I stumbled accross this photo of the (via Teamstrannon) of the 800M finals at the 2008 U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials. The race ended in epic fashion as Christian Smith (in the white) laid out at the line to edge out favorite Khadevis Robinson (in the blue) for the final Olympic team spot. This is after Nick Symmonds’ (Oregon Track Club) devastating kick which took him from the back of the pack into first place; University of Oregon sophomore, Andrew Wheating came out of nowhere to take second for an Oregon 1-2-3 sweep.
Video after the jump.
Andrew Weating wasn’t expected to do anything in this race. His achievement is even more incredible if you consider the fact that Wheating only started running track during his senior year of high school and only competed at 800m once. The Vermont native thought he was a 5k runner but his 2nd place finish at the NCAA championships and at the trials as well as his 3:38 1500m solidify him as an elite mid-distance talent. I’ll be curious to see how he does in Beijing. It will be pretty tough to follow up the 800m race from the Olympics in Athens.
In the sprints, we’ve got two 100m world recordists from Jamaica, Asafa Powell and Usain Bolt, competing against American record holder Tyson Gay. While Gay failed to capture the elusive 100m world record (his races never seem to be wind legal), he still managed to impress by running the fastest 100m time ever recorded: 9.68. The 400m relay promises to be equally as exciting as the duo of Powell and Bolt will make it hard for Team USA to redeem itself after losing by 0.01 seconds to Great Britain in Athens.
One event where the U.S. has been historically dominant is the 400m. You could say America is to the 400, as Kenya is to distance running. In Athens we saw the emergence of Jeremy Wariner as he lead a USA sweep of the 400 as well as a strong performance in the 1600m relay. Wariner has been #1 at 400m since ‘04 but defending his gold medal won’t be easy. Kerron Clement handed Wariner is first loss earlier this year in IAAF Golden League competition and again at the Olympic trials. This is a red flag on Wariner’s decision to change coaches and nothing less than a gold medal will silence critics of the move such as myself. There is no doubt in my mind that the U.S. will finish 1-2 again in the 400m. The question is who will get the gold. The real excitement in this news however, is its implications for this year’s 1600m relay. I think this year’s team has a shot at the world record. It’s only a matter of time before we find out.
Olympic years are the few times when people actually (kind of) care about track and field. If you’re one of those people who thinks it’s boring to “watch people run in circles”, I can guarantee that at least the aforementioned races will change your mind. If not, maybe you’d appreciate their talent more after you go out and try to run 400m in less than 55 seconds. I dare you…Wariner’s best is 43.45. You do the math.
Ithaca
27°
I read an interesting article in Sports Illustrated the other day (waiting rooms have such interesting reading material). It talked about how and why Track and Field have gradually moved from one of the centerpiece of Olympic coverage to a less important roll in the mind of the audience. It mainly attributed this shift to the doping scandals. All of the olympic track athletes who have had their medals taken away because of steroids and the medias investigations that keep them in the spotlight as well as the increasingly frequent testing of track athletes in an attempt to clean up the sport resulting in an increased likelihood of finding athletes using steroids have tarnished the reputation of the sport. Networks don’t want to be embarrassed when the athletes of a heavily broadcasted sport are revealed as cheaters, so the events have been scheduled so swimming and gymnastics are broadcasted in prime time while the track and field broadcasted will be delayed here. Overall, the article claims that track is going to be a minor Olympic sport in the US until it can eliminate the apathy the public is developing towards the sport.
This is something I’ve known for a while now and it’s definitely a shame. What’s worse is that sports like baseball have had similar issues and the NBA has its officiating scandal but coverage of those sports aren’t going to be reduced anytime soon. Track and field is the pinnacle of the Olympic Games and it’s sad that a few people have tarnished the sport to the point where networks are pushing track to the side during the time when the most people will be watching.