Who is Sandi Morris? Five things to know about Greenville’s Olympic pole vaulter

Pole vaulter Sandi Morris connected Greenville to the Olympic podium in 2016 when she earned a silver medal in her first Olympics.

Throughout her professional career, Morris has racked up six United States championships and four world championship medals, including one gold in 2018. Now she’s looking to bring her first Olympic gold back to the Palmetto State.

Morris is one of at least 20 athletes with South Carolina ties set to represent the U.S. in Tokyo. With the games underway, here are five things to know about the Greenville Olympian.

She holds an American record

Just weeks after taking home her silver medal in Rio, Morris cleared 5 meters (16-4.75 feet) at the Memorial Van Damme event in Belgium, setting a new American record for women’s outdoor pole vaulting. Her record still holds nearly five years later.

It wasn’t her first time breaking a record. In her senior year at the University of Arkansas, Morris cleared 4.72 meters (15-5.75 feet) in the 2015 SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championship. It held up as the highest mark in NCAA women’s pole vault history until Washington’s Olivia Gruver narrowly surpassed her, clearing 4.73 meters in 2019.

Morris built a pole vaulting pit near her parents’ home

Morris was forced to get creative when the COVID-19 pandemic closed her training facility at the University of Arkansas in 2020. Without a college campus to go to, she moved back home to Greenville and started to construct a pole vaulting pit near where her parents, Harry and Kerry, live.

Morris and her father received permission to set up the 120-foot long runway, clearance bar and landing pit in southern Greenville County between their community soccer field and tennis courts. Once the pit was ready to go, Morris hosted exhibitions for locals as she trained for the Olympics.

“It was a really good distraction from what’s going on in the world right now — just having something to focus on every day and something to look forward to,” Morris told The Washington Post in May 2020.

She released an award-winning song

When she isn’t training, Morris enjoys singing and playing two instruments — guitar and violin. It’s not necessarily uncommon for athletes to unwind with music, but Morris’ interest has gone further than just a free-time hobby.

In 2019, Morris released “Souvenir,” a studio-recorded collaboration with U.S. Olympic sprinter Noah Lyles and Swiss band Baba Shrimps. The song, produced for the 2019 Diamond League track and field meet in Zurich, Switzerland, was performed in front of 25,000 people at the event and reached more than 15 million worldwide.

The performance added a different kind of accolade to Morris’ trophy case. Later in 2019, “Souvenir” won the Xaver Silver Award, a prestigious Swiss honor, for excellence in live communication.

She’s married to a former Olympian

In 2019, Sandi Morris married Bermudian long jumper Tyrone Smith, a three-time Olympian who competed in 2008, 2012 and 2016. The Olympic couple has kept roots in their sport — Smith proposed to Morris in 2018 at a track meet in Zurich.

Smith didn’t qualify for Tokyo, but he has been vocally supporting Morris in her quest to win her first Olympic gold this year.

“What a dichotomy of emotions. ... ” Smith tweeted on July 20. “The pure heartbreak and despair of not preparing to go to Tokyo for what would be my [fourth] Olympics. ... and the sheer excitement, anticipation and pride of getting to see [Morris] fight for that podium.”

Morris has some unique pets

Morris has nurtured a deep compassion for animals since childhood. As a result, she’s taken in some interesting critters throughout her life.

With the support of her parents, Morris adopted several different pets as a kid to develop her love for animals, including a flying squirrel. She eventually discovered a passion for reptiles and has since owned three snakes.

Morris currently takes care of two Italian greyhounds, two lineolated parakeets, 15 geckos, a lizard and a 40-gallon fish tank.