As a former two-time Olympian in the pole vault, Lawrence “LoJo” Johnson spent his career raising the bar, so much so that at the 2000 Sydney Olympics he became the first Black pole vaulter to medal at the Games when he earned silver.
Two decades later, and now as a coach, Johnson has seen the bar rise again. The man who was once teammates with world champion sprinters Michael Johnson, Maurice Greene and Marion Jones-Thompson has spent most of the past year training Ayden Owens-Delerme, a North Allegheny graduate and world-class decathlete whom LoJo holds in high regard.
“Those are some of the top individuals that I’ve been around, and Ayden is the best athlete out of all of them,” Johnson said. “He’s probably the best athlete that I’ve known.”
High praise for sure.
Owens-Delerme, 24, has high hopes as he is just days away from competing in his first Olympics. The decathlon at these 2024 Paris Olympics will take place Friday and Saturday, with five events of the grueling competition held each day (100-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400 meters on Friday; 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500 meters on Saturday). Owens-Delerme is representing Puerto Rico, the Caribbean island where his maternal grandparents were born.
“I feel great. How else can you feel heading into the Olympic Games?” Owens-Delerme said recently from Puerto Rico’s training camp in Dijon, France.
Owens-Delerme isn’t just competing in the Olympics, though. He’s got a legitimate shot to not only medal but also win. Owens-Delerme owns the No. 3 mark in the world this year and will try to become the first male athlete from Puerto Rico to win a gold medal at the Olympics. In addition, he can become the first graduate of a WPIAL school to win an Olympic gold medal in an individual event (not part of a team or relay) since Mt. Lebanon’s Kurt Angle claimed wrestling gold at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
Count John Neff as being among those who have been eagerly looking forward to watching the former WPIAL and PIAA champion compete on the world’s largest stage. Neff coached Owens-Delerme at North Allegheny, where he was also his physics teacher.
“I cannot wait,” Neff said. “This has been on my radar not even since I knew he qualified, but even when he was moving up and it became obvious that it would only be a matter of time.
“It’s great to see it come to fruition, but it’s not surprising at all. His talent level has always been through the roof. Honestly, looking back at it, of course he’s an Olympian. What did you expect him to do?”
Owens-Delerme has been on an Olympic trajectory for quite some time, a path of incredible success that saw him win national, district and state gold medals in high school and later national championships during a well-traveled college career. He earned Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors while at Southern California, was Big Ten Field Athlete of the Year at Michigan, and was named SEC Field Athlete of the Year at Arkansas just two years ago when he was one of three finalists for The Bowerman, college track’s version of the Heisman Trophy.
The past year has seen Owens-Delerme bounce back from a knee injury, move to Puerto Rico to train full time, and enlist Johnson as his coach. Owens-Delerme had a procedure done on his left knee to repair a torn patellar tendon last September. He said he had been dealing with patellar tendinitis (jumper’s knee) for quite some time, an ailment that affected his performance at last year’s World Championships in Hungary when he no-heighted in the pole vault before pulling out of the javelin and 1,500-meter run.
Johnson has known Owens-Delerme since the latter was in high school. Johnson said Owens-Delerme popped up on his radar while competing in the decathlon at a national event.
“My wife pointed him out to me,” Johnson said. “We tend to try to keep an eye out for minorities in the pole vault just so we can be assistance to them.”
Owens-Delerme would travel to just outside of Philadelphia twice in the following year, and in just two training sessions saw his pole vault personal record improve by a foot.
“He could do anything on the track that he wanted to,” Johnson recalled. “Of course, his speed was easy to pick up on, but probably more so it was his determination. He had a very competitive spirit and looked like the type of competitor who wouldn’t let anything stop him.”
Neff echoed those thoughts.
“There are not too many people around as talented as him, but if there was, a person who is hoping to reach his potential would have to be willing,” Neff said. “That’s what makes him unique. He’s not OK with being 90% of what he can be.”
After staying in touch throughout his college career, Owens-Delerme reached out to LoJo last year asking him if he would move to Puerto Rico and train him during his lead up to the Games. In Owens-Delerme’s mind, the only thing preventing him from being “Olympic gold medal good” was his field events, especially the pole vault.
Well, it has turned out to be the perfect match. When Owens-Delerme officially qualified for the Olympics by reaching the Olympic Standard (8,500 points) at the Mt. SAC Relays in April, his mark of 8,732 topped his previous best by 200 points. It was also a Puerto Rican national record and at the time was the top mark in the world this year.
And if competing in 10 events and training for his first Olympics weren’t enough, Owens-Delerme also recently became an author. His memoir, “Race of My Own,” debuted this month. Owens-Delerme, who has journaled every day for years, said that the 268-page book was written over the span of less than four months earlier this year and that until he decided to publish it not even his parents knew of the endeavor.
Owens-Delerme’s personal story is far from being complete, though. There are not only many chapters, but possibly numerous sequels still left to be penned.
His eternal flame for becoming Olympian has burned as brightly as the Olympic cauldron that has hovered over Paris each night since last Friday’s Opening Ceremonies. That personal flame was lit way back when Owens-Delerme was 9 years old and running club track for Three Rivers USATF.
“I just wanted to be like Usain Bolt,” he said. “And my last name was Owens, and I knew about Jesse Owens, so I said, ‘I want to be like him.’”
Bolt and Owens were Olympic gold medalists, and Owens-Delerme will now try to earn that same designation. As you would expect, Owens-Delerme will face some big-time competition, among the top qualifiers being Canada’s Damian Warner, the defending Olympic champion; France’s Kevin Mayer, the world record holder (9,126 points) and silver medalist at the past two Olympics; and Germany’s Leo Neugebauer, who scored a world-leading 8,961 points while competing for the University of Texas at the NCAA Championships in June.
“To win this, it might not take just a personal best. It potentially might take one of the best marks ever to do it,” Owens-Delerme said.
Added Johnson, “I think his chances are really good. I think he has made up a lot of ground in a lot of areas, and I think he can put some things together that will make him a very strong contender for a medal. Of course, his aspirations are to do a lot more than that.”
Owens-Delerme will have a large cheering section befitting of someone who comes from such a big family. His parents will be watching his every step at Stade de France, as will most of his seven siblings and many other family and friends.
“We’re going to have a squad. I believe we’ll have a team of about 30,” he said. “I’ve got cousins coming. My family from Puerto Rico will be there. My family from Western Pa. All of my family. People are going to be showing up to support me. It’s great to look up to the crowd and see your family.”
Owens-Delerme may be a track and field sensation, but he’s also a boxing fan who admires the late Muhammad Ali. Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, won Olympic gold in 1960 before going on to win the world heavyweight title. More than six decades later, Owens-Delerme now aims for what would essentially be a world heavyweight title of his own.
“When a boxer gets in the ring, he goes in the ring to win and to knock out the opponent,” Owens-Delerme said. “Every time I step on the track, I see it as a boxing match. I’m here to win and to get the KO. There’s only one winner. Everybody else loses. I’m here to win.”
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.