Robison Pratt
Encyclopedia
Robison "Robbie" Pratt is a Olympic
pole vault
er and an NCAA National Champion.
to Elbert Pratt and Anne Hinton Pratt. He was named after the Brigham Young University
coach, Clarence Robison, for whom his father competed in 1974 as a decathlete. Pratt moved to Dublan, near Chihuahua
, Mexico
when he was two years old, and gained Mexican citizenship
. At age thirteen, he moved to El Paso
, Texas
, where he began participating in track and field
. His father, Elbert, is a professional coach and saw to it that he and his four younger siblings all learned to pole vault. Pratt started serious training at age sixteen, and he won his first pole vaulting medal at age seventeen when he placed first at the Pan American Junior Championships in Havana, Cuba
.
Early in his career and up until after the Olympics, Pratt was coached by his father, Elbert Pratt, and by Yuri Volkov and Valeri Karapetov. While at Brigham Young University, he was coached by Larry Berryhill from 2003–2004 and by Jeremy Bailey from the fall of 2004–2006. Bailey continued to coach Pratt throughout his professional career.
Soon after winning the Pan American Junior Championships at seventeen, Pratt sustained a cerebral hemorrhage, which was incurred unrelated to his vaulting. He was hospitalized for two weeks and was unable to vault for eight months. At age nineteen, Pratt returned to competition and broke the Mexican Junior National Record six times, finishing the season with a personal best of 17 foot.
with another personal best of 18 foot. At the Olympics, Pratt represented Mexico, the country where he had lived the longest. Being only twenty years old, he was the youngest vaulter, and he finished the competition as a semi-finalist.
Immediately after the Olympics, Pratt withdrew from competitive sports for two years to volunteer for a service mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
in Torreón
, Mexico.
Champion and a finalist in the Pan American Games
in the Dominican Republic. In 2004, he married Lisa Antonelli, a fellow BYU track athlete and All-America
n. In 2005, he became the NCAA National Champion and a finalist in the World University Games in İzmir
, Turkey
. In 2006, Pratt jumped a personal best of 18 foot and finished the indoor season with a world ranking of sixteenth, according to the International Association of Athletics Federations
. He was the runner-up in both the indoor and outdoor NCAA National Championships, and he claimed his first senior title in a major international championship by winning the Central American and Caribbean Games
, breaking the Games record in the process. Additionally, he was named to the 2006 IAAF World Cup Team to represent the Americas, where he finished in ninth place. In 2007, Pratt became a semi-finalist at the World Championships in Osaka
, Japan
and a finalist in the Pan American Games in Rio de Janiero, Brazil
.
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
pole vault
Pole vault
Pole vaulting is a track and field event in which a person uses a long, flexible pole as an aid to leap over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the ancient Greeks, as well as the Cretans and Celts...
er and an NCAA National Champion.
Early life
Pratt was born in Jiddah, Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
to Elbert Pratt and Anne Hinton Pratt. He was named after the Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
coach, Clarence Robison, for whom his father competed in 1974 as a decathlete. Pratt moved to Dublan, near Chihuahua
Chihuahua, Chihuahua
The city of Chihuahua is the state capital of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It has a population of about 825,327. The predominant activity is industry, including domestic heavy, light industries, consumer goods production, and to a smaller extent maquiladoras.-History:It has been said that the...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
when he was two years old, and gained Mexican citizenship
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
. At age thirteen, he moved to El Paso
El Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, where he began participating in track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
. His father, Elbert, is a professional coach and saw to it that he and his four younger siblings all learned to pole vault. Pratt started serious training at age sixteen, and he won his first pole vaulting medal at age seventeen when he placed first at the Pan American Junior Championships in Havana, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
.
Early in his career and up until after the Olympics, Pratt was coached by his father, Elbert Pratt, and by Yuri Volkov and Valeri Karapetov. While at Brigham Young University, he was coached by Larry Berryhill from 2003–2004 and by Jeremy Bailey from the fall of 2004–2006. Bailey continued to coach Pratt throughout his professional career.
Soon after winning the Pan American Junior Championships at seventeen, Pratt sustained a cerebral hemorrhage, which was incurred unrelated to his vaulting. He was hospitalized for two weeks and was unable to vault for eight months. At age nineteen, Pratt returned to competition and broke the Mexican Junior National Record six times, finishing the season with a personal best of 17 foot.
2000 Olympic Games
With a height of , Pratt was among the tallest international pole vaulters. He qualified for the 2000 Summer Olympics2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
with another personal best of 18 foot. At the Olympics, Pratt represented Mexico, the country where he had lived the longest. Being only twenty years old, he was the youngest vaulter, and he finished the competition as a semi-finalist.
Immediately after the Olympics, Pratt withdrew from competitive sports for two years to volunteer for a service mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traces its current dispensation beginnings to Joseph Smith, Jr. on April 6, 1830 in Western New York. Initial converts were drawn to the church in part because of the newly published Book of Mormon, a self-described chronicle of indigenous American...
in Torreón
Torreón
Torreón is a city and seat of the surrounding municipality of the same name in the Mexican state of Coahuila. As of 2010, the city's population was 608,836 with 639,629 in the municipality. The metropolitan population, including Matamoros, Coahuila, and Gómez Palacio and Lerdo in adjacent Durango,...
, Mexico.
Brigham Young University and professional career
In 2003, Pratt began school at Brigham Young University. That year, he was the Mountain West ConferenceMountain West Conference
The Mountain West Conference , popularly known as the Mountain West, is the youngest of the college athletic conferences affiliated with the NCAA’s Division I FBS . The MWC officially began operations in July 1999...
Champion and a finalist in the Pan American Games
Pan American Games
The Pan-American or Pan American Games are a major event in the Americas featuring summer and formerly winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Pan American Games are the second largest multi-sport event after the Summer Olympics...
in the Dominican Republic. In 2004, he married Lisa Antonelli, a fellow BYU track athlete and All-America
All-America
An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...
n. In 2005, he became the NCAA National Champion and a finalist in the World University Games in İzmir
Izmir
Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. In 2006, Pratt jumped a personal best of 18 foot and finished the indoor season with a world ranking of sixteenth, according to the International Association of Athletics Federations
International Association of Athletics Federations
The International Association of Athletics Federations is the international governing body for the sport of athletics. It was founded in 1912 at its first congress in Stockholm, Sweden by representatives from 17 national athletics federations as the International Amateur Athletics Federation...
. He was the runner-up in both the indoor and outdoor NCAA National Championships, and he claimed his first senior title in a major international championship by winning the Central American and Caribbean Games
Central American and Caribbean Games
The Central American and Caribbean Games are a multi-sport regional championships event, held quadrennial , typically in the middle year between Summer Olympics...
, breaking the Games record in the process. Additionally, he was named to the 2006 IAAF World Cup Team to represent the Americas, where he finished in ninth place. In 2007, Pratt became a semi-finalist at the World Championships in Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and a finalist in the Pan American Games in Rio de Janiero, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
.