Olympian Then and Now: Steve Holman
By Matt McCue
Race photo by Victah Sailer
1992 Olympian Holman is now a senior executive with Vanguard.
Steve Holman was a member of the 1992 Olympic team and won two national championships in the 1500 meters. He recorded personal bests of 3:31.52 in the 1500 and 3:50.60 in the mile, and was ranked 4th in the world in 1994 and 5th in 1995.
This is the fifth of six interviews we'll have with former U.S. Olympians before the Olympic Track Trials. Previous chats were with Bob Kennedy, Suzy Favor Hamilton, Tim Broe and Anne Marie Letko. Next up: Gabe Jennings.
Catch us up on where life has taken you. Steve Holman: I am an executive at a financial services firm, Vanguard, in suburban Philadelphia. After I retired from running in 2001, I went to business school [The Wharton School of Business] in 2002 and then I hooked up with Vanguard and have been with the company ever since. I'm in our high-net-worth client service area.
When you applied for the job, did you include any of your track accomplishments on your resume? SH: I absolutely put "Olympian." At the time I only had track stuff to put on it. Other than my education, my résumé would have been a blank piece of paper. I did find it attention-getting, but, in the end, they wanted to know if I had the skills for the job they were hiring for.
Many top athletes stay in the track and field world as a coach, agent or shoe company employee after they retire from competition. Why did you take the career path you have? SH: I think there has been an evolution for me. I consciously choose a career path outside of sports. For a while I tried to downplay my athletic accomplishments because I wanted to create an identity outside of sports and not use it as a crutch, and also because I didn't want to seem like I was living in the past. I think I have changed over time. What I was able to do as an athlete is something I am very proud of.
In 1992, at the age of 22, you qualified for the U.S. Olympic team in the 1500 meters. Did it surprise you? SH: I wouldn't say it was unexpected, but I wanted it so bad. All of the work since 9th grade, all of a sudden in a moment it seemed worth it.
To what degree did that shape the future expectations of your career? SH: Soon after that I got my first taste of international competition. I changed my aspirations and realized I could be among the best in the world. That's what drove me for the remainder of my career. But the double-edge sword is that it brought in a bunch of pressure that I always didn't deal well with at the time.
I certainly envisioned that I would be going to additional [Olympics] and I dreamt of being a medalist. Obviously that never happened. But to me the Olympics were the beginning. When I was 22 this whole new world of opportunity opened to me and I wanted to see how far I could take it.
Perhaps the wildest race you competed in was in Monaco in 1998. You ran the 1500 meters in 3:33.6 and finished 14th.
SH: Yeah, I vividly remember that race. It was a decent race, but I remember getting beat by 3-4 Spaniards, 3-4 random French dudes, five or six Kenyans. It was very clear to me that something funny was going on. How do you run 3:33 and get blown off the track by 13 people? I remember thinking, "What do I do? Something not right is happening."
What did you try to do? SH: I think I did all that I could. I focused on my own performance. I said, "It's happening but all I can control is being the best athlete that I can be." Two, I had to make peace with it. I can't sit there and calculate how many dollars I lost to dopers, but just think that's the reality of the situation.
The third thing I did was that I was very vocal about anti-doping. Every time I got an opportunity in the press I would say that drugs are part of the sport, but they are not something I believe in. I did that to be a voice out there to ensure that if anyone was speculating about me I wanted to be sure that everyone understood I did not make that choice. I was never tempted and it never occurred to me to head down that path to try and be successful.
At Vanguard, you were part of the corporate distance medley relay at the 2005 Penn Relays that ran 10:54.99 for second place. How was that? SH: Our company conned me into doing it and I was in no shape in all. It was the first time I had been on the track since I ran track. They had me run the 1200 leg and it was awful. I was like, Unless I am in really good shape and want to put a good time down then I will stay away from it and focus on road races.
Holman's last Olympic Trials was in 2000, when he placed 5th in the 1500.
What was the transition like from professional to civilian runner? SH: When I retired I did not run a step for a year and a half. I picked up golf and became a mediocre golfer. I'll be honest, that year and a half was bliss. I could eat donuts. I could drink beer in the middle of the day. I wouldn't have to plan my life around my next run. But after a year and a half I got fat and didn't feel good. I was too young to let myself go, and I got back into running.
What I realized was that I couldn't run for fitness. I needed to have a goal to train for, so I thought if I trained for a marathon I could trick myself into working out for the next six months. I found that a goal was all I needed. The last race I ran was the Broad Street Run a year ago. I was able to run 56:44 for 10 miles. Nothing near what I used to be able to do, but for a 41-year-old that's not too bad.
You were coached by Frank Gagliano. What kind of influence has he had on you? SH: The way I was coached by Gags has influenced my management style. I tell Gags coaching stories as leadership lessons. Gags was a brilliant coach for many reasons. One of them was that he deeply cared for you first and foremost as a person and not an athlete. He took the time to develop that relationship and trust. Over time it became a joint effort between us. All of those things are a pretty good description of how I try to manage and lead. I was taught by a master.
Do you still follow track and field? SH: I still follow track, but, to be perfectly honest, today the bulk of my time is focused on things other than track, and track continues to just not be on many people's radars in terms of television viewing options. There is that core group of track fans and then beyond that the awareness of the sport is very low. It's weird because the popularity of road races has never been stronger, but those people are not track fans. There has never been a shortage of ideas on how to make the link between the road race community and the track and field community. We just haven't had the body to execute on those things.
You were on the USATF board until you resigned last winter. Why did you move on from that position? SH: A combination of work responsibility, family—something had to give. USATF had to give, but part of the reason was that I didn't feel the organization was going in the right direction.
In what ways? SH: I wish Max Siegel and his organization the best. Being a board member with Max, I think he brings a lot of great ideas to it. My thought is that the sport has never been short of ideas. I think the shortcomings of the sport have been a lack of leadership needed to pull all of these entities together to embrace a common vision and pull the sport forward together and to turn the USATF into a higher-performing organization that can support all of that. If Max doesn't turn the USATF into a high-performing organization it is never going to work.
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