To celebrate Brigetta Barrett's departure to the London Olympics, UA assistant track coach Sheldon Blockburger ordered a red, white and blue cake, appropriately decorated with the five Olympic rings and, yes, a high jump pit.
Blockburger cleverly added to the cake with a mini Brigetta, dressed in Team USA gear, clearing the bar above hand-written signs that said, "Go 4 the gold" and "Take no prisoners."
Talk about setting the bar high.
Barrett leaves for London today; Blockburger arrives five days later. On Aug. 9, Barrett will enter the first of what her coach believes could be four Olympiads.
"I've been telling people Brigetta is only 21 and will be the youngest woman to make this year's finals," says Blockburger, the UA's jumps coach since 2006. "Jumpers don't reach their peak until 27 or 28, and I believe Brigetta will be the odds-on favorite in 2016 and 2020. She could even be favored in 2024, when she'll be 33."
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Talk about great expectations.
No American women's high jumper has won multiple Olympic gold medals. In fact, no American has won a gold medal since Louise Ritter in 1988, and before that 1956.
"In reality, 12 years from now, Brigetta could be the most decorated female high jumper in history," says Blockburger. "If she stays healthy and keeps improving, she should be able to medal in the next three Olympics."
Ordinarily, this might seem like too much too soon, for Barrett or for any first-time Olympian. Who needs that kind of pressure?
But high-jumping at the Olympics has notably been a young woman's game. In 1928, 18-year-old Ethel Catherwood won the first high-jumping gold medal. In 1968, 18-year-old Miloslava Rezkova won gold, and in 1972, 16-year-old Ulrike Meyfarth was the gold medalist.
This year's favorite is 30-year-old Russian Anna Chicherova, who has cleared 6 feet 9 inches (two inches above Barrett's best).
But given Barrett's unusually difficult upbringing, and her ability to rise to the occasion, she seems unlikely to be cowed by anyone's reputation or even by a stage as grand as the Olympics Games.
"Honestly, she has about a 50-50 chance to get a medal," says Blockburger. "If she has the meet of her life, she could win it. If she has an average meet, she could easily be third or fourth."
Barrett's story is apt to be irresistible to the NBC people and reporters at London's track and field venue.
She's a big personality, a poet, a pianist, an actress, a singer, a writer and, most recently, a blogger/videographer who spent considerable time at the U.S. Olympic trials interviewing fellow Olympians for her blog (born2bgr8.tumblr.com).
Barrett's story became more compelling when her mother, Lottie, announced the day before Brigetta qualified for the Olympics that her long struggle with cancer was in remission and, in fact, that she will be in London as one of two guests the USOC allows for every American Olympian.
Brigetta grew up in the Bronx and Harlem areas of New York - she met her late father only once - and was on welfare, often not having anything to eat at school lunch. At 16, she moved to Dallas, living with a cousin, paying for the move by saving money from an after-school shift at McDonald's.
After making Team USA, Barrett told reporters "I'm speechless," which was a first. She has a world-class smile, a likeability quotient that is off the charts.
"Life's been kinda hard," she said at the trials. "I'm speechless because I know where I came from."
Blockburger, who has been involved in international track and field for 25 years, understands what may lie ahead.
"Brigetta will be on TV a lot; she could break the world record at any point," he says. "In addition to her jumping, her personality will help take her a long way.
"When she turns pro next summer, she could earn $100,000 a year to start, maybe $150,000 on a World Championship year and $250,000 during an Olympic year. She has a bright future ahead economically. There will be a lot of people asking her to endorse their shoes. She'll probably be the highest-paid high jumper in history coming out of college."
USA Track and Field gives a bonus believed to be $75,000 to gold medalists in London, with $50,000 to silver medalists and $25,000 to bronze medal winners. Barrett won't be able to accept any money if she continues her senior season at Arizona.
And why wouldn't she? She is a four-time NCAA champion with a chance to win six, the most in high jumping history. She is on schedule to complete her theatre arts degree and help the Wildcats seriously contend for the 2013 national championship.
"There's no room for fear, doubt or anything like that," she said after winning the NCAA championship in June. "I want to step up and show the world that, hey, I can do this."
And the world will be watching.
Contact Greg Hansen at 573-4362 or ghansen@azstarnet.com
