For most people, the next summer Olympics, set for 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, remain in the distant future.
But not for former Kansas University pole vaulter Jordan Scott, a Watkinsville, Georgia, native and 2011 KU grad who hopes to make the U.S. Olympic team for the first time.
Scott, who recently stepped away from his full-time job in the KU Athletics IT department in order to focus all of his time on training for the Olympic trials, currently is in the middle of a fund-raising effort similar to the Kickstarter campaigns used by musicians, filmmakers, artists, designers and actors.
Through rallyme.com, Scott hopes to raise $20,000 by March 17 that will aid his training expenses for the next year or so — $12,000 for travel expenses for practice and competitions, $5,000 for monthly training trips to work with his coach in Knoxville, Tennessee, and $3,000 for training equipment, which includes turning his garage in Lawrence into a weight room.
Scott came across the rallyme.com idea with help from AthleteBiz, an organization that helps promote and support track athletes across the country.
“It’s such a different sport than football or basketball,” Scott said of track and field. “We’re not really part of teams, but that’s an organization that tries to rally support. The rallyme.com idea is for athletes and teams in sports. It’s relatively new and I don’t know many other track athletes who have done it.”
As of Thursday morning, Scott had reached 27 percent of his goal.
Finding the money for proper training is only half of the battle. After that, Scott would still have to make the team. He reached the final round of Olympic qualifying in both 2008 and 2012 but came up just short in the finals. However, he spent the past year ranked in the Top 5 nationally among all male pole vaulters and believes he’s in the best vaulting shape of his life. Twenty-four vaulters are selected for the qualifying round and 12 of those go on to the finals. From there, the top three make the Olympic team and two others sign on as alternates.
“My goal is to win a medal in the Olympics,” Scott said. “But obviously my first goal is to get there.”