Stephanie Brown Trafton made her golden dream come true on Aug. 18 when she earned the gold medal in the women's discus at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

The Arroyo Grande High School and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo graduate just returned home to Galt, where she lives with her husband Jerry, last Monday. Time to bask in her glory?

Hardly.

“I'm competing in Paris Sept. 6, in Zagreb Sept. 9 and then in Stuttgart Sept. 13-14 in the World Athletics Final,” the U.S.'s first women's discus Olympic gold medalist since 1932 said in a recent phone interview.

Oh, by the way, “I'll be on the Oprah Show,” Brown Trafton, 28, said. “I'm not sure when it will air,” but the show taped on Wednesday. Soon, “I'm going on a White House visit with team U.S.A.”

According to an Associated Press report 150 members of the U.S. Olympic team, including gold medalists Michael Phelps, Nastia Liukin, Kobe Bryant, Misty May-Treanor, Kerri Walsh and Solvang's Todd Rogers were on hand for the taping of the show at Millenium Park in Chicago.

The report said the show will kick off the 23rd season for Oprah Winfrey's talk show and will air Sept. 8.

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She plans to be in the Central Coast area for an Arroyo Grande High School Track Club fundraiser Oct. 5; AGHS' Homecoming football game Nov. 7; and Cal Poly's Homecoming game the next day.

There was a ceremony honoring her in Galt last Wednesday night. Then there was the reception she received at her work place, Sycamore Environemntal Consultants, Inc. in Sacramento.

“It has been crazy,” since she's been back in the States, Brown Trafton said.

“I was told by a friend at work that it takes longer to recover after returning from the East than it does after flying to it,” said Brown Trafton.

“I still hit the wall pretty quickly,” she acknowledged. “There's not much time in between the time I'm feeling really good and the time I'm feeling really tired.”

The 6-4, 225-pounder has been well enough to resume training for her busy early September competition schedule.

“I had actually planned it this way beforehand,” she said. “I wanted to compete in these high level meets after the Olympics, stay sharp. I'm looking forward to more good competition.

“After the Stuttgart meet, that'll be it for me for the season.” After awhile, “I'll start all over again,” in a bid for the 2012 London Olympics.

Brown Trafton uncorked her winning 64.74 meters (212 feet 4 3/4 inches) throw on her first toss in Beijing.

“It felt good to get it on the first one, get it out of the way,” she said. “I knew it was going to be a medal - gold, silver or bronze. I just didn't know which one.”

Her confidence that it would be gold grew as the meet wore on and, “None of the other top throwers were looking like they would beat the throw.”

They didn't, and Brown Trafton earned gold.

Her throw was the shortest gold medal one since the 1968 Olympics and, “Really, I was a little disappointed in the level of the competition,” Brown Trafton acknowledged. Still, “I have a gold medal, so I'm not complaining.”

Besides, her win was a convincing one. Silver medalist Yarelys Barrios of Cuba threw 63.64 meters (208 feet 9 1/2 inches).

Brown Trafton threw that 212-5 with no wind. She said there was plenty of wind support when she threw her personal best of 66.17 meters (217-1) at the Hartnell Throwers Meet in Salinas in May. That mark was the third best in the world this year and actually was the best mark for a time.

“Salinas is a very high-quality meet,” said Brown Trafton. “A lot of the best throwers compete there, including gold medalist Gerd Kaster of Estonia.”

She works part-time for Sycamore Environmental Consultants, Inc., in environmental technical services. Brown Trafton said she hopes to turn that job into a full-time career.

“I work with project management software,” she said. “My professional career (outside of track and field) has always been very important to me, even in college.”

She has no coach listed, but Brown Trafton said, “God has blessed me with a wonderful support group - my husband (Jerry), (Olympic gold medalist) Mac Wilkens, trainers, physical therapists, a large entourage of friends.”

Brown Trafton had been in Beijing for weeks before the discus competition began. Obviously, her game plan was vindicated.

“I went early to get a feel for the environment, the conditions,” she said. Brown Trafton chuckled. “I'd say it worked out.”

Brown Trafton was an Olympian at the 2004 Athens games, but she hadn't improved on her mark from 2004 to 2008.

Suddenly, she improved her 2004 mark in March, April and May of this year. Now, “I want to hit 64 meters every time,” read one of her quotes on Wikipedia.com.

“I've been in this mix with Aretha (Thurmond) and Suzy (Roos-Powell),” Brown Trafton said. “This time I was the one who had the monster marks at the start of the year. We peaked it just right.”

One other thing about the Salinas meet.

“You get tri-tip there,” Brown Trafton said with relish. “You don't get tri-tip in Beijing.

“Tri-tip. For a thrower, there's nothing better.”

Sports writer Kenny Cress can be reached at 739-2237 or by e-mail to kcress@santamariatimes.com

September 04, 2008