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What Happened to U.S. Sprint Camps?
The sprints have traditionally been the bread and butter of U.S. international teams since, well forever. Heading into your typical Olympic or World Championships competition, one could count on U.S. domination of the sprints, hurdles and relays. In Daegu, however, such was not the case – at least on the men’s side of the ledger. As a matter of fact, when the smoke cleared, we had two sprinters make sprint finals – Walter Dix in the 100 & 200, and LaShawn Merritt in the – and only one gold medal from our male sprint crew with Merritt’s come from behind win in the 4×4. Granted the rest of the world…
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Lack of Transparency Leads to Finger Pointing
It seems that every year there are one or two performances, such as Brussels’ 200 meters, that leave everyone saying, “What was that?” Followed by a mass discussion of the sport’s tainted history in the area of drug use including “border wars” between American & Jamaican fans on message boards; articles in newspapers such as the one recently written by the Chicago Tribune’s Phil Hersh; then counter articles asserting that Hersh is wrong in questioning the performance; and generally lots of whispered accusations and innuendo regarding what is or is not going on within this sport. The problem is that both sides are correct in their own right. Those that…
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The Pan Am Games as a Development Tool
Believe it or not the season is not quite over. Among a handful of very small competitions, the Pan American Games will be taking place in Guadalajara Mexico, October 24th through October 29th. With the World Championships and Olympic Games combining to give us three major championship meets every four year cycle, meets like the Pan Am Games and Commonwealth Games don’t have the same importance that they once had thirty or forty years ago. I do think, however, that they present an opportunity to help in the development process of our National teams for the Major events. Looking over the USA’s roster for the event, I’m pleased to see…
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I Want to Maximize Our Potential
Brussels effectively closed out a very interesting 2011 season – a season that for me opened up as many questions as it provided answers. So there are lots of things I want to discuss and look at over the course of the down time between now and the indoor season. I want to start by following up on a comment I made last week – that I don’t think that twenty five medals is the best that the U.S. can do in a major, that out potential is greater than that. I feel that I need to start there because many of my comments and observations of the season that…
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Blake Deuce Louder Than Lightning in Brussels
It’s not been often over the last few years that Usain Bolt has been upstaged on the track, and after setting an SB and WL 9.76 100 it appeared that Brussels would be no different. Except that approximately six minutes later the men’s 200 went off – and 19.26 seconds later the sprint world was once again turned on its ear! But that sonic boom wasn’t Bolt flashing past the electric eye beam – he was track side enjoying his 100 meter victory. He did have a great view however, of the duel that was taking place between training mate Yohan Blake, and Daegu silver medalist Walter Dix. Dix to…
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Brussels Will End Season with Few Big Match Ups
We were told that the Diamond League was going to bring the best of the best together on a regular basis. That all of those key match ups that had been missing in the sport were going to become reality by the Diamond League contracting with all the main characters to put them together in multiple venues. And that the “piece de resitance” would be Zurich and Brussels, as the season would come to a climactic end with athletes vying for Diamond League titles. So, how’s that working out? Well if the season ending Brussels meet is a guide, not so good. Take the men’s 100 meters for example. The…
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Twenty Five is Good, But Not Our Potential
I’ve been amazed at the talk that has surrounded the twenty five medals that we (the U.S.) won at the World Championships in Daegu. The tone has been as if we had achieved the unachievable. As if we had set some new standard of excellence in the sport. There were headlines proclaiming “U.S. Still the Gold Standard in Track and Field”; and “How Good Was Surprisingly Good U.S. Team”. If you read my “Report Card” on the U.S. efforts in Daegu, I would contend that the team was good, but not great. With all the medals that we left on the table – women’s 400, men’s 400 hurdles, men’s shot…
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Rudisha 1:41.33 in Rieti !
With World gold in his pocket, David Rudisha (KEN) went to Rieti in search of a shot at his own WR. While he came up just a hair short – 1:41.33, #5 all time – it was his 4th foray under 1:42.00 in the last two seasons. He now owns the #1, #2, #5 & #6 times in history. And the only marks better than today’s run were all WR’s at the time they were run. The scary thing is the ease with which he churns out these marks – as no one other than the first lap rabbits are able to stay with his long flowing stride. If ever…
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Zurich – Speed Upstarts Rule
One of the recurring themes of the recently completed World Championships was that of up and coming athletes breaking through to the big time. While it was clear in Zurich that it’s time for the season to end as many athletes are now weary, several of the upstarts in Daegu are clearly out to prove that their performances in Daegu were no flukes. Take the men’s 100 for example. Yohan Blake (JAM) became the youngest ever World champion, yet it rang a bit hollow as Usain Bolt (JAM) false started out, Tyson Gay (USA) was at home recuperating, and Asafa Powell (JAM) pulled out of the meet with a groin…
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Zurich Preview
Zurich is once again in the position of following a global major, which means that it could serve as a “redemption meet” for several athletes – especially since there are only a handful of meets left before the close of the 2011 season. Most top athletes tend to shut things down once the championship meet is over. At best they compete in one or two meets to make a bit more money. So seeing top level head to heads is now going to become a premium. Making Zurich a meet to watch as this will be one of the few meets still loaded with top level competitors. Following are six…