2008 Woodie Awards
The Daily OrangeYear in Sports | Conflicted ambition: Jillian Drouin is close to making the Olympics. But her politics have made things complicated
By Brian Tahmosh
Posted: 4/17/08, 10:25 PM EST Section: Sports
Drouin said this type of action would be unfair to the athletes because it eliminates their opportunity to choose whether or not they wish to attend.
"This would be my best shot at going, and I haven't decided if I want to invest another four years after working so hard to try to make the next one," she said. "So if I didn't have the opportunity to go at all because of a government choice that would probably disappoint me."
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Like many aspiring athletes, Drouin had dreamed of going to the Olympics since she started high jumping in fourth grade. But that dream had started to lose its luster when she entered college.
"There was one point in time where I thought I didn't want to do it," Drouin said of qualifying for the Olympics. "I had been doing sports for a long time, and if I don't improve enough while I'm in college, do I really want to invest another 10-15 years of my life trying to reach that goal? And I didn't know that I did."
That point in time came during her first two years at Syracuse. She was practicing longer and harder than ever in her career, and the results just weren't what she expected.
Inexperienced at multi-events - she had only competed at single events in high school - coincided with Drouin's first real bouts with nagging injuries. She developed tendonitis in her knees and formed a habit of spraining her ankles.
Then came the Big East championships in May 2007. All the hard work finally paid off, and Drouin earned the league title in the heptathlon with a school-record 5,890 points earned.
SU assistant coach Enoch Borozinski approached Drouin after the competition and told her the score was an Olympic B qualifying mark (Drouin needs to reach the A qualifying mark to make the Olympic team). She was surprised and at first did not completely believe her coach. But after some research on her own, she discovered the Olympics might not be just a pipe dream after all.
"I honestly thought that it would have taken a lot higher (score)," Drouin said. "Not that that's not a good score, but I was just assuming I'm not at that level yet. I was really amazed. I guess it was surprising that I could do that."
"This would be my best shot at going, and I haven't decided if I want to invest another four years after working so hard to try to make the next one," she said. "So if I didn't have the opportunity to go at all because of a government choice that would probably disappoint me."
****
Like many aspiring athletes, Drouin had dreamed of going to the Olympics since she started high jumping in fourth grade. But that dream had started to lose its luster when she entered college.
"There was one point in time where I thought I didn't want to do it," Drouin said of qualifying for the Olympics. "I had been doing sports for a long time, and if I don't improve enough while I'm in college, do I really want to invest another 10-15 years of my life trying to reach that goal? And I didn't know that I did."
That point in time came during her first two years at Syracuse. She was practicing longer and harder than ever in her career, and the results just weren't what she expected.
Inexperienced at multi-events - she had only competed at single events in high school - coincided with Drouin's first real bouts with nagging injuries. She developed tendonitis in her knees and formed a habit of spraining her ankles.
Then came the Big East championships in May 2007. All the hard work finally paid off, and Drouin earned the league title in the heptathlon with a school-record 5,890 points earned.
SU assistant coach Enoch Borozinski approached Drouin after the competition and told her the score was an Olympic B qualifying mark (Drouin needs to reach the A qualifying mark to make the Olympic team). She was surprised and at first did not completely believe her coach. But after some research on her own, she discovered the Olympics might not be just a pipe dream after all.
"I honestly thought that it would have taken a lot higher (score)," Drouin said. "Not that that's not a good score, but I was just assuming I'm not at that level yet. I was really amazed. I guess it was surprising that I could do that."
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W
posted 4/18/08 @ 7:29 PM EST
Thanks for this profile. Nice to see there are aware SU athletes about to do us all proud.
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