EUGENE, ore. — Four years ago, Jenny Simpson made the Olympic team in the steeplechase while still a student at Colorado. Now she's going back to the Olympics to run the 1,500 meters as the reigning world champion.
Both events involve pain, but the pain in the 1,500 comes from severe oxygen debt. The stakes are a little higher in the steeple because of those 30-inch barriers.
"If the 15 goes bad, it definitely hurts a lot," Simpson said after finishing third Sunday at the Olympic trials behind Morgan Uceny and Shannon Rowbury. "But if the steeple goes bad, you've knocked your teeth in. And that, I imagine, would be a lot worse."
Updated on May 18, 2013, 1:52am
