Posted on: Thursday, August 26, 2004

EDITORIAL
Island athlete proves he's world class

It's a long, long way from still-sleepy "Cloudy-ohe" to the sun-baked, 24/7 NBC coverage of the Olympic Games from Athens.

But Castle High grad Bryan Clay proved himself to be world class and then some as he powered to a silver medal in that most demanding of individual sports, the decathlon.

Clay was the first medal winner from Hawai'i in track and field.

But he comes from a long line of Hawai'i champions who have participated in the Olympics, going back to the great Duke Kahanamoku.

Clay's decathlon was one for the ages, just 73 points behind gold medal winner Roman Sebrle.

Later, an ebullient Clay was talking about the many undiscovered athletes in Hawai'i who should be making their marks in international competition.

The University of Hawai'i has a great women's track team. Imagine if Clay's victory inspired a men's team to match.

We congratulate Clay with an eye to the future. Many observers say he'll be at his peak in four years, at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.