Above and Beyond

Above and Beyond captures the passion and love track and field athletes have for their sport. When you read about the sacrifices Tim Mack made to clear that bar in Athens, you do not wonder how Americans have achieved so much in the Olympics, but you are amazed that they have accomplished so much on their own, without the full-time coaching and financial support athletes receive in other countries.

Pole-vaulters remind me of guys driving race cars at 200 miles per hour. That’s their mentality. It takes a different breed of guy to go 20 feet into the air on a pole that can break and then fall down on his back.

Ever since the Dan and Dave commercials before Barcelona, fans have understood how difficult the pole vault is. It is the biggest weight a decathlete has to carry. They are scared to death of it.

Bill Livingston’s book shows how Tim Mack not only overcame that bar, but also overcame a system that forced him to work at part-time jobs to support himself. He really did go “Above and Beyond.”

Butch Reynolds of Akron Hoban High School won the Olympic silver medal in the 400 meters in 1988 and also was a member of the gold medal–winning 4x 400-meter relay team then. He held the world record in the event for 11 years. Formerly the speed coordinator for the Ohio

State football team, Reynolds is a member of the Ohio State University Athletics Hall of Fame.