During this year’s 2024 Olympic games in Paris Oxford High School graduate and University of Mississippi alumnus Sam Kendricks placed second in the pole vault event on Aug. 5. 

Winning a silver medal in such a competitive and elite event like the Olympics is an amazing achievement for any athlete. He placed second after successfully completing a pole vault of 5.95 meters, or 19.521 feet. For Kendricks, the feeling of knowing that he had accomplished winning second place was like no other.

“Winning silver felt like freedom,” Kendricks said. “Just freedom. It was really cool and I was happy to have that feeling. I wish I could give it to everybody else. It was easy to be in the moment and understand how important it was. It just felt like real freedom.”

Becoming a professional athlete and training to a level that allows an athlete to compete in elite worldwide competitions requires much from a person. To become a pole vaulter of his caliber, Kendricks says it required far more mental training and strength than physical athletic ability.

“It is so funny that as a pole vaulter 80% is mental, it is all in your head,” Kendricks said. “You have to learn how to really battle your own doubt because pole vaulting is a risk-based event. It is me versus myself. I have to understand my confidence, my goals, and everything else in order to get what I need out of the sport. It is all a mental battle. There is a very little physical difference between the top athletes, it is all mental.”

Kendricks graduated from Oxford High School in 2011. During his time on the OHS track and field team he was coached by head coach Christian Patton. While in high school, Kendricks broke several records, including setting the then-state record at 5.18 meters or 17 feet. He also won the outdoor state championship in both 2010 and 2011, as well as the indoor state championship in 2011.

“Sam was not the strongest, was not the fastest, was not the biggest kid in high school,” Patton said. “But, what he had more than anybody that I have ever seen in my life is work ethic. He put in so many hours that people did not see out on the track. He was out training on Sundays and Saturdays, spending many late nights on the track.”

Kendricks credits a lot of his success, especially in the beginning of his career, to his father who has coached him throughout his entire journey as a pole vaulter.

“I was very lucky my dad was a track coach,” Kendricks said. “He was always able to give me extra attention and I always had a spot on the team, whether i

t was as the manager or running relay he found a place for me. If he had not given me a shot, nobody would have because I just was not the guy for it.”

Many people in Oxford knew Kendricks when he was still a high school athlete or during his time at the University of Mississippi, and he is still close with many of them to this day. Jiwon Lee, Oxford resident and friend of the Kendrick family for 13 years, reminisced on her friendship with Kendricks during their high school years.

“The thing about Sam is that he has always been humble,” Lee said. “He has always been such a cool guy. He was a state champion and a great pole vaulter, but he was also a great friend. You could not tell that he was a record-breaking athlete in any possible way. Even to this day he is just such a humble human that I can always count on to be a good friend.”

After being a star athlete for OHS, Kendricks went on to pole vault at the University of Mississippi. He broke many of the college’s records during his first year on the team, and during his time as an Ole Miss rebel he won both the 2013 and 2014 NCAA Championships. In 2014, Kendricks made the decision to transition from a collegiate level athlete to a professional athlete.

“Leaving Ole Miss was really tough,” Kendricks said. “I love being a member of a team so much and only competed three years for the rebels. When you are a professional athlete you are an army of one, which is difficult. But, I realized if I wanted to have an Olympic dream I needed to go on the professional stage. I was very lucky that Oxford, the community and Ole Miss, supported me when I made that transition. I wanted to go from representing my college to being able to represent myself and my country.”

Kendricks is an extremely decorated athlete, with his personal record for outdoor pole vaulting at 6.06 meters (or 19.88189 feet) and his personal best for indoor pole vaulting at 5.90 meters (or 19.357 feet). In his nine year long professional career he has placed second in the world indoor championships three times, placed first in the world championships twice, and has won both a bronze medal and a silver medal for pole vaulting in the Olympics.

“I knew that if Sam had the same attitude that he had at OHS, he would be special,” Patton said. “I did not know when, I did not know how. But, I knew he would be special because he is a very positive person and he works very hard. He has made many sacrifices and is very dedicated to his craft, and it paid off.”

In December 2017, Kendricks got married to his long-time girlfriend, Leanne Zimmer. He and his wife have one son together, who both went to watch him pole vault in the Paris Olympics. Kendricks credited the positive impact that his family has had on not only his life, but his athletic career.

“An athlete is always sacrificing,” Kendricks said. “It is often frustrating because a person can sacrifice so much and still will not win, or still will not reach their goal. A family is something that you sacrifice for and it enriches you so much. It fills that one hole that sports cannot fill in your life and brings you balance.”

While Kendricks has been traveling the globe and winning championships, he decided to found a local training center in Oxford called Refuge Training Center, or RTC. RTC is dedicated to being a training center for not only Kendricks, but also for other athletes and pole vaulters 

“The RTC is a reflection of who I am, because I was always at the track,” Kendricks said. “I needed a training center because I wanted a place to pour all of my ideas out that were mine. I did not really feel it would be totally feasible to do it working for somebody else. Hopefully RTC is a jewel by which all pole vaulters can rally around and I can have a great place to train exactly how I want to until I retire.”

Samara McConnell, a student and pole vaulter for the University of Mississippi, has trained with Kendricks over this past summer. To her, Kendricks has been more than a coach and credits him as one of her biggest inspirations.

“He is definitely a mentor to me and truly inspiring,” McConnell said. “I watched him when I was in high school, and then he built the RTC and has been really great at bringing younger people into pole vaulting. He has been so encouraging and always keeps spirits high. The way that he perceives the sport and the community that he shows makes me love it even more.”

McConnell is on her own journey as a collegiate athlete and pole vaulter, but she hopes that one day her work as an athlete will inspire others the same way Kendricks has inspired her. This motivation is what made McConnell want to be a part of an exhibition hosted at RTC when Kendricks returned to Oxford after his Olympic win.

“The main reason I wanted to be at RTC tonight and pole vault in the exhibition is because of all the little girls that I knew would be here,” McConnell said. “There are not a lot of girl pole vaulters. If I can bring the type of inspiration and encouragement to those girls that Sam brings to all of his athletes I feel I would be doing so much good with my life.”

Kendricks is doing big things in his athletic career, but the journey is not over for him yet. Whenever Kendricks does choose to retire, he still wants to be involved in the athletic community to help other pole vault athletes master their craft and accomplish their goals.

“One of the things I want to do here with my facility is to help people achieve their goals,” Kendricks said. “My main goal is to be a great facilitator of sport, even if that means I have to be a club manager or a coach or a hotel owner. It gives me great purpose and I think it is so important to share what you learn and know in a knowledge-based sport like pole vaulting.”

Kendricks competed in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and won a bronze medal for completing a pole vault of 5.85 meters, or 19.19291 feet. He also qualified to compete in the pole vault event in the 2021 Olympics, but unfortunately fell sick with a case of COVID-19 and was unable to participate. The growth that he made as an athlete between his Olympic debut and his most recent Olympic win was significant, and the obstacles he has overcome made Kendrick’s perspective and approach at the 2024 Olympics massively different.

“The reality of the life of an athlete is that things go wrong all the time and you have to deal with them,” Kendricks said. “Thinking of my time in sport as bigger than the Olympics was a big perspective shift for me. If the Olympics is the only thing you are shooting for then you will miss it every time. In the beginning, I was doing it for the medal because that is what got me what I wanted in the sport. Then over time, the medal became extra and going to the Olympics was a great privilege for me because I got to jump for everybody else.”

For many people in Oxford, watching Kendricks compete in this year’s Olympics was a nail-biting experience. Throughout Oxford, many citizens went to watch parties and tuned into the livestream to cheer Kendricks on and watch him perform.

“It is such a cool experience to be able to see my friend be an Olympian,” Lee said. “We had a watch party at Buffalo Wild Wings this year. Everybody in the community loves him and everybody knows

how hard he works and how great of a person he is. It was emotional because you get to see your friend jump incredibly high and win a silver medal. It is such a special moment and I will never forget it.”

Kendricks and those who know him talk about the amount of work he had to put in to become the athlete he is today. Because of this, many of the people that Kendricks looked up to when he was becoming a pole vaulter were athletes who had difficult journeys themselves.

“I was not very good when I started,” Kendricks said. “My idols in sports were people who did not seem like much, people who came from humble beginnings. I liked the athletes who had a tougher time becoming professionals and were my inspiration because that made me think that maybe I could do it too.”

For Kendricks, sports is something that unifies people and should be fun for all athletes. This is something that he hopes younger athletes who aspire to do big things will keep in mind during training and competitions.

“I would advise high schoolers to play more sports and really find a way to compete and have fun with it,” Kendricks said. “If you are only doing it to be a professional, you are probably going to miss it or burn out. Please have a great time in sport. You do not want to waste your time stressing about the future. Sport is about having fun and growth, it is also a great unifying tool so long as you do it correctly.”