IAAF World Junior Championships
Aug 15-20, 2006 at Beijing, China
DyeStat on-site coverage
with Doug Speck, Jim Spier, Mike Kennedy and Mike Byrnes

Mike Byrnes
Day Five Musings

by Mike Byrnes

The heats of the 4x100 are running.  I mention this only to give you a direct quote from Gabby Mayo, “we’re going to win and set a new world record.”  Mayo will not run until the final.  “I’m tired from running all week,” she said, when asked why.  They’re off to a good start (pun NOT intended) as they just won their heat in 43.67, merely the second fastest run in the world this year!  In addition, the final handoff was almost disastrous and they lost probably 0.4 seconds.  The team: JENEBA TARMOH, ALEXANDRIA ANDERSON, ELIZABETH OLEAR and KENYANNA WILSON.   The WJR they’re chasing is their own mark of 43.29, set by the team of Bianca Knight, Tarmoh, Olear, and Mayo in Eugene Aug. 8. The previous WR of 43.38 was set at World Juniors in 1999 by the US team of Alexis Joyce, Amber Robinson, Aleah Williams & Ashlee Williams.

COACH JOHN DRUMMOND
No one thinks the USA’s Men’s team in the 4x100mR has a chance.  For the first time since the meet was held in October (in 2000) the US had no finalist in either of the two sprints.   That, coupled with the history of poor baton passing by this nation, and you have no reason for optimism.  But they have one thing going for them, JOHN DRUMMOND.  “He’s great and really knows what he’s talking about,” enthused Gabby Mayo in an earlier interview.  If anyone can take an underestimated group and help them achieve the unachievable, it is COACH John Drummond.

THEY DID WHAT…
The IAAF decided to make the sport more attractive in an attempt to lure more youngsters into T&F.  A laudable goal but, in the case of the Juniors, a poor one.  Right now, the progression ladder (PL) is geared to raise the hurdle heights to keep pace with the age of the athletes.  This also holds true for the weights.  The idea is that as you get older you can progress to a higher hurdle, heavier weight, etc.  To keep the progression ladder constant, it was determined to lower the hurdle height and decrease the weight of the implements for the Juniors, now age 16-19.  The only problem is that most of the Juniors have been going over the 42” barriers and throwing the heavier implements for some time.  That hurts those athletes due to the timing needed to perform well.  It also makes the records set by them in these championships somewhat meaningless.  There’s nothing to relate them to.  What’s John Hickey’s 19.49 (63-11.5) with a 6g, shot mean?  To a college athlete what’s the big deal about running 13.44 over high school hurdles?  “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” an old adage and one the IAAF should have heeded.

WHEN YOU’RE HOT…
You’re hot - and that’s what we were after eating at one of Beijing’s finest “Hot Pot” restaurants.  This is sort of like a fondue pot.  In the center of your table is a large hole with a gas burner beneath.  A large pot is brought to your table containing one edible substance and one ‘inedible’.  This latter contains every hot spice known to man.  Bright red with lots of hellacious herbs, it lies in wait.

You order whatever you want, beef, shrimp, lobster, chicken, etc and then cook it yourself in either of the two aforementioned substances.  The shrimp were brought on a skewer…still squirming… to be plunged into the boiling oil.  It was a treat, but not for the squeamish, with two of our group passing on this delicacy.  Naturally, I tried them in the red stuff. WRONG!  After 4-5 bites my lips were swollen, as was my tongue and despite copious quaffs of my favorite beverage, I still suffered.  However, it was REAL Chinese and the takeout from China Jade will never be the same.

A QUESTION OF PRIORITIES…
Far be it for me to question a coach, a profession of mine for 33 years, but as I watch the Women’s 3000m, I’m surprised at the absence of any Americans.  It’s not that none made the qualifying standard, seven did.  However, not one showed up to compete at the USATF Junior Championships, the qualifying meet for the World Junior competition.  Now, it should be emphasized that I do not know why these athletes bypassed the opportunity to compete for their country here in Beijing.  For some, it may have been the fatigue of a long season; for others, a decision, usually made by their coach, to concentrate in cross-country; and for others, who knows?  But, to me, the chance to represent one’s country at an international competition is a chance not to be missed.  Countless athletes have told me how they were choked up when they were issued their USA uniforms; I’ve seen kids crying on the awards podium when our national anthem was played; for a coach to deny an athlete this opportunity is, to me, the height of selfishness.  For an athlete to pass because they’re tired is to waste an opportunity that may never come again.

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World Junior Championships index page