J. Seinfeld wrote:
So guys that won't make the final aren't running. This is important?
Wow, I hope you posted this just to get under peoples skin. It is a very elitist attitude. This, I hope, is not the attitude behind the reasons USATF makes these, on the surface, arbitrary decsions about rounding out the fields and last minute entries.
If we use your "wont make the final" as a basis for letting individuals in the meet, then why even have rounds at all, why have A and B standards, and why even have the meet at all? You are saying that those that wont make the final are not to be concerned with, that they are not all that relevant or important, that their grievances are not noteworthy.
Well, that's the case for the majority of competitors. Most are not favored to make any final and most are not expected to finish in the top three if they do make the final, and then out of those top three many are not expected to win a medal. So, lets only select and send those that have a chance to win a medal. Cancel the national championships, there are too many non-finals type competitors...or lets vastly transform the way the meet runs IF we dont have time for those that wont make the final.
If we expand upon your attitude, we potentially ruin the sport for the fans and for the athletes; We also ruin the meet and stiffle developing runners. If we consider the concerns raised in the initial post: filling out the fields with a fair, consistent, clear, and accurate process...we avoid elitism and uphold a strength found in track and field not found in many other sports. That strength is a lack of arbitrary judgements. Examples include: Run the time standard and your in the meet; Be in the top 32 declared entries and your in the meet; Finish in the top 3 and you advance; Run the fastest time ever recorded and you have the world record. We use these type of judgements to define our sport, and that is a good thing. We are letting human opinion, human judgement, and arbitrary decision making trickle into the meet and sport if we accept your statement: "So guys that won't make the final aren't running. This is important?" Yes, its important, extremely important!