Saenz family proud of Olympian's performance
August 03, 2012 7:49 PM
Brian Sandalow

RIO GRANDE CITY,TX — Stephen Saenz’s family was all set to watch him compete early Friday morning in the preliminary shot put competition in the 2012 London Summer Olympics.


Instead of seeing the two-time Texas state champion and Rio Grande City alum compete in person, the group of nine met in his parents’ living room to watch him via an online stream. Ricardo Saenz, Stephen’s father, had ankle replacement surgery in June, keeping him and the family from the Games.


If they had traveled they would have seen Saenz, throwing for Mexico, scratch on his first and third throws but register a mark of 18.65 meters on his second attempt.

That placed him 32nd out of 40 competitors — not enough to qualify for the final round.

Saenz’s parents, his older brother Ricky, younger sister Kendra and two grandparents were ready with at least 30 minutes left before the 4 a.m. competition, despite having to be up that early.

Surrounded by family photos, as they sat a few feet from a kitchen stocked with breakfast foods and coffee, the family killed time by chatting and occasionally checking in on a women’s beach volleyball game streaming online. On the right side of a big TV turned into a projection screen, a countdown clock ticked down, building anticipation not just for the event but whether the technology would come through.

“It’s going to be a long 26 minutes,” Ricardo said, looking at the counter.
A bit later, Saenz’s mother Ofelia said “Oh my gosh. Two minutes left.”
When the event started at 4 a.m., the stream went black and read “invalid parameters.”

Ricardo quickly restarted it and the show filled the screen, albeit after Stephen threw and possibly depriving the family of witnessing a huge moment in his life.

After that the technology worked fine but had one problem — it didn’t show the rest of Saenz’s throws. To find out how Saenz did, the family followed the results online and got updates from the husband of Saenz’s training partner at Auburn, who is in London with his wife.

The closest everybody got to actually watching Saenz compete was a glimpse or two of him in the background. After the competition, Ofelia had Kendra snap screen shots of Saenz and post them on Facebook.

It wasn’t what the family hoped but seeing him — even for a moment — still elicited cheers and emotions.

“That’s such a wonderful moment,” Ofelia said after seeing him.
What happened Friday wasn’t nearly Saenz’s best moment athletically, but it could be one of the most valuable down the road.

Saenz’s mark of 18.65 was his lowest of the year, and he would have needed to throw 20.25 to advance to finals — a distance that’s 17 centimeters further than he’s ever thrown.

The Auburn University junior entered the event ranked 33rd and was the lone collegiate athlete and youngest thrower in the competition. Saenz decided in 2010 to throw for Mexico in hopes of reaching the Olympics this year, something he wouldn’t have done, had he continued to represent the United States.

“I didn’t do what I wanted to do here in London,” Saenz wrote via email. “I knew coming into the competition that I had to do something spectacular to even have a shot to make an impact in the competition. I went in and went as hard as I could but didn’t hit technical positions that would allow me to hit that big throw.

“But, that’s the nature of the beast and every athlete knows sometimes you’re on and sometimes you’re not.”

The experience, though, should make future meets feel smaller. It certainly taught Saenz plenty.

“I learned the way these big meets operate and how things are done in terms of call rooms and warm-ups and intensity level,” Saenz wrote via email. “It was a great experience to get out there and compete with the best throwers in the world.”

Even though his family didn’t see him compete, they did see how big Saenz’s competitors are. Listed at 6 feet and 256 pounds, Saenz is nobody’s definition of a runt. In comparison, medalists Tomasz Majewski (gold), David Storl (silver), and Reese Hoffa (bronze), weigh an average of 302 pounds.

That fact was summed up best by Kendra, who after seeing the other throwers, joked her big brother needed to drink Miracle Gro to catch up.

But that didn’t diminish how she felt about Stephen officially becoming an Olympian.

"It just makes me so proud to know my family, my brother is good enough to be doing this right now," Kendra said. "I'm kind of emotional, but yeah, I'm excited."
Saenz wasn’t quite as excited by the words “Olympian Stephen Saenz.”

“It would have sounded a lot better with a better mark to go along side it but I'm content knowing that I tried my best and went for the big mark and I can take solace in the fact that I know I tried even if others see it differently,” he said.

Everybody back home in Rio Grande City knew Saenz tried his best. They were proud of what he accomplished and already looking ahead to 2016.

“We hope that (Stephen) continues to improve and grow,” Ricardo said.
By 2016, Ricardo’s ankle should be just fine. And hopefully, they won’t have to watch Stephen from their living room.
Saenz family proud of Olympian’s performance | performance, proud, city - TheMonitor.com
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