For Immediate Release
Monday, January 19, 2009
Contact:
Jill Geer
Director of Communications
(317) 713-4654; Jill.Geer@usatf.org
America's high jump royalty set for 102nd Millrose Games
NEW YORK - Amy Acuff will go for her fifth career Millrose Games victory, while Chaunte Howard eyes her second title when the two go head-to-head in the John Thomas Women's High Jump on January 30 at the 102nd Millrose Games, held at New York City's Madison Square Garden.
The Millrose Games in New York is the first event of USA Track & Field's 2009 Indoor Visa Championship Series. The event will be televised live on ESPN2 from 7-8:30 p.m., and on January 31 from 1:30-2:30 p.m. on NBC (all times Eastern).
At age 33, Acuff has been the most consistent American jumper this decade and is a four-time Olympian, four-time USA Indoor Champion and six-time USA Outdoor champion. Howard turned 25 this month and since 2006 has been the top-ranked American, save for missing 2007 on maternity leave. The 2005 World Outdoor Championships silver medalist, Howard is a two-time Olympian and two-time USA Outdoor Champion. She was sixth at the 2008 Olympic Games and consistently ranks among the world's best.
On Monday, both women spoke via phone with the New York Track Writers about their upcoming match-up at Millrose. Howard spoke from her training base in Snellville, Georgia; Acuff was en route to the third annual Run for the Dream indoor track meet in Fresno, Calif., where she competes this evening. For complete bios of Howard and Acuff, visit the Athlete Bios section of www.usatf.org
Below are excerpts from Monday's conversation.
Q: How do you feel about competing at Millrose?
ACUFF: I just love it. It always gets me excited for indoors. Going to New York City and jumping in Madison Square Garden is one of the highlights. It's just electrifying in there.
HOWARD: I am very selective about the indoor meets I do during the season. I love this meet because you get to see the kids doing their thing, and it reminds me of when I started out. I love it.
Q: Amy, talk about the first time you were at Millrose, what year was that?
ACUFF: I am going to really date myself. I think it was 1993 or '94.
HOWARD: I was 10 years old!
Q: Amy, do you have any memories of that first appearance?
ACUFF: I was so overwhelmed by the travel. Just going to New York City, I was so much younger than everybody else. I would just ask everybody questions. Just like going across the street to get a piece of pizza, I was looking around like a deer in the headlights. I just remember being completely bowled over by the whole experience.
Q: Chaunte, in 2008 you were coming back from giving birth to your daughter. How is your fitness now compared to where you were a year ago?
HOWARD: I was able to retain my strength from the Olympic Games, which is rare for me. It usually goes down after the Games and comes back in the spring. I guess it's just exciting because I have more of an appreciation for each work out now. Last year when I first came out it was hard to just jog.
Q: Does your daughter go to your workouts?
HOWARD: Last year she went to all of them, but this year I want to focus more so I placed her in preschool. With it being so cold [temperatures in Snellville have been in the 30s and there is no indoor track], I don't want her out there for three or four hours a day.
Q: How difficult is it financially to be in the sport in the high jump?
HOWARD: I think it's important to have the life and athletics balance. For me, just having that balance makes it easier. You get paid to do what you love to do. That makes it a little easier as well.
ACUFF: I have a day job. I am a licensed acupuncturist and Chinese herbal therapist. It helps me keep my sense of reality. My husband (pole vaulter Tye Harvey) just retired from pole vaulting, so we had two athletes in the family. I have an instructional DVD that is online that I try to sell. You try to make it so that it can support your jumping habit and your lifestyle as an athlete. You don't want to be going to work for somebody from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and then have to work out in the dark. You try to make it so you can function, but you don't want to go so far the other way that you can't buy food.
Q: Chaunte, take us back to the Olympic final in Beijing.
HOWARD: We had an extremely rough prelims. I think Amy compared it to the '96 Olympics with the rain. Even getting through to the final took a toll on the athletes' bodies. I think that's one of the reasons the results turned out the way they did. For me, personally, I was just so grateful to even make it through to the finals. There were a lot of people who jumped a lot higher than they did during the season. Everybody was on their game. Everybody thought Blanca (Vlasic) was going to win the high jump, but Tia Hellebaut won.
I was just really excited to be there so close after having my child. To even get to sixth place was very exciting for me.
Q: Did you do other events other than the high jump?
HOWARD: I did cross country, long jump, triple jump, 100m hurdles, 4x100 and the 4x400. The high jump was my best event. My high school coaches allowed me to do all the other events until my junior year, when they said now is when college coaches will start looking at athletes. You can concentrate on one event and get a college scholarship.
Q: What are your plans for 2009?
ACUFF: This might be my last year. I'm 33 right now. I think I probably could go through London and it would be fine. I've learned over the years how to take care of my body better and better. Chinese medicine helps preserve me, and being smarter about how I train. Probably this will be the last year. I'd like to have a family, and I'm sure Chaunte can testify to the difficulty training while having a family.
HOWARD: My competitive goals are basically I want to PR. Up until last year I PR'd every year I competed, indoors and outdoors. Indoors my PR is 1.95 or 1.96; outdoors it's 2.01.
Q: Will we see a woman break the 7-foot barrier?
ACUFF: I think Blanca (Vlasic) could do it right now. She has one little glitch where she loses where she is over the bar by throwing her head back. I've seen her jump that high. It is possible. She has an excellent combination of power and explosiveness and technique right now. And height. That's what 7 feet looks like -that combination of qualities.
Q: The Millrose Games record in the high jump is 1.97 meters, held by Louise Ritter for many years. What are the chances of either of you breaking that record this year?
ACUFF: I am driving down to Fresno for my first competition today. A lot of times you don't know where you stand in terms of competing. For my training, I've reverted back to how I used to train in my younger years, with more plyometrics. For me it's just a guess. Who knows?
HOWARD: It's the same thing with me. I'm having great results in 30-degree weather. Once I get in a great atmosphere and I'm not fighting the elements, I'll be able to tell what I'll be able to do. Based on past years, both of us have the capability to break that record.
Q: Chaunte, tell us about your coach, Nat Page, who also coached Tisha Waller.
HOWARD: I love coach Page. He works us hard and he trains us like sprinters. I think that's one of the reasons why we're not necessarily the tallest high jumpers, but we're able to jump high. He also works on consistency. I think that's very important in the high jump. If you can take off from the same place every time, then all you have to do is worry about your body positioning over the bar. He found a formula that works. I plan on staying with him as long as I can.
Tickets for the 2009 Millrose Games are now available at Ticketmaster (call 212-307-7171, visit www.Ticketmaster.com or at Ticketmaster outlets); at the Madison Square Garden box office or on-line at www.Millrose-Games.com. USATF welcomes you to pay with your Visa.
About USA Track & Field
USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, some of the most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States.
For more information on USATF, visit www.usatf.org
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