PARIS — Katie Moon woke up Wednesday morning with a headache. It could not have come at a worse time for the defending champion in the Olympic women’s pole vault.
Moon told her coach, Brad Walker, “I’m just going to ignore it. I have to. It’s the Olympics.”
By the end of the competition at the Stade de France, Moon had a silver medal and no headache.
“Feel good now!” she said. “This year’s been so difficult, and to win a medal with my family here, it’s so special, it’ so surreal, I’m so happy.”
Nina Kennedy of Australia, with whom Moon famously shared the 2023 world championships title, won the gold medal and Alysha Newman of Canada took the bronze.
Moon, who just sold her house in Powder Springs, was hampered by injuries early in the season and was not favored to win. But when world leader Molly Caudery of Great Britain failed to qualify for the final, the door was open for Moon — tied for the fourth-best vault of the year — to capture a medal.
And Moon, 33, had something else on her side. The pole vaulter rises to the occasion, literally, in the big events.
Besides winning the Tokyo Olympic gold medal three years ago, she stood on the top step of the World Championships podium in 2022 and 2023.
“Why can’t I do this all the time?” Moon asked. “I just think there’s something about a championship that I can’t emulate anywhere else — I don’t know why. But I feel adrenaline and that motivation in a way that I can’t replicate anywhere else. I wish I could, but I’m just so grateful I have this ability to show up when it counts.”
Moon was clean through four vaults to hold the lead, then missed on her first attempt at 4.85 meters. Newman, who also missed her first attempt at the height, then cleared the bar for a new Canadian national record.
“You watch people clear a bar in front of you and I knew that if I cleared it, I would still be ahead of her,” said Moon. “So it was an extremely motivating moment.”
She was successful on her second attempt, celebrating in the pit as she matched her season-best.
“I am so proud of the way that I jumped today, technically,” Moon said, “and I felt like I’ve been capable of this all year if my body just held up.”
Unfortunately, the standards holding the bar did not hold up. They had to be repaired after breaking, causing a delay that hurt the vaulters.
“Brad always says, ‘Expect anything to happen at a major championships,’” said Moon. “The standard broke, they had to fix it. Unfortunately, I do think it just kind of knocked the wind out of all of our sails a little bit. I think we all probably could have jumped a little bit higher, but it’s hard to when you’re at that high of a bar on your biggest poles to take a big break like that.”
After Kennedy cleared 4.90, Moon decided to forgo her second attempt at that height and move the bar up to 4.95. She ran through that attempt, and her final trip down the runway was not successful.
Moon said she should have gone up to a longer pole on her third attempt.
“Of course, I would have loved to win and I jump to win,” Moon said, “but Nina had a phenomenal day, and I certainly didn’t have a bad day, but that’s the sport.”
When Moon returns to the United States, she will join her husband Hugo in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he is the assistant rowing coach at the University of Tulsa.
“I always said after this Olympics I would not sacrifice being away from my husband any more,” Moon said. “I love this sport, but not enough to make those kinds of sacrifices any more.”
As Moon was saying, “I love this sport,” Newman, who was walking behind her in the mixed zone where athletes meet with reporters, chimed in, “And you’re very good at it.”
Moon said she will still work with Walker remotely.
As world champion, she has an automatic bid to the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo. “I figure if there’s ever a year to do a transition,” Moon said, “it’s this one.”
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