That is Bob Hodge’s closing piece for RunBlogRun on the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials. It’s a fantastic piece, as soon as I added TrackTown again in (spell test had modified it to crackdown). Thanks, Bob. To learn extra of Bob’s musings, please go to: http://bobhodge.us/
Olympic Trials & Tribulations Musings on 2024
It’s over.
I’ve spent eleven days on this Eugene OR South College Neighborhood Air B&B, strolling forwards and backwards to the massive monitor meet within the new monolith stadium, which appears to tower over the instant space. Or is it solely as a result of I nonetheless keep in mind the previous Haywood area, which appeared a extra pure match within the neighborhood.
We are able to speculate what Invoice Bowerman, the legendary Observe Coach on the College, might need thought to see his beloved monitor and grandstand obliterated. We all know that his biographer and protege, Kenny Moore, was not in favor of the brand new facility even within the planning phases.
This Kenny Moore quote encapsulates how I felt strolling each day via my South College neighborhood to the massive monitor meet:
In an announcement to the Eugene Metropolis Council, Bowerman biographer Kenny Moore described the Hayward Area design as a “perversely ignorant remembering of the character and desires of the person” and mentioned Bowerman “would cringe on the peak of his honorary tower, it seeming to indicate the monitor program as in some way above our nice educational college.”
I’ve combined emotions, having spent appreciable time now within the new facility. It definitely has many trendy enhancements and offers america not less than one high quality facility, although there are a number of others with potential. This facility in Oregon has had a lock on america Olympic Observe and Area Trials for the previous 5 variations. I’m wondering if that is greatest for our sport.
I’m pondering of historic Franklin Area in Philadelphia as a risk. The truth is, it did have a component on this 12 months’s trials when younger James Corrigan, needing a qualifying time for the Olympic Video games and solely a matter of days to attain it, went to a meet being held at Franklin Area, the place they added a steeple occasion and achieved the mandatory time.
Los Angeles Coliseum ought to get the trials in 2028, on condition that they’re internet hosting the Olympics, however nobody shall be stunned to see them again in Eugene because the LA group has proven no real interest in internet hosting.
Nike constructed the brand new Hayward and is the first sponsor of USATF. What had been the psychographics? I’m wondering if some other neighborhood with an ample facility will even trouble to bid on future trial occasions.
https://trackandfieldnews.com/usa-olympic-trials-history/
From a again porch close to Hendrick’s Park, I’ve a view of the town, the brand new Hayward, and the tower with the Pre-Bowerman likeness—to not be confused with the Eiffel Tower. In time, the ability will turn into part of the scene, melding in as previous Hayward fades from most recollections.
As I experience the I5 as much as Portland, I think about Invoice Bowerman and the lads of Oregon as Kenny Moore illuminated this fantasy of Bowerman starting together with his ancestors’ arrival in his glorious e book “Bowerman and the Males of Oregon.”
Touring—Fort Clatsop, the place the Lewis & Clark expedition spent the winter Dalles rapids via the gorge and remembering the natives— authentic males of Oregon and Bowerman’s ancestors the ranch envisioned of his childhood —a specific ethos.
It’s implied and remembered all through the brand new stadium imbued in it—however principally, it’s historical past, and that is new. A slick manufacturing to the extent of huge skilled sports activities. Athletics deserves a seat at that desk.
The Los Angeles Coliseum definitely has a historical past with Athletics a monitor meet that includes Paaavo Nurmi again in April 1925 to start with and plenty of historic occasions since together with two Olympic Video games. Sufficient to make Eugene’s Hayward paltry by comparability.
So why all of this fantasy concerning self-proclaimed Observe City USA? Within the winter of 2023-24, Boston deserved the TrackTown title with the excellent amenities now out there at Boston College, Harvard, and the magnificent monitor at New Steadiness, which hosted this 12 months’s NCAA Championships.
In different phrases—we’d like many cities to hold our sport again to the promised land of the mainstream again from the perimeter of relevance that our governing our bodies right here within the USA and World Athletics have led us. We’d like variety of place—regardless of how nice Eugene’s TrackTown may be, our sport wants extra, and there are many precedents to again up the assertion that we’d like each city and metropolis to turn into a TrackTown, which is what our sport ought to be working towards.
Hundreds of fine folks and devoted coaches, many at the highschool and faculty degree, are doing this groundwork. I used to be lucky to satisfy up with a number of of the legends of the Massachusetts Excessive College monitor at these trials and listen to their colourful tales. They’ll encourage, however there must be a way– avenues to assist the post-collegiate s and a really skilled sport with the governing organizations working for the athletes, not for themselves, as USATF CEO was paid a whopping $3.8 million in 2021, an outrage and his 2022 $1.3 million nonetheless extreme.
All this whereas USATF was dropping cash. He was rewarded this 12 months with a brand new five-year contract extension. He additionally signed a $500 million sponsorship settlement with Nike via 2040. Good job.
At a uncommon information convention, USA Observe & Area chief govt Max Siegel welcomed the brand new curiosity and funding within the sports activities and pledged cooperation. He mentioned he had heard the gripes about holding each Olympic Trial in Eugene however praised their experience. He mentioned he was “fairly optimistic” about rising the recognition of the game on the street to LA28.
Eugene, Oregon, USA
June 21-30, 2024, photograph by KevMofoto
Actually?
Another credible bidders, together with Mt SAC, had been awarded the 2020 trials in 2017 however had the rug pulled from underneath them when USATF canceled that settlement and later awarded the Trials to Eugene.
https://www.sgvtribune.com/2018/05/01/mt-sac-loses-2020-olympic-track-and-field-trials/
Mt SAC was handled poorly, which has discouraged others from pursuing internet hosting future trials.
Lastly, I’m wondering concerning the credibility of the trials. A lot of the sporting public believes selecting our Olympians is essentially the most honest, and the highest three in every occasion get to go. Nevertheless, the convoluted Olympic qualification technique of World Athletics makes this concept a sham, as it’s typically not as easy and clear-cut as we’d all prefer it to be.
And in addition lastly, Olympism seeks to create a lifestyle by mixing sport with tradition, schooling, and worldwide cooperation. Variety is on the coronary heart of athletics, a significant power, a bond. We must always take heed no matter nation wealth and fame and superstar, many international locations —-only one planet.