Apparently double Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt of Jamaica has signed on to run in a 150 meter street race in Manchester England on May 17. While some are excited about Bolt’s appearance in the city, I have to say that it harkens back to Jesse Owens racing horses following his quadruple Olympic victories in 1936.<\/p>\n
Circumstances were quite different then, as Owens being an African American, had tremendous difficulty “cashing in” on his Olympic success in traditional ways. Then it was still difficult for Owens to get “good work” and so he had to resort to “side show” type competitions to try to earn a living. I would like to think that over 70 years into the future from Owens’ exploits, that track and field’s modern athletes would no longer have to participate in “side show” type events to earn a living. <\/p>\n
More importantly, I would like to think that track and field as a sport would not have to resort to these types of events to market itself to the public. We have a great product. We need to stop slicing and dicing it to sell it. It is still the center piece of the Olympic Games and popular world wide. It can be sold “As Is”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Apparently double Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt of Jamaica has signed on to run in a 150 meter street race in Manchester England on May 17. While some are excited about Bolt’s appearance in the city, I have to say that it harkens back to Jesse Owens racing horses following his quadruple Olympic victories in 1936. Circumstances were quite different then, as Owens being an African American, had tremendous difficulty “cashing in” on his Olympic success in traditional ways. Then it was still difficult for Owens to get “good work” and so he had to resort to “side show” type competitions to try to earn a living. I would like to think that over 70 years into the future from Owens’ exploits, that track and field’s modern athletes would no longer have to participate in “side show” type events to earn a living. More importantly, I would like to think that track and field as a sport would not have to resort to these types of events to market itself to the public. We have a great product. We need to stop slicing and dicing it to sell it. It is still the center piece of the Olympic Games and popular world wide. It can be sold “As Is”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa3DCY-1Y","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":610,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=610","url_meta":{"origin":122,"position":0},"title":"Bolt Wants Four London Golds \u2013 But are Any Certain?","author":"CHill","date":"November 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Usain Bolt stated recentlythat he now wants to add the 4x4 relay to his repertoire in an attempt to go for four gold medals at the London Olympic Games. The last time we saw a four medal haul at the Olympic Games was by Carl Lewis in 1984 \u2013 before\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Bailey\"","block_context":{"text":"Bailey","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=bailey"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2528,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=2528","url_meta":{"origin":122,"position":1},"title":"The Games Have Arrived!","author":"CHill","date":"July 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s here. The Tokyo Olympic Games have finally arrived.We've had several sports already take place, and now it's time for the heart of the Olympics, Track and Field, to take to the stage! The world has been waiting for five years, half a decade, for the next week and a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Benjamin\"","block_context":{"text":"Benjamin","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=benjamin"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/4596DC8F-6904-425E-A61D-CBF22BA8D810-150x150.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1443,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1443","url_meta":{"origin":122,"position":2},"title":"Will the Men’s 100 Live Up to the Hype?","author":"CHill","date":"July 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The men's 100 meters. Perhaps THE marquee event of the Olympic Games. Most of the world will remember who won the 100 long after the Games are over. Jesse Owens, Jim Hines, Hasely Crawford, Valery Borzov, Carl Lewis, Donovan Bailey, Linford Christie, Maurice Greene. Names that resonate still long after\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"100\"","block_context":{"text":"100","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=100"},"img":{"alt_text":"Who Shadow","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Who-Shadow_thumb.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2801,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=2801","url_meta":{"origin":122,"position":3},"title":"Noah and the 4×4","author":"CHill","date":"March 4, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Of all the competitions in track and field, the World Indoor Championships tends to be one of the least popular championship meets in the sport. That's typically because most athletes are still in their base training mode. As a result, the fields in most events aren't nearly as deep as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Allison\"","block_context":{"text":"Allison","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=allison"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/2A6245A3-AA6C-4120-AF41-52A4ACA1A12A-150x150.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":214,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=214","url_meta":{"origin":122,"position":4},"title":"In the 100 Meters Silver is a Curse","author":"CHill","date":"August 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The most glamorous event on the World Championships stage just might be the Men's 100 meters. Along with winning the gold medal comes the coveted title of \"The World's Fastest Human\". 100 meter champions often become the \"rock stars\" of the sport and household names. Jesse Owens, Jim Hines, Valeri\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1731,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1731","url_meta":{"origin":122,"position":5},"title":"2012 100m Rankings for 2012 – Men\/Women","author":"CHill","date":"December 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019m going to try something different this year, in that I\u2019m going to go five deep for events as I rank them and present both the men & women simultaneously. Five Deep because in general that\u2019s really where the top athletes are in any given event. 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