Making the jump

• By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Jul 8, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

There will come a time, likely at the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics next month in Beijing, when the full measure of what has been accomplished will come to long jumper Brian Johnson.

He knows that.

Already, though, there was this sliver, a precious moment of joy, when he got to drink in a nice taste. And this one came in a rare instance of camaraderie in the most individual of sports.

Last month, in Eugene, Ore., Johnson, the former Iowa High and Southern University star, came in second and his local training partner, Miguel Pate, the former West Feliciana High and Alabama star, placed third at the Olympic Trials.

“I had a little bit of fun at the USA meet, clowning around with him, just because we work so hard every day,” Johnson said. “I’m happy for him. We’re getting older, so our chances of going to the next (Olympics) are a little slimmer. It’s just good to know that we’re finally getting our shot to go.”

Their path to one of the crowning moments of their career is similar.

• Johnson turned 28 in March. Pate just turned 29. They are in the prime of their careers, competing on the international track circuit.
• They both have been NCAA indoor champs (Pate in 2002, Johnson in ’03) and USA title holders, indoors (Pate in 2002 and ’03 and Johnson in ’05 and ’06) and outdoors (Pate in ’05 and Johnson in ’06).
• Johnson had a horrendous left knee injury, just like Pate, and at nearly the same time — Johnson’s (anterior cruciate ligament) coming in early April of 2003 and Pate’s (ACL, plus lateral cruciate ligament, plus posterior cruciate ligament) in May of that year.
• Johnson gave up basketball, just like Pate, after both went to college initially for basketball — after starring at Class 3A high schools in small Louisiana towns.
• And now the two train together under Boo Schexnayder, the former LSU assistant who will be the U.S. Team’s long jumping coach, in town.
  

“I’ve been jumping against Miguel all my life,” Johnson said. “I took a nice share of losses from him and (former LSU star) Walter (Davis).

“There’s no more competing for us. He’s my training partner. … There’s no more trash-talking. It’s all about helping each other out.”

Johnson came to train under Schexnayder in the last few years, while this is Pate’s first year under Schexnayder.

“When you compete against these guys for a while, you get to know them. You see them year in and year out. … But when you see somebody every day, you gain more respect,” Pate said. “You get to know them better. You understand what they’ve been going through. He understands what I’ve been going through.

“We have a lot in common.”

The trials of everyday life aside, the sport, itself, is humbling. Athletes like Johnson and Pate train all year for one event. The slim margin of error is cruelly opposite the massive workload of fine-tuning body and technique.

Said Johnson, “The USA team is a hard team to make. It’s not easy. You have to have that day. If it’s your day, it’s your day. If not, it’s somebody else’s.”

Said Pate, “It happens real quickly. There’s no need to act like you’re on top of the world. It can come crashing down at any moment. … Tenths of seconds, centimeters, stuff like that make a big difference. You have to get everything out of your body on that day. To do that, you have to have your emotions under control; you have to channel it in the right direction.”