Unlikely First Gold Stokes U.S.
Brown Trafton's Discus Win Kicks Off Big Five-Medal Day

By Amy Shipley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 19, 2008

BEIJING, Aug. 18 -- Of all people, it was a female discus thrower who won the first Olympic gold medal for the U.S. track and field team. A woman with a part-time job in information technology who went to college on a basketball scholarship and had never won a medal in any major championship.

Yes, it was Stephanie Brown Trafton, a thrower standing 6 feet 4 and weighing 225 pounds, who pulled the U.S. team out of its funk by heaving a seven-inch, 2.3-pound metal disc 212 feet 5 inches on her first throw.

"I came to the Bird's Nest to lay a golden egg," Brown Trafton said, "and that's what I did."

The gold, the first in the event by a U.S. woman in 76 years, kicked off a small flood of medals for the Americans on Monday night and elevated the mood of what had been a gloomy U.S. track and field squad. First-time Olympian Jenn Stuczynski won a silver in the pole vault, succumbing only to the seemingly unbeatable Russian Yelena Isinbayeva, who set her 24th world record and won her second straight Olympic title.

In the night's last final, three American men swept the medals in the 400-meter hurdles, led by 2000 Olympic champion Angelo Taylor, who matched Edwin Moses for Olympic golds in the event with his dominant victory in 47.25 seconds. Reigning world champion Kerron Clement claimed the silver in 47.98 and Bershawn Jackson, the 2005 world champion, took bronze in 48.06.

The day's total surpassed the U.S. track team's production on Days 1 through 3, which had netted just one silver and four bronze medals and left even the U.S. athletes at the Olympic Village feeling down. Stuczynski said U.S. team members had taken to gathering nightly around a big-screen television to take in the action at Beijing National Stadium. Events were going so poorly, Stuczynski said, the Americans had begun to cheer for athletes from other countries.

The worst moment came Sunday night, when three Jamaican women swept the 100 meters, leaving the U.S. team of Muna Lee, Torri Edwards and Lauryn Williams without a medal. The assembled TV watchers, Stuczynski said, were horrified.

"It was like someone had died in that room," she said. "It was really weird and eerie. . . . Everyone wanted to pull together."

The day did not get off to a good start. Shortly before noon, 2004 Olympic silver medal winner Terrence Trammell pulled up lame with a hamstring injury in the first round of the 110-meter hurdles. The fact that China took an even greater hit minutes later when reigning Olympic and world champion -- and national icon -- Liu Xiang also withdrew with an injured right heel did nothing to dull the U.S. team's growing headache. World champion Tyson Gay had failed to make it out of the semifinals of the 100. Reigning Olympic silver medal winner Bernard Lagat didn't make the 1,500 final. World champion Reese Hoffa finished seventh in the shot put.

But at 4 p.m. Monday, hours before the start of competition, Brown Trafton burst into Stuczynski's room at the Olympic Village, asking her if she was ready to go. As Stuczynski later recalled Brown Trafton's entrance, she did not refer to her by name. She described her only as "the discus thrower."

That, of course, came as no surprise. Even in the United States, Brown Trafton, 28, has previously stood out only for her size, which proved a barrier to her original Olympic dream: As a little girl, she wanted to be the next Mary Lou Retton, and even paraded around in a leotard identical to the one Retton wore during the 1984 Summer Games.

Brown Trafton didn't even win the July Olympic trials in her event, finishing third after fouling on five of her six attempts.

None of that mattered Monday. She and the rest of the field had received a bit of an early boost when the event's world leader, Russian Darya Pishchalnikova, was among the seven Russians denied entry to the Olympics for their role in an alleged doping scheme.

Brown Trafton, who entered the meet with the third-best throw of 2008, knew she had a chance for a medal. She just didn't anticipate getting the color she got. At the 2004 Olympic Games, she hadn't even advanced out of the qualifying round.

"I knew I had to get a good throw," she said. "It just happened to be the first one."

Stuczynski entered the Olympics solidly in the shadow of Isinbayeva, who had won 13 straight major championships and set 23 world records before Monday. Stuczynski struggled to lay down a strong challenge, easily clinching second place with her best mark of 15-9 but failing to push Isinbayeva, who achieved 16-6.75. Still, she reveled in her first Olympic medal in her first Games -- especially considering the U.S. team's earlier struggles.

"I definitely think they were pulling for me," Stuczynski said. "I just hope they're proud of it."

The 400 hurdlers produced the most dominant and least surprising result of the night. Led by Clement, the trio possessed the top three times in the world this season. They all had major championship experience. In the call room before the race, the men got together and shook hands. The last American sweep in the event came at the 1960 Summer Games in Rome. They decided it was time to do it again.

"Before the race, we all came together as one," Jackson said. "We just got together and said, 'Let's go make history.' . . . We put on our spikes and said, 'Let's go.' "

And they went. Taylor led throughout, winning in a personal-best time. Clement secured second place in the home stretch, but third seemed momentarily up for grabs. Jackson had to chase down Jamaican Danny McFarlane over the last 50 meters to capture the bronze.

"We said we was going to go one-two-three," Clement said. "We knew we are the best in the world and we proved that tonight."