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Birthday: October 9, 1967 Hometown: Trenton, NJ College: Duke University (1990) Sponsors: New York AC PRs
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By March 1996, Clausen had attained the initial step—on his first attempt—by meeting the time standard required to participate in the Olympic Games at the National Invitational in Washington, D.C. With the standard out of the way, all he needed to do was win the Olympic Trials. He remained in North Carolina to acclimate to the heat and practiced on the Atlanta racecourse where the Trials would be held. He developed his race plan and a related mental image. Realizing that at one time or another he had beaten all top U.S. race walkers, including the #1 ranked Allen James, Clausen set his sights on training harder to achieve this goal. And beat James he did, winning the 1996 20K Olympic Trials and making the Olympic team.
Clausen’s first Olympic experience was disappointing. Frankly, he got his ass kicked. The reason? While Clausen trained for the Olympic Games, he worked 40 to 60 hours weekly and coached himself. Meanwhile, other Olympic athletes trained full time with the guidance of a coach.
Clausen wanted to return to the Olympics, and not as an also walked. He wanted to know that he had tried everything he could to achieve all he could, so he packed up and moved to Chula Vista, California, home of a new Olympic Training Center. In 1999, Clausen had three quality breakthroughs. Under Coach Bhodan Bulakowski, he developed a strong base. Coach Enrique Pena tweaked it to perfection. At the 35K mark of the 50K Nationals, he was on pace to walk 4:00. In the final 15K, he made up six minutes to finish in 3:54.
Brimming with confidence, Clausen excelled. Walking a 19-and change 5K the day before a 2:14 30K workout, Clausen felt he was ready for the World Cup, but then the ceiling caved in. Clausen felt his entire body was broken down. With only two weeks to the World Cup, he decided to take five days off to recover. With low expectations, Clausen started the race with the second pack, walking a surprising time of 3:48 and finishing 11th.
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 Clausen and Nunn at the 2002 50K Nationals in CA. |
