TRIATHLON
Ertel finds new world to conquer
Water polo star gets new challenge
As Julie Ertel was winning a silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Games with the American water polo team, the sport of triathlon was making its Olympic debut.
Eight years later, Ertel and triathlon are intertwined. The 35-year-old from Irvine, Calif. will try to win her second Olympic medal in her second sport.
Ertel, who qualified for the Olympics by winning the trials in April and won the ITU Pan American Cup race in Geneva, N. Y., in July, came to triathlon after her triumph in water polo.
“For me I never did any land sports growing up — no soccer, softball, volleyball,” Ertel said. “I hated sweat and wanted to be in the water. I was a heavy kid, too, so I was not swift on land.
“What I did in water polo is I achieved the top. I went as high as I could go. I got a medal from the Olympics and coming home I just felt invincible. I was on top of the world and I had a friend, our team chiropractor who traveled with us, who said, ‘Hey, if you win a medal I’ll take you over and we’ll do a triathlon on Catalina Island.’
“I don’t know why I thought I could do it. My total run with the water polo team to the gym and back was .45 miles each way so that was just under 3 miles a week so I was in no way fit for this triathlon but somehow I got through it and had a great time. I love the challenge of getting to learn a new sport. Every day when I was out there I felt like I learned something new. I was improving so quickly that that’s what got me hooked.”
Ertel started with age-group racing, then decided to move to elite status in 2002. Last year was her breakout year, winning the Pan AM Games Gold Medal and the USAT Elite National Championships.
While Ertel’s journey has been a nearly eight-year trip, Jarrod Shoemaker’s move to triathlon came with a high level of success immediately.
Shoemaker, a 26-year-old from Maynard, Mass., has been at the elite level of triathlon for four years after enjoying a successful career in track and cross country at Dartmouth College. After graduating in 2004 he jumped into triathlon and won the USAT Under-23 National Championships. His success continued on the professional circuit where he had top-25 finishes in his first three races.
“For me it was staying in something athletic,” said Shoemaker, who took second at the ITU Pan American Cup race in Geneva. “I kind of didn’t want to go into an office job. So I said ‘Hey, I’ll give it a shot and see what works out.’ It took me a little while to feel like I was doing a good job at it but really only a year until I started doing pretty well. It was a quick jump into the sport for me and I’m still learning a lot.”
Ertel and Shoemaker raced in Geneva as part of their preparation — which is called the build — for the Beijing Olympics. The hot and humid conditions of race day were welcomed since those are the conditions expected when the women compete Aug. 18 and the men Aug. 19.
Shoemaker had the luxury of being the first person named to the U. S. Olympic team. He secured his spot last September when he was the top American finisher (11th overall) at the 2007 ITU Beijing World Cup.
Ertel knew she would have to peak twice to win a second medal — once for the Olympic trials in Tuscaloosa, Ala., in April and again at the Games.
Ertel plans to do some running races between Geneva and the Olympics to make sure that aspect is where she wants it; she was sidelined for two weeks this summer with a knee injury and a bronchial infection. She sees the race in Beijing playing out with a big group coming off the bike with the run becoming the defining moment of the medal stand.
For Shoemaker, the build now involves headaches of travel plans as he tries to get his coaches and training partners over to Beijing.
But on a serious note, his preparation has become more mental than physical.
“I have one more big two-week training block but it’s really about wrapping my head mentally around the race,” Shoemaker said. “Because it’s going to be so different from any race I’ve ever done just in terms of all the people racing and that we’ll have more spectators at that race than any race I’ve been to. So for me, my focus over the next couple of weeks is to mentally get prepared for it so I’m not just shocked when I go there and see everything.”
