Aretha Thurmond wins discus at Olympic trials

EUGENE, Ore. — Every time she has thrown this year, somebody has thrown better. All season, Seattle native Aretha Thurmond has finished everywhere but first.

And after every competition she has gone back to her coach, Jerry Clayton, and asked him to push her harder and make her better.

She was looking for the same magic she had when she won the 2004 Olympic trials. She was looking for one more throw, good enough for one more Olympics.

And in the dappled sunshine at Hayward Field, her sport's cathedral, with her husband, Reedus, and their son, Theo, watching from the athletes' hospitality tent, Thurmond got her payback.

She launched the best throw of her season — 213 feet, 11 inches — and won Sunday's discus trials and a trip to her third Olympics.

"I'll tell you where the motivation comes from," Thurmond said, always effervescent as champagne. "Man, I've been taking my lumps. Everywhere I went this year, I lost. That, to me, is taking lumps.

"All of us here are champions. We all love to win. We love the victory and the thrill of competition, but sometimes it gets tough and you have to keep digging and digging. It's kind of been like that all year.

"And I think after every meet, I've come back and said, 'Coach, we have to do better. We've got to get better.' So we just kept plugging away and I knew there was a big throw in there. And today I got the reward."

With so much bad happening in Seattle sports, Thurmond — who was Aretha Hill when she began throwing the discus — is part of this city's good news. She is the anti-Bennett, the flip side of the Mariners' struggles.

She is all megawatt smiles and infectious laughter, a kinetic personality who has enjoyed every day she has spent inside a discus ring.

She has been a force in her sport since making her first Olympic team in 1996, and at 32, she looks as if she's just reaching her peak.

"The timing's just starting to get there," said Thurmond, a former Husky who recently left her job in the Washington athletic department to devote her time to making this Olympic team. "I think my coach and I have just kind of started scratching the surface, and I think there's a lot more to come."

How much does Thurmond love the discus? She's literally married to the sport. Reedus Thurmond is the Washington throwing coach and will compete later this week in the men's discus.

How much does she love the competition?

A year ago, 18 days after giving birth to her first child, Devon Theopolis, she finished fifth — fifth — in the national championships.

"Today it was just 'Mama Power' out there," Thurmond said. "After you have a baby, it's interesting the changes your body goes through. Everything changes around. But it's been an exciting — I guess you would call it — comeback."

You root for Thurmond, because you know she would root for you.

"She's not only a great thrower, but she's a fantastic person," said Suzy Powell-Roos, the trials silver medalist and former UCLA thrower who has been competing against Thurmond for almost 15 years. "It's an honor to be her teammate again.

"Our rivalry really began at the Pac-10s in our sophomore year. Aretha did a little victory dance that year and I returned the favor the next year, without the dance. Competing against her has been a lot of fun, and I think iron sharpens iron and we've made each other better over the years."

There were bigger, national stories on this third day of the trials — Tyson Gay ran the fastest 100 meters in history (though it wasn't a record because of tail wind), and after his disappointments in 2000 and 2004, 40-year-old Jeff Hartwig finished second in the pole vault.

But for Seattle, Thurmond's victory here is the best story of the summer.

And she has been relentless. She finished third in the 1996 trials, but didn't reach the Olympic qualifying standard. A special meet was held several weeks after those trials that she jokingly called "The Aretha Hill Invitational."

In back of Husky Stadium, in front of a couple of hundred people, she made the mark and qualified for the Atlanta Games.

Think about 1996 and everything Seattle has been through since. In 1996, the Sonics had just gone to the NBA Finals, playing in brand-new KeyArena. Ken Griffey Jr. was still hitting home runs into the upper deck inside the Kingdome. And the bowl season was practically a guarantee for UW.

In the past 12 years, Thurmond has been one of the few quiet constants.

"Every year I kind of contemplate retirement, but I just love competing," she said. "I love throwing and I can't just see myself giving it up just yet. After the nationals last year, I thought, 'Wow, I just finished fifth and that's only a couple weeks after childbirth. I think I can get back into this.' "

Theo won't remember this day. He'll hear about it later at family gatherings. Like so many parents, Reedus and Aretha will use sports to teach life lessons.

"What will I tell him about today?" Aretha Thurmond said, repeating a question. "I'll just tell him, if you work hard, your dreams will come true."

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com