Fresno State Athletics
Two-time Olympian Mileham Competed for Great Britain
8/16/2008 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
Aug. 16, 2008
FRESNO, Calif. - Matt Mileham made many tough decisions in his athletic career, but hard work and perseverance paid off, as the former Bulldog National Champion competed for his home team of Great Britain in two Olympic Games. As the track and field events have begun in Beijing, www.gobulldogs.com continues its coverage of current and past Olympians.
Mileham grew up in London, England and at the age of 16 became an apprentice electrician for four-and-half years. He then got a job in a hospital and began training for the 1980 Olympic team.
"Working full-time and trying to train was not fun or easy," said Mileham. "There just wasn't enough time. I really wanted to do well."
A wonderful opportunity to compete in the United States then sort of fell into Mileham's lap. At the time, Mileham didn't even know that this was a possibility, but it suddenly made his Olympic dreams a reality once again.
"I heard a lot of international athletes in the late 70's were getting scholarships from American colleges to come over and compete," Mileham added. "Somehow I got a phone call to Red Estes who was really interested and that really started the relationship. It still took me almost a year to get over here because of the qualifications and paperwork. It was definitely a process."
Although he would go on to become a National Champion at Fresno State, Mileham wasn't too fond of the town when he first arrived. It was his competitiveness and drive that pushed him to return.
"When I first got off the plane in Fresno and felt the heat I figured it was from the jet," said Mileham. "But it was August so later it made sense but I just couldn't believe the heat. I had never been in heat like it. I got dropped off in the dorms and the air conditioning was great. After a week I went home and I didn't think I could do it. Then I got thinking when I was home that I really should give it a try. Then I came back and that was it."
Mileham tried out for the 1980 Olympics for Great Britain but got fourth and it was a tough decision as to whether or not to come back to Fresno State and continue to pursue his Olympic dream or not. He ended up deciding to carry on with his schooling and training in Fresno.
He competed for four years at Fresno State, 1980-84, for both the indoor and outdoor track and field teams. While the hammer throw was his signature event, Mileham was also an indoor All-American for four years (1980-83) in the 35 lb. weight throw.
In the hammer throw, Mileham was a four-time All-American as well, placing second as a freshman in 1980 and capping his career off by winning the 1984 NCAA Championship in the event.
He was also a three-time conference champion in the hammer throw and holds the school records he set in 1984 in the weight throw (73-4.5) and in the hammer throw (252-8). Mileham also broke the freshman records in 1980 in the weight throw (68-7.75), the hammer throw (227-5) and the weight pentathlon (3,753). Also holding the Warmerdam field record, Mileham was inducted into the Fresno State Hall of Fame as an eight-time All-American in 1992.
While training for the 1984 Olympics, Mileham was in his senior year of school at Fresno State and his final year of eligibility on the track team.
"Balancing training for the Olympics and school wasn't too difficult because I was towards the end of my academics so I knew what I needed to do to finish and graduate," Mileham added. "It wasn't too bad schedule wise, but I did have to compete here at the NCAA Championships and win that in Eugene, Ore. I then had to fly home and compete almost immediately at our Olympic trials."
Mileham then goes on to talk about competing at the Olympic trials in England which is different the U.S. trials where the top marks automatically secure your spot on the Olympic team.
"In England, they take the athlete that wins the trials and then they hand pick two others to make the three-person team," said Mileham. "I placed second at the 1984 trials so they basically told me that I needed to compete over in Great Britain a couple of more times to show that I could throw the distances that I was throwing in the U.S., then I might get selected, and sure enough I got selected. The European season is after the American season so I always used to go over there anyways to compete in meets so it really wasn't anything new for me."
The 1984 Olympic Games were held in Los Angeles, so Mileham was in a state and country he was familiar with but competing for his homeland. Mileham talked in-depth about his first experience in the Olympics.
"We came over before the games and went to a training camp in San Diego and spent a month there so people could acclimatize and get used to the time change while training in the U.S," said Mileham. "The French team was there training as well. A lot of British people in track know the Americans since they go to Europe to compete, so there is a lot of interactions and friendly bouts with the American teams.
Then we moved up to the games themselves in the Olympic Village and it was at UCLA. The village is a microcosm of the world. Every nation is there. This was my first Olympics so the big thing for me was to just make the team and I didn't know what to expect when I got there. It was completely different from what I expected. You meet all of these people from other countries and you kind of discover that they all did the exact same thing as you to try to get to the Games. They have the same kind of habits as far as training. Some go to school, some work and train. So it was good to know that there are all of these different countries but all of the athletes do the same thing."
Like most Olympic sports there is a qualifying round before finals. Some sports will have preliminaries and semifinals before finals, in track however, there is a qualifying round then the top 12 marks make the finals.
"I went through to the next round but then I hit three fouls in the final," Mileham added. "I just didn't do well. So that was it, my time was done there. I stayed and helped support the other folks because a lot of the people, especially in the throws I have known since I was like 14. So we are all kind of friends helping each other out."
After the Los Angeles Games, Mileham returned to Fresno to finish a couple of classes he needed to earn his degree. It was another tough decision as to whether or not to carry on with his training because he knew it would be difficult to train on his own.
"I mean I was still young enough, strong enough and fast enough so I thought well I will carry on," said Mileham. "It was a big decision though whether to keep competing or not because you are pretty much in poverty when you are training because you don't work a lot of hours and not going to school anymore. It's also tough to go work out almost every day like you need too."
After finishing second at the Olympic trials for the second straight meet, Mileham once again played a waiting game to see if he made the team. He once again did, but how he found out was rather interesting.
"I made the 1988 team the exact same way I did in 1984," said Mileham. "I had to prove myself again. It puts a lot of pressure on you because they have to select you. It's not the case of you do this and then you are on the team. If you prove yourself that you can throw that well then we can decide to select you for the team. It was a just a lot of waiting. Then the way I found out was in the newspaper. That's the way they announce it. Someone actually called me at 4 a.m. and said that I got picked because my name was in the paper so that's how I found out."
It was then off to Seoul for his second-straight Olympic Games. This team, the team practice in Kobe, Japan a month before the Games and then flew over to Seoul. Once again, Mileham would have to qualify in the opening round for the final, but he ripped a muscle in his arm before the event and was unable to throw.
"You just can't be injured and try to throw competitively," Mileham added. "So I was pretty much out and that was it. But that's the way things go sometimes. I tried to look at it philosophically as well it was a great journey and I got there and it was a great experience just to be there and that is probably more important than just competing well. I went to all of the events, weightlifting, swimming and all of the track and field. It was just incredible in those games with Flo-Jo and Carl Lewis. The athletes' seats were right there along the front of the track so it was good."
After the 1988 games, Mileham thought about continuing to compete but decided to work full-time and he was preparing to get married. Since 1989, Mileham has work at Fresno State and is currently a Program Production Supervisor at Satellite Student Union.
He said that his time as a student-athlete at Fresno State was just what he needed under Red Estes, Bob Fraley and the rest of the staff.
"Competing at Fresno State was good because they had a great track schedule as far as competing against teams like San Jose State and the teams with good throwers," said Mileham. "There were several international guys we competed against. Fresno State was also good about going to the big competitions and sending the best people that we had there. I really couldn't have asked for anything better. "
Even though Mileham is not personally competing anymore, his daughter Cecilia throws the discus and just completed her eligibility at Cal State Bakersfield where she was a three-time NCAA Division II National Champion. Cecilia tried out for the U.S. team this year but finished just shy of making the team in fifth place. Mileham said that Cecilia plans to train for the 2012 Olympics which will be held in Mileham's hometown of London.
"I'll go to the London games no matter what," Mileham said. "I have some friends from the Great Britain team who are retired like me but we are already planning a reunion. They are making preparations now for those games. My mom is actually here visiting now and talking about everything they are building now for the games in four years. It will be great for London to host the games and hopefully help bring track and field alive once again."
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