At this point there is little on this site that shocks me, but your posts go to a new level of disgusting, offensive, and inappropriate.
No joke, I'd ban you for life.
Wrong. Ambys asinine proposal is offensive and contrary to the essence of competitive athletics. The fair system and those who support it are not stupid and misguided. Amby is.
If he actually cared about doing something positive about selecting our Olympic teams, maybe he could address what happens when an OT member cannot compete due to injury? I'm in favor of the top three at the OT being Olympians, with all the benefits even if an alternate replaces them. Real world example. In 1984 I trained with Dave Gordon, who was 4th in the OT marathon. John Tuttle was 3rd, but was injured and unable to properly represent. Had he given his spot up Gordon would have been an excellent replacement. Tuttle couldn't drop because under the rules he would no longer be "Olympian". He should have been able to drop and retain full status -- uniforms, ceremony participation, etc. You really can't blame him. I think there was a similar situation with the men's 1500m that year as well.
The Olympics is the dream for everyone in our sport. My proposal would be a fair acomodation that even Amby Burford could agree with.
Nothing needs to be fixed that isn't broken. This is one way to enhance the process for the better.
Calling us stupid and misguided was uncalled for.
The system is fair. To call it unfair shows that the individual does not know what fair means.
Misguided? That's just a dumb way of saying you don't agree with it.
Our system rewards the champion athlete who can get to the race healthy and in peak form.
High school track has one of the highest rates of participation in the USA.
I don't know what this means. Highest rates of participation out of high school students? Or out of the entire population? your post makes zero sense as I don't know what you mean
You're just being deliberately dense. Of all sports track and field has among the highest rates of participation in high school athletics. Simple.
Wrong. Ambys asinine proposal is offensive and contrary to the essence of competitive athletics. The fair system and those who support it are not stupid and misguided. Amby is.
If he actually cared about doing something positive about selecting our Olympic teams, maybe he could address what happens when an OT member cannot compete due to injury? I'm in favor of the top three at the OT being Olympians, with all the benefits even if an alternate replaces them. Real world example. In 1984 I trained with Dave Gordon, who was 4th in the OT marathon. John Tuttle was 3rd, but was injured and unable to properly represent. Had he given his spot up Gordon would have been an excellent replacement. Tuttle couldn't drop because under the rules he would no longer be "Olympian". He should have been able to drop and retain full status -- uniforms, ceremony participation, etc. You really can't blame him. I think there was a similar situation with the men's 1500m that year as well.
The Olympics is the dream for everyone in our sport. My proposal would be a fair acomodation that even Amby Burford could agree with.
Nothing needs to be fixed that isn't broken. This is one way to enhance the process for the better.
Calling us stupid and misguided was uncalled for.
The system is fair. To call it unfair shows that the individual does not know what fair means.
Misguided? That's just a dumb way of saying you don't agree with it.
Our system rewards the champion athlete who can get to the race healthy and in peak form.
But then the qualifying system for the Trials is unfair according to you. Please explain why a race should not be held to determine what runners gain entrance into the Trials.
I don't know what this means. Highest rates of participation out of high school students? Or out of the entire population? your post makes zero sense as I don't know what you mean
You're just being deliberately dense. Of all sports track and field has among the highest rates of participation in high school athletics. Simple.
I was not being deliberately dense. You didn't say "in high school athletics" so I didn't know what you mean. Also, in my high school the track team is so small
Just getting around to reading this now. I never heard about this story but holy crap. What an epic injustice. As I was reading I kept imagining what Letsrun would have been like if it were in existence back then. Hopefully s$% like that won't ever fly again.
You're just being deliberately dense. Of all sports track and field has among the highest rates of participation in high school athletics. Simple.
I was not being deliberately dense. You didn't say "in high school athletics" so I didn't know what you mean. Also, in my high school the track team is so small
Also I'm sorry to say that you're wrong.
According to this 2023 article from the National Federation of State High School Associations, basketball, NOT track and field, is the most popular for BOTH both and girls athletics.
So when you said that track and field is the most popular, you were actually incorrect in this regard
You're just being deliberately dense. Of all sports track and field has among the highest rates of participation in high school athletics. Simple.
I was not being deliberately dense. You didn't say "in high school athletics" so I didn't know what you mean. Also, in my high school the track team is so small
If you weren't being deliberately dense then I feel sorry for you. It must be very difficult for you to make it through the average day without being confused by the simplest of things.
I was not being deliberately dense. You didn't say "in high school athletics" so I didn't know what you mean. Also, in my high school the track team is so small
Also I'm sorry to say that you're wrong.
According to this 2023 article from the National Federation of State High School Associations, basketball, NOT track and field, is the most popular for BOTH both and girls athletics.
So when you said that track and field is the most popular, you were actually incorrect in this regard
I do not see how a medal count when you're discussing better and worse ways of selecting an Olympic team doesn't matter.
So the selection method is clearly better. Kenya has 7 woman medals and 8 men’s despite a population like 1/8th the US… and all the medals are like in the last 25 years. Or do you think factors other than selection criteria matter a lot more? If you have a half dozen sub 2:04 guys you are going to get a lot of medals. If you have 3 guys who can’t break 2:08, you aren’t..
Yes, East Africans are clearly better at running marathons these days than anyone else. I suspect they're going to be winning more medals in the distance events than anywhere else on earth even if their method of selecting a team is not really good. I'm not comparing US Olympic runners to African ones. I'm comparing US runners and our selection process to those of countries where the way people live is mostly pretty similar to ours.
Just getting around to reading this now. I never heard about this story but holy crap. What an epic injustice. As I was reading I kept imagining what Letsrun would have been like if it were in existence back then. Hopefully s$% like that won't ever fly again.
I've known about this story since it happened in 1968. I have a very hard time believing anything like it could happen now. At the time people did not file lawsuits nearly as readily as they do now. I cannot imagine a modern athlete given the same treatment would not get a lawyer and have the policy overturned in days if not hours.
But my solution for the sprints would be to move the guy/gal back like 2 meters if they false start - but only if they are ranked in the top 10 in thew world. It's like insurance.
Or just dq them like the rules call for. good god.
Just getting around to reading this now. I never heard about this story but holy crap. What an epic injustice. As I was reading I kept imagining what Letsrun would have been like if it were in existence back then. Hopefully s$% like that won't ever fly again.
I've known about this story since it happened in 1968. I have a very hard time believing anything like it could happen now. At the time people did not file lawsuits nearly as readily as they do now. I cannot imagine a modern athlete given the same treatment would not get a lawyer and have the policy overturned in days if not hours.
We have that mans name on an award? Same guy who pissed on his athletes in the shower!
In my mind the biggest fault of his position is that Amby doesn't realize people play to the system. E.g., when the Olympic standard is 2:08:10, people try to run 2:08:09. When top 3 at the trials determines the Olympic team, people base their training and race schedule around trying to be top 3 -- not on being a reliably good marathoner. If the selection were different, people would play to that system (i.e. try to train/race in a way that maximizes whatever metrics make you a "reliably good marathoner") such that the best team may not actually be Sisson, D'Amato, and Saina.
But then the qualifying system for the Trials is unfair according to you. Please explain why a race should not be held to determine what runners gain entrance into the Trials.
That already exists through qualifying standards.
Yes of course but the qualifying system for the Trials is, if you’re being consistent, flawed to say the least, because you would not want it as the system to determine the Olympic team, as you clearly would recoil against the notion of selecting the team by fastest performances.
So the selection method is clearly better. Kenya has 7 woman medals and 8 men’s despite a population like 1/8th the US… and all the medals are like in the last 25 years. Or do you think factors other than selection criteria matter a lot more? If you have a half dozen sub 2:04 guys you are going to get a lot of medals. If you have 3 guys who can’t break 2:08, you aren’t..
Yes, East Africans are clearly better at running marathons these days than anyone else. I suspect they're going to be winning more medals in the distance events than anywhere else on earth even if their method of selecting a team is not really good. I'm not comparing US Olympic runners to African ones. I'm comparing US runners and our selection process to those of countries where the way people live is mostly pretty similar to ours.
And as I said Japan destroys the US. 1/3rd the population, the same results. Or Italy with like 1/5th the population having 2 gold medalists. Or Belgium having a silver and 2 bronzes with a mere 11m. Clearly naming a team is better right?
reality is you aren’t doing apples to apples comparisons (how often does Belgium or other small countries have 3 eligible people) and small sample sizes (we are one frank shorter away from being truly pathetic) makes looking at medals basically useless.
Again for the US it doesn’t matter. We don’t have any clear medal favorites to be putting on the team. And we haven’t since 1976…
Yes of course but the qualifying system for the Trials is, if you’re being consistent, flawed to say the least, because you would not want it as the system to determine the Olympic team, as you clearly would recoil against the notion of selecting the team by fastest performances.
WTF? We don't select base on.fastest performances. We select based on fastest at the trials.
