Published: August 23, 2008 12:08 am      

Sacksen creates Olympic memories

Sam Sacksen sounded like an athlete who had just finished a grueling five-event competition while performing on the world’s largest stage.

The Somerset native admittedly was mentally exhausted – and probably more than a bit physically tired – in the hours after he became the top American finisher in the men’s Olympic modern pentathlon Thursday during the Beijing Olympic Games.

“It was really, really amazing,” said Sacksen, who finished 18th overall. “The competition is something I’ve already done before. But competing in front of thousands of people is definitely a new experience. When I rode into the ring (during the equestrian competition) there were 33,000 people and a lot of them were waving American flags. No matter what I did, they cheered me on. It was amazing.”

Sacksen had a score of 5,280, which included totals of 1,072 in shooting, 520 in fencing, 1,256 in swimming, 1,104 in equestrian and 1,112 in running.

“It was really a struggle until the last part of the day,” Sacksen said during a telephone interview from Beijing late Thursday night, EDT. “I got a little bit nervous with the first couple phases. It affected my performance a little bit. Physically I didn’t feel all there the whole day for whatever reason. It wasn’t a good day, but I was still pushing as hard as I could.

“The run and the swim hurt a little bit. I got back in with the horse. I moved up from 30th to 15th in one event. That was a high point. Overall, it was an OK day for the first go-around.”

The fencing event included some excitement for Sacksen and for his mother, Jen, who wrote a blog on the event for The Tribune-Democrat’s Web site.

“Even though it is not going well overall, Sam has defeated the gold and silver medalist from the Olympics in Athens,” she said as the competition progressed. “He’s not winning many bouts, but he’s beating the superstars. He just beat Viktor Horvath from Hungary – the 2007 world champion.”

With his strong equestrian showing, Sacksen moved up to 15th in the standings before the 3,000-meter run.

“The final phase, the run, was around a track,” Jen Sacksen said. “But instead of using it as a circle, the organizers put in what turned out to be 24 turns of 45 to 90 degrees. (A) definite built-in advantage to shorter builds. So Sam, who normally runs up quite far, making up places, could not get any speed on and actually lost a few places for the first time this year.

“But we did not care and screamed ourselves hoarse,” she said. “It was so wonderful to be here.”

Andrey Moiseev of Russia outlasted a pair of Lithuanians during the final run to win the competition.

“The best guy won,” Sam Sacksen said. “He defended his title.”

Edvinas Krungolcas won the silver, and Andrejus Zadneprovskis took the bronze. David Svoboda of the Czech Republic and Amro El Geziry of Egypt set Olympic modern pentathlon records in shooting and swimming.

Sam Sacksen returned to the Olympic Village anxious to catch up on some rest.

“I’m sure it will start to catch up now that I’m done and I have a chance to relax a little bit,” he said. “I’ve been uptight the last couple of weeks. Now that everything is over, I can sit back, take it all in and relive it a little bit.”

Asked if he has his sights set on the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Sacksen, 22, was noncommittal.

“I need to sit on my porch and talk it over with the family first,” the Rockwood Area High School graduate said. “I can’t really say what I’m planning at this time. But it’s a possibility.”

During the course of his Olympic experience, Sacksen was overwhelmed by the number of e-mails and correspondence from well-wishers who read his regular column in The Tribune-Democrat or visited his blog on www.tribdem.com.

“It gave me a definite charge. I was really grateful for it,” he said. “I was out here doing this, then to realize I had an entire community behind me wishing me the best gave me a little extra mental boost. I’m so grateful for everything people sent.”