{"id":1910,"date":"2013-07-02T17:24:44","date_gmt":"2013-07-03T00:24:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1910"},"modified":"2013-07-02T17:24:44","modified_gmt":"2013-07-03T00:24:44","slug":"its-july-where-are-we","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1910","title":{"rendered":"It’s July Where Are We?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Placeholder\"<\/a>This has been a very interesting year so far. Lots of transition going on throughout the sport. Rising athletes. Injured athletes. Athletes returning from injury. More transition than usual in the year following the Games it seems. Then of course there are the usual off the track issues such as drugs, which never seem to go away. So many things that I don’t know where to begin, so rather than say a lot about one thing, today I’m going to take a stab at saying a little about a lot of things – starting with the Diamond League which gives us a Fourth of July meet in Lausanne in two days time.<\/p>\n

While I’m excited about Lausanne on Thursday, and another meet to watch, I’m also starting to feel like there might be too many Diamond League meets. Yes I said it, too many meets! Why? Believe it or not, not enough talent. Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying the athletes we see each week aren’t talented. But this is the league that promised huge matchups among the major players on a regular basis. And yes we’re getting that in some events, but the marquee events and names are still lacking. Perhaps fewer meets with full schedules and the biggest names would be better? <\/p>\n

Speaking of big names, VCB has tested positive and is facing a ban. One, I’m a big VCB fan and hope that she is somehow vindicated. Having said that I’m going to say what many have thought, that if this were a big name American it would be getting Paula Deen \/ Trayvon Martin type headlines and hype. Which says that we still have lots of issues with drugs in this sport, chief among them how the issue is dealt with publicly. I’m just sayin.<\/p>\n

Speaking of drugs and problems in the sport, the more we talk about countries like Jamaica and Kenya – they too have some issues on the table – the clearer it becomes that we have an inequity in doping agencies with some federations being afforded the luxury of little to no true testing scrutiny. How can they be when they don’t have the facilities with which to test? If the sport wants to talk about credibility, this must be changed.<\/p>\n

Let’s talk about credibility and change for a minute, because the sport is undergoing change and some veterans are on the verge of losing their truly elite cred. Kenenisa Bekele, Asafa Powell, Wallace Spearmon, Angelo Taylor, Jeremy Wariner, Dwight Phillips. Are were watching a blip on the radar or the end of the road?<\/p>\n

What’s happened to Morgan Uceny? Injury worse than first thought? She’s been nothing like the woman of the previous two or three seasons. Racing style is even different.<\/p>\n

Ditto Andrew Wheating – I thought he was ready to take on the world a couple seasons ago. Might as well add Robbie Andrews while I’m at it. <\/p>\n

Anyone seen Anna Pierce lately? I’m looking for a sighting – you know the real Anna Pierce. And how about Kristin Wurth Thomas – I really miss her style! Heart.<\/p>\n

Speaking of injuries worse than first thought, what’s up with Yohan Blake? Last I heard he was headed to Germany for more diagnosis.<\/p>\n

Welcome back Tyson Gay. Tyson is back as good as ever, and I’m beginning to wonder if this rash of injuries, individuals changing racing plans, athletes opting for surgery, and some folk just not racing is indicative of a massive case of Tysonisreallybackitis running through the sport? The sport needs Tyson Gay because Usain Bolt needs a rival. Any sport is better off with at least two stars battling for wins\/glory\/accolades, because then you have something to sell. My question is can Usain\/Tyson this year be as big as Ben\/Carl in ’88? Because that rivalry was nearly transcendent of the sport.<\/p>\n

Speaking of rivalries, what happened to the men’s 110 high hurdles! Two years ago we were looking at a big three  (Robles\/Liu\/Oliver)  that somehow disintegrated, yet transformed last year into a two man show (Merritt\/Richardson) and resulted in a sterling individual season and new WR (12.80). Now we’re back to square one and starting from scratch with average times and no clear leader heading into Worlds.<\/p>\n

Flip over to the women and Brianna Rollins is this year’s version of the 2012 Aries Merritt and one of the sports most ancient records could take a tumble. I’m going to risk looking like a fool and climb out on that limb and say I think she can run 12.15! Behind her Queen Harrison and Nia Ali have stepped up nicely. Young talent taking over.<\/p>\n

That said, can Kimberlyn Duncan repeat her National title run against Allyson Felix in Moscow? That would be on the level of Joe Deloach winning Trials and Games over Carl Lewis in ’88 – that was a good year.<\/p>\n

That reminds me. With all the shuffling around and changes in the sprints this year, what can we expect from the relays? What will Jamaica v United States look like in the 4x1s? And will the US have enough fire power to bring home the 4x4s?<\/p>\n

Does anyone other than me think Barshim Mutaz can go 8 feet? Sometimes he makes it look so easy! Ditto Christian Taylor, when he’s on it looks like 60 feet is once again in reach.<\/p>\n

Wow, I guess now you know why I try to stick to one topic at a time – once I get going it’s hard to stop! Let’s see how Lausanne plays out on Thursday. With a little luck, we could have track and field fireworks on the Fourth of July!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This has been a very interesting year so far. Lots of transition going on throughout the sport. Rising athletes. Injured athletes. Athletes returning from injury. More transition than usual in the year following the Games it seems. Then of course there are the usual off the track issues such as drugs, which never seem to go away. So many things that I don’t know where to begin, so rather than say a lot about one thing, today I’m going to take a stab at saying a little about a lot of things – starting with the Diamond League which gives us a Fourth of July meet in Lausanne in two days time. While I’m excited about Lausanne on Thursday, and another meet to watch, I’m also starting to feel like there might be too many Diamond League meets. Yes I said it, too many meets! Why? Believe it or not, not enough talent. Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying the athletes we see each week aren’t talented. But this is the league that promised huge matchups among the major players on a regular basis. And yes we’re getting that in some events, but the marquee events and names are still lacking. Perhaps fewer meets with full schedules and the biggest names would be better? Speaking of big names, VCB has tested positive and is facing a ban. One, I’m a big VCB fan and hope that she is somehow vindicated. Having said that I’m going to say what many have thought, that if this were a big name American it would be getting Paula Deen \/ Trayvon Martin type headlines and hype. Which says that we still have lots of issues with drugs in this sport, chief among them how the issue is dealt with publicly. I’m just sayin. Speaking of drugs and problems in the sport, the more we talk about countries like Jamaica and Kenya – they too have some issues on the table – the clearer it becomes that we have an inequity in doping agencies with some federations being afforded the luxury of little to no true testing scrutiny. How can they be when they don’t have the facilities with which to test? If the sport wants to talk about credibility, this must be changed. Let’s talk about credibility and change for a minute, because the sport is undergoing change and some veterans are on the verge of losing their truly elite cred. Kenenisa Bekele, Asafa Powell, Wallace Spearmon, Angelo Taylor, Jeremy Wariner, Dwight Phillips. Are were watching a blip on the radar or the end of the road? What’s happened to Morgan Uceny? Injury worse than first thought? She’s been nothing like the woman of the previous two or three seasons. Racing style is even different. Ditto Andrew Wheating – I thought he was ready to take on the world a couple seasons ago. Might as well add Robbie Andrews while I’m at it. Anyone seen Anna Pierce lately? I’m looking for a sighting – you know the real Anna Pierce. And how about Kristin Wurth Thomas – I really miss her style! Heart. Speaking of injuries worse than first thought, what’s up with Yohan Blake? Last I heard he was headed to Germany for more diagnosis. Welcome back Tyson Gay. Tyson is back as good as ever, and I’m beginning to wonder if this rash of injuries, individuals changing racing plans, athletes opting for surgery, and some folk just not racing is indicative of a massive case of Tysonisreallybackitis running through the sport? The sport needs Tyson Gay because Usain Bolt needs a rival. Any sport is better off with at least two stars battling for wins\/glory\/accolades, because then you have something to sell. My question is can Usain\/Tyson this year be as big as Ben\/Carl in ’88? Because that rivalry was nearly transcendent of the sport. Speaking of rivalries, what happened to the men’s 110 high hurdles! Two years ago we were looking at a big three  (Robles\/Liu\/Oliver)  that somehow disintegrated, yet transformed last year into a two man show (Merritt\/Richardson) and resulted in a sterling individual season and new WR (12.80). Now we’re back to square one and starting from scratch with average times and no clear leader heading into Worlds. Flip over to the women and Brianna Rollins is this year’s version of the 2012 Aries Merritt and one of the sports most ancient records could take a tumble. I’m going to risk looking like a fool and climb out on that limb and say I think she can run 12.15! Behind her Queen Harrison and Nia Ali have stepped up nicely. Young talent taking over. That said, can Kimberlyn Duncan repeat her National title run against Allyson Felix in Moscow? That would be on the level of Joe Deloach winning Trials and Games over Carl Lewis in ’88 – that was a good year. That reminds me. With all the shuffling around and changes in the sprints this year, what can we expect from the relays? What will Jamaica v United States look like in the 4x1s? And will the US have enough fire power to bring home the 4x4s? Does anyone other than me think Barshim Mutaz can go 8 feet? Sometimes he makes it look so easy! Ditto Christian Taylor, when he’s on it looks like 60 feet is once again in reach. Wow, I guess now you know why I try to stick to one topic at a time – once I get going it’s hard to stop! Let’s see how Lausanne plays out on Thursday. With a little luck, we could have track and field fireworks on the Fourth of July!<\/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":[13,26,68,246,75,378,385,269,15,22],"class_list":["post-1910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-blake","tag-bolt","tag-diamond-league","tag-duncan","tag-gay","tag-lausanne","tag-mutaz","tag-rollins","tag-taylor","tag-vcb"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa3DCY-uO","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":356,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=356","url_meta":{"origin":1910,"position":0},"title":"Confirmation in Lausanne","author":"CHill","date":"July 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Lausanne was the half way mark of this year\u2019s Diamond League. And as we hit the mid point of the season there seemed to be more questions than answers out there on the track. How healthy was Usain Bolt? Had Walter Dix and Debbie Dunn arrived? Would Dayron Robles return\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"July 08, 2010 - Lausanne, WAADT VAUD, SWITZERLAND - epa02241547 Debbie Dunn from the US wins the women's 400 meters race during the 35th Athletissima, an international IAAF Diamond League athletics meeting, 08 July 2010, at the Stade Olympique in Lausanne, Switzerland.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/view.picapp.com\/pictures.photo\/image\/9310668\/iaaf-diamond-league\/iaaf-diamond-league.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":736,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=736","url_meta":{"origin":1910,"position":1},"title":"Finally, The Olympic Year has Arrived","author":"CHill","date":"January 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"At midnight all over the globe the world celebrated the dawning of another New Year. The dropping of the ball in Times Square didn\u2019t usher in just another year however. For those of us that love sport, especially track and field, this will be a special year. Because come August\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":355,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=355","url_meta":{"origin":1910,"position":2},"title":"Dix vs Bolt in Lausanne \u2013 Apparently Not!","author":"CHill","date":"July 7, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The next stop on the Diamond League series is Lausanne. And for the first time this season I was actually salivating in anticipation of a DL meet as it held the promise of a real sprint showdown among the men. After Walter Dix blazed 19.72 to run toe to toe\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=355#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"GREECE - AUGUST 03: LEICHTATHLETIK: WM 1997 in Athen\/GRE 03.08.97, 100m Finale der Maenner - v.lks.: Tim MONTGOMERY\/USA, Ato BOLDON\/TRI, Davidson EZINWA\/NIG, Donovan BAILEY\/CAN, Sieger Maurice GREENE\/USA, Frank FREDERICKS\/NAM (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein\/Bongarts\/Getty Images)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/view3.picapp.com\/pictures.photo\/image\/5881732\/leichtathletik-1997-athen\/leichtathletik-1997-athen.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1548,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1548","url_meta":{"origin":1910,"position":3},"title":"Lausanne & Birmingham Lead Big Weekend","author":"CHill","date":"August 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"If you\u2019re like me, you got spoiled during the Olympics with high level track and field every day for over a week. Things settled down quite a bit last week in Stockholm as many of London\u2019s stars took time out to catch their breath and rest a bit. Well, they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Birmingham\"","block_context":{"text":"Birmingham","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=birmingham"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sprinter Shadow","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Sprinter-Shadow_thumb.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1571,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1571","url_meta":{"origin":1910,"position":4},"title":"Drizzle Fizzle and Sizzle in Zurich","author":"CHill","date":"August 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Zurich has traditionally been one of my favorite meets over the years. Mostly because, even before there was a Diamond League (or Golden League) Zurich has always attracted the world's top sprinters - and this year was no exception. Don't get me wrong, Zurich is annually one of the world's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Aman\"","block_context":{"text":"Aman","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=aman"},"img":{"alt_text":"Usain Bolt","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Usain-Bolt_thumb3.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":424,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=424","url_meta":{"origin":1910,"position":5},"title":"X-mas List Item #2 \u2013 Free Live Streaming","author":"CHill","date":"December 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"If Track Santa is kind enough to give me some exciting matchups this coming season, I\u2019d love to be able to actually watch them as they occur. Don\u2019t get me wrong, I love YouTube \u2013 because everything ends up on YouTube sooner or later. But there is something to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=424#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"BERLIN - AUGUST 23: South Korean athletes carry a banner for the 2011 games in Daegu, South Korea during day nine of the 12th IAAF World Athletics Championships at the Olympic Stadium on August 23, 2009 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Mark Dadswell\/Getty Images)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/view4.picapp.com\/pictures.photo\/image\/6136302\/12th-iaaf-world-athletics\/12th-iaaf-world-athletics.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1910","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=1910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1910\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}