Team USA Takes Home A Pair Of Medals In The High Jump And The Men’s 5,000-Meter

SAINT-DENIS, France — In the penultimate night of athletics, Team USA was coming in with 29 medals, just three shy of the total medals they won in track and field in Rio. But after the lights went out at the Stade de France stadium just outside Paris, another six medals would be awarded to the Americans with one in the high jump and one in the 5000m.

With three U.S. women left to compete tomorrow in the marathon — before the Closing Ceremony puts an official end to these Games — the record set in 1984 with 40 medals appears it will live on. (Though statisticians would argue it is not a true record as the LA Olympics were a boycotted Games.)

The impressiveness of what Team USA has been able to do in the stadium here in Paris was not lost on the men’s 5000-meter bronze medal winner, Grant Fisher.

“I think Team USA has had a pretty historic meet, especially on the distance side. So, it feels pretty good to be a part of that, and it feels good to back up my first bronze,” the two-time Olympian said.

After finishing third in the 10,000m earlier in the week, the 27-year-old stopped the clock in the 5000m at 13:15.13, earning himself a matching set of bronze medals on Saturday night. But the race was so close that when it was said and done, even he was unsure of where he stood.

“I didn’t know what place I was in with 100 to go. With 400 to go I was probably in ninth,” he admitted. “I don’t know when I moved into third place position, probably pretty late. Even crossing the line, I wasn’t positive that I’d gotten third, but I got it done.”

Patience paid off. Something he has gotten good at over the years.

“People say medals can’t be taken away, and that was one thing I was missing my whole career. I’ve gotten records before and those are really fun and really cool and historic but eventually, those will go away.,” Fisher said. “But now I’ve got two medals in one Olympics and I think patience through my career has paid off well and now it’s kind of come all at once. So, it feels really, really good.”

His teammate, Graham Blanks finished in ninth. The first-time Olympian — who placed fourth in trials — had a time of 13:18.67.

When two-time Olympian Shelby McEwen nailed 2.36 on the men’s high jump late Saturday evening to earn the gold medal, it came as no surprise that New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr had as well. The two men finished the world indoor championships earlier this year one and two.

So when they were given the option to share the gold, “My first instinct was to represent our country, USA,” McEwen said, pounding his chest, “and I’m pretty sure he was thinking the same.”

After Kerr said he wanted it to go down to a jump off, McEwen admitted he was “all for it.”

Ultimately, the New Zealander won, putting McEwen in a familiar place: second. Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim took the bronze at 2.34.

“I came up short, but I’m still thankful for what I got,” he said.

The height was just off the American record, which was set in 1991 at 2.4 — something the 28-year-old thinks he has a chance of breaking.

“I feel great about it,” the Houston, Texas native said. “And I do feel like in the near future the American record will come down. Just a little more training, staying fit, staying healthy, putting the right things in my body.”

The University of Alabama grad is used to training hard, growing up playing basketball — the sport that ultimately turned him onto high jumping.

Dunking as early as the eighth grade, he won a contest in high school, dunking from the free-throw line. But the world indoor silver medalist admitted that his love for jumping started at a young age.

“Probably around my second-grade year, I figured out, ‘Wow, I can jump’,” he said. “I had a lot of fun jumping always, growing up and jumping on the trampoline, flipping all the time.”

After joining the high school track team — where after only one year he won a state championship — he gave up basketball and later went on to attend the University of Alabama and their track team.

At his Olympic debut in Tokyo, he reached the high jump final finishing in 12^th overall.

Coming close to a podium finish was two-time Olympian Bryce Hoppel, who improved on his 16^th-place in the 800m in Tokyo with a time of 1:41.67 — 0.17 seconds shy of the bronze. While disappointing to not take home any hardware, it was surely frustrating as his time tonight would have won the race at the last Olympics. Though three years ago the 26-year-old didn’t make the Olympic final. Tonight his time was a new personal best and broke the former national record set by Donovan Brazier in 2019 (1:42.34).

With only meters left in the race, the Midlands, Texas native looked to be in medal contention when Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati crossed in 1:41.50. Hoppel most recently finished 8^th at last year’s world championships.

“It’s pretty tough to miss medals by that much and kind of see it slip away with guys getting in front of you,” the 26-year-old said.

In June, he broke the meet record at the U.S. Olympic Trials, winning in a 1:42.77 personal best.

“It makes it a little better,” he said, of knowing that he lowered the national record. “I guess it still makes it very bittersweet. It hits hard because, I mean, even then I did everything that I could, gave everything that I had on the day — it still wasn’t enough.”

“It’s great for the 800 and great for the sport to see some of the all-time greats out there running faster than some people ever have. It was really fun to be a part of that.”

The last American man to medal in 800 meters was Clayton Murphy, who earned bronze at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

Lisa Costantini has covered Olympic and Paralympic sports for more than a decade, including for the International Olympic Committee. She is a freelance writer who has contributed to TeamUSA.com since 2011.