Washington
25 June 2008
She has Olympic gold in her trophy case, but American Sheila Taorminahas achieved more than victory - she has made history by becoming thefirst American athlete to make the Olympics in three different sports. VOA's David Byrd has this look at Taormina, who will compete in Beijingin the grueling, five-event modern pentathlon.
Sheila Taorminais no stranger to Olympic success. She won a gold medal in swimming in1996 in Atlanta, swimming the third leg of the 800-meter freestylerelay race for the United States. She then qualified for the 2000 and2004 Olympic teams in the sport of triathlon, which includes swimming,cycling and running. Taormina finished sixth in the triathlon inSydney and 23rd in Athens.
At the Beijing Olympics, she willcompete in the five-sport modern pentathlon. The event is meant toimitate the skills needed by a Napoleonic courier and includes fencing,swimming, running, shooting and horseback riding. Athletes must startwith air pistol shooting, then epee fencing. After that comes a200-meter swim followed by equestrian show jumping. The final event isa three-kilometer run. And it all takes place in one day.
Inearly June, the 39-year-old Taormina made history when she qualifiedfor the U.S. team, making her the first woman to earn an Olympic berthin three different sports. And the milestone is doubly special becausefour years ago Taormina had never picked up a pistol, an epee, orridden any animal larger than a pony. Taormina said that her new sportdemands a great deal of her.
"I'll train no more than foursports in a day," said Sheila Taormina. "I used to try to train five onsome days, but it is just too difficult. And so usually on any givenday there is just one of the sports I am not doing. And it goes fromabout 7am; I am starting the training and I am finishing up about 5 to6pm, with very little time in between there for anything else butgetting to the next practice. But Sundays I have off completely. Idon't go take any day trips anywhere. I just want to stay home whenI've got my days off."
Taormina is the youngest of eightchildren, with 11 nieces and nephews, and says she values her time withher family. In fact, her favorite Olympic memory is not winning thegold in Atlanta, but her sixth place finish in Sydney in thetriathlon. Even though she had no chance of finishing higher, Taorminasays that the sight of her family cheering made her sacrifices worth it.
"Iwas coming down to the last 200 meters of the run to finish, and I wasin sixth place," she said. "And fifth place was too far away to sprint;I couldn't catch her. And I ran past the 20 members of my family whowere at the Sydney Olympics and all of them were jumping up and down. And that became my Olympic moment because at that moment I realizedthat the people who care about you the most and who I love the most -the relationships that count the most with your family, your closefriends, your God - those never changed based on whether you are goingto win a gold medal or not going to win a medal at all."
SheilaTaormina almost did not achieve her dream of qualifying in threesports. Because of its elite - but small - following, modernpentathlon was almost eliminated from the Olympics six years ago. Thenthe U.S. organization that that oversaw its development in the UnitedStates for more than 50 years folded.
And there were financialproblems. Modern pentathlon does not draw nearly the support asmarquee sports like athletics, gymnastics, or swimming. But Taorminapersevered. As part of her efforts to make the team, she sold herhouse - at a loss - in 2006. Taormina said she counted that setback aspart of the sacrifice needed to achieve her larger goal of making theOlympic team.
Then there was doubt whether she would be on theteam. Nations can send just two athletes per gender to the Olympiccompetition, and Taormina was one of three American women to meet theinternational modern pentathlon standard. However, she beat outteammates Michelle Kelly and Margo Isaksen in the USOC's tiebreaker -her performance in the World Cup this year. Taormina finished ninthwhile Isaksen was 10th and Kelly was 29th.
Taormina says thather goal in Beijing is simple - to enjoy the Olympics again as she didin 1996 - with wide eyes. She says that while her main goal - getting to Beijing - has beenachieved, she will be trying to make the podium. But even if she doesnot medal, Sheila Taormina says that she is satisfied to finish whatshe started - and to prove that someone her age can learn - and compete- at a new sport at the international level.