Okay, first off, let me say that as a track coach I never say “You Suck” to an athlete. But at the same time, our relay teams suck. One reason? They don’t practice the handoffs enough in the months prior to the Olympics because so many of our athletes are spread around the country. Some athletes train in California, others in Texas, and still some others in Florida.
Poor Lauryn Williams says that “We’re the best team out here.” Um, no Lauryn. That would be Jamaica. Jamaica is most likely going gold 6 for 6 in the sprints this year. That means men’s and women’s gold in the 100, 200 and 4 x 100 relay. Yeah, who’s the best team out there? NOT the USA.
Something must happen for the USATF to address how our athletes prepare for the relays. It happened to the men’s team losing to Britain in the 2004 Olympics, and it happened to the women who dropped the baton in the last Olympics.
So, let’s get that straight. The women have dropped the baton in two straight Olympics. Again, NOT the best team out there.
My other issue is Jeremy Wariner. Wariner is (WAS) undoubtedly the most talented 400 meter runner coming into this year. He’s the reigning world champion and Olympic champion. However, for the past year he’s fired legendary 400 meter coach Clyde Hart. Coach Hart was at Baylor University in Texas. He is so legendary, he has coached the world record holders, and past Olympic champions, and turned Baylor University into “Quarter Mile U.”
So how did Wariner do? He lost to LaShawn Merritt by .99 seconds. That’s one second. That’s about 10 meters. In terms of a 400 meter dash, that’s a spanking reminiscent of the basement scene in the “Pulp Fiction.” This is, I believe the 3rd time this year Merritt has beaten Wariner.
In Wariner’s semifinal, he ran a forty four point. That’s pretty fast. However, he said, “I want to be the first man to run a 42.” That means he wants to break 43.00 which is ungodly fast. For most of you who don’t know, that means running a 21 flat 200 and a 22 flat 200. Technically, he’d have to run a 20.8 open 200 then close with a 21.8 for a one second differential.
However, for Wariner to do that, he’d have to be able to actually break 20.0 in an open 200 sprint; a feat he has never done. I believe, if my facts are right, that there are only three men who have run both a sub 44 and a sub 200. One of them was the great Michael Johnson. The most recent was LaShawn Merritt.
The one bright spot? USA men finished gold through bronze in the 400 with David Neville finishing the sweep.
My last issue is this. Lauryn Williams said that someone must have a voodoo doll out there to get team USA. However, is there really a jinx?
Why then did the men’s and women’s relay teams have their bibs handwritten in Sharpie, rather than printed nicely like all the other teams? Let the conspiracy theory begin.
i ran track (poorly) back in the day and let me tell you it seemed like ALL we did was practice the hand-off. it was a matter of jogging 5 maybe 7 yards and handing it over. it was like that for 45-90 minutes of a 3 – 4 hour practice. we alternated between jogging and running as fast as we could to simulate racing conditions.
it was painful to see the teams drop the baton. i know it’s about who’s the fastest, but there’s a part of me that believes the relays are also about strategy and TEAMWORK.
Hey i have a very big question.. well im a track runner and im drop n my mile time like its nothing! I want to make the usa team for the up in comeing olympics for the 1500m how do i do that
It truly depends on your current skill level, training regimen, performance times, and age. I’ve seen people improve from 4:59 to 4:35 in a year time. However, that doesn’t mean I expect them to drop another 24 seconds the following year. That would make them run a 4:11 which would place them in the top 1% of the nation for high school athletes. It just doesn’t work that way.