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Going for the Gold

July 21, 2004

In front of family and friends, Georgia Tech sophomore Chaunte Howard achieved something every track and field athlete dreams of, making the Olympic squad. After clearing the bar at 6’4.75″ on her second attempt, Howard did just that, becoming the first Georgia Tech women’s track and field athlete to qualify for the Olympics by placing second in the women’s high jump at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Howard, the two-time NCAA champion, is one of two current Yellow Jackets who will be competing in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. The other is swimmer Vesna Stojanovska, a rising sophomore from Macedonia who will swim for her native country. After earning all-America honors as a freshman at Tech, Stojanovska will swim in the 200 free, 400 free and 400 fly in her second Olympics; she competed in the 2000 Sydney Games as a teenager.

Several former Yellow Jackets will also be competing in Athens, led by 2000 double-gold medalist Angelo Taylor, who will defend his title in the 400-meter hurdles. The former Tech all-America and NCAA champion also won gold in the 4×400-meter relay in Sydney.

Former Tech basketball standout Stephon Marbury, who led the Jackets to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 1996, will play for Team USA in Athens. The two-time NBA all-star now plays for the New York Knicks.

Two former Tech men’s swimmers also qualified for Athens. Jorge Oliver, who completed his Tech career in 2003, will swim for Puerto Rico, while Leo Salinas, who finished at Tech in 2002, will compete for Mexico.

Howard hopes to follow in the footsteps of three other recent Tech track standouts who have experienced Olympic glory. In addition to Taylor, Derrick Adkins won the gold medal in the 400 hurdles in Atlanta in 1996, while Derek Mills was a member of the gold medal winning 4×400-meter relay team.

Joining Howard on the U.S. Olympic team in the women’s high jump is her training partner, Tisha Waller, the 1996 gold medalist in the event. Waller, an Atlanta kindergarten teacher who works out with Tech assistant coach Nat Page, cruised through the first four jumps en route to winning the event with a mark of 6’6″. Along with Waller and Howard is two-time Olympian Amy Acuff, who finished third in the event.

“It felt good after I finally cleared 6’4.75″,” said Howard. “I struggled with 6’3″ and thought I could finish fourth, but once I got over the bar at that height, I knew I was going to make it. I was really comfortable with 6’4” and felt like a load had been lifted once I got over the bar and realized that I was on the U.S. Olympic Team.

“Tisha and I were out there cheering for each other,” said Howard. “We made a pact before the Trials that we were going to make the Olympic Team. And now we have.”

Howard has steadily made the climb from Atlantic Coast Conference champion, to NCAA national champion, to 2004 Olympian. The season began with a school record at the ACC Indoor Championships, claiming her third straight conference crown in the high jump at 6’2.75″. The Riverside, Calif., native then set a new mark at the indoor NCAA Championships, clearing the bar at 6’3.50″ and claiming her first national championship.

At the ACC outdoor meet, Howard once again set a new Tech and ACC meet record with a clear of 6’4.75″. The sophomore track standout then became the first back-to-back national champion in Tech history with a first-place finish in the high jump at the outdoor NCAA Championships.

Prior to the U.S. Olympic Trials, the top U.S. women’s high jumpers gathered for a pre-trials meet in Provo, Utah, hosted by BYU on June 26. Howard, ranking fourth in the U.S. at the time, proved she belonged with America’s elite, winning the event with a lifetime-best mark of 6’6″. That mark tied Waller for the best in the United States for the ’04 outdoor season.

“I felt really good that weekend and had been training hard all week leading up to that,” said Howard. “It provided me with a ton of confidence entering the U.S. Olympic Trials.”

That confidence spilled over at the trials, and Howard was able to realize something that most track and field athletes can only wish for, a spot on the U.S. Olympic squad. Among the thousands of viewers on television and fans in the stadium at Sacramento, Calif., was the Howard family.

“I had a little bit of a home court advantage,” said Howard. “Having my family there, especially my grandmother, who has sacrificed a lot for me over the years, was very rewarding.”

Howard first thought of becoming an Olympian at four years old and believed her best opportunity for that dream to become a reality was attending Georgia Tech and working under Tech assisant Nat Page.

“I felt that if I came to Tech and worked with Coach Page, I could reach my potential,” said Howard. “He has trained some of the best in the business and has made this childhood dream become a reality.”

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