TORONTO — A red-headed and freckle-faced Toronto kid who botched an attempt to fly through the air at 5.40 metres because he had slippery sunscreen hands is the Pan American Games pole vaulting champion.
A 26-year-old Vancouverite who pursued javelin because she was the only Grade 8 kid in her class who didn’t hit herself in the back of the head with it is now a Pan American Games gold medallist.
Yes, it was quite the morning at the track on Tuesday for Canada.
Liz Gleadle sat in third place with one throw left in javelin. She pumped her arms to get the crowd going, they responded, and then she responded with the best throw of the day, measuring 62.83 metres. The six-foot Gleadle then burst into tears, hugged her family, grabbed a Canada flag and did a victory lap. The gold is her first medal ever in international competition.
And to win it in Canada, of course, was extra special. “It’s very full body and it’s kind of like your whole system just lights up like a Christmas tree,” Gleadle says, still wearing her black tights and red-and-white team Canada sneakers. “It’s very, very rare to come by, and it’s a fantastic feeling.
“It’s kind like if you’ve ever been in love, and your heart is about to explode with happiness. You know what I mean?”
About an hour after Gleadle’s big throw, Shawnacy Barber washed his hands after that missed attempt—the pole literally slipped out of grasp, but the sunscreen was essential for “that fair skin of mine,” he says—and then he flew over the bar at 5.80m, a height none of his competitors could match.
Barber, 21, goes by Shawn instead of the full Shawnacy, because “a lot of people have a struggling time,” he says, with his first name.
It’s pronounced like this: Shawn-a-see. And it’s a name you ought to get used to. Barber won the NCAA championship earlier this year, he has the fourth-best jump in the world this year, he holds the Canadian record (5.91m indoors and 5.90m outdoors), and he’s hoping his results will put pole vaulting on the map in this country.
“That’s something I’m trying to build up and I’m trying to influence the younger crowd and help ‘em out in in any way I can,” he says. “I think we can have a very bright future in this sport here in Canada.”
A dual citizen who was born in New Mexico but lists his hometown as Toronto and spent a lot of time in the area as a kid, Barber has been pole vaulting since he was four or five, following in his dad, George’s, footsteps. George, who’s now his coach, would shorten poles so his two sons could jump over irrigation ditches at the family farm.
“I was out watching my dad jump all the time,” Barber says. “I didn’t really have anything else to do, so I’d jump on the mats and play on the trampoline. It was just an easy transition into pole vaulting for me.”
It’s not every day you hear that.
On Tuesday, Barber put up a new Pan Am Games record, and gave three attempts at 5.93m to break his own Canadian record, but fell short. “I thought I’d give it an effort and try it out,” he says. “Really, after a big meet like this, you’re dead.”
Barber leaves Toronto tomorrow and his focus is on tuning up for world championships in Beijing in late August, but he will take time to celebrate before he leaves.
“To do that at home was just phenomenal,” he says, gold medal hanging around his neck, now in grey track pants and a red Canada zip-up. “It’s a great feeling. Your heart swells.”