Pacific Association/USATF: How have you been preparing for the Trials the last year or so? Give us a general idea of your regimen.
Amy Acuff: I have kind of been in a unique situation in the last year and a half because I have a [dedicated] coach. From 2001 to 2004, when I was in Austin, Texas, my coach, Dan Pfaff, was a university coach (at the University of Texas). That leaves you very little time for any kind of interaction between [the coach’s] travel schedule.
Now I have [Coach Pfaff] on a daily basis [at the Tri-Valley Athletic Club] along with some other athletes. So it’s been a much different situation for me to have someone really overseeing all my practices and everything I do. I have been doing his workouts since 2001, but it was through email, videotape. [My training has been] much more specialized now.
PA/USATF: Coach Pfaff is highly regarded in the world of track and field. Talk about him for a bit.
AA: [I’ve] had Dan for a year and a half. It’s nice to have a set of eyes there every day. It allows me to make changes and progress more quickly because I can get immediate feedback and I don’t have to wait—watch a video and get and email back. It’s so much easier to just react to what you’re feeling and doing at the time. When I have Dan here my progress accelerates so much.
PA/USATF: Explain the U.S. Olympic Team Trials and what it takes to qualify for Beijing.
AA: The top three finishers who have a standard [will qualify]. In the high jump there might be four girls that have the standard. I feel really certain that I’m going to make the team. I have the experience, and I’m jumping really well right now, so I feel very confident that I’ll be on that team. Editor’s Note: Acuff has already attained the Olympic Games “A” standard for the women’s high jump (1.95 meters / 6 feet, 4.75 inches).
PA/USATF: Assuming you qualify for the Beijing Games, it would be your fourth appearance at the Olympics. You are older and also more experienced than most. How might this factor into your performance?
AA: Every year I’m able to mature. Technically and also mentally. And you know a lot of times it’s building on your training, but it’s also heavily dependent on whether or not you have any injuries. And, also, sometimes it’s luck. Sometimes people will get on a roll and just be jumping well a month too early, or a few weeks too late. So sometimes it boils down to that.
You just try to set yourself up to have the possibility of a great performance. You hope that things go well. That’s all you can really hope for, to go out and perform at your best.
My experience in the Olympics will come in handy. I feel like I can focus really well. Especially in the first time at the Olympics for people, it’s a balance between living the experience. There’s [sic] so many activities and so many distractions, things drawing you out of your focus. It can be very distracting.
Overall, my stress levels and excitement (at the Olympics) will be pretty mellow and just where I can enjoy it. I’ll be happy about the experience, but not building it up so much in my head. I think that can be bad when you’re putting it on a pedestal and treating it like it’s the Olympics instead of treating it like a track and field meet.
PA/USATF: Is there an added sense of urgency because this may be your last time at the Olympics?
AA: I’m just going to take it year by year. I’m definitely competing next year. You never want to waste an opportunity. It (four years between Olympics) seems like so long to wait, and I’ve felt that way every single time.
PA/USATF: What would it mean to you to medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics?
AA: I’ve had a really good career. I’ve been very lucky in my career in a lot of ways. The way I feel about competing this season, and next season, and however long I go, is more about refining what I do. It’s kind of like a display of my hard work, accumulation of knowledge, and refinement of technique.
It’s almost like a sense of pride—that I display my jumping as an art form. That’s what I hold to be the higher purpose of training and jumping: to just have this ultimate jump where it really makes people say ‘wow, that is some really artful high jumping.’ Where they’ll analyze videos and decide that’s the way to jump. That’s what I lean towards as far as motivation. You have to be that way. The second you start focusing on something else, whether it’s your competitors or it’s the situation, you lose power in what you’re able to accomplish.
PA/USATF: With just a few months remaining before the Trials and the Olympics, how do you feel about your training?
AA: I feel like I’m operating at a high level right now. I don’t waste any effort at practice. I try to make every jump count. I’m on a very specific and direct path of technical stuff. I’m very disciplined. I think that things are right on track—where I want to be. I think probably 90 percent of the time that doesn’t happen for one reason or another, [because of] injuries, weather, or someone’s missing some training. Things are really on track right now so I’m really happy about that.
PA/USATF: You seem to have a lot of varied interests outside of athletics. Can you talk about them, and how you balance everything?
AA: [I was] modeling was when I was living in L.A. after college. I trained in the middle of the day, I did acupuncture in the mornings and early evening. That’s something I got into as a result of all my sports injuries. I like doing acupuncture because it helps me focus on something outside myself. I think acts of service are important to balance out your life. So much of athletics is so selfish.
Jack Salisbury is a Pacific Association/USATF Communications Intern. He is a Sophomore at Stanford University where he serves as the Managing Editor of Sports for The Stanford Daily.
