Robison Pratt

{{Infobox sportsperson

| headercolor =

| name = Robison Pratt

| image =

| imagesize =

| caption =

| birth_name = Robison Merrell Pratt Hinton

| fullname =

| nickname = Robbie

| nationality = Mexican

| residence = United States

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1980|02|25}}

| birth_place = Jiddah, Saudi Arabia

| death_date =

| death_place =

| height = {{height|ft=6|in=6}}

| weight =

| website =

| country = Mexico

| sport = Pole vaulting

| event =

| collegeteam = BYU Cougars

| club =

| team =

| turnedpro =

| coach = Elbert Pratt, Yuri Volkov, Valeri Karapetov, Larry Berryhill (2003–2004), Jeremy Bailey (2004–2006)

| retired =

| coaching =

| worlds =

| regionals = 2003 Mountain West Conference: Champion

| nationals = 2005 NCAA National Championships: Champion
2006 NCAA National Championships: Runner-up

| olympics = 2000 Summer Olympics: Semifinalist

| paralympics =

| highestranking = 16th (2006)

| pb = {{convert|18|ft|8.25|in|m|sigfig=3}} (2006)

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalCountry|{{flagu|Mexico}}}}

| show-medals = yes

}}

Robison "Robbie" Pratt (born February 25, 1980) is an Olympic pole vaulter and an NCAA national champion.

Early life

Pratt was born in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia to Elbert Pratt and Anne Hinton Pratt. He was named after the Brigham Young University coach, Clarence Robison,{{cite news|last=Twitchell|first=Jeremy|title=Clarence Robison dies at 83|url=https://www.deseret.com/2006/9/28/19976331/clarence-robison-dies-at-83/|access-date=26 May 2011|newspaper=Deseret News|date=28 September 2006}} for whom his father competed in 1974 as a decathlete.{{cite news|last=Scorup|first=Sam|title=Vaulting His Way to the Top|url=http://nn.byu.edu/story.cfm/58338|accessdate=26 May 2011|newspaper=The Daily Universe|date=7 February 2006}} Pratt moved to Dublan, near Chihuahua, Mexico when he was two years old, and gained Mexican citizenship. At age thirteen, he moved to El Paso, Texas, where he began participating in track and field. His father, Elbert, is a professional coach and saw to it that he and his four younger siblings all learned to pole vault.{{cite web|title=New Mexico Track/Cross Country Clinic|url=http://www.dyestat.com/news/tr2003/030106NewMexicoCoachesClinicRG.htm|work=DyeStatCal|publisher=DyeStat|accessdate=26 May 2011|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130122174654/http://www.dyestat.com/news/tr2003/030106NewMexicoCoachesClinicRG.htm|archivedate=22 January 2013}} Pratt started serious training at age sixteen, and he won his first pole vaulting medal at age seventeen when he placed first at the Pan American Junior Championships in Havana, Cuba.{{cite news|last=Weiler|first=Rob|title=Raising the bar — Robbie Pratt and Trent Powell|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/600139799/Raising-the-bar--Robbie-Pratt-and-Trent-Powell.html?pg=2|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023065119/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/600139799/Raising-the-bar--Robbie-Pratt-and-Trent-Powell.html?pg=2|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 23, 2012|accessdate=26 May 2011|newspaper=Deseret News|date=9 June 2005}}

Early in his career and up until after the Olympics, Pratt was coached by his father, Elbert Pratt, and by Yuri Volkov and Valeri Karapetov.{{cite news|last=Baxter|first=Kevin|title=They're American, except in the Olympics|url=http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-olymex29-2008jun29,0,4510361.story|accessdate=26 May 2011|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=29 June 2008}} While at Brigham Young University, he was coached by Larry Berryhill from 2003–2004 and by Jeremy Bailey from the fall of 2004–2006. Bailey continued to coach Pratt throughout his professional career.

Soon after winning the Pan American Junior Championships at seventeen, Pratt sustained a cerebral hemorrhage, which was incurred unrelated to his vaulting. He was hospitalized for two weeks and was unable to vault for eight months. At age nineteen, Pratt returned to competition and broke the Mexican Junior National Record six times, finishing the season with a personal best of {{convert|17|ft|6.5|in|m|sigfig=3}}.

2000 Olympic Games

With a height of {{height|ft=6|in=6}}, Pratt was among the tallest international pole vaulters. He qualified for the 2000 Summer Olympics with another personal best of {{convert|18|ft|4.5|in|m|sigfig=3}}. At the Olympics, Pratt represented Mexico, the country where he had lived the longest. Being only twenty years old, he was the youngest vaulter, and he finished the competition as a semi-finalist.

Immediately after the Olympics, Pratt withdrew from competitive sports for two years. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), he volunteered for a mission preaching the gospel of Christ and serving the people in Torreón, Mexico.

Brigham Young University and professional career

In 2003, Pratt began school at Brigham Young University.{{cite web|title=Men's Track Athlete Profile - Robbie Pratt|url=http://www.byucougars.com/Profile.jsp?ID=1186|work=Track and Field|publisher=Brigham Young University|accessdate=26 May 2011}} That year, he was the Mountain West Conference Champion and a finalist in the Pan American Games in the Dominican Republic.{{cite web|title=XIV Pan American Games|url=http://www.athlecac.org/estadisticas/resultsMeet.asp?Meet=784|publisher=AthleCAC|accessdate=26 May 2011}} In 2004, he married Lisa Antonelli, a fellow BYU track athlete and All-American. In 2005, he became the NCAA National Champion{{cite news|title=BYU's Pratt captures NCAA championship in pole vault|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/600140759/BYUs-Pratt-captures-NCAA-championship-in-pole-vault.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130121160515/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/600140759/BYUs-Pratt-captures-NCAA-championship-in-pole-vault.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 21, 2013|accessdate=26 May 2011|newspaper=Deseret News|date=11 June 2005}} and a finalist in the World University Games in İzmir, Turkey.{{cite web|title=Robison Pratt Athlete Biography|url=http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/biographies/letter=p/country=mex/athcode=176995/index.html|publisher=IAAF|accessdate=26 May 2011}} In 2006, Pratt jumped a personal best of {{convert|18|ft|8.25|in|m|sigfig=3}} and finished the indoor season with a world ranking of sixteenth, according to the International Association of Athletics Federations. He was the runner-up in both the indoor and outdoor NCAA National Championships, and he claimed his first senior title in a major international championship by winning the Central American and Caribbean Games, breaking the Games record in the process.{{cite news|last=Renzhofer|first=Martin|title=On the way up|url=http://www.sltrib.com/ci_3557203?source=rss|accessdate=26 May 2011|newspaper=Salt Lake Tribune|date=1 March 2006}} Additionally, he was named to the 2006 IAAF World Cup Team to represent the Americas, where he finished in ninth place. In 2007, Pratt became a semi-finalist at the World Championships{{Cite web|title = IAAF: Viewing IAAF World Championships in Athletics results|url = http://www.iaaf.org/results/iaaf-world-championships-in-athletics|website = iaaf.org|accessdate = 2016-01-08}} in Osaka, Japan and a finalist in the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.