In just about a week, the world’s best athletes will travel to London to compete in the most prestigious athletics competition in the world. Despite training for their entire lives, the Olympic Games is an event that only a small fraction of athletes will ever get to experience. Geoff Smith, a Great Britain native and Mattapoisett resident, is one of the few elite athletes who has had the opportunity and honor of representing his country at the Olympics.
“I was overwhelmed,” said Smith about qualifying for the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. “I was over the moon.”
Smith isn’t your typical Olympic success story. While he grew up playing and excelling at most traditional sports, he never received formal training. He was around the age of 19 and working as a firefighter when he joined his first running club in 1976.
“You name a sport and I’ve done it. Rugby, cricket, track and field,” said Smith. “When I joined the running club, they saw me as a potential racer.”
After joining the club, the coaches put Smith on a four-year training plan in order to prepare him for the Moscow Olympics. The goal was to take 30 seconds off his time each year. Smith was out running every day, competing in races both locally and in Europe, and making a name for himself on the running circuit.
“I walked in off the streets and suddenly I was the best guy in the club,” said Smith. “I just tried my best. I’m super competitive at everything.”
By June of 1979, Smith was the fastest racer in the world in the 10,000-meter event after finishing with the fastest time at a dual meet in Northern England. But shortly after that race, Smith’s progress came to a screeching halt when he got shin splints prior to racing in the European Cup Semifinals.
Smith took the rest of the summer off from training, and in August, he went to see a specialist about his pain. The doctor recommended an exploratory surgery, and after the procedure was finished, he concluded that Smith has Compartment Syndrome, ultimately landing him in a cast from his foot to his hip until October.
“My leg was completely withered,” Smith said. “I went on vacation and sat on the beach with socks filled with sand doing leg raises every day for two weeks. When I got back, I started to run and got myself back quick.”
Smith’s hard work during rehabilitation paid off. When he attended the Olympics trials in 1980, he won his event with flying colors.
“It all sort of came together for the trials,” Smith said. “No one expected me to win, but I won by more than half of a lap.”
The 1980 Olympics marked Smith’s first large international race.
“You’re just excited,” he said. “I was just walking around looking at the stars.”
While Smith didn’t win a medal at the 1980 Games, he did walk away with a plethora of experience and only continued to grow as a runner. In 1983, he participated in the New York City Marathon, finishing in second place by just nine seconds off the leader. He won the Boston Marathon in both 1984 and 1985. In 1985, despite having to walk and stretch out due to cramps, he still won by five minutes with a time of 2:14:30.
Smith made one last trip to the World Championships in 1987. In 1989, he made the decision to reduce his races to 5K’s and 10K’s. While training one day, he fell and hurt his hip. When he went to the doctor’s office, the news he heard was startling. He had developed Arthritis.
“He told me I wouldn’t run anymore,” said Smith. “I went from being one of the top five runners in the world to being told I wouldn’t run anymore. I didn’t believe it.”
But by Christmas of that year, Smith knew he had to hang up his professional running career. Luckily, he had completed a degree at Providence College, so he was able to work as a stockbroker for ten years before becoming a teacher in Mattapoisett. While he is not running competitively, he still coaches and serves as a motivational speaker to local groups.
Although he hasn’t run competitively in over 20 years on the elite level, the reason Smith fell in love with the sport still remains fresh in his mind.
“You feel so good,” he said. “Going out and running and feeling like you’re flying through the air. It’s like you’re invincible. That’s the best thing about running.”
For more information on Geoff Smith, visit www.geoffsmithrun.com.
By Katy Fitzpatrick