Summer Olympics: It's Hyleas Fountain and Jacquelyn Johnson Time!

One of the most anticipated non-conference matchups early this college football season will take place on Sep. 20 between Arizona State and Georgia.

However, what most fans don’t know is that there is an ASU-UGA showdown happening almost a month earlier halfway around the world.

On August 15-16 in Beijing, China, you will see the duel of Hyleas & Jacquelyn.  You know, the big heptathlon showdown.

Huh? 

Doesn’t ring a bell?  You may be old enough to remember the overhyped decathlete duel of Dan and Dave back in 1992 that ultimately fizzled.  There was an extensive but doomed Reebok campaign involving Dan O’Brien and Dave Johnson.

The problem was that Dan O’Brien didn’t make it past the Olympic trials, despite being the world record holder in the event, and Dave Johnson finished third in Barcelona.  Most people may not remember or have forgotten that Dan came back and won the decathlon at the Atlanta Olympics in ’96.

An interesting tidbit is that Dan O’Brien actually is a coach for Jacquelyn and has likened her talent to another Jackie—the athlete that SI called the No. 1 female athlete of the 20th century, Jackie Joyner-Kersee. 

OK, we know who Dan and Dave are.  Who are Hyleas and Jacquelyn?

Hyleas Fountain, who hails from Columbus, GA and attended Georgia, came in first in the heptathlon over the weekend at the 2008 Olympic Trials.  Jacquelyn Johnson is from Yuma, AZ, attended Arizona State and finished second at the trials.

Hyleas was the 2007 USATF champion, and on June 28 she set a personal record at the trials, blowing away her previous best by 165 points.  Jacquelyn just completed her college career on June 14 with her fourth straight NCAA outdoor heptathlon title.  Jacquelyn won her first NCAA outdoor title in 2004, edging out Hyleas, who had won the outdoor title from 2001-2003.

Who are their main competitors in Beijing?  Caroline Kluft of Sweden, the last Olympic champion, will not be returning to defend her title in the heptathlon since she will be concentrating on the long and triple jump.

Two athletes from England are listed as favorites to get the gold and silver in Beijing.  However, both Kelly Sotherton and Jessica Ennis' personal bests are not as strong as what Hyleas scored in the Olympic trials last weekend in Oregon.  The Brits have personal bests of 6,547 and 6,469 respectively, compared with Fountain’s 6,667.

Jacquelyn scored a 6,347 in Oregon, even though she had just won the NCAA championships two weeks earlier. 

With the end of college baseball last week and college football still almost two months away, we all need something to get us through until the end of August.  The Olympics will help keep us busy for two weeks in August as we try to keep from going crazy.

Here is hoping that we get to see a Bulldog and Sun Devil bring home the gold and silver in the heptathlon for the USA.