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 Read More...
The CHill Zone of T&F: Conway's View From the Finish Line
Whose Windows Could Close in the Olympic Year
Sep 27th, 2011
7:02 am PDT
7:02 am PDT
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 Read More...
American Women Leading the Way to London
Sep 25th, 2011
8:47 am PDT
8:47 am PDT
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 Read More...
What Happened to U.S. Sprint Camps?
Sep 23rd, 2011
5:04 am PDT
5:04 am PDT
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 Read More...
Lack of Transparency Leads to Finger Pointing
Sep 21st, 2011
6:40 am PDT
6:40 am PDT
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 Read More...
The Pan Am Games as a Development Tool
Sep 20th, 2011
9:13 am PDT
9:13 am PDT
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 Read More...
I Want to Maximize Our Potential
Sep 19th, 2011
7:26 am PDT
7:26 am PDT
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 Read More...
Blake Deuce Louder Than Lightning in Brussels
Sep 16th, 2011
6:33 pm PDT
6:33 pm PDT
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 Read More...
Brussels Will End Season with Few Big Match Ups
Sep 14th, 2011
5:56 am PDT
5:56 am PDT
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 Read More...
Twenty Five is Good, But Not Our Potential
Sep 12th, 2011
8:39 am PDT
8:39 am PDT
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 Read More...