Jenn Suhr has had an amazing pole vaulting career, and ending that career at the 2016 Olympic games in Rio would have been a shame.

Weakened by illness, Suhr finished seventh at the Olympic games in Rio in 2016. The Fredonia native had planned to retire after the games, but reversed her decision. She broke meet records at the Prefontaine Classic in 2018, has authored a book with her husband, Rick and finished second at the U.S. Nationals in 2020 at the age of 38.

Consider those performances palate cleansers from that bitter experience in Rio.

Over the weekend Suhr fell short of qualifying for this summer’s Olympics in Tokyo, finishing fifth at the Olympic trials. As of Monday, Suhr is ranked 11th in the world in the pole vault.

There won’t be another Olympic run for Jenn Suhr this year, but her Olympic career was already noteworthy. She is one of two United States women to win a gold medal in the pole vault and one of three women in the world to earn more than one Olympic medal in the pole vault.

But Suhr’s story is still one that should inspire all of our area’s young athletes. After all, Jenn Suhr was once like you — playing basketball, softball and soccer as well as running track and field during her career at Fredonia High School. She didn’t take up pole vaulting until 2005 after a setting the all-time scoring mark after four years on the Roberts Wesleyan College women’s basketball team.

Great things are possible regardless of where you’re from.

Suhr’s story is also one of perseverance and hard work, two more lessons everyone can learn from. The road to Olympic gold — and a chance to write a final glorious chapter to her athletic story — has not been easy. There has been sacrifice, injury, illness and disappointment along the way.

If this is indeed the end of Jenn Suhr’s Olympic career, what a career it has been. And, given the story she has authored so far, we can’t wait to see what the rest of Jenn Suhr’s story turns out to be.