Bentonville High School coach reflects on 2000 Sydney Olympic experience

BENTONVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — A former Olympian is passing on his knowledge and experiences to the Bentonville High School Boys Track and Cross Country teams.

Coach Michael Power always dreamed of running in the Olympics and when he finally got the chance, it was a rewarding experience for him despite his challenges.

And now, he’s helping the next generation of athletes train to accomplish their goals as well.

Power has been coaching the young athletes all summer.

“I feel as though I can give back to the community that I live in. And I feel as though the athletes that I coach, they kind of take that responsibility on as an athlete to try to improve each year. And I want to be part of that process for them,” Power said.

He makes them run, stay hydrated and provides them with living proof of where hard work can take them.

“I competed in 2000 at the Sydney Olympics. I was a young athlete, then. I was 24 years old. And it was my first Olympics,” Power said.

Power always dreamed of competing and representing Australia, his home country.

“I was lucky enough to have that opportunity in Sydney to do that. And just really took it and had a great experience,” Power said.

It took hard work, dedication and talent to get to this pinnacle moment of his athletic career.

“Is not only in the training, but it’s also the eating, the sleeping, all the other areas that make up the athlete. So it’s hours and hours, days and days, weeks and months. Just building on each other,” Power said.

But when it was time to compete for one of those shiny medals, his emotions got the best of him.

“It was actually a very overwhelming experience, and I think that was detrimental to my performance in the end,” Power said.

His nerves took over just a few hours before the race started, forcing him to fall short in the prelims.

“My race plan went out the window,” Power said.

He says he ended up racing on emotion.

“Which changed my strategy within the competition. I had hoped to make it through to the final and be Australia’s number 1 qualifier, but I failed to move on from the prelims,” Power said.

He says there were more than 60,000 people in the stadium that day cheering on each runner.

“The energy is there. But also it kind of zaps your energy and the emotion of the actual event,” Power said.

And the biggest challenge that turned into a lesson for him was to “hone in your training and making sure that you’re healthy and fit on the actual day of competition.”

Despite his shortcomings, Power was prepared to make a comeback at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens but life had other plans.

“Injuries and other things kind of came up during that time between the Olympics. It kind of shows you that the Olympics cannot be taken for granted,” Power said. “Once you can make the Olympics represent your country, it’s a big deal. And everyone should be very excited to have that. There is no second chance, at least no second chance is promised.”

Flash forward to 2024, Power no longer runs.

“I feel as though my knees and my ankles kind of have seen better days,” Power said.

He says he misses running, but it’s still a part of him

“Because I coach these athletes now,” Power said.

Instead, he bikes which is something many people in Northwest Arkansas love to do.

“I can be with the athletes, and I can see a lot more of the athletes as they do the training,” Power said.

He uses his experience to make other runners like Owen Kelley and Matthew Shelley better.

“He knows what training works out, and that started to kind of trickle down into our training and just made us so much better as athletes. He really knows what’s going on,” Kelley said.

Being an Olympian has helped Power become the best coach he can be.

“And understand the athlete from what they’re thinking, and how they’re feeling in training,” Power said.

It helped him realize he had to lower his expectations when coaching high school students because not everyone is on the same level or has the same goals.

“Some of them move on to colleges. Some of them may even move on to the Olympics. But in general, they’re doing it as an experience in high school,” Power said.

The cross country team at Bentonville competes in several big meets like the Nike Cross Regionals.

“It was a team goal made realistic by him,” Shelley said.

Kelley says Power prepared them well for that day.

“And like just to come out and qualify for nationals on that day was just such a special moment,” Kelley said.

Both athletes say they are fortunate to have a coach like Power.

“I feel like not only has he made us great in high school, but he set us up so well for collegiately and possibly pro running. So super awesome,” Kelley said.

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