By Elliot Denman // Photo by Victah Sailer of Photorun

EUGENE, OREGON – Charles Austin is remembered as one of the ultimate gamblers in track and field history.

Faced with two misses at 7-8 in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic high jump final, he calmly passed up his third attempt at that height to have a single attempt at 7-10.

Make it and he’d be the Olympic gold medalist, but miss it and he’d not be a medalist at all, relegated to fourth place.

But Texan Austin made it in one of the great leaps of faith in Olympic history and thus got to climb the ultimate step of the Atlanta medal stand to be presented with his gold.

That was the last time an American man won the Olympic high jump and put Austin in a category all his own.

His 7-10 ½ leap at the Weltklasse Meet in Zurich in 1991 remains the American outdoor record, although it’s been matched by Hollis Conay’s 7-10 ½ indoors in Seville, also in 1991.

All these years later, they’re still trying to match Austin and Conway.

Kansas State grad Erik Kynard, for instance, Friday at the USA Outdoor Championships at Hayward  Field.

The 2012 London Olympic surprise silver medalist, Kynard had the Nationals won after Texas Tech’s JaCorian Duffield topped out at 7-8 and former world champion

Jesse Williams, out of Southern California, bested at 7-7. Kynard succeeded where Duffield couldn’t and soared 7-9 ¼ for the win.

Now’s the time the Hayward crowd really got into it,

With the bar set at 7-10 ¾ (a quarter inch hgher than the Austin and Conway bests) Kynard had one close call at the bar and two not-so-close encounters with the bar.

“Oooooh, then ahhhh”  they exhaled after Try One, the close miss.

But the next two brought on only prolonged “oooooooohs.” Clearly weary by then, Kynard’s get-up-and-go supply had disappeared.

But surely Austin and Conway, wherever they were, had some anxious moments before the assurance their names would still be in the books.

It was a most-exciting event and proved that the HJ and its perennial battle with gravity has what it takes to be the most exciting event in track and field.

Kynard explained it this way:

"The first attempt was really good. I was a little upset with myself. I said a few explicit words.

“I’ve been chasing the record for a long time, and I really wanted to get it here. It’s a little frustrating."

But give the man time.

Patience and calm under fire have always been major virtues in this sport. Just think back to Charles Austin at Atlanta in 1996, many still do. At this point in his career, Erik Kynard could put a supply of Austinian determination to very good use.