Sandi Morris
HOMETOWN: Greenville; now training professionally at the University of Arkansas, where she is a volunteer coach
AGE: 25
CLAIMS TO FAME: Won silver medal in women’s pole vault during 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro; silver medal at 2017 IAAF World Championships in London; holds U.S. women’s outdoor pole vault record
PERSONAL BESTS: Cleared 5 meters (16 feet, 4 inches) in September 2016 as only the second woman ever to clear that height outdoors. Indoors, cleared 4.95 meters (16 feet, 2 inches) in March 2016.
ANIMAL LOVER: Morris’ menagerie includes a dog named Rango,three snakes, a bird, “about 10 fish,” and a cat she got in 2012after narrowly missing a spot in the Olympic Trials; she namedthe cat Rio and vowed to reach the 2016 Olympics
NEXT UP: Look for Morris at the USATF Indoor Track & Field Championships, Albuquerque, Feb. 18; All Star Perche2018 international pole vault competition, France, Feb. 25; IAAF World Indoor Championships, England, March 3–4; Diamond League series meets in May, June and July, leading up to prestigious Diamond League finals in Switzerland in August
It’s in the record books—and the story ends with a silver medal, not gold. Even so, it’s a Hollywood-worthy nail-biter when Sandi Morris describes the dramatic climax: two world-class pole vaulters are neck and neck in the Olympic finals, each straining to outlast the other, with one last chance to clear the bar and win the gold.
“I ran down that runway like a barbarian,” Morris recalls of her last vault in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She plants the pole, pushes up toward the sky, arches her body over the crossbar. Victory is hers, she’s sure, triumphant for a split second, dropping to the mat. And then, the bar falls.
There is no agony of defeat in this story. Every word rings with her joy in the experience—the thrill of the opening ceremonies, the gut-level delight of competing in the Olympics, the roar of fans and blur of lights in the arena. And winning a medal—incredibly, just two months after breaking her wrist.
“That was the biggest thing I’ve overcome in my career,” Morris says. So, no, silver was no disappointment. “If anything, it motivated me even more.” A few weeks later, she set a personal best, jumping six inches higher than what she cleared in Rio.
Fearless, athletic and fast since childhood—“I was that kid climbing to the top of a 30-foot magnolia tree, swaying back and forth”—Morris was a standout at Greenville High School, where she still holds school records in track and field, and the University of Arkansas, where she set an NCAA record in pole vaulting.
The Nike-sponsored athlete aims still higher, hoping to set a world record someday.
“It’s amazing that I get to do this for a living,” Morris says. “It’s fun to defy gravity.”
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Follow Morris on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram and on her blog. Watch this featured video on SCLiving.coop to witness Sandi Morris clearing 5 meters.