Arkansas campus celebrates Olympic success

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Posted 5:19AM on Monday, August 30, 2004

LITTLE ROCK - Cell phone service between Fayetteville and Athens is expensive - more than $7 minute and not too dependable, but that didn't stopped University of Arkansas track coaches from calling athletes with last-minute advice and encouragement. The long-distance coaching paid off with University of Arkansas athletes winning two gold, a silver and two bronze medals in track events at the Athens games, a record medal haul for athletes with ties to the university. Several other Arkansas athletes made it to their event finals, defeating the toughest competition the world has to offer in preliminary heats. ``We have been on the edge of our seats every day. I've had Olympians before but never medalists,'' said Arkansas women's coach Lance Harter. Harter coached marathon bronze medalist Deena Kastor in her days at Arkansas and he coached gold-medal sprinter Veronica Campbell this year. Competing for her native Jamaica, Campbell won gold in the 200-meter sprint and the 400-meter relay and took bronze in the 100-meter sprint. She already had a silver from her role in Jamaica's 2000 Sydney relay team. Harter said his assistant coaches talked throughout the Olympic games with Campbell and with fellow Arkansas sprinter LaShaunte'a Moore, who competed in the 200 meters for the U.S. Both women turned professional by signing contracts with Adidas after competing for Arkansas this year, but they plan to return to Fayetteville to train and attend school following the Olympics. ``Both are very young and their potential in the longterm is huge,'' Harter said. ``In the athletic world, especially for female athletes, their careers are just getting started,'' he said. Harter, a former distance runner, said Kastor's bronze in the marathon was an unexpected thrill. He coached Kastor when she was member of the Arkansas cross country team. ``At first, maybe even to the 20-mile mark I thought 'gosh, Dee, I hope this plan of yours works, walking people down from behind'. When she made up so much ground in the last four miles, I realized that race plan fit her perfectly,'' Harter said. Former Arkansas high jumper Matt Hemingway won a silver medal on the men's side. Assistant men's coach Dick Booth said he called Hemingway before he took his medal-winning jump. ``The thing that's really neat for Matt is that this was going to be it for him. I talked to him just before (the competition) but I haven't talked to him since because it's kind of hard to keep in touch,'' Booth said. John McDonnell, the university's head track coach, talked frequently to former Arkansas athletes Daniel Lincoln and Alistair Cragg during their competitions. Lincoln made it to the finals of the 3,000 meter steeplechase, finishing 11th, and Cragg finished 12th Saturday in the finals of the 5,000-meter run. Coaches weren't the only University of Arkansas employees to run up international long distance bills during the Olympics. Bill Smith, who is in charge of sports information for women's athletics at the university, said his employees kept up with the U.S. and Jamaican coaching staff at Athens to monitor how the Arkansas athletes were doing. Smith's office also answered numerous requests from Jamaican media wanting to know about Campbell and to arrange interviews with her. Smith did a live interview on Jamaican radio from Fayetteville on Friday morning. ``You can tell they are extremely proud and excited about her, and they are curious if we have the same pride and excitement here,'' Smith said. While the university hasn't planned any celebrations to commemorate the Olympic success, Smith said it's likely the athletes will be recognized during halftime of a football game. ``We hope that this helps to get the general public interested in track events more than just every four years,'' he said.