FW: t-and-f: Tergat in 5 only in Sydney
> According to the news from the Kenyan trials, Tergat will only run the > 5000 > at the OG because "running the 10 at Nairobi and Sydney will be too > demanding".. > > and this from a fellow that ran a 10 in Stockholm last year only 3 weeks > from > the finals in Seville!! > > I would think that he has finally given up in trying to beat > Gbresilassie > > Felix Cabrera > Sorry, but this isn't quite true. Paul objected to running back to back 10K's (semis and finals) in Nairobi. I haven't seen the quotes, but these are the 'two' 10K's that were too close. /Drew
t-and-f: 29'4"
Back in '96 for the Boston Marathon, I had the honor of spending several nights in the Elliott Lounge with friends. A interesting feature (aside from Coach Boaz dancing with Alison Roe) was the TV set at 8' 1/4" above the dance floor and a line of tape on the ground near the bar. When I asked the bartender what it was for, he said it was 29' 4" to the wall on the farside of the bar. Trying to see the far wall over all those people made it seem like a long ways, mainly because it IS a long ways. malmo wrote: > > One thing that works for the masses: have your friends measure out 29-4 on > the street with a tape measure. Say no more, it speaks for itself. A great feature of the Goodwill games, when they were held in New York in '98 was, at the main entrance, High Jump and Pole Vault standards at World Record heights and I believe, the Long Jump marked out too. I've always liked to show people just how far/high these marks are. Twenty feet is one hell of a way up there when you're looking from right underneath. /Drew
t-and-f: Dellinger stroke
details are sketchy but word out of Eugene is that Bill Dellinger apparently suffered a stroke while at a running camp in NJ. he's said to be in stable condition but speech is impaired along with us of one side. again this is not confirmed; maybe other list members have more info... This is true. He may be officially in stable condition, but he's supposedly kinda bad right now. Apparently also suffered a major cut on his face because of a fall. It happened while he was sleeping and apparently he tried to pull himself up, but fell to the floor. /Drew
t-and-f: Sit Down Sacto
This belongs in the 'more things change...' category. A quote from the New York Times: "The excitement during he race was terrific, and was made more so by the terrible noise caused by thousands of thrroats yelling injunctions in every language to those in front to 'sit down.'" This was for the Olympic 800 meters in 1912!!, won by American 'Ted' Meredith in a WR 1:51.9. A quote from Bruce Springsteen: 'I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd, when they said "sit down" I stood up' /Drew
t-and-f: Zurich 5000
1 Gebrselassie Haile ETH 12:57.95 2 Tergat Paul KEN 12:58.21 3 Kipketer Sammy KEN 12:58.63 4 Mourhit Mohammed BEL 13:00.50 5 Hissou Salah MAR 13:00.75 6 Limo Richard KEN 13:02.43 7 Ivuti Patrick KEN 13:02.68 5 8 Kipkosgei Luke KEN 13:05.31 9 Mezgebu Assefa ETH 13:06.13 10 Limo Benjamin KEN 13:08.53 11 Korir John Cheruiyot KEN 13:09.58 12 Carroll Mark IRL 13:12.16 13 Wolde Million ETH 13:12.26 14 Sghyr Ismaïl FRA 13:12.62 15 Baumann Dieter GER 13:13.84 16 Chepkurui Albert KEN 13:17.82 17 Bett Mark KEN 13:23.37 18 Bayissa Fita ETH 13:29.56 19 Bitok Paul KEN 13:29.94 Keino Martin KEN DNF Kirui Ismael KEN DNF Mosima Philip KEN DNF
t-and-f: Tergat / Rono
>From the 'fly on the wall' file: I set up a telephone call yesterday between Paul Tergat and Henry Rono. It was the first time that these two former 10,000 meter record holders had ever spoken with each other. Paul called Henry from Europe, probably St. Moritz.Henry told me that they spoke mostly about 'corruption' in the KAAA dating back to 1974. /Drew
t-and-f: Injured Olympians
I believe that Sydney Maree was injured in '84, but went to the games anyway, depriving Chuck Aragon of a spot on the team. Aragon had finished .05 behind Maree at the trials. If I remember, Sydney went out in the first round at the games. /Drew
t-and-f: Euro Meets
European meet directors also have European audiences. European audiences have nationality. European audiences care passionately who wins a particular race or field event. The closest thing that Americans have to nationality is professional sports teams, such as baseball, basketball, or football. Professional sports teams, of course, don't translate over to track. Dave Carey This is a very good point. You'll always hear at the Olympics or World Championships how "The folks in (NAME YOU PLACE) will be dancing in the streets tonight because So-and-So won the 5000 meters. We could get Gold, Silver and Bronze in every event and the general populace wouldn't give a damn. Of course, Detroit burns whenever they win something but I don't think that that happens because of the joy of winning. /Drew
t-and-f: Tidbits on Kenyan training
The hard-to-believe part is not that "some" Kenyans live far from a school, it's that (according to the myths) they apparently ALL do. Kurt Bray Paul Tergat's boyhood house is between 400-800 meters from his school. /Drew
t-and-f: First Auto Timing
Does anyone know/remember when auto timing was first used at the Olympics and also when it was first 'officially' used as the standard at the Olympics. Thanks./Drew
t-and-f: Auto Timing
A belated thank-you to everyone who answered my query on Automatic Timing at the Olympics. I received many responses, had my recollection confirmed and got many different but not necessarily conflicting reports. Thanks again. /Drew
t-and-f: Why Sully Rules
4) this is a sport which is for all intents and purposes, the national sport of other countries (Kenya, Ethiopia) and which greatly fosters extraordinary high participation levels, talent identification, and its subsequent development. I'm not too knowledgeable about Ethiopia, but nothing could be further from the truth about Kenya. Running/X-C/Track and Field is at best the fouth or fifth most popular sport in Kenya, trailing soccer, boxing, cricket and even horse racing. MOST people on the street would not recognize Paul Tergat if he were standing next to them, and they most likely would not have heard of someone of the stature of , say, Tom Nyariki. /Drew
RE: t-and-f: Re: T&F: Qatar Meet
> So, what of the accounts that the European based Kenyans are at a rather > severe disadvantage when returning "home" for the national championships, > under conditions they are no longer accustomed to? > There are about 2 thousand conditions they're no longer accustomed to. They're called meters. /Drew
RE: t-and-f: AOY Voting starts now
> Korzeniowki - nobody else even comes close . . . the guy is a legend! > Paul! > I agree. Korzeniowski for AOY > Mike > There is no better time to start this discussion. > My pick: Robert Korzeniowski > 4 of the top 10 performances in the 20km distance. Olympic Games Record > at 20km distance. 2 of top 10 performances over 50km distance. > Undefeated in 2000 over the Olympic distances. Only person to ever win > both the 20km & 50km in the same Olympic Games, while defending his 50km > Gold from Atlanta. > No male has had a year comparable to Korzeniowski in any event, period. > You might not like the event, but you cannot dispute the facts. > This has got to kill the T&FN people, having to put a RWer on the cover. > Sorry guys. Gotta kill T&FN people? There is no more chance of your boy getting AOY than there is a road 'runner' who tears up the circuit at a variety of distances and then goes on to win the Olympic marathon. Despite protests to the contrary, racewalking is neither track nor field. Just like road running. I'm sure there will be mentions in 'performances of the year' and maybe...maybe a number 8-10 slot, though I doubt it. Although they sometimes see-saw over whether or not the Olympics is the be-all end-all, just because walking is an Olympic event doesn't mean that it will be given equal weight. There are many aspects to athletics, cross country and indoor track included, which will never, That's NEVER be factors in the AOY voting. Unfortunately for you guys, race walking is included as a non-scorer. Lest I receive the obligatory 'anti-walker' tag, the 1987 world indoor walk in Indianapolis was one of the most exciting competitions I've ever seen. Just don't bet the farm on AOY. /Drew
t-and-f: Favorite Article
I think my favorite track article ever is Kenny Moore's 'Walker-Bayi' piece in Sports Illustrated back in either '75,'76, or '77. It chronicled the world's two best milers who's paths didn't meet because of the African boycott in Montreal. A few of the lines that I remember are: Watching Bayi being paced by an athlete: 'who was so ugly as to be fascinating' Bayi and Moore going into a restaraunt and eating with their hands: 'In Tanzania it is not impolite to tell a waiter that you know where your hands have been but you can't be sure about his silverware' Walker at the beach wading 'They walk horses through salt water. it *has* to be good for your legs' Walker saying that: 'you see small children having Walker-Bayi races on the street' (Musta been a NZ thing) This is included in Moore's collection of stories along with a few other gems. I had the original, lent it to somebody and then got another copy years later. His Lindgren disappearance story is great too. /Drew I'm also a fan of a lot of Don Kardong's stories. Get his book 'Thirty Phone Booths to Boston' and you must get thestory he wrote about me at the NYC marathon. The writing's so-so, but the subject is fascinating!!! /Drew
t-and-f: Trivia etc.
> However, if you assume that most (or all) of the improvements to > the WR's in > the 800-1m are due to EPO over the last 8-10 years ... > ..you'd be wrong. > sideshow you'd be naive malmo I'll guess (smile) that Malmo's comment has to do with the first statement and not Dan's. If not, I'll have to side w/ Dan here. I think I brought this up somewhere else, if I'm repeating myself, I apologize, but... How is it that not one of the athletes coached by 'notorious EPO prescibing' Dr. Gabrielle Rosa have ever, even after leaving Rosa's camp, told of drug use. Also, there *must* be some athletes who declined Dr. Rosa's suggestion ofusing drugs, yet not one of these upstanding folk have ever snitched either. Where are all of the naysayers now that afew Americans have improved vastly since being in the Discovery America program. Are 'our boys' succumbing to theevil temptations? Surely there'll be a choirboy who will document the suggestion that he use illegals to get closer to the top. I forget the band, but McEwen's theme song must be 'Too Much Time on My Hands' /Drew
t-and-f: Henry Rono / Trivia...
What a shame for someone to only have this memory or knowledge of Henry Rono. Does anyone have the NCAA results from Eugene circa 1977 or '78. The results alone won't tell the story, but Rono was magnificent. In the 5000 (I don't recall whether heats or final, because he was running everything fast), I remember the following. Rono and a team-mate taking the first Mile out in sub 4:10, and then Rono doing a workout the rest of the way on his own.accelerating the straights, and running easily on the corners, and finishing without any apparent effort in a time of about 13:21. He looked like he could have run those straights and corners like that for ever. Sad what happened later, but one of the best distance runners ever, in my opinion. Ron Bowker > >I don't see many of today's top Kenyans drinking a six-pack every night and >showing up to races 15 pounds overweight. >sideshow This is NOT Dan's 'knowledge' of Henry. Sorry, Ron, but obviously Henry never lived with you. He lived with me for about two years. There was a LOT of excessiive drinking, LOTS of fines to be paid (by me), LOTS of time getting him out of jail and LOTS of time spent in unecessary stuations all because of drinking, drinking and more drinking. We all know he was among the greatest ever, but that doesn't erase the fact that he was probably also among the biggest underachievers ever. /Drew
RE: t-and-f: Not EVERYONE is doping
> Brian T McEwen says > > I said: I don't know the Limits of human performance in distance running, > but > they are NOT at the level where today's runners would lap Viren, Yifter, > Rono, Schildhauer and Cova at their very best. > Well, Henry ran 27:22 in 1978, 22 years ago. 22 years before that, 1956, the WR was 28:30. Hmmm, Curiously, just about a 1 lap difference. Now, guess what? 20 years before that, 1936, the WR was 30:06, or approximately a lap and a half behind Kuts. Wanna go back 20 more years to 1916? I bet even you can guess what's gonna happen here. Yep!! One more time. Not quite a lap this time, but...30:58, 52 seconds slower. I don't know about 1896, but, how do you explain Nurmi being a lap better than Bouin, Kuts being a lap better than Nurmi, Rono being a lap better than Kuts, but Gebrselassie NOT being able to be a lap better than Rono? /Drew
t-and-f: Next...
I believe you neglected to mention that these records are for racewalking, correct? Ryan, There was no neglect at all, and no reason to denigrate these performances by somehow qualifying them as less deserving because of the event that they choose to undertake. Next . . . MJR Mike, As a Garden State track and cross country coach, I was more than a little confused by your post, so I'd have to agree with 'neglect'. We did have an excellent frosh miler from Parsippany Hills (Brian Boyett's teammate) named Zagorski. I was trying to figure out how this kid who I'd never heard of was better than both Zagorski and Tom Flemings protoge' Oskar (Norderling???). The neglect may have been unintentional (is it neglect then?) but made the post 'misleading'. Also, Ryan's post only makes a statement, albeit ending with a question mark, so why are you projecting 'denigrate' and 'less deserving' into what he didn't say? If an event is out of the ordinary, which clearly walks are, in high school competition, then a qualifier is needed. If I praise an athlete as being the next big thing in the 100, and it turns out to be a 100K trail run, sorry but that's not the 100. Little defensive there aren't you? /Drew
t-and-f: Yegorova
I am assuming that there is a reason behind the procedure of requiring both a urine and blood test (some sort of safe guard I would guess). If I remember correctly from the post (edmonton) race press conference, they said that initially a blood test is done and if there are any abnormalities, the more telling urine test is ordered. In Paris, the protocol wasn't followed, as Yegorova was given ONLY a urine test. Since no blood test was given, there was no 'probable cause' (my phrase) to administer a urine test. Of course I may have misunderstood Arne's accent. /Drew
t-and-f: More Yegorova
>Less Than 10% of the guys in the top 50 in the world are NOT on some kind of performance >enhancing drug. this i know for sure as a matter of personal expirence while >working in an IAAF lab. the problem is there is more to it than simply >identifying a positive athlete.. a lot more "under the table" politics than >the general public ever will know about. so basically, if you're good and >you have ambitions of being the best without taking anything, good luck. I think I'm either quoting or paraphrasing John Travolta in 'Pulp Fiction', but 'That's a bold statement.' Since you 'know for sure as a matter of personal expirence (sic)' let's have some names. Surely if the evidence exists and you've seen it, there couldn't be any legal ramifications. Malmo has acquired some degree 'untouchability' under similar circumstances. He can talk the talk because he's walked the walk. Seemingly you're also saying that the IAAF routinely sweeps, oh, 85% or so of positive tests under the rug? Let's play Woodward and Bernstein. I'll just list 4 athletes, 1 - 4. You just return a post to the list with the words yes or no in the 1 - 4 slots. 1 - Paul Tergat 2- Haile Gebrselaaie 3- Daniel Komen 4- Maurice Greene and for good measure 5- Mary Slaney /Drew
t-and-f: El Guerrouj / Chelimo
"I'm simply noting that not long ago Chelimo was an athlete who was in full health. And today at 29 he is dead," he said. It's probably much more a case of Chelimo drinking way too much 'home brewed' alcohol than any drug use. Chelimo was a big time drinker and his choice of "poison' unfortunately is oftern just that. Discussing Chelimo's death with Henry Rono on Saturday, Henry told me: 'If I had strayed in Kenya, I'd be dead too. First whiskey is too expensive, then beer is too expensive, but you can always get home made alcohol.' /Drew
t-and-f: Kenyan Juniors
Garry wrote: If there's a reason that Euros and Americans hang on much longer (which the run-of-the-mill internationalists do) it's becuase they haven't made enough to retire. The Kenyans do: one becuase they win significant prize money and two becuase what seems like a little money here is buy-a-ranch-and-retire kind of cash over there. That's it in a nutshell. Running is a job, at which, Kenyan youngsters are told, you are predisposed to excell. Train hard and within a year or two you'll have enough to buy the farm, cows etc.. Once they've cashed in, let's say mid-20's, there's no point in going on. No 'love of the sport' or anything like that. While not on the same level, the U.S. road-racing Kenyans DO continue on into their early and mid-thirties. Send the money back home to the wife and kids, visit twice a year and then it's back to 'the great provider' to punch the road-race clock. /Drew
t-and-f: Delta Stinks
When you purchase a plane ticket at the cheapest rate it is no exchange and no change without a fee. I do this all of the time. That ticket and your exchange of money establishes the terms of a contract. Now you want to cancell and not even change the contract that you agreeded to. Why does Delta stink? Live up to the terms of the agreement and there is no problem. To the best of my knowledge all airlines have the same procedures. R. N. Ball > John, > You could change your mind and go regardless and teach your team a lesson in > courage. > Tom Derderian Two things. Yeah you may do it all the time, but there's not a worldwide crisis involving terrorist bombing of airplanes all the time. Think for, oh maybe, a second or two, and see the uniqueness of the situation. Are there never circumstances that should alter an agreement? If ever there are, this has to rank right up there with any others. Don Bosco Prep students, in Northern New Jersey are probably ALL within one degree of separation of someone who was killed in the blast. A lesson in courage doesn't overrule scared children, scared parents or scared school officials who don't want these kids to fly right now. To R.N. Ball, when you got your drivers license, isn't there an implied contract to obey ALL of the traffic laws? Think how pissed you'd be for getting a ticket for going 66 in a 65mph zone. Sorry, you broke the terms of your contract--as well as breaking the law. For full disclosure, I am the assistant coach at Don Bosco Prep. /Drew
t-and-f: Delta Stinks
1) I happen to think it is absolutely awesome that Coach Nepolitan was going to take a High School team on a road trip. When I was in HS, I would have killed to be able to take such a trip but was never afforded the opportunity. Believe it or not, last March we were taking our team (Don Bosco Prep) to Ireland to watch the World Cross Country Championships. The week before, the meet was moved to Belgium because of hoof and mouth fears and we were unable to have our plans changed. So, we took 15 of our athletes to Dublin and watched World Cross on TV. /Drew
t-and-f: Marty Glickman
>The newly configured U.S. relay team won the 4x100 in World record time, but the substitution of runners , to this day, has >never made sense. Let's play Devil's advocate for a minute. Never made sense? The top four finishers at the Olympic Trials were the Games relay squad of Owens, Metcalfe, Wykoff and Draper. Glickman was 5th and Stoller 6th. Owens also won the 200 with Metcallfe 4th and Draper 5th. Neither Glickman nor Stoller ran the 200. Flash foward to 2000. What would the outcry be like if the U.S. used the trials 100 meter 5th and 6th place runners instead of the winner and second place finisher in the relay? /Drew
t-and-f: 400H
Can anyone tell me what other states besides NJ, NJ, Conn. compete in the 400H instead of the 300H at their state cjampionships? It just dawned on me, but over the years, while there's been way too much squawking over the mile/1500,1600 and 2 mile 3000,3200. The issue of an exact amount of laps can at least be argued for. Why hasn't there been any discussion over 300 vs. 400 meter hurdles? What on Earth is the rationale? Unless most states are training their athletes for that one meet in England that has a 300m hurdle race every year. /Drew
t-and-f: Logical ?
For those who say high-schoolers are being cheated by not running 400H, all I can say is: Yeah, sure. And make the kidlets run 42-inch hurdles in the highs. And throw the 16-pound shot. And use 16-foot Pacer poles in the vault. Why deprive them? Nothing wrong with running 300 hurdles as a transition. BTW, in the old days of California track (pre-1974) that gh (and I) recall so fondly, we had varsity, B's and C's (based on a system of "exponents"). C's were mainly skinny freshmen and sophomores. B's were mainly sophomores and juniors. In those days, B's and C's also ran 180-yard dash insted of 220, 660-yard run insted of 880, and 1320 instead of mile. Not logical at all. The argument was about arguments about 300/400 vs.1600/mile etc. The rest of the world uses the 400m hurdles as do a number of state high school federations. A lot of people seem to think that 400 is too far to go for high-schoolers, but as I answered a few, 'then get another event!' Just as those A and B distances were ridiculous, so is the 300.
t-and-f: 400 Hurdles / Logical Conclusion
Since I kinda started this, it's probably time to put it to bed. Nice dicussion though. Covered opinions, history, coaching theory, chiming in from old farts and no whining. Hey this list thing might catch on. /Drew
t-and-f: Everything you need...
I prefer to have my kids warm up by running rather than stretching. I like to get them warming up their muscles in similar movement to that which they'll use llater on. There are too many kids who can kiss their knees but can't run fast at all. Maybe they should enter stretching contests instead. To put out a similar idea as malmo, Did you ever see Secretariat stretch? /Drew
t-and-f: SRO
C'mon! I find it hard to believe there was a single instance where the crowd was not allowed to perform like the living entity that all crowds are. When there something soul-stirring happened, 20,000 butts rose as one, and nobody had the mildest complaint. The cops weren't automotons; they felt the emotion just like everybody else, and when the adrenaline rush hit, they scurried to get the best vantage point just like everybody else. Beg to differ Garry. The three cops who were assigned to 'control' the section where I was sitting, took people out of the meet for standing *between* events. Then one time when I arrived, with a legitimate ticket, they wouldn't let me sit in the section because I was also wearing a media tag and therefore must have had someone else's ticket. Of course, the guy who threw and hit a spectator with a full water bottle got no reprimand. He was sitting when he threw it. /Drew
t-and-f: Indoor Pentathlon Scoring Table
Does anyone know of a web-site that would have have the indoor scoring tables for pentathlon events? Thanks. /Drew
t-and-f: Lindgren career
This from an old post I saved from Dave Johnson. /Drew Lindgren didn't start college at Washington State until after the cross country season of 1964 because he was running in the Tokyo Olympics that October. When he did start college comptition in the spring of '65, athletes were allowed only three years of eligibility, but that changed in 1967-68, when freshman eligibility was put in place. Lindgren thus had only three tries at various titles in his sophomore, junior and senior years; he won 11 NCAA championships, and lost only once. He won outdoor 3M/6M doubles in 1966 and '67, and a 5K/10K double in the '68 Olympic year. He won the indoor 2M in '66 and '67, then finished 2nd to Jim Ryun in the '68 2M when Ryun won a M/2M double. In cross country, he won the NCAA in '66, '67 and '69. Lindgren redshirted the '68 cross country season in anticipation of running the '68 Olympics. However, he didn't make the '68 team, finishing 5th in the 10,000 and 4th in the 5000 at the Olympic Trials at Echo Summit. In his last collegiate race, the '69 cross country race at Van Cortlandt Park, Lindgren beat Mike Ryan of Air Force (the defending champ who had won in Lindgren's absence), who finished second, and freshman Steve Prefontaine, who finished third with his only NCAA loss. As for Lindgren's potential: Following his '65 freshman year he ran 27:11.6 for 6M, finishing one-tenth behind Billy Mills; both shared the World Record, when it was faster than the existing 10K WR based on conversions. It was his only Collegiate Record at the distance. At 10K, he twice set CRs, getting down to 28:40.2 in '67. At 3M, he set a pair of CRs, with a best of 12:53.0 in '66. This mark was only 0.6 seconds short of Ron Clarke's 3M WR, and at a time when both were faster than Kip Keino's WR 13:24.2 for 5K, and inferior performance on conversion. The 12:53.0 was faster than Prefontaine ever ran as a collegian, even considering conversions. In the 5K, he set a pair of CRs, with a best of 13:33.8 in '68. And throw a 3000 CR of 7:58.0 in '65 on top of that. In other words, Lindgren was 0.1 short of the best 6M/10K ever run (and based on rounding rules of the day was the =WR holder) and 0.6 short of the fastest 3M/5K ever run. He was second-fastest ever in world history at different times during his collegiate career, a feat bettered among collegians by Henry Rono (who held set both WRs in 1978). And no American has ever been so high on both lists. Did he fulfill his potential? Who does, and how do we know? However you I think you can make a pretty good case for Lindgren running very well. But throw in the overtones of some of the things he accomplished: beating the Soviets in the US-USSR dual in the 10K as a high school kid when the U.S. had next to no reputation in the event; standing up to the NCAA by running in the AAU meet at the height of the NCAA-AAU feud and setting a WR in the 6M (the NCAA had threatened loss of eligibility and his scholarship if he ran, and he had yet to run a varsity race at the time); running in the early-70's with stomach ulcers when the U.S. Army hounded him at the height of the Viet Nam war to join the U.S. Army track team (he didn't join). As for his high school indoor 8:40.0: That's only the tip of the iceberg. Consider that in June of his senior year of high school he ran 13:44.0 in the 5000. In August that year he ran a one meet double of 4:01.5 (August 13 '64) and 13:17.0 for the 3M (August 15 '64). Whether you want to use the 5K (slightly faster on conversion) or the 3M, if you average the 3m/5K pace with the Mile pace, you find him capable of running a Two-mile in 8:26.6 to 8:27.2 in mid-August '64. The WR at the time was held by Michel Jazy at 8:29.6 from 1963, the year Jazy set the WR in the mile. In '64 Jazy finished fourth in the OG 5K behind Schul, Harald Norpoth and Bill Dellinger, and ahead of Keino. How many high school middle distance or distance runners ever had WR ability while still high school athletes? Can you say Ted Meredith (800/880 in 1912) and Lindgren? Not Ryun, nor any of the other greats who seem to be mentioned on this site.
t-and-f: Ed Mendoza
in the top 8 in at least two of the races or likely had Q marks in both and/or marathon: 1976: Shorter; Craig Virgin, Gary Bjorklund, Bill Rodgers, Ed Mendoza (5th 10k/definitely had Q marks in Mar & 5k), Kardong, et. al I remember Ed Mendoza telling me that after his 5th place finish he went back to Flagstaff and drank beer for a couple of weeks. Then he got a call that Shorter and Rodgers were only going to run the marathon. "Hey Ed, would you like to run at the Olympics? You are still in shape right?" Well needless to say, Ed told them that he was and went on to Run at Montreal. He didn't get out of the first round though. After Boston '82 (I think), he said "Man, I was on Salazar's shoulder for 20 miles. Then I turned into a ball of shit."
t-and-f: Derrick Adkins Article
I haven't seen it mentioned here, but in the May 7 issue of Newsweek (plug - plug) there's a great 'My Turn' article by 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist Derrick Adkins. Adkins chronicles his fight against Chronic Depression. It's the Newsweek with 'God and the Brain' on the cover. /Drew
t-and-f: Webb and Hall
Ahhh - but does anyone (besides me) know when the last time a Junior High athlete not only qualified for nationals but actually made an Olympic track and field team and competed in the Olympics that year? Marjorie Larney in '52? /Drew
t-and-f: Bob Schul
Back in 1968, they wouldn't let Bob Schul run the trials when he was defending Olympic champ in the 5000. He was a few seconds of the trials standard, but fit and racing well. I believe Billy Mills was in a similar situation in 1968. Bruce Kritzler 1968 Olympic Trials 5000 meters 6.) Bob Schul (Unat.) 15:44.6 1968 Olympic Trials 1 meters 4.) Billy Mills (SDTC) 30:32.2
t-and-f: Trivia Answer
Was Mark Plattjes' WC win in the 90's? Can't have been 12 years ago can it? /Drew
t-and-f: Runners Form
> << With all this talk on form and efficiency, who out there > are the most > efficient runners that you have all seen? >> > > clearly Frank Shorter > I'd go with Wilson Kipketer. /Drew
t-and-f: Beer Trials
'68 Echo Summitt (you're in the forest, do what you want) '72, '76 and '80 Eugene, no '84 LA Coliseum, yes*** *** Especially if you were sitting in section 5 on that fateful 'Day of the Keg' /Drew
