GARDNER, Kan. — Rozel is a speck of a town in southwest Kansas — home to 102 people, according to the 2020 Census — but it also produced one of the state’s most epic Olympic stories.
Christian Smith was born, raised and grew to love running in Rozel after entering a two-mile race as a second-grader with his older brother, Trevor.
“There was a Fourth of July run in Larned, which is the big town like 20 minutes away,” Smith said. “He wanted to do the fun run, the two-mile. I was in second grade and I didn't want to do it, but we did it. I can remember being so sore afterward, but then that just kind of became our thing in the summer.”
By his junior year of high school, Smith was an AAU Junior Olympic champion in the 800 meters and finished third in the 1,500, but the actual Olympics remained a pipe dream.
“I always thought it was awesome, but I didn't really think it was like a realistic goal,” Smith said.
The Smith brothers even poked fun at the idea of making the Olympics on recruiting questionnaires.
“I remember getting a letter, I think it was my sophomore or junior year from Oklahoma, and they asked you to put your long-term goal,” Smith said. “My brother (Trevor) and I — I wrote like the 2004 Olympic Trials, so that would have been my sophomore year in college. We laughed about how it was kind of a joke that I put it down. We didn't really think it was really a goal.”
The joke, as it turns out, was on the Smith brothers.
Smith wound up accepting a scholarship at Kansas State, where he steadily improved his first two seasons before breaking through to win a Big 12 title and setting an NCAA indoor record in the 1,000 meters as a sophomore.
He also finished second in the 800 at the NCAA indoor championships and — yes! — earned a spot in the 2004 Olympic Trials despite struggling that spring as he tried to move to the 1,500.
“I qualified for the [Olympic] Trials in the 800 and kind of got things rolling again,” Smith said. “I was fifth in my semifinals, and the top four made it [to the finals], so I was one spot out of making the finals. That was kind of the point where I was like, ‘I'm not really as far off as I kind of thought.’”
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But the journey to the 2008 Olympic Trials was rocky.
Smith won the NCAA indoor title in the mile in 2006 and signed with Nike after college, but a burst appendix and massive abdominal abscess left him withered and out of shape the first four months of 2007 — and put his Olympic hopes in peril.
He’d lost 20 pounds, including most of the muscle mass in his legs, after being off solid food for four months and unable to train for five months.
“It was discouraging,” Smith said. “I didn't know what to think. I knew I was going to try and I ran so fast the year before.”
But the first challenge was getting into the Olympic Trials, which are open to the top 30 competitors in an Olympic year.
Smith was stuck with the 31st-best time in the U.S. as the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, where he’d moved to train with the Oregon Track Club.
He only made the field a few days before the Olympic Trials started when Alan Webb decided to drop out of the race and focus on the 1,500.
“I was so relieved because I was in Oregon for the Olympic Trials,” Smith said. “If I don't even make the Olympic Trials, what a disaster. I changed my entire life to train in Oregon for the Olympic Trials in Oregon, then I wasn’t even going to make it. It just, it would have been such a disappointment, so I got lucky that somebody scratched.”
Smith then made the most of his opportunity and has come to view that time as a blessing in disguise.
“That was such a stressful last month of qualifying, but, looking back at it, because I was trying to qualify, I was racing a lot,” Smith said. “That's what I needed because of missing an entire year, so in looking back now, that's exactly what I needed and that's exactly what I had to do to get there.”
Smith eased his way into the final, where he showed how much the Olympics meant to him by diving across the finish line to claim third place and the final spot in the 800 for Team USA.
“I knew I had to run an efficient race because I didn't have a huge margin for error, so, if you watch the race, I'm in lane one the entire time,” Smith said.
Oregon Track Club teammate Nick Symmonds and University of Oregon runner Andrew Wheating, who are both known for strong finishing kicks, crossed the line first and second after blazing past the field on the home stretch.
Smith was in fourth — trailing Khadevis Robinson, a frontrunner who had gone out fast along with Jonathan Johnson, who had faded — coming toward the line but reigning NCAA champion Lopez Lomong and Duane Solomon were closing fast.
As Robinson moved slightly outside to defend against Solomon’s charge, Smith slipped to the inside and dove. Robinson also clattered to the ground, but Smith was declared the third-place finisher after a photo finish.
“I hit the ground and I thought I was third, but I wasn't 100% sure,” Smith said. “But I can still just vividly remember laying on the ground like, ‘Oh my gosh, I might be going to Beijing.’”
Symmonds’ shocked reaction to seeing Smith third in the final results, which was caught on camera, adds to the mystique of the famed “Oregon Sweep.”
Smith rewatched the race with KSHB 41 News reporter Tod Palmer.
“I get sweaty palms and the heart rate starts going a little bit, so it’s a little bit of an adrenaline rush,” Smith said.
Smith’s road rash — he banged up his right shoulder and elbow, both knees and scraped his face — served as a testament to what the Olympics mean.
“I kind of wish I had a scar on my shoulder from it,” Smith said.
Despite graduating 18 years ago, Smith remains the K-State record holder in the outdoor 800 and 1,500 and also owns the indoor 1,000 record. He ranks second in the indoor 800 and fourth in the indoor mile.
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