Help bring Hogan clan to Games

Next month she will be hurdling and sprinting in the Olympic Games, but on Saturday she was standing in Liberty Park asking for help. Tiffany Lott Hogan, arguably the greatest all-around female athlete the state has ever produced, was selling water, pop, candy and autographed pictures at the Pioneer Days Parade.

Hogan already has her ticket to Athens; now she is trying to find a way to bring the rest of Team Hogan to the Games. It hasn't been a one-woman effort getting the 29-year-old Hogan to the Olympics.

Her parents shuttled her back and forth to track competitions for years. Family vacations were trips to meets.

"They've been supporting me since I was 11 to accomplish this goal," says Hogan.

Her husband, Brent, has been living with the couple's 3-year-old son Keplar in Cedar City on weekdays, attending Southern Utah University while Tiffany trains and works at BYU. He attends school full-time, takes care of Keplar and manages to work odd jobs.

"He has a lot on his plate," says Tiffany, who sees her family on weekends.

Hogan is trying to raise money to bring Brent and her parents to the Olympic Games. That might prove more difficult than a 21-foot long jump. Cost: $6,000 apiece for a week's stay.

So there she was, hawking autographs and junk food in the park the other day, just a week after qualifying for the U.S. team at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento. On Saturday morning, she will do a meet-and-greet at the Water Garden Theater in Pleasant Grove, where the owners are offering three movies and donating proceeds to the Hogan family. Then she will drive to St. George and do a carwash fund-raiser to raise money for her parents.

The Hogans have placed donation cans around Provo and set up accounts at Zion's Bank and Wells Fargo for those who want to make donations.

So far, they have raised $400.

Hogan, who attended American Fork and Pine View high schools, finished a close second in the heptathlon at the U.S. Olympic Trials. The heptathlon is a seven-event test to determine the world's greatest all-around female athlete.

"It was one of those moments you want to cry, but you hold it back because you're supposed to be a tough athlete," she said.