Racing career over, Wheating can finally find his lane 

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Andrew Wheating had braved a few minutes of questions and cameras in the mixed zone. He set down his bag. He told coach Mark Rowland he was going to cool down.

And then he was overcome by what he called “a wave of disappointment.”

Wheating walked out of Drake Stadium, wandered to a quiet side street, and sat down on a curb between two parked cars. He let his head fall into his hands and wept.

It was 2013. One year after making his second Olympic team, the 25-year old had just finished 12th – last – in the 1,500-meter final at the USATF Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. Worse, he had given up in the final 400 and was 13 seconds behind the field, in 4:01.55.

“That was the broken moment where everything fell apart,” Wheating said.

Last Thursday, Wheating retired. He sold his house in Eugene last June and lives in Portland now. He has started working with a couple of outfits, High Performance West and Portland Track, where he plans to do marketing and create “buzz.”

Wheating has been a buzzworthy personality and athlete for more than 10 years. At 20, he took the track and field world by storm and made his first U.S. Olympic team with a dramatic rush to the finish line of the 800 at the 2008 Olympic Trials. 

He went to those Olympics and then returned to the University of Oregon to run on a NCAA championship cross country team with Galen Rupp, Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott, Matthew Centrowitz and Luke Puskedra. He spent four years on an Oregon track team with Ashton Eaton.

In 2010, as he was turning pro after a sensational college career, Wheating was a prodigy whose potential seemed limitless. He ran 1:44.56 for 800 and 3:30.90 in the 1,500.

Wheating, who ran for the Oregon Track Club Elite and became a ubiquitous presence in Eugene, made his second Olympic team in 2012.

But there are always limits, and athletes run into them like sliding glass doors -- with bewilderment and shock.

“In 2013, my mind went to a different planet,” Wheating said. “It was so hard for me to focus sometimes. I was getting so down on myself and frustrated, it was tough. Really hard. I chalked (the loss) up to, ‘my foot's hurt, this and that.’ But the truth was my mind was not there. My body was there, but my brain was like, ‘I'll wait for you at home.’”

Wheating made the determination to buckle down and do better. He kept after it. In 2015, he placed fifth at nationals in the 1,500. At the 2016 Olympic Trials, he was 11th. Last June, he missed the finals by one spot.

Swift and strong as he was, Wheating’s 6-foot-5 frame sometimes betrayed him. Yes, he could roll out into lanes 2 or 3 and move by people like a locomotive. But he endured injuries that seemed to pile up and deny him progress. As time moved on, he could feel his own expectations beginning to slip away from his grasp.

At 30, he has maintained the humor and wonder that endeared him to track fans in Eugene and across the country. He’s never stopped being a big, goofy kid, which is something he’s quite proud of.

He returns to New Hampshire, near his Vermont roots, in the summertime and works at the Green Mountain Running Camp.

“Working with kids is the most rewarding thing ever,” Wheating said. “I’m living proof, if you’re 16 and you’re kind of down on yourself, hey, when I was 16 I wasn’t even running (yet). You’re already a step ahead of where I was.”

Wheating also volunteers as a coach at Madison High in Northeast Portland. It’s a school without much recent history as a running or track and field hub. He hopes to make a difference there, one kid at a time.

One thing he’s got going for him is a trove of YouTube clips that show him doing spectacular things.

The 2008 Olympic Trials finish, with Wheating going from last to second in the final 200 behind Nick Symmonds in a desperate sprint to the line, is a memory that will never vanish for those who watched it live. 

“It’s funny, I can probably count the number of times I've voluntarily gone to YouTube to see it on two hands,” he said. “That, to me is, a completely different person. Watching it gives me goosebumps and chills. It is an emotional moment. I watch it and think, ‘this kid is going to go on and break world records.’ And then I think about my career and it gets at me. It’s tough.” 

Since his retirement announcement, Wheating said he has been humbled by the number of encouraging messages and emails. 

“I thought a smoke bomb had gone off and I would drift into the smoke and take off and be gone,” Wheating said of his retirement announcement. “I’ve received tons of emails and messages, people telling me about one race or another and where they were when this happened … it brings a tear to my eye. You don’t realize the impact you have until you leave something.” 

The good news is, Wheating hasn’t left. He has a chance to impart his relatable story to a new generation – in Portland, in New Hampshire and many other places.