Athlete Profile | Sports
Athlete of the Week: George Bourdier discusses journey back from injury, future goals, and life outside of track

George Bourdier competes in the pole vault at the 2025 WashU Invite. (Rachel Benitez-Borrego | Staff Photographer)
Junior sprinter and pole-vaulter George Bourdier has played an integral role on the WashU men’s track and field team for the past three seasons. On April 4, at the Illinois College True Blue Invite, he set a personal best in the pole vault at 5.10 meters winning the event. Bourdier sat down with Student Life to discuss his recruiting process and why he chose WashU, battling back from injuries, and his favorite hobbies.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Student Life (SL): Tell me about when you started competing in track. Did you play any other sports growing up?
George Bourdier (GB): I’ve done a lot. I’ve tried almost every other sport, especially as a kid — soccer, baseball, gymnastics, football, cross country, or whatever. But I started doing track when I was eight, just because I had a lot of energy, and my parents were trying to find a way to calm me down. So I started doing that a long time ago, and I did more distance stuff. And then middle school, I got to sprinting. In high school, my coach introduced me to pole vaulting, and then from there, I’ve just been really into it.
SL: In terms of the recruiting process, when did you know you wanted to play in college?
GB: I think my junior year, I had qualified for the Indiana State competition in both the pole vault and the 200 meter, and a couple coaches at the meet just kind of walked over and introduced themselves, and said if I was ever interested, just to reach out to him. And that’s when I realized that it was a possibility, and I thought, who doesn’t want to be able to be an old man and tell their grandkids one day like, yeah, I competed in college and got to do all that stuff.
SL: What made you choose WashU?
GB: Definitely the academic side, and a nice balance between getting to do a sport I love, and also not being totally confined to it. When I visited, the coaches were outstanding. Everything felt very welcoming. Beautiful campus. It’s like Disneyland out there. So it was a no-brainer.
SL: Last weekend you set a personal record in the pole vault. How did that moment feel?
GB: That was an incredible moment, especially after having such a rocky career so far. My first two seasons were cut really short just due to injury. So I’ve had two abdominal surgeries, and the question is always like, am I going to be able to get back to what I know I can do? And so in that moment, surrounded by my team, my best friends, my coaches, and just to feel totally relaxed and to trust my coach, the pole and my training, and just to go for it, and then to fall down and just see it stay up was like my heart was going to explode. I was so ecstatic. And the goal for that meet was five meters, and I ended up going 5.10, and the goal that I set for my college career is 5.20, so to go from closer to 17 than 16 in one meet was mind-blowing.
SL: How do you think you’ve grown in your three years on the team, especially as you navigated fighting back from injury?
GB: It’s been very patient. That’s the best way I can describe it. My freshman year, I was a regular freshman goofball. I was doing everything wrong. Sophomore year, after the first surgery, I was really frustrated, and so I was really trying to dial it in, and I started doing everything right. And even still, it didn’t go my way. I ended up having the same tear on the other side, which was disheartening. And then I came back this season, and I just had a conversation with myself, you know, if you really want it you’re gonna have to do it all over again and risk the same injury, but if you really love it, you know you’re gonna do it. So staying patient with the process has been the biggest thing, and just trusting the coaches who kept telling me, like, it’ll come as long as you just keep working at it and keep knocking on that door.
SL: Speaking of your comeback, what fuels your passion and love for the sport to keep coming back?
GB: Like I said earlier, you never leave a winner. You get three attempts at every bar. And even after jumping 5.10, we put the bar up to 5.18, and I missed it three times and it just kind of keeps that hunger going, where you’re like, I want that next bar, I want the next height. It’s because you know you have it in you. And so it’s the obsession with finding your true max. And so I just love it, it’s like a perfectionist thing. It’s the one thing where you can try your hardest to be perfect at and still never really get there.
SL: Looking ahead, in one year you’ll be set to graduate from WashU. Is there anything left you want to accomplish, whether personally or related to track?
GB: Related to track, I’d like to have the school record in the 200 and the school record in the pole vault. But looking outside of that, I’d like to go to law school. I’m in the perfect place to do something like that, to have a good balance of academics and athletics. Other than that, I’m looking to enjoy it, to just take the time I have with my friends. It hasn’t quite sunk in that [college] is actually almost over. And so just make the most of everything I have. I think that’s also been what’s helped this season — realizing that not only is it not guaranteed with injury, but it’s also not gonna last forever.
SL: Do you have a favorite song that you like to listen to before a meet?
GB: “Ventura Highway,” actually. I like that a lot. Or “Reelin’ in the Years.” Those are two good ones. I find that they just put me in an upbeat mindset, especially “Reelin’ in the Years.” As an upperclassman, I’m really trying to reel in the years. I think it makes me appreciate everything a little more and enjoy it.
SL: Is there a professional athlete that you look up to?
GB: Definitely the world record holder, Mondo Duplantis. He’s actually from right by my hometown in Louisiana, so he’s kind of a hometown hero. My coach and his dad vaulted together when they were younger, and so they’re good friends. I look up to him all the time, and he kind of seems like he’s got it all figured out. And his story as well had some ups and downs, so I look up to him and use him as an inspiration.
SL: Outside of track, what are your favorite hobbies?
GB: I like to read. I like to journal. I’m religious, so I go to church and try and center myself with God, especially after a big meet like that, just to realize that I’ve got nothing of my own — that all comes through Him. Other than that, I like to hang out with my friends. I’m in a fraternity, so I spend a lot of time with those guys, the Beta Theta Pi brothers, and so it’s a good time. I just like to relax whenever I can. Also golfing, that’s a good one.
SL: Our last question is something that we ask every Athlete of the Week. Would you rather have fish for hands or have to adopt a child every time you hear “Bohemian Rhapsody”?
GB: I’d say fish for hands. I don’t think at this age and at this point in my life I’d be the best father. So I think I’d have to take one for the team, and I’d have to have the fish for hands.
2024-25 Athlete of the Week Tracker: Adopt a child: 3. Fish for hands: 4.