{"id":28705,"date":"2011-08-27T20:13:13","date_gmt":"2011-08-28T03:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trackandfieldnews.com\/?p=28705"},"modified":"2019-03-27T20:15:53","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T03:15:53","slug":"from-the-editor-october-2011-19-days-in-augusttrack-goes-into-stealth-mode","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trackandfieldnews.com\/from-the-editor-october-2011-19-days-in-augusttrack-goes-into-stealth-mode\/","title":{"rendered":"From The Editor \u2014 October 2011: 19 days in August\u2026track goes into stealth mode"},"content":{"rendered":"

HERE ARE SOME NUMBERS TO CHEW ON: Blanka Vla\u0161i\u0107 40; Andreas Thorkildsen 33; Yelena Isinbaeva 29; Usain Bolt 28; Asafa Powell 27; David Rudisha 20.<\/p>\n

No, those aren\u2019t the ages of the six superstar athletes I\u2019d consider to be the sport\u2019s biggest draws at the moment.<\/p>\n

No, at what should be the peak of the summer season\u2014when track & field is supposed to be making its biggest impact on the sporting planet\u2019s collective consciousness\u2014that\u2019s how many days each will go between his\/her last Diamond League appearance and first appearance in the World Championships. Really.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s an average of 29.5 days (a couple more if you actually look at their first significant competition in Daegu, in the finals)\u2014a month!\u2014in which they\u2019re not on the stage.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year (From The Editor, May<\/a>) this column was critical of the DL\u2019s failure in its first season to deliver the highly touted sequence of major matchups. Now that the second season is all but done, the matchupping, if anything, has been worse than last year.<\/p>\n

But I consider that a secondary sin compared to how the 2011 schedule has worked out. T&FN got dire warnings from agents back at the beginning of the year that meaningful non-DL competition on the European Circuit was becoming an endangered species. And boy, were they spot-on.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the fault of the DL\/IAAF that a shrinking economy is helping kill off the secondary meets. We understand the economics. But how can you allow\/promote a big-league schedule that finds no invitational competition worthy of the name for any athletes for 19 days in August?!<\/p>\n

After London wrapped up on August 6, that was it. Ahh, but remember that the DL concept splits the events, so by definition, about half of the athletes don\u2019t have a DL event to compete in at every stop on the circuit, so you have to go back to Stockholm on July 29 for their last shot. Then you toss in the fact that the last women\u2019s HJ was in Monaco on July 22, and it\u2019s one of the last events in a 9-day WC schedule and suddenly you have Vla\u0161i\u0107 gone for 40 days.<\/p>\n

Some say the gap isn\u2019t much worse than in the past. Maybe not, but it\u2019s the worst ever. From the last Grand Prix meet to the WC in \u201907 it was 17 days; Beijing \u201908 was 16; for the \u201909 WC it was 14. Understanding that the athletes want\/need some R&R (and for most, adjustment across many time zones), I can live with 14 off. That means only one weekend without a meet. This year\u2019s means two off, and that\u2019s not acceptable.<\/p>\n

In a crowded sports schedule, track has a tough time getting up to speed as is. Why just as we\u2019re starting to achieve critical mass would you allow yourself to come to a crashing halt? It\u2019s akin to throwing a 6-hour intermission into the middle of a basketball game.<\/p>\n

The good news is that next year the gap will drop all the way back to 13 days, so obviously it can be done. Of course, if there\u2019s one year in four where we can survive without ongoing coverage it\u2019s the Olympic year. In the runup to London there will be plenty of buzz no matter what the gap.<\/p>\n

The IAAF needs to better flex its muscle in deciding when meets are held.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HERE ARE SOME NUMBERS TO CHEW ON: Blanka Vla\u0161i\u0107 40; Andreas Thorkildsen 33; Yelena Isinbaeva 29; Usain Bolt 28; Asafa… 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-28705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFrom The Editor \u2014 October 2011: 19 days in August\u2026track goes into stealth mode - 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-2011-19-days-in-augusttrack-goes-into-stealth-mode\/\" \/>\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 2011: 19 days in August\u2026track goes into stealth mode - Track & Field News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"HERE ARE SOME NUMBERS TO CHEW ON: Blanka Vla\u0161i\u0107 40; Andreas Thorkildsen 33; Yelena Isinbaeva 29; Usain Bolt 28; Asafa... 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