FOCUS: OLYMPIC ATHLETE
Olympic pole vaulter Jenn Stuczynski stirs hometown pride in Fredonia
She prepares to go for the gold in Beijing
FREDONIA — It’s impossible to predict if Olympics-bound Fredonia pole vaulter Jenn Stuczynski will win a medal.
But regardless of what happens in China, the 2000 Fredonia High graduate has already captured the hearts of her hometown.
Tuesday, hundreds crowded onto Barker Common in the center of the village to get autographs and wish their Jenn well.
“It’s almost emotional at times to realize how much support I have, but I’m trying to stay focused and have one more goal left this season and hope I get it,” Stuczynski said.
“I will be there representing the U. S., but I’m also going to be representing Western New York.”
When the 6-foot, 1-inch Stuczynski enters Beijing National Stadium on Aug. 15 for the qualifying round, she begins a quest to become the first Western New Yorker to win an Olympic medal since Angola native and Nichols School, then Duke University basketball star Christian Laettner triumphed with the original “dream team” in 1992.
Stuczynski, 26, catches a flight from Rochester early Thursday morning with momentum on her side. She raised her U. S. pole-vaulting record to 16 feet, 1b inches at the Olympic Trials on July 6. That’s second to world record-holder Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia, who has vaulted 4 inches higher and is the favorite to win the gold medal in the finals Aug. 18.
A crossbar showing the height of Stuczynski’s record jump was on display Tuesday evening. Click here to see her vault at the U.S. Olympic Trials.
The outpouring of support has included locals snapping up nearly 1,500 yard signs and 700 T-shirts to defray costs so grocers Mark and Sue Stuczynski can attend the Olympics and root for their daughter.
“She’s one of the most wholesome, true individuals I’ve ever known in my life, and I think [the community support] just emanates from her,” said Police Chief Bradley Meyers. “People pick up on it, and they just want to be around her.”
As Stuczynski signed autographs inside a huge tent embossed with her image provided by corporate sponsor Nutrilite, paternal grandmother Josephine Fijal beamed.
“I could cry. I’m very proud. Jenn is not just an athlete, but such a great person. She’s a real person. She comes home, she’s Jenn,” said Fijal, one of numerous family members on hand.
Bob Sievert, who coached Stuczynski in Little League, said: “She was an all-around athlete, and no matter what she did, she always wanted to win. She’s the sweetest girl, just unbelievable, [and] she’s a competitor.”
That Stuczynski is going to the Olympics at all would have seemed impossible not long ago.
In high school, she played a number of sports and won the state pentathlon as a senior. But she didn’t turn her attention to pole vaulting until four years ago, while a senior at Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, where she also starred on the basketball team.
Her progress under the tutelage of Rick Suhr, the premier pole-vaulting coach in Western New York, has been nothing short of amazing.
Stuczynski won an NAIA indoor national title one year later, followed shortly by a victory at the USA Indoor Championships.
In May 2007, she broke 2000 Olympic standout Stacy Dragila’s U. S. outdoor pole-vaulting record by a half-inch at the Adidas Track Classic, only to top her own record a month later at the Reebok Grand Prix in Los Angeles.
It’s likely Stuczynski will have to defeat Isinbayeva to win the gold.
But that’s not all she’s up against, Suhr said.
“There are actually five people who I expect to divide up three medals,” he said. “Obviously, Yelena Isinbayeva is as dominant as any athlete in any sport right now. But we’re in a perfect position. We’re the underdog, and that’s where I want to be.”
Suhr said the show of support in Fredonia has blown him away:
“When I got off the Thruway, I saw one of those signs, and then I saw another, and another, and another. It’s the exact momentum you want going into an Olympic championship.”
