And in the real world.........!

[KirkB]

But at least our population will reach 23 million today!!!! I am sure you wanted to know that!

Canada has 11 milllion more, but no OC to show for it ... but we do have future PV superstar Shawn Barber!

But who's counting?

Kirk Bryde

[agapit]

But at least our population will reach 23 million today!!!! I am sure you wanted to know that!

Canada has 11 milllion more, but no OC to show for it ... but we do have future PV superstar Shawn Barber!

But who's counting?

Kirk Bryde

On www.all-athletics.com they list his country as USA, maybe we need to write them?

[PVDaddy]

Lets see he was raised in USA, Trained in the USA. attended High School here in Kingsport ,Texas. Attends College here (Akron,OH) And receives full ride Scholarship funding to do it. Were are you from Shawn?

[KirkB]

Shawn Barber Becomes Canada's National Pole Vault Record Holder
With a top jump of 18-08.75 (5.71m) last Friday night in Austin, Texas, Barber became Canada's all-time national pole vault record holder for all age groups and achieved the "A" standard necessary to compete at this August's IAAF World Championships in Moscow, Russia.

Barber, who is from Kingwood, Texas, has dual citizenship with Canada. His father and Canadian native, George Barber was a pole vaulter for the Canadian National Team in the 1980.

Kirk

[KirkB]

Shawn's age and world rankings put him in the "future PV superstar" category!

... Shawn Barber who is ranked number one in the world in the junior pole vault with his mark of 5.71m which is not only the Canadian junior but also the Canadian senior record. For this early season the 18 year old frosh at Akron University is ranked number two in the world on the senior list.

Kirk

[PVDaddy]

Ya I read that article. New he had duel citizenship and that his dad vaulted for team Canada in the Olympics in 1980. Was he born here (USA) or did they just move here for better training opportunities and College Scholarship money this country provides? Will be interesting to see were his loyalties reside? I suppose he has the advantage of trying to qualify for either team? He's a heck of a Freshman as is Jake Blankenship who is knocking rite at the door. Throw in Sophomores Irwin and Kendricks (19' 3/4". 5.81) and we have all underclassmen at the top 4 of the ranks. I personally would pull for any one of them (regardless of Country) that most closely emulates the Petrov Model. Tuck and shoot is a dead end model If your goal is world championship or Olympic Champion IMHHO.





RANK ATHLETE YEAR TEAM ENGLISH METRIC MEET MEET DATE DATE SUBMITTED
1 Kendricks, Sam SO-2 Mississippi 19' 0.75" 5.81m 2013 Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays 03/27/13 03/31/13
2 Barber, Shawn FR-1 Akron 18' 8.75" 5.71m 2013 Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays 03/27/13 03/31/13
3 Irwin, Andrew SO-2 Arkansas 18' 6.5" 5.65m Arkansas Spring Invitational 03/29/13 03/31/13
4 Blankenship, Jake FR-1 Tennessee 18' 4.75" 5.61m 2013 Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays 03/27/13 03/31/13

[KirkB]

Ya I read that article. New he had duel citizenship ...

If you read that article, then you KNEW that he was Canadian and his Canadian record was legit, but you chose to confuse people (or keep them in the dark) by not disclosing that fact. [sigh]

You also seem to be confused about how college scholarships work, and how the Olympic team selection processes work in Canada vs the USA.

College scholarships are open to any nationality. I was on a scholarship at U. Washington, even though I'm Canadian. You just need to jump high or show the potential to jump high (in my case it was only the latter).

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Barber will jump for Canada. There's no one even close to him right now - he is almost guaranteed to make the 2016 team (and all international teams between now and then) - as long as he continues to stay healthy and make the "A" standard. He doesn't have to win the Canadian Championships / Olympic Trials on a certain day.

Now if he jumped for the USA, he must not only make the "A" standard, but he must also be in the top 3 in the USA Olympic Finals. It's one thing to make the "A" standard, but to do well in the US Trials isn't as easy as you think. For example, Dave Roberts missed the 1972 Olympic team even though he, Jan Johnson, Steve Smith, and Bob Seagren all cleared 18 feet in Eugene that year! That was the height that OC1972 Wolfgang Nordwig won at!

Barber has his work cut out for him to comply to the Petrov Model. Texas is not the best place to live and vault (Roberts was an anomoly), unless you follow the Texas Manifesto!

Kirk

[rainbowgirl28]

Shawn has already represented Canada internationally, I don't think he can compete for USA at this point without sitting out several years.

The point of pointing out his US upbringing is that he is not a product of the Canadian development system. I mean congrats to Canada that a kid who happened to have some Canadian heritage decided to take advantage of it, but it's really not something Athletics Canada can take much credit for, aside from giving him the opportunity to compete at World Juniors last summer.

[PVDaddy]

Kirk, There you go again putting words into my mouth. I never said his Canadian record was not legit now did I?
I have no idea were he was born or were he grew up either so don't start making false claims about what I said on that subject! I also made no claims about how the U.S college scholarship sytem works! GEESH!
I have no idea as to how long he has been here in the USA do you? The article said he attended High School here in Kingsport, Texas so and we all know he Competes for the college in Akron, OH so at least through many of his formative years he has been raised here and his exposure was to the American Athletics and College system and was able to take advantage of what ever that system offers. I had no idea as to whether he is able to compete for team USA in 2016 but just wanted to point out if he can make the cut and is elgible perhaps he should consider it? If he can't or does not want to I agree he should do whats best for him. Rainbowgirl has said he has already represented Canada internationally so this is perhaps a mute point. Wherever he competes I wish him the best anyway but I wont pretend I'm not supporting the Americans more!