This has been a hectic and exhausting week, but it has also been wonderful.  The Chinese food has been superb, but none of the restaurants had Chow Mein, Chop Suey nor General Tsao’s Chicken.  Those are all American inventions. 

AMERICAN MANGLED…
We’ve been privileged to eat at the Press lunchroom, and some of the English descriptions are priceless. To wit:  Unwearied Effort However Diced Chicken, Burns the Eggplant, Usually Assorted, Homely Restaurant, Every Squid, Boiled Fresh Cookies, Crab Willow, The Hairtail, and perhaps the best, Steep the fragrant hot chafing dish of pepper and mix menus – along with others I can’t remember. 

WHAT HAPPENED…
 … to the American team?  Before you start using the word “chokers,” you should look at the situation with an open mind.  Look at the length of the season for our kids, most started in late fall, getting ready for indoor track.  The distance runners go back to August!  Now that’s a long time for ANYONE to stay in shape.  The Elite runners who compete on the European circuit start getting ready in March.  Our championships were at the end of June.  Very few of the team members had anyone to work with them over the summer. 
Most college coaches were busy recruiting.  The American team’s Head Coach returned to the US from a recruiting trip ONE week prior to the team’s departure.  Many of the kids worked out on their own without much rhyme nor reason.  Thus, far too many arrived here in less than optimum shape.

Now you may look upon this next as an excuse, but believe me it’s not.  The humidity here is brutal.  One day the temperature was 86, while the humidity was 88.  That drained us; imagine how it affected a kid trying to work out.

Not everyone likes Chinese food.

Beijing is a great city, BUT it has to have some of the most polluted air on the planet.  We all developed heavy coughs and I know some of the team had to be similarly affected.  You cannot perform at your best when you’re only feeling 75%.

However, the greatest detrimental factor has to be the ability to peak.  American kids have to peak for a) their conference meet, b) their state meet, c) the NCAA’s, d) the USATF National Juniors, e) this competition.  When I coached, I tried to get my kids to peak for one meet.  For some kids it was the league meet, for others the states.  For Sarah Bowman, whom I had the pleasure of coaching, it was the World Jrs and the Pan-Am Juniors.  But she was the greatest high school distance runner of all-time and had the luxury of doing that.  Making the team was not a problem.  For most of our athletes, that wasn’t the case.  Some were psychologically spent.

THEIR SYSTEM vs OUR SYSTEM…
Now before you start bombarding me with e-mails, please note that the following is NOT a knock…well, may be it is…on our coaches.  We are one of the few nations in the world that has an athletic system based upon high school coaching and competition.  Too many track and field coaches rte football and/or basketball coaches who take the track job to earn a little more money.  Admittedly, some try hard but their primary focus is never t&f, but rather football/basketball.  Thus, many kids with great potential never have that potential developed. 
Now contrast our system with that of most of the rest of the world.  When an athlete shows any ability, they join an athletic club.  From that point on, they come under the tutelage of someone who is an outstanding coach.  Perhaps some of their club mates are world-class athletes.  The young athlete has the chance to train with others who are superior to him and his development is greatly accelerated. 
Doubt that?  Look at how many US collegiate teams are loaded with foreigners.  I can name several college assistant coaches who spend their entire summer abroad, ferreting out talent to bring back to their school.  They’ll tell you the foreign kids are 2-3-4 years ahead of our athletes.  Don’t get me started on how many American kids miss out on scholarships due to the above.  So our kids must overcome far more obstacles than their foreign counterparts.

All the above can be interpreted as “excuses” for the American’s poor showing.  I hope you don’t see it that way.  I don’t.

A SUPERB MARATHON…
He’ll never get the credit he deserves but T&FN editor GARRY HILL has done an absolutely terrific job announcing these championships.  On the job 8-10 hours daily and working alone, his enthusiasm has never faltered, his diction is superb and he’s added greatly to a great competition.  The crowd, the officials and the athletes owe a debt of gratitude to Hill for the superb job he’s done.

A PLEASANT SURPRISE…
The men’s 4x100mR just finished and the US took the silver.  Now, ordinarily that’s not particularly noteworthy, but…they should not have come close.  We had no finalist in either the 100 nor 200m, and our best sprinter, WILLIE PERRY, has been hampered throughout the meet with a nagging hamstring.  In contrast, Great Britain had two finalists in both sprints!  Where did the US find the ability to run so well?  Don’t look beyond JOHN DRUMMOND.   He took these four kids and turned them into a cohesive unit.  Had Perry been able to practice with the team (his handoff was only fair) they could easily have won.  The kids look up to him and he hasn’t let them down.

DONE…
The meet’s over, the medals handed out, the records set, hearts broken, spirits lifted to heights never dreamed of – and I’m both exhilarated and exhausted.  Seeing these great athletes and future Olympians is wonderfully exciting.  I’ve been very fortunate.  I’ve seen many of the greats when they were unspoiled youngsters.  I’ve visited cities no one had ever heard of, and loved their ambience and simple joyfulness.  Beijing was great, so was Nyrighaza.  I look forward to Bydgoszcz and, the good Lord willing, Moncton.  Either way, it’s been a great ride!