Toby "Crash" Stevenson (born November 19, 1976 in

Odessa, Texas Odessa is a city in and the county seat of Ector County, Texas, United States. It is located primarily in Ector County, although a small section of the city extends into Midland County. Odessa's population was 114,428 at the 2020 census, mak ...

) is an Olympic class

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

er from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He is known for being the only pole vaulter in the international elite to wear a helmet during jumps.

Biography

While attending

Permian High School Permian High School is a public high school located in Odessa, Texas and is one of three high schools in the Ector County Independent School District. It was the subject of the book '' Friday Night Lights'', which in turn inspired a movie and TV ...

, Stevenson set 24

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

records, taking three district championships, and winning the state title in 1995, when he was also the top-ranked 18-year-old pole vaulter in the world. Stevenson later went on to graduate from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. He currently coaches pole vault and multi-event athletes, at the University of Washington. Among the athletes he has coached is 2016 Olympic Champion

Ekaterini Stefanidi Katerina Stefanidi (Greek: Κατερίνα Στεφανίδη; born 4 February 1990) is a Greek pole vaulter. She won the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics with a jump of 4.85 meters and has also competed at the 2012 London and the 2020 Tokyo ...

. Since the fall of 2002, Stevenson has been a resident athlete at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in

Chula Vista, California Chula Vista (; ) is the second-largest city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the Largest cities in Southern California, seventh largest city in Southern California, the List of largest California cities by population, fifteenth largest city ...

. He won the 2004 Olympic silver medal in pole vaulting, the 2003

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

gold medal, and the 2004 USA Indoor gold medal. He is known for his emotional antics after a successful vault. He played his pole like a guitar after his silver medal vault. On Friday, January 29, 2010, he officially retired from pole vaulting at the 2010 National Pole Vault Summit in Reno, NV. From February, 2014, he is working as Head of Activity for Hammarby Athletics in Stockholm, Sweden. After a four-year stint coaching at the University of Kentucky, where he coached Olivia Gruver to her second straight NCAA outdoor title, as well as coaching decathlete Tim Duckworth to both the NCAA decathlon and heptathlon crowns, Stevenson was named associate head track & field coach in charge of the jumps and multi-events at the University of Washington on July 11, 2018.

References

External links

*
Profile
at ''USA Track & Field''

* ttp://runnerspace.com/video.php?do=view&video_id=19323 Toby Stevenson Retires, Video {{DEFAULTSORT:Stevenson, Toby 1976 births Living people American male pole vaulters People from Odessa, Texas Stanford Cardinal men's track and field athletes Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2003 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Track and field athletes from Texas Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Kentucky Wildcats track and field coaches Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games

Biography

See also

References

External links