Re: t-and-f: University of Oregon track coach resigns
--- tafnut <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I am very dismayed by the resignation of Coach Smith. He, with his > coaching staff, has put together a highly probable top-five NCAA team Unfortunately for he and his staff, their goals didn't jive with what the average Oregon track fan wants. Outside the top team or two, few people remember how overall squads do any given year at nationals (for t&f). Individual glory is what's remembered, and Smith wasn't able to capture that in the events fans of the program largely care about. He also had an extremely bad aura about him from the moment he arrived, turning away many people that had followed the program closely. This departure was heavily rumored since the fall and a long, long time in coming. Dan http://AbleDesign.com - Web Design & Custom Programming http://Run-Down.com - 10,000 Running Links, Fantasy T&F @o Dan Kaplan - [EMAIL PROTECTED] <|\/ <^- ( [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] ) _/ \ \/\ (503)370-9969 phone/fax / / __ Do you Yahoo!? Make Yahoo! your home page http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs
Re: t-and-f: University of Oregon track coach resigns
Although I am a "passive" member of the Oregon Track Club (since I live in California), I am very dismayed by the resignation of Coach Smith. He, with his coaching staff, has put together a highly probable top-five NCAA team, recruited top talents in Tommy Skipper and Eric Mitchum, and developed very good, but maybe not great, high athletes to become NCAA scorers. In developing a full track and field team, he recruited fewer distance runners in the past few years after his initial influx that included NCAA scorers Brett Holts and Eric Logsdon. As an avid follower of Oregon Track (who will travel almost anywhere to watch them), I have never been more excited about the possibilities of the team - because it is just that, a complete team! They have competitive sprinters, throwers, jumpers, and distance runners. Besides maybe perennial power-house Arkansas and PAC-10 nemesis UCLA, I cannot think of a more complete team. Although I am too young to have witnessed the days of Pre, Alberto, Bill McChesney, and the like, I am not so naive not to understand the history and its importance to the program. But we must evolve - and take Oregon back to a top level, which Coach Smith has done. Coach Dellinger, a great athlete and coach in his day, nearly lost the Oregon mystique during the end of his reign as the men's team could barely scratch out a few points at "the big dance". It was Coach Martin who restored the Ducks prominence in the Pac-10 and most recently in the NCAA's. Some people are blaming Coach Smith for not recruiting Galen Rupp - but NO ONE did! He is not competing in any college program. How can you compete with the $$$ of going pro right out of school or shortly thereafter, like Alan Webb, LaShawn Merritt, etc. He was able to snag top talent Zoe Nelson, and with Brett and Eric in their last year of eligibility, I am sure the recruiting pendulum would have swung back to the distance side to maintain that complete team. It is too bad that politics, and not good coaching, was the reason Coach Martin's departure. He will be missed by true lovers of track AND field. -Original Message- From: "R. Schmidt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Mar 19, 2005 11:41 PM To: t-and-f@darkwing.uoregon.edu Subject: t-and-f: University of Oregon track coach resigns http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=trackandfield&id=2016644 Associated Press EUGENE, Ore. -- Martin Smith resigned as the University of Oregon's track and field coach Friday, one day before the start of what would have been his seventh outdoor season at the school. Smith wasn't present when athletic director Bill Moos announced the resignation. "I'm pleased with the success of the university's track program," Smith said in a written statement. Smith oversaw both the men's and women's track teams, as well as both cross country programs. "Nonetheless, I have become increasingly concerned about the controversy and related publicity regarding the track program. To protect my athletes from this distraction, I conclude that it is best for me to resign." Associate athletic director Gary Gray will assume direction of the program until Smith's replacement is found. Smith, who was an assistant coach at Wisconsin before coming to Oregon in 1998, guided the men's team a Pac-10 title in 2003 and second-place finishes in 2002 and 2004. The Oregon men finished ninth in the NCAA championships in 2001 and 2004. Moos said the school will honor Smith's contract, which runs through June 2008 and pays him an annual base salary of $100,000 with $50,000 in supplemental income. ENDS
t-and-f: John Capel Opens Season at Florida Relays
I spoke with Capel on March 3 at the Florida Indoor Last Chance meet. He said that his workouts have been going better than ever and he's ready to run fast. The Florida Relays begin on Wednesday with the multis. They end on Saturday with the relays Florida Relays Entries http://gatorzone.com/trackfield/floridarelays/index.php Men's 200m Collegiate and Open 24 Capel, John Adidas 'Live's Results will be posted here http://www.halfmiletiming.com/Datafiles/Spring%202005/FLRelays05/FlRelays05.htm _ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/
t-and-f: Clement to stick to hurdles despite 400 metres record
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=trackandfield&id=2019132 Reuters Internet Delivery System By Gene Cherry RALEIGH, North Carolina, March 22 - World junior 400 metres hurdles champion Kerron Clement has ruled out running the 400m flat at August's world championships. Clement recently broke Michael Johnson's indoor 400m world record but, speaking during a teleconference from Gainesville in Florida on Tuesday, the 19-year-old said: "I'll just focus on one race (the hurdles)." The Trinidad-born teenager, a student at the University of Florida, lowered Johnson's 10-year-old world indoor record of 44.63 seconds when he clocked 44.57 seconds at the U.S. collegiate championships in Arkansas on March 12. However, he said on Tuesday he would skip the 400m at June's U.S. championships, which serve as the American qualifying trials for the world championships in Helsinki. "The 400 hurdles is Kerron's craft, that is what he does," said University of Florida coach Mike Holloway. "His response always is, 'I like the 400, I love the 400 hurdles'." Clement still hopes U.S. coaches will select him for the 4x400 metres relay at the world championships, however. "That's definitely one of my goals," he said. Clement anchored the U.S. 4x400m relay team to a world junior record of 3:01.09 at the world junior championships in Italy last year. He won the 400m hurdles in a junior championships record of 48.51 seconds. The U.S. collegiate champion in the 400m hurdles, Clement became a U.S. citizen last summer after an outstanding high school career in Texas. He also announced on Tuesday that this would be his last spring as a collegian. He said he planned to turn professional after the U.S. collegiate championships in June. ENDS
t-and-f: London gets £16m training facility
By Tom Knight (Filed: 22/03/2005) British athletics is celebrating a £16 million consolation prize with the unveiling of plans for a new high performance centre in a corner of north London once synonymous with one of the sport's biggest disappointments. The Lee Valley Athletics Centre, with the only indoor 200 metres track in the south of England, a 110m sprint straight and seating for 500 spectators, will be built at Pickett's Lock in Enfield. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2005/03/22/soathl22.xml&sSheet=/sport/2005/03/22/ixsport.html
t-and-f: Ethiopian success due to willingness to double
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=trackandfield&id=2018861 Reuters Internet Delivery System By Sabrina Yohannes NEW YORK, March 22 - Four Ethiopian athletes gathered seven medals between them at the world cross country championships because of the team's willingness to run both long and short course races. "We have athletes who can double successfully and are willing," said head coach Tolossa Kotu. "Without that it would been hard to obtain this many golds." Ethiopia won a record five out of six titles at the weekend at the converted horse racing course near St Etienne in France Kenenisa Bekele, in mourning after the sudden death of his fiancee last January, completed the men's double for the fourth time and Tirunesh Dibaba won both women's races. "Tirunesh's double was expected because she was confident and had prepared for it but, in light of the fact that Kenenisa had been in mourning, his achievement is remarkable," said another team coach Hussein Shibo. Ethiopia's ambassador to France Sahlework Zewde paid tribute to the team at a reception on Sunday night organised by Mama Ethiopia, an association that aids orphans in the impoverished African nation. "There are many in France who are only aware of the image Ethiopia has been identified with in the past, that of famine and war," she said. "To have our flag raised and our anthem played in a place Ethiopia is seldom heard about plays a big part in improving that image." Zewde said she was also moved and impressed by 22-year-old Bekele's triumph in the face of personal tragedy. "He has endured a trying ordeal at a young age," she said. "I believe he will draw strength from it." ENDS
t-and-f: London Bid recruits BBC team to limit damage of exposé
http://sport.independent.co.uk/olympics/story.jsp?story=622702 By Matthew Beard 23 March 2005 The high command of the BBC has been recruited to attend the vote for the 2012 Olympic Games in an attempt to repair damage to relations with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by a Panorama exposé. The Independent understands that an executive-level BBC delegation is expected to be led by chairman Michael Grade, who will seek to convince voting members that the corporation is not against the Olympic movement. Bid leaders hope his presence before the vote in Singapore on 6 July will limit the damage done to London's chances of winning by the programme "Buying the Games". In the programme, filmed without the knowledge of the London bid team, undercover Panorama reporters gained assurances from so-called Olympic agents that votes could be brought. Broadcast on the eve of the Athens Olympics, it resulted in the suspension of Bulgarian IOC member Ivan Slavkov. At the height of the fallout Craig Reedie, the chairman of the British Olympic Association, accused the BBC of undermining the bid by causing "irritation" at the IOC. In a letter to the BBC director general, Mark Thompson, he said he could not understand why a "highly-respected" broadcaster which has invested in the Games would make a programme exposing "previous faults". The BBC invests heavily in its Olympic coverage and would stand to make tens of millions of pounds as the host broadcasters of a London Games in 2012. Bid leaders are concerned that their sales pitch will be undermined as members will vote at the end of the meeting on the expulsion of Mr Slavkov, a scenario that is expected to be filmed by Panorama. "Grade is the man for the job because of his reputation and he is known to be a supporter of the bid" said a BBC source. "He won't be apologising for the Panorama programme but reassuring members that the BBC has no vendetta against the Olympic movement." Under IOC rules each of the five bidding cities is limited to a party of no more than 100 in Singapore. Tony Blair is likely to appear a day or two before the vote, but will have to fly back to host the G8 summit in Scotland on 6 July. ENDS
t-and-f: Ken believes Paris is Olympic front runner
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/othersports.html?in_article_id=342329&in_page_id=1781&ct=5 09:00am 22nd March 2005 Paris is leading the race to host the 2012 Olympics, London Mayor Ken Livingstone has said. "We've closed the gap on Paris, but the truth is, Paris is still ahead," he told LBC radio. "No city is close to a majority on the first ballot." The final decision, made by the International Olympic Committee's 117 members in Singapore on July 6, is "still up for grabs", he predicted. Madrid, New York and Moscow are also in the running with London in one of the strongest ever Olympic host shortlists. Bookmakers William Hill have Paris as 4/7 favourites despite the pay strikes which crippled the transport network during this month's IOC inspection visit. London's bid, which endured bad publicity during the inspectors visit because Mr Livingstone likened a Jewish reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard, is 11/8 second favourite. New York, which has problems over securing its main stadium, is at 10/1. Security concerns may effect Madrid and Moscow's bids which respectively stand at 25/1 and 66/1. Mr Livingstone said: "At most Paris has got about 30 votes. We have 25 votes and none of the other cities has more than 20, and we've got about 30 to 40 delegates yet to express an opinion. "If in the end it is Paris and London, the people who voted for Moscow, New York and Madrid will say what is my second vote." It remains difficult to tell which way the IOC is swaying. Mr Livingstone said: "The thing is these people are so skilled at not indicating which they favour and so when they are in any city, everyone thinks this is going really well because they are really good at avoiding bad press coverage. They should give us all a lesson." ENDS
t-and-f: Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 16:00:07 +0000
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