{"id":1405,"date":"2012-07-10T15:29:14","date_gmt":"2012-07-10T22:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1405"},"modified":"2012-07-10T15:29:15","modified_gmt":"2012-07-10T22:29:15","slug":"relay-chatter-the-4x1s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1405","title":{"rendered":"Relay Chatter – The 4×1’s"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Batons\"<\/a>Relays are fun, exciting and frankly if it were up to me we would have more than just four of them in the Olympics – or Worlds. We need some sort of global world relay gathering. Maybe replace the outdated World Cup with such an event. Something more exciting that would get the world\u2019s best together in a different and exciting fashion \u2013 and I\u2019m talking about the field events as well. A quadrennial event that\u2019s truly \u201cteam\u201d oriented, and takes into account all of the various talented athletes the sport has to offer. Don\u2019t get me wrong I love the speed events, but I\u2019d love to see Rudisha, Uceny, Jelimo, Kiprop, Simpson and others out there with a baton in their hands too! That’s my thought for the day.<\/p>\n

Now let’s get to the real deal, this year’s Olympic relays. Let’s start by dispensing with two myths that have arisen over the past couple of seasons. First that Jamaica is a lock for the men’s 4×1. Second that US sprinting is dead\/dying. Because suddenly one is politically incorrect to say anything contrary to either statement. <\/p>\n

First Jamaica. Yes they’re on a winning streak. And yes they’ve broken the WR. But the \u201cstreak\u201d is only during the past Olympic cycle \u2013 not unheard of by any means \u2013 and during that time frame we (the US) have done a lousy job as \u201crival\u201d because we haven\u2019t even gotten the stick around the track! At least we finished \u201cstanding up\u201d during similar runs by Canada and France when they were riding high. Canada during its\u2019 mid 90\u2019s run and France when it held the WR.<\/p>\n

Speaking of WR\u2019s, France\u2019s foursome from the 90\u2019s illustrates: how critical \u201cmoving\u201d the stick around the track is because it is a \u201crelay\u201d and moving the baton is as important as foot speed; putting people where they are most effective is also as important as foot speed; and the 4×1 record has been, and still is, very soft. <\/p>\n

Next, the "death" of American sprinting has been GREATLY exaggerated. We’ve had some people on the shelf, nicked up, banged up, and not performing to "their" standards \u2013 Gatlin, Gay, Dix, Spearmon, Merritt, Richards Ross, Felix, and a few others. But if anyone paid attention at the Trials, those were sterling results, American level results \u2013 turned in by a nice mix of vets and youth. We\u2019re far from dead \u2013 not even close. <\/p>\n

Yes, we were knocked down for a few seasons \u2013 down, not out! The sad thing is we did it to ourselves! And the reality is after all the talk about the Jamaicans, French, Brits,Trini’s, Bahamian’s and others only one country is capable of going to London and sweeping the relays and that’s the US \u2013 the question is will it happen?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be honest, to do so we will have to go through Jamaica. Jamaica’s rise in the men’s 4×1 started with, and is dependent on Usain Bolt. As much as people talk about Jamaica’s sprinting tradition there was no gold before Bolt \u2013 100 or relay \u2013 and I don’t see it this year in the relay without a major contribution from him again. As a matter of fact, the key\/glue to their relay success seems to be Bolt and Michael Frater \u2013 and neither are at "gold" standard this year. When you look at their personnel across the board, only Yohan Blake is "where he should be", Bolt won’t be seen until the 100 rounds, and we all know that it takes more than one man to lead a relay. So the idea that Jamaica will win because "they’ve got more speed" is the memory of another meet, another year.<\/p>\n

Britain, long a stalwart when it comes to moving the stick and maximizing talent, just doesn’t have the talent this time around. Pity as they will be running at \u201chome\u201d. From a European perspective that role should be played by the French with Christophe Lemaitre and Jimmy Vicaut forming their potent pairing \u2013 though Lemaitre has not been cranking out those sub 10’s this year.<\/p>\n

The real dark horse in this fight could be Trinidad with a team that has Richard Thompson and rising star Keston Bledman. They may be the best passing squad on the track, outside of Japan or Brazil – don’t laugh they should be finalists \u2013 and they have the foot speed to make it count.<\/p>\n

The final piece of the puzzle will be the US. And I’ll say right off the top,  I wouldn’t anchor Gatlin or Gay \u2013 that seems to be the question making the rounds: who gets anchor duty. Why wouldn\u2019t I anchor either one? Because you win relays by taking the lead, not trying to catch people. Our last win in a major was in ’07 \u2013 with an anchor man that had a season’s best of 10.07! He was just too far out front to be caught!<\/p>\n

This time around we have a man in Ryan Bailey that I think is perfect for anchor duty \u2013 big, strong, fast and there are no blocks to hinder him on anchor. As a Matter of fact there’s only one set of blocks in the relay and Justin Gatlin has been the best American getting out of them and down the track all season \u2013 so I would let him keep doing just that! And have you ever seen Tyson Gay in full flight around a bend? Need any more be said? That leaves the back stretch. Nobody up and running closes as well as Wallace Spearmon \u2013 but if you just have to have a 100 guy, I could live with Mike Rodgers. Either way, I think we have the right people to put in the right places to pull this off. That\u2019s why with Bolt\u2019s status\/fitness in question I have to go with:<\/p>\n

gold – United States
silver – Jamaica
bronze – Trinidad
4th \u2013 France<\/p>\n

In the women’s version there are really only two players \u2013 the US and Jamaica. Jamaica seems to be in a 50\/50 mode right now. Half their squad, Shelly Ann Fraser & VCB seem ready for war, but the  Kerron Stewart & Sherone Simpson half is just not there this year.  And the Jamaica women always get caught up in the "who gets to anchor" drama. VCB should anchor (IMHO) but there will be controversy to put Fraser there and I say let there be drama \u2013 as long as it\u2019s not us.<\/p>\n

In contrast, we are headed to London firing on all cylinders, with what I think should be Tianna Madison, to Allyson Felix, to Jeneba Tarmoh with Carmelita Jeter on anchor. Frankly, I’m not sure we’ve ever had as potent an opening pair as Madison to Felix can pose in 2012. Maybe Alice Brown to Diane Williams back in the day, but Madison to Felix is so much faster. Like Gatlin, Madison is just getting out of the blocks well and transitioning smoothly. And Felix is faster than ever (see 21.69 video if you need a reminder). If Jamaica isn’t there by Tarmoh, it’s a wrap – regardless of who they finally decide to anchor. <\/p>\n

Behind them, with Russia not making it out of the Euro champs, we\u2019re probably looking at:<\/p>\n

gold – United States
silver – Jamaica
bronze – Ukraine
4th \u2013 France <\/p>\n

Tomorrow I\u2019m going to take a look at the 4×4\u2019s. Unlike the 4×1, where passing is crucial, the 4×4 is all about foot speed. A bit more straight forward. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Relays are fun, exciting and frankly if it were up to me we would have more than just four of them in the Olympics – or Worlds. We need some sort of global world relay gathering. Maybe replace the outdated World Cup with such an event. Something more exciting that would get the world\u2019s best […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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":[364,172],"class_list":["post-1405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-4x1","tag-relays"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa3DCY-mF","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1405"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1406,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1405\/revisions\/1406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}