Word: dragila
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...perhaps the greatest in track-and-field history. Beginning at 6 that Monday evening, 112,574 Australians and their guests watched as American Michael Johnson embarrassed the field at 400 m, becoming the first man ever to win that event in back-to-back Olympics; as American Stacy Dragila bested a bevy of blonds to win the first-ever Olympic women's pole vault; as Romanian Gabriela Szabo held off Irishwoman Sonia O'Sullivan four times in the stretch to win a thrilling 5,000-m race by a quarter of a second; and as Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie nipped Kenyan...
...vault, once thought of as two of the highest-testosterone events of the Summer Games. Poised to make Olympic history are two American women who came to their sports via goat roping and tree-house building. Since those events aren't yet sanctioned, lifter Cheryl Haworth and vaulter Stacy Dragila will have to settle for medals in what used to be exclusively male pursuits...
...While Haworth discovered weight lifting, Stacey Dragila was using coordination honed by years of goat roping at rodeos in a different contortion: pole vaulting. Dragila started experimenting with vaulting in the early 1990s after enjoying only modest success as a heptathlete. She is drawn to the daredevil aspect of the sport. "I think women have brought a lot of life back into the sport--first, because a lot of people doubted women could actually do it well. Two, part of it is that odd fascination some people have in watching athletes risk injury to win." Dragila, 29, is doing something...
...While Dragila won't be competing against men this summer, it is men she has to thank for getting her to the vaunted position she holds. "Growing up in rural Idaho, I had to keep up--and put up--with my brother and all his friends. I got tough physically and mentally, and it's one reason why I'm so aggressive and competitive." It was also her male coach, Dave Nielsen, who first suggested she try the pole vault. "I admit the women aren't anywhere near the men in height [the men's record...
...Neither Dragila nor Haworth promotes herself as a pioneer, in part because both realize they're just the first of what should be a long line of female athletes to follow. "We've proved women can do anything, but we're just setting the stage for younger athletes who will come after us," says Dragila. And hoping today's young girls don't have to wait another century to compete in every sport...