{"id":1452,"date":"2012-07-26T14:26:21","date_gmt":"2012-07-26T21:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1452"},"modified":"2012-07-26T14:26:21","modified_gmt":"2012-07-26T21:26:21","slug":"news-ahead-of-the-start-of-the-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1452","title":{"rendered":"News Ahead of the Start of the Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Turn<\/a>I\u2019ve been very very busy outside of track and field the past couple of days. Doctor\u2019s appointment; kids to the fair; trying to catch up on non track work\/stuff. Have to clear my plate so I can focus on the Games with the opening ceremonies TOMORROW! <\/p>\n

Yet as I step away for a couple of days, the news\/happenings of the sport seem to increase in volume. And so many things I\u2019m compelled to comment on. Usually I prefer to give items individual attention – and I may do that later on with a few topics – but trying to keep pace with what is certainly going to be an exciting Games, let me take a minute to address some rapidly developing topics.<\/p>\n

Before I go any further, however, let me say that if you haven\u2019t downloaded the NBC apps for your tablet or smart phone, you need to do so. I\u2019ve been playing with both and I can tell you that everyone here is going to go crazy with me walking around constantly linked into the Olympics. Especially with the NBC Olympics \u201cLive\u201d app which will allow you to stream events as the happen from any sport going on at the time. Sweet. I\u2019ve been waiting for something like this since grade school – and that was a very long time ago! The other app, NBC Olympics, doesn\u2019t provide streaming but does have lots of valuable information on athletes, events, current updates and information. This is definitely going to be the Internet Olympics – and that\u2019s making news too.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s get on with \u201ccurrent events\u201d:<\/p>\n

Doping Suspensions<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve learned to try to stay away from the topic of doping, because as soon as you  bring it up people want to try to figure out who you\u2019re talking about. And frankly it\u2019s a big negative for the sport no matter what you say about it. Doping is one of those topics that\u2019s just deadly for track and field and I wish we could get away from it. But as long as there are dopers it is going to have an effect on this sport, because we \u201cwant\u201d to be \u201cpure\u201d, so we make a big deal out of catching dopers – which becomes a win\/lose proposition for the sport. It\u2019s a win because it shows that we are making an attempt at cleaning the sport up – though I\u2019ve often questioned to what degree. It\u2019s a lose because we constantly remind the public that we do have dopers in our sport – which leads to the public perception that the sport is rife with dopers. So damned if you do, damned if you don\u2019t. But that is something we need to take a look at moving forward – how we use doping as a positive marketing tool instead of a constant reminder that we \u201chave a problem\u201d. <\/p>\n

That said, there have been several \u201cbusts\u201d in the last week or so that have resulted in athletes being dismissed from the Games before they begin including Greek World Indoor high jump champion Dimitris Chondroktukis, and Moroccan 1500 meter time leader Mariem Selsouli. WADA is touting that these, and others, were caught via Blood Testing and Blood Passports – definitely a step in the right direction. However, since the substances detected were \u201cold school\u201d – Stanozolol and a diuretic in the cases of the aforementioned athletes – I can\u2019t help but feel that what we\u2019re catching are a crop of \u201cdumb dopers\u201d. And that true progress will be made when we are getting to the sophisticated dopers using \u201cdesigner\u201d\/\u201dundetectable\u201d drugs. Of course that can\u2019t happen unless we are using Biological Passports, so as I said at least a step in the right direction. Now if we can just figure out how not to make it a negative for the sport!<\/p>\n

Greek Athlete Dismissed Over Tweet<\/a><\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

As I mentioned earlier, this is going to be the Internet Games which means a heavy dose of social media applications: Facebook, Twitter, Live Streaming, etc. On the one hand this is a very good thing for the general public as we have the greatest access ever to what\u2019s going on at the Olympics. Everything from live access to each and every event as it happens, to access to the private thoughts of the athletes themselves. Personally I think that\u2019s a great thing – one of the best marketing tools available to the sport. But already we\u2019ve seen the \u201cTweet Police\u201d attempt to limit the volume of tweeting that the athletes do. <\/p>\n

Now, I do think that some athletes tweet a little more than they should – but that\u2019s their choice and something that should be discussed\/dealt with between them and their coaches\/managers\/etc. Because as a coach, or part of the athlete’s \u201cteam\u201d I would want to make sure that the athletes are not distracted and are focused on the task at hand. That said Greek triple jumper Paraskevi Papachristou was removed from the squad and sent home over a post she made on her Twitter account, as they deemed it to be racist and against the Olympic ideal.
I hesitate to comment because I\u2019m sure to be blasted one way or the other. However I think that this takes things to a bad place for the athletes and therefore I am going to give my two cents. . <\/p>\n

Now I don\u2019t pretend to be up on Greek humor, but my reading of the tweet is that it was a bad \u201coff color\u201d joke similar to thousands told by Americans of every persuasion. And just like I do with many of those jokes, I\u2019m inclined to say that it\/they are typically in poor taste and would ask that they not be told \u201cin mixed company\u201d if you will. After all, you can\u2019t legislate an individual\u2019s feelings, but we can determine what\u2019s acceptable in a public setting. That said, should athletes be removed from the Games if they are caught out telling off color jokes in public \u2013 or tweeting them over the Internet? You make the call, but I think we start to go down a slippery slope when we attempt to control every aspect of the athlete\u2019s lives – # of tweets, what they can tweet, etc. What happened to the days when some things were dealt with behind closed doors? Perhaps sometimes we go a bit overboard in our attempts not to offend. Just something to think about. <\/p>\n

Athletes and Money<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

Speaking of tweets, Sanya Richards Ross\u2019 tweets regarding the financial status of track and field athletes seems to be gaining traction\/momentum. As I watch the Twitter world, it seems that the majority of athletes out there are in general agreement that they are getting the short end of the stick – and I totally agree. However, I\u2019ve also seen several articles out there that say that this type of movement has been seen before, and decades later there has been zero progress – and I agree with that as well. From Prefontaine, to Carl Lewis, and now to Sanya Richards Ross, there have been those athletes that have stood up and voiced their opinion regarding the status of track and field and the lack of money in the sport – and the other athletes around them have nodded in agreement. Unfortunately it will take more than nods of agreement to affect change in the sport. That will require that at some point the athletes band together to take a stand for their rights – and so far that hasn\u2019t happened. Why?<\/p>\n

Well, in my opinion because that will require sacrifice among the athletes as a group. It means that they may have to hold out, boycott, refuse to accept the status quo. And to get the athletes to do so en mass is difficult for two reason. One, those athletes that are barely surviving in the sport have been in the past, and probably will be moving forward, hesitant to give up what income they have – a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, especially if you\u2019re hungry. Two, those athletes that are doing well have been, and will continue to be moving forward, reluctant to push for any change that could reduce their immediate earning power – i.e. they aren\u2019t going to want to miss any immediate large potential paydays, and they may be reluctant to work towards change that could reduce their short term earning power as current funds are redistributed to bring everyone else up! <\/p>\n

There lies the dichotomy. At some point the athletes will have to band together as \u201cONE\u201d and may have to close down some competitions in order to compel change to be made. Until they do that, complaining and silent agreement is not going to get them very far. IMHO. <\/p>\n

The IAAF \u201csoftens\u201d the False Start Rule<\/a><\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

Perhaps the most anticipated event at this year\u2019s Games is the men\u2019s 100 meter dash. With that the next few news items I talk about are related to this event, starting with, well the start. Because in case you haven\u2019t heard, the IAAF says it\u2019s making a change to the rule ahead of the sprints starting competition next week. And change is that no longer will moving in the blocks be cause for disqualification! We\u2019re not talking about coming out of the blocks prematurely, we\u2019re talking about a foot movement, twitch, wiggle, or otherwise move in the blocks ahead of the gun.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sorry, but am I the only person upset about this? Not that they are making the \u201cchange\u201d, but that making the change is necessary! Because that says that we\u2019ve been throwing people out of races, not because they actually false started, but on a technicality – there was too much movement in the blocks. The rule \u201cnow\u201d allows movement in the blocks as long as the hands do not leave the track or the feet the starting blocks! Duh. Isn\u2019t that what the starters have been looking at all along? Or have we really been throwing people out of races when they haven\u2019t really left the blocks – which in my humble opinion should always have been what constitutes a false start, you exit early! <\/p>\n

Whenever I talk about the false start rule I get angry, because what seems to be lost on this sport is WHY there is, or should be, a false start rule in the first place. Because ostensibly the idea behind having a false start rule is to ensure that everyone starts equally – or as equally as one can provide given human differences in reactions, hearing, etc. What this sport continues to prove however, is that somehow the idea of \u201cfairness\u201d, has taken a back seat to the obsessive belief that sprinters and hurdlers are cheaters by nature who need to be contained and reeled in. Primarily because they, and they alone are responsible for \u201cscrewing up\u201d television time for the sport. <\/p>\n

In my version of why you have a false start rule, the first goal of the rule is to get the field reset so that the race can be run with a fair start for all. In the event that an individual causes this to happen more than once, he\/she is then eliminated from the competition. In the sport\u2019s version of a false start rule, if the sport even thinks that you might be thinking about leaving the blocks early you have been eliminated from competition! Now of course you\u2019re still toast if you make the slightest mistake in the blocks and start a tad early – react to crowd noise; a flinch next to you; clicking camera; hot track; wobble and fall; lose concentration due to an overly long hold; or any of a myriad of other reasonable \u201cnon-cheating\u201d reasons that a person may accidentally false start – because sprinters\/hurdlers are simply not allowed to make mistakes unless everyone else in the sport. I could say more but I had to get that vent out. This rule is RIDICULOUS, and apparently was even more so before the start of this week. And I am livid to think that athletes have been eliminated from competition because they flinched in the blocks!<\/p>\n

Bolt Cleared to Compete by Doctor<\/a><\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

Still on the subject of sprinting, and perhaps the most anticipated event of the Games, word just came out that the Jamaican team doctor has given Usain Bolt a clean bill of health. Now the question is how ready will Bolt be when he lines up for the start of the 100 meters. Aside from this proclamation from the Jamaican doctor we know little about the status of Bolt as no one has been allowed to watch him practice, which could indicate that things haven\u2019t been 100% on the track. After all most practices of athletes are open – Bolt\u2019s have been more secretive than the practices for the opening ceremony. Healthy but not at his best I still like my earlier prediction. Healthy and ready to rumble, Bolt is a medalist. But as I\u2019ve said, this is one of the most fluid Games I\u2019ve seen in terms of how rapidly things have and will change. <\/p>\n

Gay Healthy But Nervous<\/a><\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

On that note, the man that I feel is the biggest challenge to Bolt – if he\u2019s healthy – is Tyson Gay. Yes I know there are some that have a different opinion and they are entitled to that. But Gay has said that he is healthy and aside from some soreness – which he\u2019s had for years – has no ill effects from last year\u2019s surgery. He\u2019s healthy, practices have gone well. And he\u2019s looking forward to competing. I find it interesting that some consider Blake to be Bolt\u2019s stiffest competition based on beating him in Kingston, while Gay has also defeated Bolt, yet given no such acclaim. I also find it interesting that when Tyson beat Bolt days later Bolt said he was injured and would have to stop competing for the season, and therefore most have said it\u2019s only due to injury that Tyson won. Yet Bolt claimed injury both before and after Jamaica Trials, yet Blake is still seen as Bolt\u2019s equal. No matter. A quick look at the chart<\/a> I did right after Jamaica Trials clearly indicates that Tyson and Bolt are the most consistent of the \u201cfast\u201d sprinters out there on the clock. Both have drop uber fast times when it has mattered. And both have won titles with the best on the track – yes Blake won in Daegu, but the next best man in the race was Walter Dix, and while I like Walter he ain\u2019t no Bolt, Gay, or even Powell. My point simply that Bolt and Gay are both healthy and along with Blake and Gatlin should make for a serious final. Pick your own winner. <\/p>\n

Christophe Lemaitre Dropping Out of the 100<\/a><\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

I had suggested a long time ago that Lemaitre focus on the deuce. His own decision to do so says that he realizes that medaling in the 100 meters is a near impossibility unless you are one of the top two\/three Americans or Jamaicans. I don\u2019t know if a single sprint has EVER been so clearly dominated by two countries. <\/p>\n

Coe Wants to Run the IAAF<\/a><\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

This week Sebastian Coe – former middle distance great and organizer of these London Olympics – has put it out there that he would like to run to become head of the IAAF. I\u2019m not going to spend a lot of time on this today, but suffice it to say that this could mark a change in the way that the IAAF – and the sport is run in the future. To have a former elite athlete at the forefront of the sport could begin to bring things into a proper alignment. Issues such as money for athletes; rules implementation; and marketing could take on a different sense of \u201curgency\u201d with leadership that has the ability to see the sport from the eyes of the athlete. <\/p>\n

The Games are about to start, and the athletes are going to be center stage – which is why I\u2019ve focused much of what I\u2019ve written today on the athletes – but the fact that Coe has put his name out there could be a good thing. As could the candidacy of someone like Sergei Bubka who I think might also throw his name out there – my thoughts, no confirmation. <\/p>\n

So that\u2019s the big news out there up to this moment. The way things are going there could be as much to talk about by this time tomorrow! At the very least the opening ceremonies are tomorrow. And there is still much to discuss as we head into the track and field portion of the meet. So I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll be back here within the next 36 hours or so. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been very very busy outside of track and field the past couple of days. Doctor\u2019s appointment; kids to the fair; trying to catch up on non track work\/stuff. Have to clear my plate so I can focus on the Games with the opening ceremonies TOMORROW! Yet as I step away for a couple of […]<\/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":[118,26,369,191,368,367,75,29,8,366],"class_list":["post-1452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-118","tag-bolt","tag-coe","tag-doping","tag-false-start-rule","tag-financial","tag-gay","tag-lemaitre","tag-olympics","tag-tweeting"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa3DCY-nq","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452","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=1452"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1453,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452\/revisions\/1453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}