{"id":28465,"date":"2003-11-01T15:25:00","date_gmt":"2003-11-01T23:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trackandfieldnews.com\/?p=28465"},"modified":"2019-03-27T15:26:24","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T22:26:24","slug":"from-the-editor-october-2003-paris-more-proof-that-the-u-s-trials-meets-need-to-be-moved-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trackandfieldnews.com\/from-the-editor-october-2003-paris-more-proof-that-the-u-s-trials-meets-need-to-be-moved-later\/","title":{"rendered":"From The Editor \u2014 October 2003: Paris\u2014more proof that the U.S. Trials meets need to be moved later"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOW MANY MEMBERS OF THE U.S. TEAM<\/strong> got seasonal bests during the World Championships competition in Paris? For the biggest meet of the year you\u2019d think the number would be high, but in reality, of the 92 American athletes who competed in individual events at the WC, a mere 14 (7 men, 7 women) reached high-water marks.<\/p>\n

Just for the record, here\u2019s the honor roll: Darvis Patton, Jerome Young, Steve Slattery, Chris Phillips, Terrence Trammell, Joey Woody, Kevin Eastler, Kelli White (twice), Torri Edwards, Gail Devers, Lauren Fleshman, Deena Drossin, Sandra Glover. (I omitted special case Anjanette Kirkland in these compilations.)<\/p>\n

Did you notice what major characteristic each of those athletes has in common? They\u2019re all track performers; not a field eventer to be found. How pathetic is that? Of course, given that the U.S. had one of its most feeble field-event showings ever\u2014a grand total of 2 medals, the lowest ever\u2014the effect-and-cause relationship isn\u2019t too hard to figure out.<\/p>\n

For those who might want to argue that the Paris conditions weren\u2019t conducive to maximal performance in the jumps or throws, allow me to jump up and throw this gem at you: of the 46 out of 48 field-event medals that non-Americans won, no fewer than 21 of them (46%) came courtesy of the athlete producing a seasonal best.<\/p>\n

Now it may be that the international coaching community has figured out peaking strategies\u2014both on the track and in the field\u2014better than their American counterparts, but I\u2019ll bet U.S. coaches would vigorously dispute that. And I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the villain here either. If a finger needs to be pointed, allow me to stab it at the timing of the Nationals. The USATF Championships were held 9 weeks before Paris. It would be one thing if the U.S. selection meet were a romp; it\u2019s not. Very few athletes can afford to come to town and put out anything less than 100%.<\/p>\n

Can you still be at 100% more than two months down the road? Apparently not, particularly if you\u2019re a typical U.S. team member, which means you\u2019re either very good (so you spend the interim trying to make money on the Circuit and can\u2019t tailor your training for the WC) or you\u2019re just average (which means that you can\u2019t find any competition, domestic or international, so even though you\u2019re free to train at will, you can\u2019t sharpen).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the Cold War all over again, but look who\u2019s threatening to boot the U.S. off the top rung of the medals ladder: Russia. We had 20 Paris podium positions; they had 19. But look deeper: we had three 4th-placers; they had nine. A few minor changes in performance here and there and suddenly the U.S. is a poor 2nd.<\/p>\n

Oh yes, and when were the Russian Championships? Two weeks before Paris. That in and of itself isn\u2019t definitive proof of anything, but the empirical evidence certainly seems to suggest something to me. Of course, the Russians also had the advantage of some stars getting spots without a qualifying meet, but that\u2019s another can of worms.<\/p>\n

Next year the gap between the Olympic Trials and the Olympic Games is a more manageable 5 weeks, but it\u2019s still too long. We can\u2019t do anything about that timeframe now, but when \u201905 comes around and we\u2019re selecting another WC team, I hope somebody in the corridors of power looks into moving the Nationals later in the schedule.<\/p>\n

The way the system is currently working, USATF goes out and builds the best looking damned car on the block in June but when August rolls around there just isn\u2019t much gas in the tank and the body definitely needs a polish-job.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HOW MANY MEMBERS OF THE U.S. TEAM got seasonal bests during the World Championships competition in Paris? For the biggest… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2850,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFrom The Editor \u2014 October 2003: Paris\u2014more proof that the U.S. Trials meets need to be moved later - Track & Field News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trackandfieldnews.com\/from-the-editor-october-2003-paris-more-proof-that-the-u-s-trials-meets-need-to-be-moved-later\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From The Editor \u2014 October 2003: Paris\u2014more proof that the U.S. Trials meets need to be moved later - Track & Field News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"HOW MANY MEMBERS OF THE U.S. TEAM got seasonal bests during the World Championships competition in Paris? 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