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| Mike Jackson and Little Morgan resumed their winning ways Sunday. |
After taking the gold medal with a world-record jump in 2002 and dropping to the silver tier of the podium last year, the 5-year-old black Labrador retriever leaped 23 feet, 1 inch, in the final round of Big Air on Sunday to grab the gold in the final event of this year's Games.
He had to wait a little longer than expected as rain delayed competition for about 30 minutes, and then recalibration of the Big Air scoring system caused an additional 45-minute wait.
After the wait, Little Morgan became the most decorated Big Air competitor with a total of three medals in three years of competition.
"That's a record we're really proud of," said handler Mike Jackson of Shakopee, Minn. "Usually a dog will win and then drop back. But we've managed to stay up there."
Sly, a 75-pound Chesapeake Bay retriever handled by Ken Butler of Tulsa, Okla., jumped 22-6 to grab the silver. Most handlers consider a dog Sly's size to be too heavy for Big Air competition, but Sly could help change that notion.
Sparky, a black Lab handled by Milt Wilcox of Huntington Woods, Mich., claimed the bronze with a jump of 20-11. Wilcox was the winning pitcher for the Detroit Tigers in Game 3 of the 1984 World Series.
Last year's gold medalist, Skeeter, failed to qualify for the four-dog final.
"We're a little disappointed, but we trained really, really hard this year," said handler Terry Casey of Parker, Texas. "We knew the competition was going to be a lot better this year. Training is starting to get a lot more specialized. A lot of people are starting to train specifically for Big Air."
In the final round on Sunday, Little Morgain failed to surpass the 24-foot mark, which he did in the semifinal round earlier in the afternoon. At no time in the competition did he close on the 26-foot, 6-inch record that he set in 2002, which still stands.
Part of that was probably Jackson's fault. Throwing a training dummy to spur Little Morgan into action, Jackson missed the mark, throwing high, short and slightly off center.
"The most important thing is to keep it in front of his nose," Jackson said.
A throwing error also caused Beau, who challenged Little Morgan in preliminary rounds with a jump of 24-2, to miss out on a medal.
Handler Chris Piacun of Metairie, La., failed to toss the training dummy on Beau's first jump in the finals, resulting in a 17-5 mark, and Beau's second and final jump went 20-2 after Piacun threw the dummy late.
Big Air - Final Standings
1 MIKE JACKSON/LITTLE MORGAN
2 KEN BUTLER/SLY
3 MILT WILCOX/SPARKY
4 CHRIS PIACUN/BEAU
5 BECKY HAVLINEK/AUTUMN
6 TERRY CASEY/SKEETER
7 RODDY REYNOLDS/JACK
8 WILL GUTMAN/DAISY JUNE
9 KEN BUTLER/DASH
10 WADE COPLIN/DWIGHT
11 TOM DROPIK/SARGE
12 DONNA AMES/DRACO
Results (By Round)
Final Round
1 Little Morgan 23'1" 22'9" Total:23'1"
2 Sly 22'6" 22'4" Total:22'6"
3 Sparky 22'3" 20'11" Total:22'3"
4 Beau 17'5" 20'2" Total:20'2"
Round Two
1 Little Morgan 24'1" 24'6" Total:24'6"
2 Beau 24'2" 0'0" Total:24'2"
3 Sparky 22'2" 22'4" Total:22'4"
4 Sly 22'2" 0'0" Total:22'2"
5 Autumn 20'10" 21'8" Total:21'8"
6 Skeeter 20'1" 21'5" Total:21'5"
7 Jack 19'4" 20'11" Total:20'11"
8 Daisy June 20'3" 20'4" Total:20'4"
Round One
1 Little Morgan 24'5" 23'11" 23'3" Total:24'5"
2 Sly 22'5" 21'11" 22'4" Total:22'5"
3 Beau 18'11" 17'2" 22'0" Total:22'0"
4 Daisy June 20'4" 21'1" 21'10" Total:21'10"
5 Sparky 20'4" 21'9" 21'9" Total:21'9"
6 Skeeter 19'1" 21'9" 18'9" Total:21'9"
7 Autumn 20'6" 20'9" 21'8" Total:21'8"
8 Jack 21'0" 21'6" 21'7" Total:21'7"
9 Dash 21'4" 20'10" 20'7" Total:21'4"
10 Dwight 20'4" 20'9" 19'10" Total:20'9"
11 Sarge 18'3" 20'3" 20'5" Total:20'5"
12 Draco 18'2" 15'6" 19'3" Total:19'3"
