It is the chance of a lifetime. Humboldt native heptathlete Brianne Theisen is trying to make her way to the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, England. Theisen, the daughter of Cal and Kim Theisen of Humboldt, has been training at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon for the Olympic trials over the last year. The heptathlon consists of the 100-metre hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 metre sprint, long jump, javelin and 800 metre run. "You get points awarded for every possible time, run or jump you make," said Theisen. In order to make it to the Olympics, Theisen has to get in the top three at the Olympic trials in Calgary on June 27. She seems poised to make it based on her last performance at the Pac-12 championship on May 6, where she surpassed the Olympic qualifying standard of 6,150 points, scoring 6,353 points. In preparation for the trials, Theisen is training hard. "It's tough," said Theisen. "I like what I do, so I enjoy going to practice everyday, but the training gets hard." Although training is more difficult the closer to the trials she gets, Theisen says the training is not the most difficult part of preparing. "What I think is a little bit harder is that training for the Olympics, you have to put everything else aside," said Theisen. She explained that means if she has a weekend off, she cannot spend it doing things with her friends like hiking or playing volleyball. "We make sure we sit at home and recover," said Theisen. "Our weekends are spent sitting in the house - if we don't have practice - and recovering. That's probably the toughest part about it is that we don't have a life outside of track and field." Although the sport requires her to give up a lot, she thinks the sacrifice is worth it. "I'm willing to do it because the Olympics is so important," said Theisen. She is looking forward to the Olympic trials."I'm excited for them but I'm more excited to get them over with so we can get to the Olympics," said Theisen. Theisen will know if she is going to the Olympics after June 27.
