July 16, 2004
By Angela Borchert/McNaughton Newspapers
VACAVILLE, Calif. -
Just call Andy Bloom Mr. Mom.
Though you might picture Michael Keaton's character in the 1983 movie, Bloom doesn't even come close to resembling the actor. At 6-foot-1, 275 pounds, the former Olympian is trying to make a comeback to track and field - and his timing couldn't be more perfect.
Bloom, a Vacaville resident, fits in discus training for the Olympic trials with taking care of his two daughters, Samantha and Cailin. He also works part-time as the strength and conditioning coach at the UC Davis.
But he has a "renewed spirit" for competition, according to his wife, Terri, since taking time off two years ago.
"I don't want to say that 2002 was the beginning of my downfall because that is a little melodramatic," he said. "But I was struggling with injuries still from 2000 and I just lost some motivation."
Bloom, who turns 31 in August, adds that drug problems in the sport "sapped my love for what I was doing."
Since Sydney
Bloom took fourth place in the shot put at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 after qualifying third at the U.S. Olympic Trials that year. He finished a disappointing fourth in the discus at trials and wasn't an Olympian in the event he competed in since he was 14.
He continued to compete, making the U.S. World Championship Team in 2001, but didn't have a good season.
"It was abysmal," Bloom said. He then qualified for the Grand Prix finals based on the number of points he earned during the season. "By that point, I had kind of decided to hang it up."
He competed in two meets in 2003, but calls the season "an abridged" one.
"I think he was frustrated and burned out," Terri said. "He wasn't able to compete on a level playing field. His body was breaking down and others weren't."
Bloom will attempt to qualify for the 2004 Olympic team in just the discus. The qualifying round begins Friday at 5 p.m. The finals are Saturday, beginning at 10:50 a.m. Very few people compete in both the shot put and discus so he gave up the shot put shortly after Sydney.
A new start
Bloom was hired as the strength and conditioning coach at UC Davis in February 2002, after serving as a volunteer assistant with the track and field program for 1 1/2 years. Though he admits "it wasn't something I set out to do as a career goal," he has grown to love his job.
He works with athletes in 16 sports on campus - basically every sport but football, which has a part-time strength coach of its own.
"I really like it," he said. "It's fun because I work with a variety of sports. There is always something new, always something different.
"I work with the throwers and they have good experience in knowing how to train themselves, but then you get the water polo players who have never seen a weight room. The crew team sits down when they compete versus the water polo team who never touches the ground. I am there to help them maximize their potential.
"But at the same time, it keeps me on my toes."
Shortly after being hired at UCD, Terri, who is the softball coach at Solano Community College, gave birth to the couple's first child, Samantha.
Bloom "scaled back" his training and took time off to get healthy.
"I wanted to put my focus elsewhere," he said. "I wanted to focus on being a daddy."
"He is such a good dad," Terri said. "He has always wanted to be a father. He definitely has a more maternal instinct than me."
Thankfully, the staff at UCD was understanding of his new role as a parent.
"It's been really cool," Terri said. "They are real flexible about him bringing the girls to work. He doesn't bring a 2-year-old in who is running around all the time. They mostly sleep. It is a real family atmosphere there."
Bloom went from working at UCD about 25 percent to working 50 percent. He rested his body for about 10 months until he struck the curiosity in some of the athletes he was training.
"They wanted me to throw in practice one day," Bloom recalled. "I didn't throw too bad and I started to think 'Hey, I can still do this.' "
He trained for 10 weeks in 2003 and competed in four other meets before taking part in the U.S. Championships at Stanford. The top three make the World Championship Team.
"I felt good," he said of his throw of 186 feet, 10 inches in Palo Alto.
Prior to that, his best throw of the season was around 194 or 195 feet at the Woody Wilson meet held at UCD. "The throws that I had in warmups would've been good enough for second place."
Bloom got 13th at U.S. Championships, but felt the desire to compete stronger than ever. In September 2004, the Blooms welcomed their second daughter, Cailin, into the world.
"We planned Cailin's birth because we didn't think he was going to compete anymore," Terri said. "It has really affected his training. I don't think he realized how exhausting being a parent really is with the lack of sleep and fatigue."
Bloom continued to train, though this time his focus was on this year's Olympic Trials in Sacramento. But things changed from when Bloom was training for the Sydney Games.
"(My training now) is not even remotely close to what it was when I was training for Sydney. It was a full-time job for me before," he said of his training at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where Terri was an assistant softball coach and where his college coach at Wake Forest resided. "I would train two to three hours in the morning, break for lunch, take some time to recover with a nap and go back to the track for another two to three hours."
Bloom fits in training now when his schedule, the girls' schedule and his wife's schedule allow him to get to Gold's Gym in Vacaville and throw at Vacaville High or UCD.
"The athletic director at Vacaville High has been great letting me throw when school is in," he said. "The people at Gold's Gym have been real cool too."
Bloom says he isn't necessarily behind where he was four years ago in his training, just in a different place.
"I am right where I would want to be," he said.
"Anything is possible."
In order to be considered for the Olympic Games, a thrower must reach an "A" standard. The mark this year is 210 feet. On May 19 in a meet at Hartnell College in Salinas, Bloom threw 215 feet, which stands as the third best mark in the United States this year.
His personal best of 224 feet was set in 2000 and he says that is what he will need to throw in order to medal in Athens, should he make the team.
"That came on a perfect day," he said. "The conditions were perfect and the discus is really affected by the wind. But anything is possible."
Americans Carl Brown and Casey Malone posted better marks than Bloom this year - but not by much. Brown's throw of 218-5 is the best and was done at the same Salinas meet. Malone threw 215-3 in April in Greeley, Colo.
Bloom said he made some rookie mistakes at the Salinas meet attempting to record a personal best.
"I messed up," he laughed. "I got excited going for my PR."
The top mark in the world this year was set by Olympic gold medalist Virgilijus Alekna (228-4) of Lithuania on June 11 in Bergen, Norway.
"He's just above everyone else," said Bloom of the 6-9, 300-pounder.
With his coach living in Minnesota, Bloom relies on friends to help him with his technique.
"I've been doing this long enough that I can look at the flight of the discus and know where my problems are," he said. "But I do have about five or six guys relatively local that have seen me throw for about eight to 10 years. I take what they say and filter it out."
But the most important opinions come from his family.
"He is doing real good," Terri said. "He is in good shape. Could he make the team? Yeah, he could."
