Q & A with Tim Mack

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http://www.usatf.org/news/view.asp?DUid ... 1_10_58_59

Olympic Q&A: Tim Mack
08-11-2004

2004 Olympic Trials men's pole vault champion Tim Mack (31, Knoxville, Tenn..) is on the island of Crete for Team USA training camp as he prepares to compete in the Olympic Games. The 2001 Goodwill Games gold medalist and 2002 U.S. indoor champion is coming off a Golden League win at Weltklasse Zurich, and he spoke to the press on Wednesday. Below are excerpts from the conversation. For a full bio of Mack and all Team USA Olympic track & field athletes, visit http://www.usatf.org/events/2004/Olympi ... _alpha.asp

Q: Where do you see yourself in the world of pole vaulting right now?

A: I pride myself on being consistent as far as training and preparing, being ready for anything. It's just a product of making the last couple of world championship teams and this Olympic Team. You've got so many people jumping so high at so many different times, being consistent is important.

Q: You've been extremely consistent this year but jumped at several small meets before the Olympic Trials.

A: Our plan was designed to jump high at the end of the season. After Prefontaine, I was a little unsure where it was going because I was jumping really, really high, but I wasn't clearing high bars. I was really high - almost to the point I couldn't believe it. We put together a couple of competitions. I just had to figure out how to feel a rhythm. I wasn't feeling a rhythm until those three meets - two in Knoxville and one in Jonesboro (Ark.). In the matter of one week I jumped 19-2, 19-4 and 19-0. That's how I knew I was ready.

Q: What do you consider to be the best competition of your career?

A: The Olympic Trials. It went as planned. There were a couple of spots there when I could have totally ditched my plan, because there was a lot of passing going on. I can be confident now in saying I knew exactly what was going on. Looking back, I was a little bit nervous. I have certain poles for certain situations and it worked. I simplified it by making it more mathematical than just feeling like I can do something.

Q: What is your strength as a vaulter?

A: Basically, my tactics are my best part. I have a series of numbered poles and go through them. I'm not mathematical at all, and that's the funny part - I'm as far from that as you can get. My system allows me to just not think. By just looking at my notebook, I know how I'm feeling. For each height, I know where I should put the standard and where I should be on my pole.

Q: When in your career did you realize vaulting was something you wanted to do full-time?

A: Probably after graduate school in 1998. I went to graduate school [getting a masters in sports administration] because I needed a few extra years to get to where I could jump high enough to make money in vaulting. Every year I fitness trained less and less and pole vaulted more. After about four years of that, I got to the point where I could just pole vault. Now I've got to think about what I'm going to do after I'm done. I've told myself this year I'm not going to worry about it. It's just going to be a pole vault year.