Philomath pole vaulter injured during training

Gazette-Times

Philomath High graduate Erica Bartolina will have to wait to experience the Olympics, at least for a couple of days.

Bartolina, who qualified for the Beijing Olympics in the pole vault, will still compete in the event, but will miss the opening ceremony after suffering an injury in practice.

On one of her attempts, Bartolina caught the bar on the way down with her chin. She required four stitches and suffered “a slight concussion and a little whiplash later,” she said in an e-mail.

“I am really disappointed I will be missing opening ceremonies, but I know I have to take care of myself first and foremost,” she said. “Six-to-eight hours on my feet in the heat would not be good for me right now.

“My injury is really not as bad as it sounds, and I will heal in plenty of time for my competition on the 16th, but I am sure I won’t be feeling quite up to (the opening ceremony).”

While she feels confident she will be healed in time to compete, the final day of practice was not what she was hoping for.

“I am a bit frustrated because my last vault practice didn’t go very well, and this one was going mediocre until it got cut short,” she said. “I think I’ve been wound a little tight lately, while trying to protect myself from my many emotions, so it is understandable that I am screwing things up a little in practice.

“I am not the only one dealing with these things around here. I know that when competition comes around, I can still go out there and jump high, even if all my practices are bad. It just isn’t very good for the confidence. I’d like to have some good ones.”