First of all, I am not a USATF basher (at least not since some old AAU days
when Pre and Shorter were being hassled...well and maybe some beefs with
Ollan Cassell). I firmly believe that our governing body has taken some
positive strides since Masback has taken the reins...good folks on board at
the top including the likes of Bill Roe and Carol McLatchie....HOWEVER, I am
quite disappointed with USATF's decision to disallow the participation of
Michael Johnson on the World Championships 4 x 4 squad should he not compete
in Eugene's USATF Natls (June 21-24).
As a guy with a half dozen super premium finish line seats at that meet,
know, that I'd LOVE to see MJ in action in Eugene...yet, if it's not o his
agenda, so be it...first of all, USATF should recognize all that Michael
Johnson HAS done for track and field awareness in this country and tip their
hats to him on his farewell tour (in a show of sportsmanship and gratitude).
secondly, what's good for the sport internationally is good for the sport
locally...MJ in Edmonton is good for track and field PERIOD...I rest my
case!
-MF
ps...be sure to read the attached blurb re: Antonio Pettigrew's opinion
Subject: t-and-f: Let Johnson run in Edmonton, says Pettigrew
> From http://www.athletics-online.co.uk/110509pettigrew.htm:
>
> Antonio Pettigrew believes Michael Johnson should have received a
guaranteed
> place on the world championship 4x400m relay squad without having to run
at
> the trials.
>
> Johnson, who has won the last four individual world 400m titles, intends
to
> compete only in relays during his retirement season and had hoped to
anchor
> the United States to victory in Edmonton.
>
> However, USATF decided last weekend to uphold a recent rule change, which
> says that defending world champions with a bye must still compete at the
> trials to gain selection.
>
> Pettigrew, the last man other than Johnson to win the world 400m title,
> believes the five-time Olympic champion should have been given a waiver.
>
> "Michael Johnson's been in this sport for a long time," said the 1991
world
> champion. "He's helped promote track and field, he's done everything for
> our sport in a good way.
>
> "It's sad to not see him at the world championships running a 4x400 for
the
> last time.
>
> "That's just my opinion - that he should be able to run in the relay."
>
> The 33-year-old feels Johnson, the holder of the world records at 200m,
400m
> and the 4x400m relay, has done enough for the sport in his country.
>
> "Let him run the world championships for one last time in the 4x400," he
> pleaded. "He's competed, he's run well, he's done everything he needs to
do
> in our sport."
>
> Individual defending champions receive a bye to compete in their events in
> the world championships - an idea the IAAF ironically thought up in 1997
> after Johnson himself had to miss the U.S. trials through injury.
>
> But earlier this year, USATF introduced a ruling to force world champions
to
> compete at the trials. The IAAF also adapted its rules so that such
> automatic qualifiers would have to be entered by their respective national
> federations.
>
> "Under current rules you need to participate at the U.S. national
> championships in order to be selected for a relay championships," a
> spokeswoman for USATF said last week.
>
> She added: "In order for a person with a bye to be entered in the world
> championships, you need to either compete in some events - it doesn't
matter
> which - at the national championships or have a doctor's notice for injury
> or if you get a waiver on other grounds."
>
> The USATF Board of Directors has since confirmed after a teleconference
that
> this ruling would be applied to relays.
>
> A spokesman said on Wednesday that a turnaround on the issue was not
likely
> to take place.
>
> Johnson, who is set to end his career at a meet in Japan in September, has
> accepted the decision without complaint.
>
> Even if the 33-year-old Texan has competed in his last world championships
> relay, the Goodwill Games later in August may yet see him anchoring an
> American squad to another world record.
>
> The suggestion was met by a confident response from Pettigrew at a press
> teleconference on Tuesday.
>
> United States' most reliable second-leg runner, who hopes to be on the
team,
> believes the 2:54.20 set in 1998 could be under threat.
>
> "It would be nice to have one last hoorah of going to Brisbane, Australia
> and smashing the world record in the 4x400," said Pettigrew, who ran a
> 43.2-second split when he teamed up with Jerome Young, Tyree Washington
and
> Johnson for the existing record. "I would love to."
>
> "I haven't talked to the other guys really about it, but I think it's
> something that can be accomplished," he added.
>
> Pettigrew, who is 51 days Johnson's junior, intends to follow a similar
> route into retirement next year to the one that the Olympic champion is
> taking this season.
>
> After at the end of last year considering retirement and even moving up to
> 800 metres, he is planning an easy farewell season in 2002 to fulfil his
> sponsorship contract with adidas.
>
> "Right now, I would like to say goodbye this year, but it looks like I'm
not
> going to be able to," he said.
>
> "If I do run (next year), I'll run relays and a couple of quarters
(400m),"
> he said. "I'll pick certain meets to run at for the simple reason I want
to
> be able to say thank you for all my years."
>
> In the meantime, with no Johnson in the field in Edmonton, it would be
> unwise to discount him from regaining the world title he won ten years
ago.
>
> Such is not impossible for a man who in 1997 ran his first personal best
for
> eight years and also ended Johnson's 58-race winning streak in the one-lap
> event.
>
> A quick time in this Saturday's Princeton Invitational would confirm he
> could win what he categorically describes as his last world championships.
>
> "I hope to run at least 44.6 or 44.5," he declared.
>
> He may have to in order to beat a field which includes twice world
> championship finallist, Jerome Young, Olympic 400m hurdles champion and
> sub-45 lapper, Angelo Taylor, and Jamaica's Michael McDonald, who clocked
> 44.71 last Sunday.
>
> Though delighted to have won his first Olympic title in Sydney
participating
> in the 4x400m, he knows the gold medal will count for nothing this year.
>
> "It's a great feeling," he said of how it feels to finally be an Olympic
> champion. "But you have to be able to see last year in the past."
>
> He added: "I realise that 2000's gone and 2001 is here and you can't live
in
> the past. You got to live in the future."
>
>
