Rather than let track take over his life, Clay lets his life take over the track.
The decathlete nods in the direction of two young children playing in Gordon Track’s long jump sand pit. I cringe, expecting the derision of an Olympian accustomed to pristine facilities, but instead he explains,
“This is my two kids [on a typical day back home]. My kids are at the track all day…If they want to come see Dad, I live two miles from the track, so [my family] can just hop in the car and come on down. I’m way blessed in that. Maybe some people think it’s a distraction, but it helps me be more focused knowing that my family is happy and taken care of.”
Suddenly, “who” Bryan Clay is becomes clearer. Despite the personal glory that accompanies a highly individual sport and superfluous titles, it is the ability to balance everything important to him that keeps the decathlete working.
“I’m competitive enough that my big goal is…to win a third gold medal at a third Olympic games, but if I don’t,” he shrugs, “then okay, I don’t. The next couple years are just for the love of the sport.”
Of course, Clay realizes that even world-class track and field athletes don’t make enough to lounge around, and it is not difficult to guess what will happen, whether or not he earns his third trip to the Olympic podium.
“When this all ends, I’m still going to have to go out and get a job and figure out what I’m going to do with my life,” Clay laughs.
Back at last Saturday’s meet, I make a crucial mistake following the gold medalist’s dominant performance in the sprint. I leave early to cover the Crimson wrestling team in a double-header, departing just as the warm-ups for the pole vault get underway. It is not until the next morning that I find myself staring incredulously at my computer screen.
Clay finished fourth. Not even on the medal stand. The competition’s standout athlete failed to clear a height in that fateful pole vault, forcing him to concede 804 points to eventual winner Maurice Smith—a blow magnified by Clay’s 785-point loss.
Undoubtedly, Clay was frustrated by his effort, but the Olympian didn’t take time to pout. Instead Clay rushed from Gordon Track immediately, trying to get to California as quickly as possible. He had more important things than the pole vault to think about, such as returning to his wife, Sarah, who delivered the couple’s third child yesterday.
As the two-time Olympian welcomes the fifth member of his family, it seems unlikely that he will brood over the Harvard Multi Meet for very long.
Clay’s experience in Cambridge was not so uncommon. Many of us stride onto this campus as freshmen no less confident than the decathlete seemed last weekend, and unsurprisingly, Clay is not the first of us to face a reality check. But while we may not have Olympic medals to comfort us when we fail, Clay’s perspective transcends his accomplishments. The decathlete insists on consistently focusing on what makes him happy, advice he readily shares:
“The thing I would tell kids and college athletes…is they just need to have a good understanding of who they are, what they believe…and they are going to be successful in whatever they do.”
By track standards, Clay wasn’t successful last weekend, but the decathlete’s outlook allows him to be flexible in his definition of the word. When we inevitably come up short at some point in our four years, may we too be so content in defeat.
—Staff writer Max D. Brondfield can be reached at mbrondf@fas.harvard.edu