Jed Jacobsohn for The New York TimesThe 36-year-old Amy Acuff returned from a brief retirement to qualify for her fifth Olympics.EUGENE, Ore. — On Saturday night, the 36-year-old high jumper Amy Acuff made her fifth Olympic team, a rare feat in track and field.
One of her competitors for the London berth, Gabrielle Williams, wasn’t even alive for Acuff’s first Olympic Games.
At age 15, Williams finished fifth in the high jump competition at the trials and was the youngest athlete at the track and field trials over all, according to USA Track and Field officials. Although Williams didn’t make the team, she said the opportunity to compete alongside some of her high jump idols “was awesome.”
“I’m still shaking,” Williams said. “I was scared I wasn’t even going to get a height.”
Williams also plays basketball at her high school in Nevada, but she didn’t start training for high jump this season until February.
“They were amazing,” she said of her competitors. She added, “The crowd pushed me over that bar.” Williams missed several days of school to prepare for competition, she said, but still managed to earn good grades.
“But it was so worth it,” she said. “I got butterflies.”
Meanwhile, Acuff had a very different path to the trials. She returned from a brief retirement and called herself “a little rusty,” but said her practices had been strong. Joining her on the United States team will be Chaunte Lowe and Brigetta Barrett.
“I think after Beijing I really let myself down; I felt really burnt out,” she said. But coming back to the sport was partly fueled by the feeling that she had “unfinished business.”
“My daughter is 2 now,” she said. “So I was actually pregnant in Berlin at the world championships. I didn’t do anything for a year after she was born. I just started coming back and thought, ‘Hey, this stuff really comes back quick.’ ” She added, “You come back stronger after having a baby.”
She also had a final thought: “There’s definitely some mama power.”