Las Vegan Amanda Bingson takes high road after missing Olympic berth

EUGENE, Ore. — If you travel along the Florence-Eugene Highway here, with a length of approximately 60 miles following the north bank of the Siuslaw River, you eventually reach its most elevated point of 769 feet at Cougar Pass.

It’s a similar journey to how Amanda Bingson dealt with incredible heartbreak Wednesday.

She took the high road.

“I was absolute garbage,” Bingson said. “I embarrassed myself.”

There won’t be a second consecutive Olympic berth for the Silverado High School and UNLV alumna, won’t be a trip to the Rio Games next month, won’t be anything except returning home to Texas and wondering what might have been.

Had she thrown better.

Had a certain doping ban been more stringent.

Bingson finished fourth and one spot out of qualifying for Rio in the women’s hammer throw at the U.S. Track and Field Trials inside Hayward Stadium, meaning her surprising Olympic berth to London in 2012 shortly after departing UNLV was followed by a major disappointment four years later as one of the event’s favorites.

She didn’t come close this time.

Bingson’s best throw of the day was her sixth and final attempt that went 70.30 meters, or 230 feet, 8 inches. She holds the American record at 75.73.

The second- and third-place finishers qualified for Rio with throws of 239 feet, 9 inches, more than 9 feet farther than Bingson’s best.

In the world of hammer throw, that’s a pretty big difference.

“The great thing about the United States is you have to earn your way onto the Olympic team,” said Bingson, who changed coaches in December. “We have to show up on the day and compete. It’s all on me, and I wasn’t good enough, plain and simple. It just wasn’t meant to be this time. It’s just one team I didn’t make.”

Gwen Berry is a fellow Nike-sponsored thrower who finished second and made her first Olympic team just days after being reinstated from a doping ban that erased a mark of 76.31 meters from May that was thought to have broken Bingson’s American record.

Berry, however, eventually acknowledged using an inhaler for asthma that contained vilanterol trifenatate during the U.S. indoor championships in March and received a three-month ban. Had her punishment been longer, Bingson’s best throw Wednesday would have been enough to punch a ticket to Rio.

“I’m bitter about not making the Olympic team more than I am anything about (Berry),” Bingson said. “I don’t worry about her. I know what she’s capable of throwing.

“The thing is, once you turn professional, you have to know the rules. I have horrible allergies, so I know everything I put in my body. But there has still only been one American to throw 76 meters, and it’s not me. It’s her.”

Said Berry: “That’s nice to hear, but I really don’t care what (Bingson) says. It’s my record. A lot of things were taken from me this summer, and all I wanted to do was come here, make the team and prove to the world I’m here because of my talent and God, not any inhaler or cheating. I will get the (American) record again in Rio.”

Bingson instead will be focusing on other meets this year with a long-term glance toward the 2017 world championships in London and a much longer one to the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

She tried smiling and joking through tears that welled in her eyes Wednesday, understanding the lengthy and difficult process that is training to make the Olympic team while suddenly dealing with the emotions of coming so close and not doing so.

You don’t become an American hammer thrower to get rich. You become one to hold down a job (sometimes more than one) while finding enough openings in your schedule to lift and devote every free moment to the Olympic pursuit of throwing a metal ball that weighs 8.82 pounds as far as your body allows.

“We’re hammer throwers,” Bingson said. “We’re amateurs. Give us a ring to throw from and we’re fine.”

But the hammer is also one of those events that is far kinder to the natural progression of things than others, proven by the fact Wednesday’s gold medal went to 35-year-old Amber Campbell, who will compete in her third Olympics.

Bingson is 26.

“It’s not like I’m going to quit,” she said. “This wasn’t me. I’m better than this, and that’s going to drive me. I’m still really young. Women do this sport well into their 30s and do it well, as we saw with Amber.

“But it wasn’t because of changing coaches, and it wasn’t because of anything other than the facts: I wasn’t good enough. It sucks. I go into every throw thinking I’m going to break the American and world records. If I knew what was going to happen or what to do differently, I would have. In the end, the best three throwers made it. It was the most competitive trials we’ve had, and we are sending a great team of women to Rio.”

That’s how someone sounds when evaluating her performance from the highest road.

Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be a heard on “Seat and Ed” on Fox Sports 1340 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. On Twitter: @edgraney.