The CHill Zone of T&F

With the end of the year upon us it’s already time to start looking forward to the next track season. And as I look ahead to 2010 one of the most intriguing stories that could develop could be the return of Justin Gatlin to the sport. I think the story is still fresh enough in everyone’s mind that it doesn’t need to be repeated in total. A positive test result from the Kansas Relays in 2006 for testosterone ( a result that he gave up his right to contest, yet contested the ban), coupled with a previously excused incident while he was at Tennessee (for a medication prescribed by his…

For twelve years The Golden League was the premier competition series in the sport. Run exclusively in Europe during the heart of the “Circuit”, the six/seven meet series allowed a select group of athletes the opportunity to win all, or a share of a $1 million jackpot. Select meaning that only a handful of events qualified for jackpot competition each season. After a dozen years, the Golden League is getting an upgrade to the fourteen meet “Diamond League” consisting not only of meets in Europe but adding competitions in Asia, the Middle East and the United States: Doha (QAT) – 5/14Shanghai (CHN) – 5/23Oslo (NOR) – 6/4Rome (ITA) – 6/10New…

Cross country season is always a good time to take a look at distance running. Especially this fall as for the first time in many years we’re coming off a track season where we saw substantial improvement among our middle and long distance runners. 2009 saw a resurgence in our middle distance women and our distance running men such as we’ve not seen in a very long time. Not that we haven’t seen individuals rise up on occasion. But, for me, I haven’t been as excited about distance running since Alan Webb burst on the scene as a high school senior in 2001! Webb’s breaking of Jim Ryun’s HSR in…

As we take time out to celebrate America’s war heroes on Veterans Day, I thought it might also be appropriate to celebrate our Track and Field Heroes. After all, just as our veterans went in to battle to preserve the freedom of our nation, there have been many heroes in our sport that have paved the way and set standards for today’s athletes to follow. So following are some of the sport’s greats. Athletes that I feel during my lifetime have made a difference and helped to make the sport great. I know there will be many omissions. That’s one of the great things about this sport – we’ve had…

Shawn Crawford reported to camp today and began workouts with John Smith is the word I’ve gotten this afternoon. Potentially filling that void in Smith’s camp left by the retirement of Maurice Greene in 2006. Crawford brings an already impressive resume to practice. Bests of 9.88 and 19.79. Olympic gold medalist in 2004, he’s also scored silver in the event in 2008, and bronze in 2001. Crawford has been one of the US’s most consistent sprinters this decade, slowed only by foot problems in 2005 that seemed to hamper him for a couple of seasons. Crawford rebounded nicely in ’08 and ’09 as he ran 19.86 and 19.89 (19.73w) putting…

As I take a look at the state of professionalism in the sport of track and field it comes to my attention that the coaches may be the ones to lead the way. In talking with various individuals regarding the current state of the sport I’ve received information on the development of a coaches association. Discussing the ability of the US to garner 30 medals in a major championship, I was surprised to learn that the coaches of our medal winners do not receive stipends from USATF – a situation that should be rectified in my opinion as prior to the change to the Logan administration stipends WERE paid to…

Thirty medals. That’s the stated goal of USATF CEO Doug Logan. Thirty medals in London, 2012. This is the goal that was set following a 23 medal performance in Beijing. A performance that was considered to be unsatisfactory. So with a follow up in Berlin that netted one fewer medal (22) than Beijing questions abound: • Was 30 just an arbitrary number?• Is 30 a realistic goal?• If so why are we so far off?• If 30 “is” realistic then where will they come from? • Do we have a “structure” in place that will help us get there? At least these are some of the questions that I have…

Recently I talked about the elite level of the sport and the effect that money has had as the sport has attempted to grow from an amateur sport into a professional one. The “growing pains” that have stressed the sport on the money front has seemingly spilled over to the coaching front. I say that after reading on Friday that Veronica Campbell Brown is leaving Lance Brauman – the coach that has guided her to nine World and Olympic medals, including three gold. The coach that she is leaving him for is Anthony Carpenter. No offense to Carpenter, but everyone I’ve talked to so far is asking : who is…

When I was young and watching the sport, I thought it would be wonderful if track athletes could actually make a living in track and field like they could in other sports. As I watched athletes struggle to find training time as they worked full time jobs to pay the bills and put food on the table, I thought, “wouldn’t it be great if running could pay the bills?”. But after roughly 20 years of professionalism in the sport, I wonder if we’ve done it “right”. After all, two decades is plenty of time to develop and tweak a “product”. But looking at track and field, we’re nothing like the…

The early exit of Chicago as a bid city for the 2016 Games means that there will not be Olympic level track and field in the United States until at least 2020 – and that’s only if the USOC decides to submit an application for a bid city. While most of the country is still either crying over spilled milk or trying to figure out who to blame for Chicago’s failure, I look at things a bit differently. Because every time a door closes it simply creates another opportunity elsewhere. That would be for USATF to put together it’s own plan and bid to host the World Championships here in…