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Lead Stories: Friday, November 21, 2008

Dysfunction Run Amuck
Part II: How Did We Get Here?

Posted November 21st, 2008 at 5:03 PM by Adam Jacobs

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics

This is the second article in a seven-part series titled “Dysfunction Run Amuck: USA Track & Field and the Need for Change”. Click here to read part one of the series and to view a publication timeline for the entire series.

Before plunging headlong into the tenuous situation facing USA Track & Field and the areas of dysfunction that threaten its future, it is important to take a step back and put everything into context by examining the relevant history of the organization, track & field, and the amateur sports movement.

One-hundred-and-fourteen years ago a French nobleman named Pierre Frédy, Baron de Coubertin, had a notion that moral and social fibers of young people would be fortified if they competed in amateur sports. That vision led him to found the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which of course, resulted in the founding of the Modern Olympic Games.

The sport of track & field has been the premier Olympic event ever since the first Olympic Games, which were held in 1896 in Athens, Greece. As such, it exemplified de Coubertin’s ideal of amateurism, and was jealously guarded for decades by the IOC. For example, Olympic champion Jim Thorpe was famously stripped of his 1912 Stockholm Olympic medals once the IOC discovered that he had been paid for competing in professional baseball earlier that year.
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IAAF Annuls Men’s 4×400m World Record

Posted August 12th, 2008 at 9:23 AM by Bob Ramsak

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics, Drugs In Sports

The IAAF — track & field’s international governing body — announced today that it has annulled the men’s 4×400m world record following Antonio Pettigrew’s recent admission of doping.

Pettigrew, along with Jerome Young, Tyree Washington and Michael Johnson clocked 2:54.20 at the 1998 Goodwill Games, breaking the previous mark by 0.09 seconds.

The record will now revert to 2:54.29 set by another U.S. squad –Andrew Valmon, Quincy Watts, Harry Reynolds and Johnson– at the 1993 World championships in Stuttgart.
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Doug Logan Named CEO of USA Track & Field

Posted July 18th, 2008 at 9:00 AM by Adam Jacobs

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

The USA Track & Field Board of Directors on Thursday approved top sports executive Doug Logan, the former Commissioner, President and CEO of Major League Soccer, as its next CEO. A bilingual sports and entertainment leader with a proven track record of generating long-term sponsor partnerships, television outreach and high fan attendance, Logan and MLS in 1996 were named Sports Industrialist of the Year by Sports Business Daily.

Logan led MLS during its enormously successful 1995 start-up through 1999. He orchestrated the launch of the league’s inaugural season, averaging attendances of over 17,000 per game, highlighted by two single-game attendance figures over 85,000. With an annual budget of $90 million, MLS under Logan’s leadership generated $120 million in multiple-year sponsorship commitments from Nike, AT&T, adidas, Puma, Umbro, Honda, MasterCard, PepsiCo, Anheuser-Busch and Bic.

Considered the country’s highest-ranking Hispanic-American in sports management, Logan transformed MLS television contracts from a time-buy to co-ventures, negotiating five-year broadcasting agreements with ABC, ESPN and Univision that more than doubled the number of national MLS games on the air. He also directed the expansion of the league in 1998, increasing the asset value of the league from $5 million per team to $20 million per team.
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Pistorius Wins Appeal,
Debate Ensues

Posted May 20th, 2008 at 11:30 AM by Stephanie Lowe

Section: News & Results, Motivation, Success Stories, Track & Field, Olympics

After the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned a ban Friday by the International Association of Athletics Federations, double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius can compete in the Beijing Olympic Games. What does this mean for the future of track and field?

Pistorius, 21, is a South African athlete who has excelled in Paralympic competition. He holds Paralympic world records in the 100, 200 and 400-meter events. His strongest event is the 400, in which he has a personal-best time of 46.56 seconds.

The Olympic “A” standard in the 400 is 45.55 seconds. After the debate over allowing Pistorius to compete against able-bodied athletes, will he even make the team? If not, he still has a shot at the South African 4×400-meter relay team, which does not require a qualifying time. He also plans to compete at the 2008 Paralympic Games, in Beijing, Sept. 6-17.
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IOC Says Beijing Air Quality Mostly Acceptable

Posted March 17th, 2008 at 9:53 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Olympics

The International Olympic Committee today released the results of a study done by its medical commission on the air quality in Beijing and how it might impact the health and performances of athletes at this summer’s Olympic Games. The report’s results were mixed.

“The findings indicate that, at Games time one year out, the health of athletes was largely not impaired,” read a statement from the IOC. “This finding is upheld by the fact that no health issues related to air quality were reported to the IOC by any of the team physicians who looked after athletes competing during the August 2007 test events.”
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Gebrselassie Could Make Beijing U-turn

Posted March 13th, 2008 at 2:00 PM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Track & Field, Olympics

Ethiopian distance running star Haile Gebrselassie says he may compete over the marathon at the 29th Beijing Olympics if the International Olympic Committee (IOC) makes changes to the event’s venue and starting time.

On Monday, the world marathon record holder and former double Olympic 10000m champion announced that he will not take part in this year’s Olympic marathon citing Beijing’s pollution and fearing the aggravation of his own exercise-induced asthma.

But speaking on Wednesday, the 34-year old said, “I do not want to rule anything out at this point. This decision is not about Haile. It is about all athletes who will be competing. Our safety has to be protected.”
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Heart, Commitment, Integrity and Faith

Posted January 30th, 2008 at 6:30 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, SoundOFF, Columns, Olympics, Drugs In Sports

My recent post titled “Not the Triumph, But the Struggle?,” about Oscar Pistorius and the IAAF’s decision not to allow him to compete in the sport of track & field, generated some interesting feedback from one of our long-time readers.
Jim Fortner of Jim2.net, in his reply to my article that accuses the IAAF of being unfair, heartless, discriminatory and elitist, wrote that “this issue is not a humanistic one. It is a question of fairness in competition and ensuring a level playing field.”

Mr. Fortner also wrote that “this kind of emotional article bashing the IAAF for doing its job is pointless and contributes nothing to the real issue of what is and is not fair and suitable in athletic competitions.”
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Not the Triumph,
But the Struggle?

Posted January 28th, 2008 at 10:45 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, SoundOFF, Columns, Olympics

The Olympic Creed states that:

“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”

Oscar Pistorius would attest to that creed, perhaps better than any Athlete who will be allowed to compete in Beijing this summer. So it’s a shame that a couple of Italian Olympic officials missed a golden opportunity Monday during Pistorius’ visit to Milan to exemplify those ideals by pleading the South African sprinter’s case to the heartless, elitist IAAF. The Associated Press reports that a couple of IOC members instead stated that “the IOC had no jurisdiction in the dispute and it was up to the governing body to issue technical standards.”
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TFS News Briefs: 12/11/07

Posted December 11th, 2007 at 3:38 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Track & Field, Olympics, Drugs In Sports, TFS News Briefs

Possible ‘Doomdsay’ Scenario for Honolulu Marathon Results
Honolulu Marathon Association president Jim Barahal admitted that hundreds or even thousands of runners may have been given incorrect split and/or finish times. Even worse (and he called it the “doomsday scenario”) up to 3,500 runners may not have been recorded at all. The errors may have been caused by the event’s new timing system. Read more at: [Honolulu Advertiser]

IOC Delays Decision on Jones’ Sydney Medals
The IOC was expected to make a decision on Monday about redistributing Marion Jones’ 5 Sydney medals (3 gold, 2 bronze) but they have decided to delay that decision to study the potential ramifications that it would have on other athletes, like Jones’ relay teammates, who haven’t tested positive for steroids. Read more at: [Coos Bay World]

Norwich Union London Grand Prix Expands to 2 Days
The Norwich Union London Grand Prix, Britain’s largest track meet, is set to become even bigger by expanding to 2 days. Scheduled for July 25th and 26th, 2008, it will be the last major meet before the Beijing Olympics begin 2 weeks later. Read more at: [IAAF]
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TFS News Briefs: 12/09/07

Posted December 9th, 2007 at 2:00 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Track & Field, Olympics, Drugs In Sports, TFS News Briefs

IOC Meets This Week To Determine Fate of Marion Jones’ Medals
The International Olympic Committee faces a tricky decision this week when they meet in Lausanne, Switzerland to determine the fate of Marion Jones’ 5 Olympic medals from the 2000 Sydney Games. They have to be careful not to strip one drug-tainted athlete of her medals only to award them to another dope-tainted athlete. Read more at: [International Herald Tribune]

Australian 400m Runner Steffenson Under Investigation for Verbal Assault
Australian 400m runner John Steffensen, apparently stilled peeved because he didn’t gain one of the coveted “automatic selection” slots for the Beijing Olympics, verbally assaulted track and field selection panel member Glynis Nunn-Cearns, winner of the 1984 Olympic gold medal in the heptathlon. He is now under investigation and could be charged with misconduct. Read more at: [The Australian]

Dallas White Rock Marathon
James Koskei overcame cold, windy and wet conditions to win the Dallas White Rock Marathon in 2:15:07. He won $35,000 in prize money – $10K for 1st place and $25K for winning the gender challenge, in which he overcame an 18 minute, 35 second head-start that was given to the women. Emily Samoei won the women’s race in 2:35:24. Read more at: [Google News][Complete Results]
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