Track and field power pair move on
Canadian star, American husband, announce retirements from heptathlon, decathlon
CALGARY omehow, Brianne Theisen-Eaton remained on her feet with her competitors strewn around her at the finish line of the 800 metres at the 2016 Rio Games.
Buckled over with her hands pressed against her knees, the pride of Humboldt, Sask., waited for what seemed like an eternity for the final results to flash on the scoreboard.
Third place overall. Bronze. Not what she came for, but a victory of sorts given that she entered Day 2 of the heptathlon in sixth place.
On Wednesday, Theisen-Eaton reflected on that moment as she announced her retirement at the same time as her husband Ashton Eaton, the American gold medallist in the decathlon.
“I remember thinking, ‘I want to lie down so badly, but I’m so tired that I’m not going to be able to get back up,’ ” Theisen-Eaton told Postmedia Wednesday from Eugene, Ore. “I have never been so thankful to be finished something in my life.
S“I felt like I never wanted to do another heptathlon again. This feeling confused me.” Not wanting to commit to a life-changing decision based on exhaustion, Theisen-Eaton waited three months before making it official.
“I went after what I set out to do and whether I achieved it or fell short is not the point,” said Theisen-Eaton, who arrived in Rio as a favourite for gold. “The point is that I know deep down that I gave it every ounce of energy I had and that if I went back and did it all over again, I would not change a thing. I could not have done anything better. “Isn’t this the point of sport?” Theisen-Eaton, 28, retires as the Canadian record holder in the heptathlon (outdoor) and the pentathlon (indoor). She is a two-time world championship silver medallist in the heptathlon and the reigning world indoor champion.
The University of Oregon product placed 11th at the 2012 Summer Games in London.
“I can’t advance any further in the sport,” she said. “I’ve given it all I can, and I refuse to come back and half-ass it because I love and respect this event and sport too much.”
No one would ever accuse Theisen-Eaton of “half-assing” in training or competition. Seemingly born to run, she drove her mom wild as a toddler by begging to get out of the shopping cart at the grocery store — only to sprint up and down the aisles at top speed.
In Grade 9, she joined the Saskatoon Track & Field club and commuted 110 kilometres each way up to four nights a week through blizzards and heat waves. A couple years later, she dedicated herself to the rigours of the heptathlon, which includes the 100-metre hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 metres, long jump, javelin and 800 metres.
In university, she met her future husband in Ashton Eaton. The couple married in July 2013. Their coach Harry Marra officiated their wedding.
Eaton, also 28, is a two-time Olympic gold medallist and the world record holder in the decathlon at 9,045 points.
“I gave the most physically robust years of my life to the discovery and pursuit of my limits in this domain,” Eaton wrote in a statement on the website he shares with his wife. “Did I reach them? Truthfully I’m not sure anyone really does.
“It seems like we tend to run out of time or will before we run out of potential. That makes humanity limitless then, as far as I’m concerned. And I think that’s inspiring.”
Originally, the Olympic power couple planned to retire after the 2017 track season. But when last November rolled round, Theisen-Eaton, for one, realized that the exhaustion she felt at the finish line in Rio had not abated.
“I gave the last four years everything I could,” she said. “I put my life on hold. Track and field was the priority before everything else: my family, my friends, my marriage, my future.”
She has no regrets, but wants to move on to other passions. First up is taking a year off, but she hopes to find a new calling in fighting the obesity epidemic sweeping Canada and the United States.
“To Brianne,” Eaton wrote in his retirement statement. “I’ve never seen such a high level of strength sustained for so long. I love you.
“What now?”