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Rhodes Scholar Johnson Opts For Full-Time Shot At Olympics

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By BILL WARD

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 27, 2008

TAMPA - Garrett Johnson has never wanted sports to define who he was. And considering he was a salutatorian in high school, a magna cum laude college graduate and Rhodes scholar, you'd have to say he has done a darn good job of avoiding the "dumb jock" label.

Thing is, Johnson has displayed athletic talent each step of the way. He was a high school state champion in the discus and shot put at Tampa Baptist Academy, an NCAA national titlist in the shot put for Florida State, and today will compete in the U.S. Olympic Track and Field trials for a berth in this summer's Beijing Games.

But just in case you have any doubts about his brain power, the 24-year-old Johnson will be glad to let you read the dissertation he wrote on migration studies for his Masters of Philosophy at Oxford University.

"I don't want to be pigeon-holed into being an athlete because too many of them in general - especially black people - are put on that track of being an athlete," Johnson said last week after returning from England. "I mean, life is about so much more than that and, eventually, you have to give up competing in sports competitively."

For now, however, Johnson says he will be a professional athlete. His two-year stint as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford is complete - including that 95-page masters dissertation - and he wants to discover what it's like being a full-time athlete for the next year or so.

The chance to do this, Johnson says, is "fleeting." After a blood clot in his leg traveled to his lung in 2003 and threatened his life, he knows that all too well. So before he heads off to law school and, most likely, a career in government or politics, Johnson wants to allow himself what he calls "a gap year" to compete as a full-time professional in track and field.

"After Oxford, I was seriously thinking about giving track and field up completely," Johnson said. "But at the United Kingdom indoor championships earlier this year, where I won with a 20.66 67-9.5, I got the crowd there into it. They were clapping, chanting - it just felt good.

"It was just an amazing feeling and it made me say, 'You know what, I want to enjoy this one more year.'"

Currently one of the top 15 performers in the world this season for the shot put, Johnson will likely need a lifetime best at this week's trials to reach the Beijing Games. Only the top three from the meet make the U.S. Olympic team and the world's top three throwers in the shot put - Adam Nelson, Christian Cantwell and Reese Hoffa - are Americans.

If Johnson represented almost any other country in the world, he'd be going to Beijing. But the United States is loaded with world-ranked throwers and Johnson enters the trials with the No. 8 mark at 68 feet, 8.5 inches.

Nelson, Cantwell and Hoffa all recently threw beyond 71 feet, but Johnson says he already has made summer plans based on making the Olympic team. It's that sort of attitude that gives you a glimpse of how competitive Johnson is - no matter how well he balances his life.

"Inside the shot put circle and outside the circle, Garrett is extremely competitive," said FSU throws coach Harlis Meaders, who has continued to help guide Johnson during his post-collegiate career. "You can be playing a game of horseshoes and he'll want to beat you."

Meaders says he and Johnson actually squared off in horseshoes, with Johnson winning there, too.

If you wonder where Johnson gets that competitive streak, look no farther than his family. His older siblings - brother Marques and sister Sanatera - were standout student-athletes at Tampa Baptist and went on to compete in college track. Their father, Nate, is one of the area's top youth track coaches and already has guided his 10-year-old grandson, Jamari, to six national AAU age-group titles in the throws.

Garrett, however, was something of a late bloomer. He didn't start taking an interest in sports until middle school. And even after Garrett won an NCAA title, his parents felt he should turn his entire attention to his Rhodes scholarship.

"My focus and the focus of my wife Carmen has always been academics first and to use track and field as a tool to get our kids through school," Nate Johnson said. "It was never for them to be a professional athlete or even to reach the Olympic trials.

"In Garrett's case, we felt he had ridden that train as far as he could go and, if it were up to me, he probably wouldn't be competing right now."

Despite the academic rigors of Oxford, Johnson continued to train and compete in England. The school even built a shot put circle for him and he used a nearby weight room for strength training. He carved out time to travel to international meets in Europe and the Middle East and remained ranked among the world shot put leaders. He finished those studies this spring and has still managed to post lifetime bests in the shot put.

And as far as he's concerned, his next stop after the trials is Beijing.

"There are only two spots up for grabs for the Olympic team because I'm going to have one," Johnson said. "That's the approach I've always taken. If you cannot envision yourself winning - whether it be the Rhodes scholarship, an NCAA championship, a horseshoes competition or whatever - then you're already losing half the battle. You have to visualize yourself being there regardless of the skeptics and those who are cynical that you have the ability to be there."

Reporter Bill Ward can be reached at (813) 259-7456 or wward@tampatrib.com.

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