Brad Walker moves past Beijing nightmare

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Walker moves past Beijing nightmare

By Jagdip Dhillon
Record Staff Writer
August 28, 2008 6:00 AM
On the world's grandest sports stage, Brad Walker's Olympic dream turned into a nightmare.

Walker went to Beijing as one of the favorites to win the gold medal in the pole vault, but he did not make it out of the qualifying round at the Bird's Nest.

"It's just devastating," Walker said. "This is the moment you work for all these years and to end up empty-handed is a bummer."

Walker, who set the American record at 19 feet, 93/4 inches in June and is a two-time world champion, failed to clear 18-5 in three attempts. Walker and his coach, Dan Pfaff, were not happy with circumstances surrounding the meet, as mechanical malfunctions caused delays prior to Walker's first two attempts.

"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."

Pfaff, who coached Walker at Tri-Valley Athletics at the Port of Stockton and was with him in Beijing, said Walker was well prepared and jumping well in practice, so not qualifying came as a complete surprise.

"I can't recall the last time he no-heighted at a meet," Pfaff said. "He was tremendously frustrated, and we're both a little embarrassed. You don't go to that meet and not get out of the qualifying round."

Walker passed on the opportunity to jump four lesser heights to begin the competition. He was confident he could clear 18-5. After two failed attempts, Walker said he became overly eager and ran too fast on his approach. He was using a shorter pole and couldn't get airborne enough to clear the bar. In an instant, his Olympic dream was over.

Walker said he didn't truly enjoy the Olympic experience the first week because he was engrossed in preparing for his event. After he failed to qualify, he was too distraught to enjoy himself.

"Just to see the magnitude of the Games is really fun and really neat," Walker said. "But there's more of a bitter taste in my mouth than anything."

Walker, 27, has battled chronic back injuries but said the ruptured disc in his lumbar spine and the bulging disc in the thoracic spine did not affect him in Beijing.

Walker plans to compete as long as he can. He left today for Europe to compete in England, Switzerland, Russia and Germany through September, and said he plans to take a rest when he returns.

Walker said his goal is to break Sergey Bubka's world record of 20-2 and to see if his quest leads him to London for the 2012 Games.

Pfaff believes Walker will be motivated to reach new heights.

"When you have an experience like this where the whole world sees your disappointment, it either crushes you or you use it as fuel for your competitive fire," Pfaff said. "He's got motivation now. He's a relatively young guy and you can vault into your 30s."