Bryan Clay says his main objective as an elite athlete is to be a positiverole model. "Nobody ever gets put into the spotlight for doing it theright way, or doing it clean and living the types of lifestyles thatare not only good for the sport, but good for young kids to look upto," he said.
The 28-year-old Clay is married with two children,and says he would never want his kids to feel the disgrace of a dopingscandal. Instead, he has trained tirelessly to be the best in thedecathlon, a grueling series of 10 athletics events. The winner isrecognized as the best all-around athlete in the world.
Clay'spath to the decathlon was not planned. In fact, he says he was notalways a good role model. "I was not the best kid growing up. My momsaid I could either swim or run track and field. And I did not want towear a speedo, so I chose track. And the joke is, of course, that Irun around the track in spandex anyway, so it would not have made adifference," he said.
Clay's athleticism and competitive spiritwould have served him well in the pool. But he may not have had thesame success that he has enjoyed in track and field. Clay was theOlympic decathlon silver medalist in 2004, the World Outdoor championin 2005 and the World Indoor heptathlon champion this year.
Claywas ranked No. 1 in the world in decathlon in 2005 and 2006, becomingthe first American to hold that distinction in consecutive years sinceDan O'Brien in 1995 and 1996.
At the 2005 World OutdoorChampionships in Helsinki, Finland, Clay delivered an amazingperformance in atrocious conditions to win the gold medal with aworld-best total that year of 8,732 points. Clay won by a211-point margin over reigning Olympic champion Roman Sebrle of theCzech Republic.
Clay is aiming for a similar dominance inBeijing. "My mind is set on winning the gold medal. I do not know whatthe score is going to be, what it is going to take. All I know is I amgoing to go there. I am going to compete. And whether that iseight-thousand points or whether that is a world record atnine-thousand points, I am going to do whatever it takes to make sure Iam standing at the top of the podium,"
After setting apersonal best of 8,660 points with his win at the 2004Olympic Trials, Clay bettered that effort with his silver medal-winningtotal of 8,820 points at the 2004 Olympic Games inAthens. That tally was the fourth-best in Olympic history, trailingonly gold medal-winning performances by Roman Sebrle in 2004 (8,893),American Dan O'Brien in 1996 (8,824) and Great Britain's Daley Thompson(8,847) in 1984.
On Monday at the U.S. Olympic trials for Beijing held in Eugene,Oregon, Clay set another personal record with 8,832 points.
BryanClay appears to be peaking at the right time, and he hopes he canimprove one place from four years ago, and win the gold medal at theBeijing Olympics.