[HAMMOND] – Erica Bartolina pole vaulted in the Summer Olympics and hopes to represent the United States again in the 2012 Summer Olympics, but a few obstacles stand in the way on her road to London, England.
Bartolina experienced a huge setback after the greatest year of her career. Following a plateau in her performances due to injuries, she bettered her personal best of 14 feet 5.25 inches by nearly six inches with a vault of 14 feet 11 inches to make the U.S. team and compete in Beijing. That was last year. This year she can’t jump at all.
Before her first indoor meet last February, Bartolina injured the posterior tibial tendon in her right foot during practice. It’s the tendon that runs down the inside of the leg and into the arch. “I was halfway down the runway and just felt a little clench. You know one of those things when you didn’t think it was any big deal, and it turned out to be one of the biggest deals ever,” she said.
That little clench changed her year. After getting treatment from a trainer and unsuccessfully trying to vault, Bartolina visited an orthopedist. He put her in a walking boot with orthotics for four weeks, and she had to limit movement her foot for three additional weeks. Recovery took longer than she initially thought. The injury ended her indoor season.
The outdoor season was still in sight though, and she planned to compete in the World Outdoor Championships in Berlin in August. But in May when she attempted to restart training and use her foot, Bartolina realized the healing process had just begun. Her foot would get swollen and stay that way if she did too much on it. Any activity had to be done gradually.
“I remember the first time I ran on it. It was like a mile of walking half of it and slowly jogging the other half. That was when I was really like wow I have a long way to go,” Bartolina said. She decided she wouldn’t compete at all this year. While it was a hard decision to make, she did not want to underperform.
“If I can’t go out and be good, there’s no sense in me going out and jumping,” Bartolina said.
Her foot has gotten stronger. She will have it assessed by a foot specialist soon and possibly get more supportive training orthotics. It’s no longer injured, but there could be damage if she isn’t careful. Bartolina continues to ice her foot and get treatment, but currently most of the work to strengthen her foot is done during training.
Now her goals are directed toward the 2011 World Outdoor Championships in Korea and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Her target height is 15 feet 5 inches. That six-inch improvement on her personal best would put her in position to medal in those meets. But that is in the distant future. She has more immediate concerns.
Bartolina has no mark this season. Next year she wants to get back to where she was last year at 14 feet 11 inches. This will be difficult. Staying healthy and judging how far she can or cannot go on her foot only makes it more difficult.
Her first goal is to place in the top two in the U.S. National Indoor Championships in February to qualify for the World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar in March. Accomplishing this would make all her other goals a lot easier to achieve, like placing in the top three again in the National Outdoor Championships. “That would really make me feel like I’m back in it, I’m good to go and I’m going to go compete with the best,” Bartolina said.
She also wants to vault high enough indoors to get invited to the big outdoor meets. That way she’ll have the chance to accumulate points and have a shot at making it to the World Athletics Final. Cities are still bidding to host the meet, but the top eight or nine scorers from each event in the big meets are invited.
Accomplishing these goals will take consistency, another one of Bartolina’s objectives. “I’d love to go out and not have a meet below 14’6 next year. That would be awesome to me. That would really make me feel like I’m one of those top few, but we’ll see how it goes.”
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