So many masters in the Olympics, so little time. Jeff Hartwig didn’t reach the finals in the vault. But his 5.55 jump yesterday (18-2 1/2) remains an amazing feat at forty. The lone American in tomorrow’s final is 35, however. That’s Derek Miles, the Trials champ, who cleared 5.65 (18-6 1/2). (You also can read Jeff’s blog at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.) On the foreign front, I note in my MAD blog that Jamaica’s Danny McFarlane lowered his own M35 world record in taking fourth in the 400-meter hurdles behind the U.S. sweep. WMA may even recognize his astounding mark of 48.30 (which age-grades to 46.1), since it currently lists his 48.57 from last year (even though he ran 48.32 at age 35 at Osaka IAAF worlds.)

Here’s a nice story on Hartwig’s day at the office:

Hartwig exits with his head held high
By Vahe Gregorian
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Thursday, Aug. 21 2008
BEIJING — As he plummeted toward the mat on what had just become the last pole vault of his Olympic career, Jeff Hartwig clenched up his body in exasperation.
He lay face down for an instant, then stood and waved, partly to his esteemed rivals. Partly to his family. Partly to appreciative fans at the Bird’s Nest National Stadium, and partly to the sport he has cherished since he was a teen in St. Charles.
At 40, the Francis Howell graduate plans to retire next month after a street meet in Germany. But frustrated as he was after failing to clear 18 feet 6 inches, which proved the standard Wednesday to advance to Friday’s final, he also paused to remind himself of the moment.
A career that has included being the American indoor- and outdoor-record holder also had been bookended by two Olympic berths, in 1996 in Atlanta as a rising star and now at the Beijing Games in the twilight of his career.
After quirks of fate led to his failure to clear a bar at the 2000 and 2004 Olympic trials, Hartwig suspected a return to the Olympics simply wasn’t meant to be for him.
But as he mulled retirement, he continued to excel in the sport and had his passport renewed at this year’s trials in Oregon.
Virtually ever since, Hartwig has tried to soak up as much as possible from the Games — as is well-documented in his blog on stltoday.com.
The end didn’t match the journey for Hartwig or friend and teammate Brad Walker, the reigning world champion who in June broke Hartwig’s American record of the last eight years.
Walker opened at 18-6 but failed to clear it in three tries. Hartwig had cleared 18-2, only to fall short afterward.
In frustration, Walker threw his pole angrily even as he was falling on his third jump.
“My performance had nothing to do with my preparation for the meet but the way the meet was run,” he said. “If you watch the event, you will see that they made us wait there for an hour. Why does the competition start at 8:40 p.m., and we are still jumping at midnight?”
Several other competitors, including ones who advanced to the finals, also complained about the circumstances. Murmurs of a brewing protest didn’t materialize within a few hours of the end of the event.
Hartwig declined to comment when asked what had happened, saying if he didn’t have anything nice to say he shouldn’t say anything. In all, this wasn’t the way he would have chosen to go out.
But as he walked down a corridor to find his family, he finally smiled and said, “I guess I should be thinking about how great this has been.”
He was talking about his time since qualifying for Beijing, and all he’s done there. But the words also applied to more than 25 years in the sport that left him a two-time Olympian, which reaped thrills and adventures that no amount of money could buy.