By Tim Morris
Robby Andrews is looking forward. That’s why the Manalapan High School graduate, whose Olympic experience didn’t go as he expected with a disqualification in the 1,500-meter semifinals run, is getting right back to racing.
He will running in the Fifth Avenue Mile in New York City Sept. 2, looking to put Rio de Janeiro behind him.
“[The Olympic Games disappointment is] definitely going to take a while to truly get over it,” he said. “I have to put it behind me for now. I can’t be thinking about it when I start a race.”
Andrews said that the best approach is to have a short-term memory and get back to what he does best: racing.
“I’m going to focus on the here and now and the great opportunities ahead,” he said.
Among those are not only the Fifth Avenue Mile, but also racing in Europe in the World Challenge in Zagreb, Croatia, Sept. 6 and the Diamond League finals, the Van Damme Memorial, in Brussels, Belgium, Sept. 9.
He can use those races to put Rio far behind him.
Everything was looking good for Andrews’ Olympic experience after he finished fifth in qualifying in the 1,500 semifinals. He survived a bump that knocked him off the track toward the infield in the final stretch run to the line to claim the final qualifying position.
The euphoria was short-lived, however. Twenty-plus minutes after the race, Andrews was informed that he had been disqualified. The field judge had ruled that Andrews had gained a competitive edge stepping off the track.
Andrews made his pass running on the inside and contact had developed. But he explained that he had already gotten by the runner in question and the contact from him had pushed him off the track. There was no competitive gain as far as he was concerned.
“It was a tight spot. I felt I had enough room [to pass],” he said. “I took the opening I saw.”
The U.S. track officials protested the disqualification, but it was upheld and Andrews was out of the finals.
Having watched the race several times, Andrews noted that had he waited two seconds, he could have passed on the outside. But in the heat of an Olympic semifinals, he went when he saw an opening.
His rival and fellow-American, Matt Centrowitz, won the final, becoming the first American since 1908 to win the metric mile.
“An American winning the race is the only consolation I could take away,” Andrews said.
Despite his competitive disappointment, the Olympic Games were everything and more for Andrews, who took part in the Opening Ceremony with his USA teammates.
“When I walked into the packed stadium, that’s when it really, really hit me,” he said. “Wow, we’re in the Olympics, it’s happening.
“It was nothing short of spectacular.”
The dire predictions for Rio didn’t come to fruition and, according to Andrews, the city put on a great show.
“Rio was absolutely brilliant,” he said. “They took so much care of the athletes. It was absolutely great.”
Andrews noted that the track team practiced at a naval school an hour from the Olympic Village. They were given bus transportation to the facility, where there was a medical staff and lunch and dinner were served. There was also a 2-mile loop around the village that runners could use.
Staying in the Olympic Village, Andrews got to mingle with all the athletes from around the world. On the first night of the Games, he was in the the dining hall when, he said, “I felt a presence walking toward me. It was Michael Phelps. He nodded his head to acknowledge me. One U.S. Olympian to another.”
Andrews is already making plans for his running future, and they include the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
“I’m really looking forward to the coming years,” he said. “Everything is going as well as it could. I’m in the right mental state.”
Also driving Andrews is the shape of distance running in the United States, as evident by the number of medals won by the country’s male and female runners in distances from 800 meters to the marathon. Centrowitz’s win could help signal a renaissance of American distance running, back to the days when mile runners like Jim Ryun and Marty Ligouri were headliners all over. Andrews wants to be a part of that resurgence. He’d like to develop a genuine rivalry with Centrowitz.
“To see how well the American distance runners did is just incredible; it’s more motivation for me,” he said.
