Week one of the Olympics featured U.S. swimmer after U.S. swimmer winning or medaling in a race or relay. Sure, most of the time it was that guy named Phelps but other names were squeezed into the gold-silver-bronze action--Franklin, Schmitt, Grevers, Ledecky, Soni and Vollmer. These young faces painted a nice picture for the future of U.S. Swimming.
Contrast that success to what is going on with USA Track and Field. For the first time in forever, a U.S. male did not make the 400M finals. The 100, for both men and women, was won by a Jamaican sprinter. And, the once feared USA Track and Field program is in an overall funk.
The men's 4x100 relay team won gold in 15 of 20 Olympic Games through 2000. Then, Great Britain won in Athens in 2004 and, in Beijing, the U.S. did not even make it out of the preliminary rounds due to a dropped baton. That episode spoke volumes about the sliding state of this country's track and field program.
USA Track and Field has been rife with off-track issues--boardroom arguments, leadership challenges and changes, and cries about the lack of diversity. Since 2008, five executives and acting chiefs have tried to make it all better. Even the U.S. Olympic Committee got involved, threatening to de-certify USA Track and Field over alleged mismanagement.
There are 141 total track and field medals up for grabs in London. Estimates as to the U.S. haul have ranged from the optimistic (30) to the pessimistic (22) by industry insiders. (As a point of reference, the U.S. won 23 in Beijing in 2008.)
Unlike their colleagues in swimming, U.S. track and field athletes often compete in pre-Olympic meets which feature lucrative payouts. Swimming and gymnastics teams, in contrast, keep their athletes in pre-Olympic camps.
Thus far, the U.S. has nine track and field medals (two gold, three silver and four bronze) and has the opportunity to increase that lead (Russia is next with six) in the days to come. However, if disappointment continues (i.e., dropped batons and hurdle stumbles), look for major change to be instituted including the possibility of government funding to compensate athletes, thus reducing the financial pressure to compete in the weeks between the Olympic Trials and the Olympic Games.
For an ordinary citizen, this is a disheartening article. Do I understand you correctly? Do T&F athletes run races before the Olympics for money? Is that why NBC commentators are always talking about how tired the T&F runners are? So, they don't really represent America. They are on the team to put themselves in a position to rake in the dough at other places. Why is this about diversity? Anyone who knows anything about management and leadership knows this is not something that can be fixed by paying athletes or changing a CEO or a few board members. The whole organization has to be disbanded and built back up from scratch with values and objectives in the right place.
ReplyDeleteAfter the Beijing Games, USATF produced a report, called Project 30, based upon interviews with athletes, coaches and officials. The purpose of the report was to set a goal of 30 medals in London. The study reported that many athletes arrived tired in Beijing. The report recommended a shorter Olympic Trials and also noted that during the month between the Trials and the Opening Ceremonies, many sprinters were invited to meets in Europe. As the then head of USATF commented, "They see these meets as easy pay days."
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