2016 Olympic GamesAug 11, 2016 by Dennis Young
Charles Jock Just Needs To Keep Getting Third
Charles Jock Just Needs To Keep Getting Third
This summer, two very smart people said to me that Charles Jock is "the new Christian Smith," though that doesn't quite do justice to how Jock eked onto the
This summer, two very smart people said to me that Charles Jock is "the new Christian Smith," though that doesn't quite do justice to how Jock eked onto the Olympic team.
In 2016, Jock came to the Olympic Trials with the seventh-best time in the qualifying period, but a season's best of just 1:47.67. He took third in his prelim (just 0.007 ahead of Duane Solomon and elimination), third in his semifinal (with three automatic qualifiers), and ran 1:45.58 to punch his ticket to Rio.
In 2008, Smith was the 29th seed, finished second in his prelim, third in his semifinal (with four auto-qualifiers in each), and dove at the line to get third and the Olympic standard for the first time. He arrived at the Trials with a season's best of 1:47.26, ran 1:45.57 in the final, and didn't make it past the first round of the Olympics in Beijing. According to Tilastopaja, he never broke 1:46 or made an outdoor American team again.
Jock's races before and after the Trials have portended a similar outcome in Rio. Coming into the Trials, he ran two 800m races in 1:48.53 and 1:47.67; after the Trials, he went to Europe and ran 1:48.23 and 1:48.28. What's his deal?
The last two years on the track have been odd for the 26-year-old. He got injured at the exact wrong time twice, suffering an abdominal strain the week before the U.S. Championships in 2014 and a hamstring strain the week before the same meet last year. This year, after running 1:48 in April and 1:47 in May, Jock was unsure of his fitness--until he hit a 1:14.92 600m at the Music City Distance Carnival.
Of course, a few days after that race, Jock hurt his hamstring with the first round of the Olympic Trials 800m less than four weeks away. To recover, he had to take multiple days off followed by 10 or 12 days of easy running.
'Going into the Trials, I was a little nervous'
Ideally, the Trials are a culmination of a year or more of carefully planned training and well-timed rest that allows athletes to line up sharp--a phenomenon known as "peaking."
Jock said he felt like the first round was going to be like his first 800m race of the year, and hopefully he could work his way down. And that's exactly what happened. A rusty Jock qualified for the semifinals by less than a hundredth of a second.
"That first round really felt like the first 800 of the year," Jock said. "And [Duane Solomon] let up, it seemed like. But by the second round, I felt more confident."
Although that last hamstring injury didn't help him physically, it might have psychologically. Headed into the final, Jock thought he was "more fresh than everybody," because he hadn't raced nearly as much.
Due to a controversial semifinal that put nine men into the final, USATF showcased its bureaucratic mastery by lining up the field in a waterfall start.
Jock pointed out that "They basically put everyone that likes to get out on the inside," and that's mostly true. Notoriously hot starters Jock, Boris Berian, Brandon Johnson, and Cas Loxsom were on the inside with Isaiah Harris, and Erik Sowinski and reformed 1500m runners Clayton Murphy and Craig Engels were on the outside with Harun Abda. Jock decided he would get out hard for the first 100 meters, then evaluate.
That strategy quickly put Jock in the back of the pack. A lap into the race, he was in sixth; 600 meters in, he was only ahead of Engels.
Jock read the chaotic start better than anyone else. No one finished within half a second of Jock, who perfectly navigated the last 150 meters to punch his ticket.
Green top, blue collar
After the best moment of his life, Jock went through drug testing, team processing, and media availability, then hopped on his bike and pedaled home.
That's not his normal transportation to Hayward Field. Jock lives in Eugene, and shared a house with Oregon Track Club Elite teammates Pat Casey and Harun Abda for two years. But the landlord sold the house right before the Trials, which left all three scrambling, and put Jock in a house four blocks or so from Hayward.
"I was thinking about walking, but walking to and from Hayward before and after three rounds seemed like a little much. So I rode my bike."
This went mostly unnoticed--though a woman chained her bike to his after the semifinal and campus security had to cut it free--until after Jock made the team. He was planning post-race celebrations with Casey and other teammates, and mentioned his inability to acquire supplies because he was on his bike.
So how can I convince you that Jock has a chance to make the Olympic final? What are the chances he will become better known for his athletic exploits rather than simply being the second Christian Smith, or the guy who rode his bike to and from the Olympic Trials?
Although unrelated to his chances in Rio, the idea that Jock would be best known for those attributes is a disservice to his fantastic personal story (which is a gross way to describe a toddler walking hundreds of miles across the Horn of Africa to escape civil war).
His family is Sudanese (though Jock was born in Ethiopia) and his father, a dentist, decided to move the family to the U.S. That journey--which took a one-year pause while Dr. John Jock was a political prisoner in Ethiopia--eventually landed the Jocks in San Diego when Charles was three.
He has a lot of family in South Sudan, Kenya, and Ethiopia, and his brother was briefly trapped in South Sudan in December 2013 while "hearing gunshots and mortar fire." That's the shit that soft-focus NBC features are born and raised on, but first, Jock has to make it past the 800m prelim at 9:10 AM Eastern tomorrow.
Confidence despite setbacks
To evaluate his chances of making it through the rounds in Rio, we have to analyze what happened in his last two races in Europe, where he clocked 1:47 and 1:48.
After the Trials, Jock said a bloodwork profile showed his iron and creatine kinase levels weren't in a good place. He thought he could run through it in Europe--including in Heusden, where he came through 600 meters in 1:17 before closing in 31 seconds for his last 200m--but in the end, as Jock put it, "bloodwork doesn't really lie."
Rowland's recovery plan for him after the Europe trip included an easy day of "just going for a walk." Jock walked fast on Pre's Trail, and "hatched a few eggs, caught a few Pokemon, leveled up a few times, and got looks from the people actually running."
Despite the recent setbacks, Jock is still confident. "We're halfway there. I don't see myself as someone who is just happy to be there," Jock said. "Three rounds down, three… I just have to eat healthy and get sleep, and I'll be fine."
The biggest reason I find that convincing is how Jock weathered the rocky transition to the Oregon Training Club and coach Mark Rowland. He went from 1:51 to 1:44 under his UC-Irvine coach, Vince O'Boyle, and had the courage to move to Eugene after the 2013 season.
Whatever it took to move, it took a lot more to stay. Jock's first year featured his first major injury and exactly one sub-1:46 performance, which he attributed to bumping up his mileage way too quickly.
"I went from literally running 12 miles a week in college to running 45-50 my first year with coach Row, and that's not on him," Jock said. "I just got too excited about running mileage, and I would go out and do an 11-mile run. Which is basically what I was running in a week in college."
But that didn't faze Jock in the least.
"There were doubts, but I didn't move here to just to give up after a year or two. I knew the first two, three years would be a work in progress. It's hard for runners to think like that--you can't run forever. Every year really does matter."
It's easy for Jock to think like that. The dude just believes.
And that's the best case for Jock reverting to his 1:45 form at the Olympics. He hasn't become a neurotic head case like so many middle distance runners when faced with even a little bit of inconsistency. He's a serene, rational believer despite several years of ups and downs.
After his OTC teammate Hassan Mead made the team, I asked him about Jock pulling the huge upset to clinch his spot in Rio. Mead said that at dinner the night before the final, their teammate Sheila Reid told Jock he was going to win, and Jock responded, "I'm going to get third. I was third in the first two rounds, and I just need to get third."
Later, Jock said he was joking, and that every time he steps on the track, he runs to win. But third place in all three rounds in Rio would be pretty damn good.
In 2016, Jock came to the Olympic Trials with the seventh-best time in the qualifying period, but a season's best of just 1:47.67. He took third in his prelim (just 0.007 ahead of Duane Solomon and elimination), third in his semifinal (with three automatic qualifiers), and ran 1:45.58 to punch his ticket to Rio.
In 2008, Smith was the 29th seed, finished second in his prelim, third in his semifinal (with four auto-qualifiers in each), and dove at the line to get third and the Olympic standard for the first time. He arrived at the Trials with a season's best of 1:47.26, ran 1:45.57 in the final, and didn't make it past the first round of the Olympics in Beijing. According to Tilastopaja, he never broke 1:46 or made an outdoor American team again.
Jock's races before and after the Trials have portended a similar outcome in Rio. Coming into the Trials, he ran two 800m races in 1:48.53 and 1:47.67; after the Trials, he went to Europe and ran 1:48.23 and 1:48.28. What's his deal?
The last two years on the track have been odd for the 26-year-old. He got injured at the exact wrong time twice, suffering an abdominal strain the week before the U.S. Championships in 2014 and a hamstring strain the week before the same meet last year. This year, after running 1:48 in April and 1:47 in May, Jock was unsure of his fitness--until he hit a 1:14.92 600m at the Music City Distance Carnival.
Of course, a few days after that race, Jock hurt his hamstring with the first round of the Olympic Trials 800m less than four weeks away. To recover, he had to take multiple days off followed by 10 or 12 days of easy running.
'Going into the Trials, I was a little nervous'
Ideally, the Trials are a culmination of a year or more of carefully planned training and well-timed rest that allows athletes to line up sharp--a phenomenon known as "peaking."
Jock said he felt like the first round was going to be like his first 800m race of the year, and hopefully he could work his way down. And that's exactly what happened. A rusty Jock qualified for the semifinals by less than a hundredth of a second.
"That first round really felt like the first 800 of the year," Jock said. "And [Duane Solomon] let up, it seemed like. But by the second round, I felt more confident."
Although that last hamstring injury didn't help him physically, it might have psychologically. Headed into the final, Jock thought he was "more fresh than everybody," because he hadn't raced nearly as much.
Due to a controversial semifinal that put nine men into the final, USATF showcased its bureaucratic mastery by lining up the field in a waterfall start.
Jock pointed out that "They basically put everyone that likes to get out on the inside," and that's mostly true. Notoriously hot starters Jock, Boris Berian, Brandon Johnson, and Cas Loxsom were on the inside with Isaiah Harris, and Erik Sowinski and reformed 1500m runners Clayton Murphy and Craig Engels were on the outside with Harun Abda. Jock decided he would get out hard for the first 100 meters, then evaluate.
That strategy quickly put Jock in the back of the pack. A lap into the race, he was in sixth; 600 meters in, he was only ahead of Engels.
Hey @Clayton_Murph...
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) July 5, 2016
YOU'RE GOING TO RIO! #TrackTown16 https://t.co/9l1QPFGBxK
Jock read the chaotic start better than anyone else. No one finished within half a second of Jock, who perfectly navigated the last 150 meters to punch his ticket.
Green top, blue collar
After the best moment of his life, Jock went through drug testing, team processing, and media availability, then hopped on his bike and pedaled home.
That's not his normal transportation to Hayward Field. Jock lives in Eugene, and shared a house with Oregon Track Club Elite teammates Pat Casey and Harun Abda for two years. But the landlord sold the house right before the Trials, which left all three scrambling, and put Jock in a house four blocks or so from Hayward.
"I was thinking about walking, but walking to and from Hayward before and after three rounds seemed like a little much. So I rode my bike."
This went mostly unnoticed--though a woman chained her bike to his after the semifinal and campus security had to cut it free--until after Jock made the team. He was planning post-race celebrations with Casey and other teammates, and mentioned his inability to acquire supplies because he was on his bike.
Just learned @CharlesJock rode his bike to the meet, made the Olympic's, then biked home. That's the most blue collar thing I've ever heard.
— Patrick Casey (@patkc13) July 5, 2016
So how can I convince you that Jock has a chance to make the Olympic final? What are the chances he will become better known for his athletic exploits rather than simply being the second Christian Smith, or the guy who rode his bike to and from the Olympic Trials?
Although unrelated to his chances in Rio, the idea that Jock would be best known for those attributes is a disservice to his fantastic personal story (which is a gross way to describe a toddler walking hundreds of miles across the Horn of Africa to escape civil war).
His family is Sudanese (though Jock was born in Ethiopia) and his father, a dentist, decided to move the family to the U.S. That journey--which took a one-year pause while Dr. John Jock was a political prisoner in Ethiopia--eventually landed the Jocks in San Diego when Charles was three.
He has a lot of family in South Sudan, Kenya, and Ethiopia, and his brother was briefly trapped in South Sudan in December 2013 while "hearing gunshots and mortar fire." That's the shit that soft-focus NBC features are born and raised on, but first, Jock has to make it past the 800m prelim at 9:10 AM Eastern tomorrow.
Confidence despite setbacks
To evaluate his chances of making it through the rounds in Rio, we have to analyze what happened in his last two races in Europe, where he clocked 1:47 and 1:48.
After the Trials, Jock said a bloodwork profile showed his iron and creatine kinase levels weren't in a good place. He thought he could run through it in Europe--including in Heusden, where he came through 600 meters in 1:17 before closing in 31 seconds for his last 200m--but in the end, as Jock put it, "bloodwork doesn't really lie."
Rowland's recovery plan for him after the Europe trip included an easy day of "just going for a walk." Jock walked fast on Pre's Trail, and "hatched a few eggs, caught a few Pokemon, leveled up a few times, and got looks from the people actually running."
Despite the recent setbacks, Jock is still confident. "We're halfway there. I don't see myself as someone who is just happy to be there," Jock said. "Three rounds down, three… I just have to eat healthy and get sleep, and I'll be fine."
The biggest reason I find that convincing is how Jock weathered the rocky transition to the Oregon Training Club and coach Mark Rowland. He went from 1:51 to 1:44 under his UC-Irvine coach, Vince O'Boyle, and had the courage to move to Eugene after the 2013 season.
Whatever it took to move, it took a lot more to stay. Jock's first year featured his first major injury and exactly one sub-1:46 performance, which he attributed to bumping up his mileage way too quickly.
"I went from literally running 12 miles a week in college to running 45-50 my first year with coach Row, and that's not on him," Jock said. "I just got too excited about running mileage, and I would go out and do an 11-mile run. Which is basically what I was running in a week in college."
But that didn't faze Jock in the least.
"There were doubts, but I didn't move here to just to give up after a year or two. I knew the first two, three years would be a work in progress. It's hard for runners to think like that--you can't run forever. Every year really does matter."
It's easy for Jock to think like that. The dude just believes.
And that's the best case for Jock reverting to his 1:45 form at the Olympics. He hasn't become a neurotic head case like so many middle distance runners when faced with even a little bit of inconsistency. He's a serene, rational believer despite several years of ups and downs.
After his OTC teammate Hassan Mead made the team, I asked him about Jock pulling the huge upset to clinch his spot in Rio. Mead said that at dinner the night before the final, their teammate Sheila Reid told Jock he was going to win, and Jock responded, "I'm going to get third. I was third in the first two rounds, and I just need to get third."
Later, Jock said he was joking, and that every time he steps on the track, he runs to win. But third place in all three rounds in Rio would be pretty damn good.