Track and Field Blogs - Justin Kopunek

I know its long, but a year is a lot of time to cover.

Every four years we experiance a leap year, a Presidential Election and the Summer Olympics. The former most has little effect on us, but the latter two consume a large portion of what we saw, read, heard and discussed in '08. In four years time I will still remeber Misty May and Kerri Walsh curb-stomping the Chinese Beach Volleyball duo in the rain, Phelps having his ass saved by his teammate Jason Lezak, the term "the redeam team", the questionably aged Chinese gymnasts, every ridiculous comment Sarah Palin made and the celebration in the streets of NYC where I live when Obama was announced Presedent Elect. One thing I wish to forget, however, is the dissappointment I felt during the track and field portion of the OG.

For professional track, 2008 started like any other, as 2007 left us on a the highest note since I've been alive. Alan Webb was performing like maybe he really was the second coming (of Jim Ryun). 1:43 (World #2) 3:30 (WL) 3:46 (AR). Worlds in Osaka were a revelation for US track and field and the Men's Marathon OT in Central Park gave us a taste of what was to come in 2008. Indoors had some notable performances, Lagat topped Mottram and Willis in the Wanamaker Mile at Millrose and?Ryan Hall ran the 2nd fastest marathon ever by an American in London. The US indoor championships saw teammates Tegenkamp and Solinsky go 1-2 in the 3k, KD and Symmonds finished a close 1-2 in the 800 (what's new), and Shannon Rowbury showed in the 3k that she is ready to take the reigns as the premier US mid-D female. Being an Olympic year, most athletes skipped the World Indoor Champs, making the results quite lame, but who cares, right? The Olympic Trials were only a few months away.

So early outdoors was?mostly chasing standards for the trials and the games.?There were?few notable performances, but most of the action was from college runners. Webb looked flat, Sanya Richards and Allyson Felix established themselves as the sprinters to beat, Shalane Flanagan ran an AR in her 10k debut at Stanford, LaShawn Merritt and Jeremy Wariner began an interesting rivalry and Solinsky looked great at Pre in the 2mile running just 3 seconds off Lagat and beating Mottram by 3 seconds. The Olympic Trials roll around and it a is everything a track fan can ask for. The US is has 3 athletes with the A standard in pretty much every event, Abdi is jumping the the water pit, US track's new golden boy, Andrew Wheating makes the Olympic Team, Symmonds finally beats KD, and Gay runs the fastest all weather 100 ever. There were some disappointments., however.?KD and Solinsky paid the price for taking the pace and leading, Lauren Fleshman, who had recently run sub 15, placed 5th, 2004 Olympian Adam Goucher couldnt make it a family affair in the 10k, Gay pulls up injured in the 200, and Webb, well..yeah. That being said, it was a great, exciting, well run meet.

On to the Olympics. Things start well with Flanagan getting bronze with a new AR in the fasest women's 10k race?ever (top 2 under 30). But after that, I dont know what happened. Every favorite seemed to bomb. It was like the Chinese were poisening all of our athletes that NBC had in a promo. I know this isn't the case, but something just wasn't right. Look at our reigning '07?World champions versus how they did in Beijing;

Gay (100/200) Didnt make the finals/didnt qualify for the OG. Wariner (400) 2nd. Lagat (1500/5k) Didnt make finals/9th. Kerron Clement (400IH) 2nd, Brad Walker (PV) NH, Reese Hoffa (SP) 7th. Allyson Felix (200) 2nd.

Now some of these performances werent terrible, but just not their best. Add to that World Leaders/Top Seeds like Sanya Richards, Lolo Jones and Adam Nelson not performing well. The 4x1's both dropping the baton. Deana Kastor dropping out. Teg getting 13th after getting 4th in Osaka and Ryan Hall never being in the mix after all the excitement around his 2:06. The people who did win gold for the US were mostly suprises, like Dawn Harper, Angelo Taylor and Stephanie Brown Tafton. With so many let downs, even winning both 4x4's and Clay getting gold in the Decathlon was not enough to wash that bad taste out of people's mouths.

Was this justified though? So many of the athletes did not live up to the hype. The US still had the most medals and the most gold medals in track and field at the Games. Was it Osaka? No, but we still had the best track and field team out there. With Bolt having his Phelpsian Olympics and Dibaba and Bekele having insane 10k/5k doubles, it was hard to see that the US still has the best track team in the world. In an off year, we still were the best across the board, with sweeps in the men's 400 and 400IH as well as the 4x400 relays. Unfortunately, the incredible history the US has in track and field makes expectations high, and when our relay drops a baton or we get shut out of an event like the womens 100, the whole world notices. The up side is, the depth of our track program is our strength. Who beat reigning World champs Wariner and Clement? Americans. When Lolo Jones hit a hurdle and barely finished, who won that race? An American. And when Tyson Gay's injury?at the trials?keeps him?from being able to?make the finals of the 100?you have guys like Walter Dix, fresh out of college, stepping up to take bronze after only?placing 4th in the NCAA 100 a few months prior.

So we look to 2009 with promise. The World Athletics final showed that Lagat still has some gas in the tank and maybe his races in Beijing were really the result of?an achellies injury when he and Teg went 1-2 in the 3k. Rowbury ended a great season with a close 2nd at the 5th Ave Mile. The NYC marathon saw Kara Goucher running the fastest debut by an American Women and the men saw 4 Americans in the top 10 (none of which were on the Olympic marathon team). Overall, the Men's Olympic Marathon team was the 2nd best place-wise ever by a US team (9th, 10th, 22nd). For those who didnt make the Olympics in '08, I am hoping they can make it happen in '09. Solinsky has said in?multiple interviews that 2009 will give us his steeple debut, which is something to look forward to, as well as Andrew Rock who mentioned taking up the 400 IH. I am also hoping to see big things out of Chris Lukezic, Sean Quigley, Bobby Curtis, Molly Huddle, Josh Rohatinsky, Kyle Alcorn but most of all, Webb. Ritz is running London and Hall is going for the win in Boston, but that is all foreplay for the US Champs and the World Champs in Berlin.