Update from Beijing

Alright... I never post twice in the same day but here's the latest on Trey Hardee. After 3 out of ten decathalon events... HE IS IN THIRD PLACE! American Brian Clay is leading, some dude from some hard to say country is in second place and then its TREY! Because I still haven't figured out what time it is there and when he'll be on I haven't seen anything but maybe I'll see it tonight. Also, I found this article by R. Melick in the Bham News and just wanted to let everyone know what kind of kid Trey really is... GO USA.

RAY MELICKNews staff writer
Jan DiCesare doesn't know how all this happened; how her son, Trey Hardee, went from this gangly kid who spent all his time playing traditional sports such as football, basketball and baseball, to this man who is halfway around the world today, preparing to march into Olympic Stadium tonight for the Opening Ceremonies of the Summer Olympics.

"I don't know that it has even sunk in yet," said DiCesare, from her home in Vestavia Hills. "Hopefully, we'll see him march in the Opening Ceremony, see him walk in with the United States team ... wow."

Vestavia Hills' Hardee, 24, will be competing in the decathlon for the United States in Beijing. He is still young for a decathlete, perhaps four years away from reaching his peak. But on the other hand, he's put up good enough numbers that he has to be considered a threat for a medal.

The decathlon is made up of 10 events that include running, throwing and jumping. One of the jumping events is the pole vault, which is where an athlete uses a long pole ... or a big stick.

"That vision the lady told me about, I didn't know what to think," DiCesare said. "It's one of those things you say, `That's nice,' and you tuck it away and don't really think about it. Maybe you tell the story once in awhile, but when you're watching your son playing football, basketball, baseball, and there's no `big stick' involved, you kind of forget about it.

"But one night, just after Trey signed a track scholarship with Mississippi State as a pole vaulter, I remembered. I looked at Trey and said, `Oh, my!'"

It was the pole vault that got Hardee scholarship offers from Mississippi State, Auburn, Florida and Arizona State. It was his ability to pole vault and high jump that convinced his coaches he might be something special in the decathlon.

"I knew the decathlon," said Mountain Brook track coach Greg Echols. "Trey's senior year at Vestavia, he was a heck of a hurdler, and the best pole vaulter in the state. And he was this big kid, like 6-foot-5.

"Most decathletes are big guys like that, guys that are tall and fast. And when they already know how to pole vault and hurdle - those are the two hardest events to learn. A lot of guys who can run and throw can't learn to hurdle and pole vault. But pole vaulters can learn to be throwers."

Hardee was winning without much effort, and Echols could see the potential that was being wasted.

One of the first people to really encourage me (in track) was Coach Echols," Hardee said. "He stopped me after an indoor track meet and asked me to listen to my coaches and respect what they were asking me to do in training. I'd never gotten any advice from the opposition before. It made me feel like that was really important.

"Then some other coaches started saying things to me like that, and I began to think, `Could all these respected track and field people be right? Maybe this is something I was meant to do.'"

DiCesare remembers when her son came home and announced he was going to be a professional pole vaulter.
"We laughed," she said. "We said, `Sure. But get a major where you can get a job and support yourself, too.'"

In his freshman year at Mississippi State, Hardee's coaches entered him in the decathlon. When State shut down its indoor track program, Hardee transferred to the University of Texas to compete for track coach Bubba Thornton, who had competed in the decathlon at LSU and is this year's Olympic track and field coach.

"Trey didn't set out to be a pole vaulter, much less a decathlete," DiCesare said. "There have just always been things in place. Only God could have written this story. I know we never expected it to unfold this way."

Even now, sitting in his room at the athletes' village in Beijing, working out at Dalian University, walking through malls looking at exotic foods, standing by the bay and thinking it's a fog rolling in, only to find out later it's industrial pollution, Hardee can't explain how this happened to him.

"It's hard to say how you go from being a child running around, climbing trees, to where I am," Hardee said. "There was always a family behind me, supportive and humbling.

"But for me, personally, I have always felt I haven't really achieved anything great because there is always something or someone better. Winning a state title was nice, but then came the NCAAs. Winning that was nice, but I wasn't the best ever. Then getting into the professional ranks was great, but nobody remembers an Olympic Trials second-place decathlete.

"I am always desiring to be better than I am, at anything - Scrabble, ping-pong, or track and field. My goal has always been to improve to the next best thing."

Hardee was asked how he would define "greatness."

"Greatness comes from being prepared when opportunities present themselves," he said. "I'm just doing my part to be as prepared as possible when the time comes. I know God has something special in store for me. It could be this Olympics, it could be the next. It could be off the track completely. I'm just along for the ride."

It's almost as if he never had a choice, as if this were simply his destiny.

Indeed, Hardee believes his success does not come from his own will to win, but "more to do with grace, mercy and love of God. Every time I turn around, I'm being blessed. Isaiah 40 says, `Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.'

"How perfect is that for the decathlon?"