Oklahoma State University Athletics
Chasing the Olympic Dream
May 10, 2012 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track
May 10, 2012
Tom Farrell is on the verge of attaining a dream that few athletes ever get to realize.
A native of Carlisle, United Kingdom, the Oklahoma State track star has given himself a great opportunity to represent his country at the upcoming Olympic Games.
At the Payton Jordan Invitational on April 29, Farrell ran a blistering 13:15.31 in the 5,000 meters to earn an Olympic "A" Standard. Because of the level of talent in his country, an Olympic "A" Standard is required to compete, and if his time remains among the top three from his country, he will be able to run the 5,000 meters at the 2012 Games.
Farrell admits he is still in shock about being so close to representing Great Britain in the Olympics.
"I'm so happy and I can't believe it's actually happened," Farrell said."I think my girlfriend might be bored of watching my race because I've watched it so many times - I don't know why - just to watch it and see if it's actually real. I'm over the moon. Just to get it done is huge."
OSU track and field director Dave Smith does not share Farrell's surprise about earning an Olympic "A" Standard. In fact, Smith told Farrell's parents he could run in the neighborhood of 13:15 before the race even began.
"Winning that race in 13:15 is a real fast time, but it wasn't a big shock when he did it," Smith said."It was exciting and we were thrilled for him, but the way he's training, the way he's been, the way he's improved every time out, when a big race is on the line, he runs well, it wasn't shocking.
"It couldn't happen to a nicer guy. I'm glad because he's such a good guy for our program - a leader - and he just does things the right way."
What would make a trip to the Olympics even more special for Farrell is that the Olympics will be held in London, where he would have support from a majority of the spectators in attendance.
"It's huge, just the possibility of competing in front of a home crowd," Farrell said. "Knowing that the majority of the crowd would be behind me, just knowing that screaming and shouting 80,000 or 90,000 people and the majority of them will be British.
"You get pumped running in a big crowd anyways, even if you're not running in your home country, but running in front of your home crowd in the biggest track and field event every four years excites me so much. It motivates me to try even harder to do well at the trials."
Farrell said that he would not be in position to chase the Olympic dream if he had not decided to come to Oklahoma State.
"It's definitely the best move I ever made," Farrell said.
He credits a strong relationship with Smith and the assistant coaches, as well as his teammates for making his time in Stillwater so successful.
"Coming in my freshman year, I was running with people on the team that I just looked up to, and I was like, `This team is amazing,'" Farrell said. "That's one of the reasons I redshirted my first cross country season because I had no chance at all of making the cross country team, never mind helping them. I went and watched cross country nationals that year, and I told myself I want to train as hard as I can and try to make the team next year and try to help them score.
"Just looking up to Colby (Lowe), German (Fernandez, (Ryan) Vail, (John) Kosgei; all the guys that came through here, to follow their footsteps and trying to just match or mirror the attitude they've had with the team is huge."
