Event: 1,500m
Height: 5-7
Weight: 143
Personal Records: 800m – 2:01.12 (2007); 1,500m – 4:05.55 (2007); Mile – 4:28.99 (2006)
Born: May 8, 1983
High School: Haddonfield Memorial (Haddonfield NJ) ‘01
College: North Carolina ‘05
Coach: John Cook
Agent: Peter Stubbs
Club: Nike
"The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place. It will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me or nobody is going to hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit, it is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much can you take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! " Rocky Balboa
Hyperbole, overstatement, guilty as charged. But the analogy is so inviting.
As Haddonfield Memorial High School product Erin Donohue takes the track on Thursday (August 21) between 7am and 7:20am (EDT time)* in a heat of the Women's 1500M, the Rocky storyline presents itself: gutty local hero and underdog fighting her way up the ranks (insert Donohue), running the cold, lonely streets of Philly when no one's around (C’mon Rock), a crafty trainer who taught her the ropes and changed her style (John Cook as Mickey), and the controversy surrounding the Russian super power (Yelena Soboleva as Ivan Drago suspended for drug tampering).
It’s all there.
You see where I am headed with the underdog theme. Unfortunately in Beijing, there's not just one Drago, but add a couple Apollo Creeds, Clubber Langs and very few Spider Rekos.
Judging by times alone (4:05:55 her personal best), conventional wisdom suggests that Donohue, the runner, isn’t worthy of medal contention; yet, times have nothing to do with Donohue, the competitor. By the time the field is whittled down and the final comes around in less than a week (Aug. 23), something tells me that despite the punishment, Donohue will still be standing.
Getting ahead of myself, probably. I won’t take in to account that Bahrain's Myriam Yusuf Jamal ran a 3:59 in Europe this year already or that Donohue’s college rival, Duke’s Shannon Rowbury nearly matched that time in the same race. University of Arkansas product Christin Wurth-Thomas also eclipsed Donohue’s personal best with a 4:05:00.
Please don't remind me that oddsmakers believe Donohue to be little more than a burgeoning pimple on the face of the 1500 women’s field. There’s no chance I’ll even mention the lack of experience or the nerves that deter any young athlete on such a grand stage.
I know little about the fierce Bahrain champ or the capability of Rowbury, and I have never heard of the three Russian girls who were banned from the Olympics before it began. What I do know is that since 2005, Donohue has cut nearly 30 seconds off her 1,500 time.
What I do know is that Donohue will casually pat you on the back before the race, wish you well, wait patiently for the race to develop, and she will fight, scrap and claw her way to position, using every trick in her running repertoire to mentally and physically ravage you. Those athletes, like Donohue, with nothing to lose are often the most dangerous. She doesn’t have significant weight pulling her down, or media members following every step; unlike others she can just focus on the race.
If I were only leading with my heart on this one, Donohue is headed to the final round. But it’s more than that, because everything I’ve witnessed about her as a competitor tells me to disregard times and previous matchups.
Maybe I’m being a naïve outsider looking in on a sport that determines its winners solely by times and favorites, but Donohue doesn’t discourage easily. As a sports journalist, I have fallen prey to that miracle curse that we all suffer from. I believe in Erin Donohue, and that among the world's monstrous athletes, she is merely a small-town fighter struggling to, and will be heard.
She's Rocky Balboa in running shoes swinging haymakers and hooks. When no one expects anything out of an athlete like Donohue, that's when she counters.
By the final – 7:50am on Saturday (EDT) – the world will finally see what she's made of.
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Note that the scheduled date and time of Erin's race have changed. Click for details.
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Also by Christian Giudice:
• Interview with Erin Donohue: 'Under the Radar.'
• Donohue: Those who paved the way.
