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What Will Our Male Middle Distance Presence be in London
Looking back on 2011 & Daegu, and forward to 2012 & London, I find three areas in the U.S. that concern me. One is the men’s sprints & hurdles which I recentlytouched on. Another is our field events in general – something I’ll be talking about in the very near future. The other, that I’ll be addressing today, is our male middle distance runners. I say this in spite of Matt Centrowitz’ surprise bronze in Daegu, because it was just that – a surprise. Because right now there is only one middle distance runner that we can count on to produce when needed – Bernard Lagat – and his career…
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Whose Windows Could Close in the Olympic Year
In the world of elite track and field, there are three basic goals: World gold, Olympic gold, and World Records. These are the achievements that most athletes would like to have before the sun sets on their careers. With the end of each season a window of opportunity closes in the pursuit of these objectives. Fortunately for most athletes, the window reopens with the start of the next season. I say fortunately for most athletes because there are a couple of situations that change one’s fortune. One situation is for the athlete that is aging – because in the end it is hard to outrun father time. The other is…
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American Women Leading the Way to London
As we close to door on the 2011season all was not bleak for the U.S. on the track. While our men had their difficulties and many lament that the rest of the world has “caught up” to us; the distaff side of things did remarkably well. From the 100 through the 1500, including the relay and hurdle events – U.S. women were on or very near the podium. In some cases “catching up” to the rest of the world! Following the Beijing Games, many were ready to concede sprint supremacy and dominance to Jamaica. After a Jamaican sweep of the 100, another 200 win by Valerie Campbell Brown over Felix,…
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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…