Читать книгу Indiana University Olympians. From Leroy Samse to Lilly King онлайн

72 страница из 79

In the Olympic Trials at New Orleans, Nathan was in the top three until the closing 800 meters. She finished thirty-eight points behind Kym Carter (6,200–6,162) for the final spot on the team going to Barcelona. She returned to the Pan Am Games in 1995, at Mar del Plata, Argentina, and won a bronze medal before finishing eighth at the World Championships in Rome.

She conceded she was angry sometimes because she had so little financial support. She worked twenty hours a week in an Indianapolis loan office. Eventually, she lived rent-free in a Bloomington apartment and collected financial support, including proceeds from her high school’s ten-year reunion.

“I feel like I owe a lot of people who invested a lot of time and energy in me to see it through,” she said then.

In the 1996 Olympic Trials at Atlanta, Nathan was first through two events (13.10 in the 100-meter hurdles and 6 feet in the high jump) and sixty-nine points behind JJK after day one. A poor javelin distance cost her in the next-to-last event—a throw ruled a foul would have meant 100 more points—and she again fell from third to fourth in the closing 800. Sharon Hanson edged Nathan, 6,352–6,327.