SAINT-DENIS, France — Pole vaulters, American Sam Kendricks likes to say, use each single a part of their physique and uniform to excel of their occasion.
So when Kendricks was “actually committing” to leaping 6.0 meters — a peak he tried to clear 3 times — and his spikes punctured his hand, he didn’t fear. He wiped it on his arm and carried on, all the way in which to securing a silver medal.
“I’ve obtained very sharp spikes,” mentioned Kendricks, who took second within the males’s pole vault Monday evening at Stade de France within the 2024 Paris Olympics after he cleared 5.95 meters. “As I used to be actually committing to first bounce at six meters (19 ft, 6 1/4 inches), I punctured my hand 3 times and it wouldn’t cease bleeding. And slightly than wipe it on my good uniform, I needed to wipe it on my arm.
“I attempted to not get any blood on Previous Glory for no good functions.”
So, bloodied and bruised however not damaged, Kendricks goes house with a silver medal, so as to add his Olympic assortment. He additionally has a bronze, which he received in Rio in 2016.
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Why not any medal illustration from Tokyo? He’d be joyful to inform you.
In 2021, Kendricks was in Japan for the delayed Olympic Video games when he examined optimistic for COVID-19. He was devastated — and livid. He stays satisfied that it was a false optimistic as a result of he didn’t really feel sick. Nonetheless he was compelled to quarantine. He is talked about how he was “positively bitter” about what occurred then and struggled to let it go. On the U.S. Olympic observe and subject trials in June, he threatened to not come to Paris.
“Relatively than run away from it, like I actually wished to, you gotta come again, you gotta face that lion,” Kendricks mentioned.
Requested if one other Olympic medal has erased the heartbreak of 2021, Kendricks mentioned, “I don’t wish to speak about Tokyo anymore.”
He’d slightly gush concerning the present he obtained to look at in Paris.
After he’d secured the gold Monday night, Swedish sensation Armand Duplantis, a Louisiana native identified merely as “Mondo,” determined he was going to go for some data. First he cleared 6.10 to set an Olympic document.
Then, with greater than 77,000 breathless individuals zeroed in on him — each different occasion had wrapped up by 10 p.m., which meant pole vault obtained all the eye — Duplantis cleared 6.25, a world document. It set off an eruption in Stade de France, led by Kendricks, who went streaking throughout the observe to have a good time together with his buddy.
“Pole vault breeds brotherhood,” Kendricks mentioned of the celebration with Duplantis, the 24-year-old whiz child who now has two gold medals.
The occasion went greater than three hours, with vaulters passing time chatting with one another between jumps.
“Most likely a number of it’s simply nonsense,” Duplantis joked of the subjects mentioned. “If it’s Sam it’s in all probability totally different nonsense. I’ll say this, we chatted lots lower than we often do. You’ll be able to positively sense when it’s the Olympics — individuals begin to tense up just a little bit.”
Requested if he’s additionally bitter at coming alongside across the identical time as Duplantis, Kendricks simply smiled. He has two of his personal world titles, he reminded everybody, successful gold on the World Championships in each 2017 and 2019.
“I’ve had my time with the golden handcuffs,” Kendricks mentioned. “Mondo earned his time.”
E mail Lindsay Schnell at lschnell@usatoday.com and comply with her on social media @Lindsay_Schnell
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