Breaking: An Absolute Travesty! USATF WILL NOT honor top 3 finish at US Olympic Trials unless you have the standard!!!

rojo wrote:

Other countries can get in via world rank. USATF just refuses to do it.

Has anyone said those words at USATF or is this your interpretation?

We might see another American besides Rupp actually run under 2:11. What's so awful about that?

rojo wrote:

Talk about the biggest Friday evening news dump ever.

We have some huge breaking news to report. In my mind this is the most depressing development for US distance fans since we started the website.

Quel hyperbole!

rojo wrote:

Blow it outta your asss wrote:

It also will encourage those races to totally water down their international fields as . So the black studs from Africa will get screwed over yet again.

lols

I've always thought that in order to go to the Olympics, one must meet the Olympic time standard and place top three in your running event. How are the new rules any different? Other than the time standards are more difficult?

Thanks for that completely irrelevant rant

what am I missing here??? wrote:

I've always thought that in order to go to the Olympics, one must meet the Olympic time standard and place top three in your running event. How are the new rules any different? Other than the time standards are more difficult?

Read the recent articles about the new system

Notcertain wrote:

I’m not certain this is a bad thing. This seems fine to me.

I think you’re exaggerating.

Rojo exaggerating???? Never. :eyeroll: the stupidity of the LR.com staff is astounding. Gault is too chicken to say anything contrary to his “bosses”

Rojo, I did read the full article. I am not convinced that Susan Hazzard fully understands the situation. Her wording is somewhat odd and unclear. And more importantly, what she seems to be saying is so incredibly stupid that I hope it is not true. I do not see how anyone who understands the sport could think this is a reasonable idea.

It sounds like she is saying 2 things that are mind-meltingly idiotic:

1) If someone places in the top 3 in the US Olympic Trials but does not have the standard, they will lose their spot on the team to the highest placing runner who does have the standard. This will happen even if the runner placing in the top 3 places highly in the IAAF world rankings.

2) If the US does not have 3 runners with the standard in an event, the US will be sending 2, 1, or even zero runners to the Olympics in that event.

If I am not mistaken, point 2 was not discussed in the article. Hopefully the USATF would make an exception in this case and allow the IAAF world rankings to come into play.

The USATF appears to have proven themselves to be even more incompetent than the IAAF. My only hope is that Susan Hazzard made some sort of mistake in her email.

And fwiw, I do feel like your interpretation of the email is valid. That is how I would interpret it too. My optimistic side just hopes there is a misunderstanding on her part.

R Johnson,

Is it the fault of any governing body that U.S. men minus Rupp are slower or as slow as U.S. male Marathoners fifty years ago? I know there are a lot of readers on letsrun who race Marathons in 2:12 to 4:12 range. To my ears, you sound like a criminal defense attorney for your clients, 2:12 to 4:12 Marathoners. Ethiopians have Addis Ababa and Kenyans have Nairobi. U.S. has Colorado Springs, CO, Georgetown, CO, ABQ, NM, Santa Fe, NM and Cloudcroft, NM. If U.S, men race Marathon faster, U.S. men go to Olympics. That seems fair.

I really don't think this will affect much. How many professionals are showing up to the trials without the Olympic standard anyway? If you do this for a living and aren't showing up to the trials with all your prerequisites squared away, then you've forgotten about the "professional" part of being a professional athlete IMO.

Dewey_Runner wrote:

I really don't think this will affect much. How many professionals are showing up to the trials without the Olympic standard anyway? If you do this for a living and aren't showing up to the trials with all your prerequisites squared away, then you've forgotten about the "professional" part of being a professional athlete IMO.

Sigh. Did you even read the article? Rhetorical I know.

Pretty much met with a yawn here. Rojo totally misreading the room on this one.

Point 1 is correct.

I do not believe point 2 is correct. My understanding is that the US will send the athletes that have the standard and will send additional athletes if they receive invitations based on the world rankings.

What I'm not sure of is the following scenario in which neither athlete has the standard.

Athlete A was 3rd at the Trials and 70th in the world rankings (but in position to receive a bid due to other countries having more than 3 athletes ahead of him, etc...)

Athlete B was 4th at the Trials and 30th in the world rankings

I would like to think USATF would use common sense and make sure Athlete A gets to go over Athlete B. But I'm not sure what would happen there.

reely? wrote:[quote]Has anyone said those words at USATF or is this your interpretation?

This is not the time to be lazy. This is not the time to troll. Read the article carefully. Read Susan Hazzard’s email carefully. Here is her email pasted directly from the article:

“USATF was aware of the proposed standard changes and made recommendations to the IAAF during the process. While we are disappointed in this initial announcement, we will enthusiastically advocate for additional changes that serve in the best interest of our sport. For the U.S., the three highest-placing finishers at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials, and who have the 2020 Olympic Games qualifying standard, will select themselves for the U.S. Team. For World Championships, the U.S. selection process is the same but with the IAAF marks.

Over the years, the standards for all national and international championships increased in difficulty for all competitors, and athletes have risen to the challenge time and time again. We look forward to working with our athletes, nations around the world and all other parties to have the IAAF consider what we all feel is in the best interest of the sport and its athletes.”

She appears to be saying that the IAAF world rankings will apply at the World Championships, but they will not apply for the Olympic selection process. I do not see any other possible interpretation.

This situation is not confusing because of Rojo. This situation is confusing because it makes very little sense. In fact, Rojo’s point is basically “This situation is confusing, awful, and makes little sense.” I love to give the brojos a hard time as much as the next letsrunner, but this is a very serious situation. This appears to be nothing but quality journalism on the part of letsrun.

Theoretically if I run a 2:11:29 this year, and nobody else does (since no one besides Rupp has for years) than do I even have to run the Trials? (assuming no one besides Rupp breaks 2:11:30 at the hilly Trials).

So it’s basically about who can find the fastest, best-paced sub 2:11:30 race and essentially time trial the Standard (similar to what people do at CIM for the OTQ). Honestly my chances of making the Olympic team may have actually increased since I’m not necessarily great at hills or going heads up with America’s best the last 10k. But running 5:00 pace in perfect conditions seems somewhat realistic. I would then just have to hope 2 other Americans don’t run the Standard, but again, no one besides Rupp has done it recently, so it’s somewhat realistic... man...Anyone want to help get me to Berlin?? Lol ?

Thank you Jonathan, and I hope you are correct that the USATF will still do its best to send 3 athletes per event. And you bring up an excellent point regarding the selection process when we have less than 3 athletes with the standard. That could certainly add another layer of confusion.

Answer me this

If the first three across the line do not have THE AUTOMATIC TIME STANDARD FOR THE OGS but are offered an OG entry because their position in the rankings is high enough the USATF will decline those invitations?

Too much thinking going on by these organizations. It's like somebody has to justify salary or position during slow periods. I know...let's get rid of races. Let's get rid of common sense.

From reading that article it seems like 10th place at Boston in 4 hours is more valuable than 1st at the Trials while 1 second over the standard.

I realize it wouldn't play out that way but lesser stretches are enabled. Given enough sampling, stretches happen.

The only positive I detect is that fewer Americans are likely to linger at or near the back of the pack as their preferred style. I have despised and not respected that tactic throughout my life. You cannot cede ground at highest level. If this maneuver has unintended consequence of forcing Americans to risk the front end toward time it might work out.