Every athlete deserves wondrous moments like this. How do you live in that exhilarating moment that tests every fiber of your competitive guts, twists you in an emotional knot then sits back and forces you to answer the most basic, but demanding question in sports: What exactly are you made of?
On Sunday on the infield of the University of Oregon's historic Hayward Field, the U.S. Olympic track and field trials dared Brittany Borman to show what sort of competitive heart and soul was ticking beneath her gold and gray track singlet. A lifetime of achievement was on the line in the final round of the women's javelin, and the 22-year-old De Soto native provided her definitive reply with one incredible fling.
An Olympic ticket was on the line. She was in third place with one throw to go, and she needed the throw of her athletic life to head to London.
How's that for drama? And now here she was on the best stage in American track and field — on the infield of Hayward with more than 20,000 astute track nuts riveted to her every move. It was the best throw of her life, the most important throw of her life, the most clutch throw of her life, and it also provided her with the dream of a lifetime: a ticket to the London Olympics as a member of the United States track and field team.
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How she did it was with a spectacular flair for the dramatic. The 2008 graduate of Festus High School unleashed a throw of 201 feet, 9 inches (61.51 meters) on her final attempt to leapfrog American record holder Kara Patterson (196-2) and Kimberley Hamilton (190-5) to win the event.
Until the last round of the competition, Borman was sitting in third place with a throw of 188-11. But because she had not achieved the Olympic 'A' standard qualifying mark of 200 feet, 1 inch (61.00 meters), a third-place finish would not have been enough to get her on the team.
Patterson and fourth-place finisher Rachel Yurovich were the only American women who had achieved that Olympic minimum standard. And until Borman's last throw, they were the only women scheduled to go to London.
So here was the daunting task for Borman. One throw to go, and it better be the best throw of your life by a long shot. Until Sunday, her career-best throw was a 194-11 toss earlier in the season.
"I didn't really know what happened differently (on the last throw)," Borman told reporters in the interview tent. "I prayed before it and I am still in shock about how far I threw."
Now she has the third-best throw ever by an American woman, the best throw by an American this year and the second-best throw by an American over the past three years — and the 18th-best javelin throw in the world this year.
As she planted her last step firmly into the red artificial surface, flung her right arm violently forward and watched the javelin descend from the air and finally stick into the ground well past the 200-foot mark, Borman elevated high in the air, gave a quick double fist pump, then began the dizzy celebration.
Borman will be the third area athlete on the American Olympic track team, joining Dawn Harper (East St. Louis), defending Beijing Olympic gold medalist in the women's 100-meter hurdles who won her event last week, and Michael Rodgers (Berkeley High), who finished fourth in the men's 100 meters and will be a member of the 400 meter relay in London.
This is the peak of Borman's athletic journey, which began when she first picked up track and field as a 6-year-old along with younger sisters Danielle and Breanne.
By the time she reached Festus High, she had pretty much tried every event in front of her, including the shot put, discus, long and triple jumps, the high jump and the 100-meter hurdles. By the time she graduated in 2008, she was a Class 3 state champion in the shot put, discus and high jump.
In her senior year, Borman fought through a hamstring injury to capture first place in the Missouri Class 3 shot put with a throw of 42 feet, 8 inches and first place in the discus with a throw of 135-9. Borman also added a second-place finish in the high jump by clearing 5-2.
As a junior, Borman was second-team All-Metro, winning state titles in the discus (150-5) and the shot put (44-10¼) and taking eighth in the high jump (5-2) after a four-way tie for fifth.
As a sophomore she won a state title in the high jump (5-4), was second in discus and sixth in shot.
That was impressive enough to earn a scholarship to UCLA, where she was ready to follow in Jackie Joyner-Kersee's footsteps as a heptathlete.
But after one season she transferred closer to home, to the University of Oklahoma, where she ditched the heptathlon and began concentrating on the weight events, winning back-to-back NCAA titles in the javelin and becoming a three-time Big 12 outdoor champ in the javelin and an All-America in the javelin and discus.
And now, just like her childhood idol Joyner-Kersee, Borman is Olympic bound.
"I have always dreamed of being here," she said Sunday, "and coming here has been such a blessing."