifications at 4.60 – to immediately pass to the finals, and took it on the first attempt? They were following some incomprehensible list. And consequently, some girls didn’t get any attempts at all during warm-ups - for example, Jenny Stuczynski from the USA. People simply couldn’t understand why the Chinese were doing whatever they wanted. It was just complete chaos! Furthermore, the qualifications took place simultaneously in the two sectors. And our sector got through the initial heights more quickly. Well, the girls just took fewer attempts to jump them. So they closed down our sector for 20 minutes, and shelved us until the second group caught up. Even in this heat. While waiting our turn - everyone boiled. It shouldn’t be like this!

- Did anyone argue with them or complain to the technical delegate?
- Yes but arguing with Chinese is useless. You know, this is the third time I’ve been in China, having jumped twice before in Shanghai. And I know that it’s useless to say anything. These people are from another planet. Or we’re aliens to them. You speak with them and they watch attentively, smiling and nodding. But they do nothing. The only word they know in English is sorry. “Sorry…” - and continue to smile, nod and do nothing. It's easier to just accept it because it costs fewer nerve cells. Now we can only hope that in the final the day after tomorrow, everything will go properly.

- Maybe this was simply a chance failure in the brilliantly functioning Chinese system? Other than you pole vaulters, no one has been complaining about the organizers.
- I can’t speak for other forms of sport - I don’t know. But in athletics, the multi-event girls complained yesterday. They arrived in the high jump sector at 10 in the morning to begin their two days. It took four hours of competition where people have the right to three unsuccessful attempts at all heights! Everything was exactly as we have today – they weren’t allowed to jump, the sector was closed. Maybe in the track disciplines everything is organized better. But in the technical forms of athletics, the Chinese clearly aren't ready for the Olympic Games.

Walker moves past Beijing nightmare

By Jagdip Dhillon
Record Staff Writer
August 28, 2008 6:00 AM
"Having been through enough of these, this was the most poorly run competition I've ever been to," Walker said. "But at the end of the day, I didn't make the jump, so it's my fault."

IBPVC wrote:
I heard that Brad has entered a protest. Not sure on what grounds other than having to wait 2.5 hours before jumping with no warm-ups. I cant find anything about it online, but that's the word from Pat. I know nothing about the rules really so let's all hope and pray for him to make it in.

09:48 16.08.2008 – Athletics - Olympic Athletics Tournament
“Everything is great!” laughed Yelena Isinbaeva. “My form, my mood – no problems. The only thing, just now, in the qualifications, the organizers began to tell us some of their rules. For example, they set the trial heights for warm-ups themselves, and said all the athletes must jump them in turn. The Chinese, of course, aren’t right about this, but I didn’t get involved in the controversy – it was better to simply not speak with them. However the wait for my turn to jump at my starting height of 4.60, took a v-v-very long time. It was possible to take a nap. Furthermore, it was even a good sleep (laughing).”

Hartwig Quote
"My performance had nothing to do with my preparation for the meet but the way the meet was run," he said. "If you watch the event, you will see that they made us wait there for an hour. Why does the competition start at 8:40 p.m., and we are still jumping at midnight?"

Several other competitors, including ones who advanced to the finals, also complained about the circumstances. Murmurs of a brewing protest didn't materialize within a few hours of the end of the event.

Hartwig declined to comment when asked what had happened, saying if he didn't have anything nice to say he shouldn't say anything. In all, this wasn't the way he would have chosen to go out.