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Dwight Stones ...
At the Prefontaine Classic (5/28/06)
ANOTHER LANDMARK IN DISTANCE RESURGENCE
Four years ago, when the national outdoor championships were being held in Palo Alto and covered by ESPN, then Stanford Coach Vin Lananna came up to me in the hotel and said he wanted to talk to me about the future of the American distance running program. I had been quoted as saying that I wasn’t expecting the U.S. to break its drought of no medals above 800 meters since 1976 in the upcoming Athens Olympics.
Coach Lananna took some exception with my position and wanted to discuss it with me. I was only too happy to listen to his point of view because he was clearly making an impact on the collegiate scene with his male and female middle distance/distance groups in both cross country and track and his and coach Frank Gagliano’s “Farm Team” was also starting to make some noise amongst post-collegians.
He started out by acknowledging that I had every reason to be skeptical in my outlook because the previous 25 years had been less than positive for this country in terms of distance strength at major international invitationals and championships. He wanted to let me know in detail about the progress that was being made and that I might want to start promoting the potential that America was on the rebound and ready to start winning medals again.
One of the big reasons why I’ve been able to continue in the television business for nearly 30 years is because it’s my style and personality to call things as I see them. I was competing in the high jump final when Frank Shorter won 2 Olympic marathon medals (Gold in ’72 – Silver in ’76). At the 1972 Olympic Games I watched from the stands as Steve Prefontaine tried desperately to hold on to a medal in the 5,000 meters, only to be kicked down the final 20 meters by Ian Stewart of Great Britain for the final podium place.
Since retiring in 1988 I’ve watched and covered every Olympic Games and World Championships only to be consistently disappointed by potential unrealized by Americans running distances above 800 meters. There was no reason for me to think that the turn of the new century was going to bring anything different that would change my way of thinking.
Well, I’m willing to admit when I’m wrong but with a bit of a caveat. We all know that the U.S. managed to win medals in both the men’s and women’s marathon at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Meb Keflezghi and Deena Drossin have gone on beyond those Games and been very successful at major, international marathons including Drossin winning the recent London Marathon in a new American record time.
We’ve also adopted two-time Olympic 1500 meter medalist Bernard Lagat, formerly of Kenya but a naturalized citizen who can represent the U.S. at the 2008 Beijing Games. There’s also Abdi Abdirhamin who has chased Meb and led others to times that many of them thought they were incapable of running.
Are you noticing a pattern here, at least on the men’s side of the ledger? Lagat, Keflezghi, Abdirhamin, are all transplants from East African nations where we know great distance running athletes abound. Of course we’re happy and proud to have those athletes representing the U.S. in the most important meets in the world, but I think there are a lot of people who won’t be satisfied until we produce a home-grown runner who can make an Olympic impact again.
I grew up idolizing Jim Ryun which made me want to know more about the history of great runners in this country. It’s how I got “hooked” on track & field as a fan. Watching track meets on television in the 1960’s was how I decided what I wanted to do with my own athletic career. I got goose bumps watching the sprint duels between Charlie Greene, Jim Hines, and Mel Pender. I knew Tommie Smith was someone special way before the “Black Power Salute.” Randy Matson, Bob Beamon, and Bob Seagren were setting world records and winning gold medals and they were who I wanted to emulate.
Of course the other legendary distance runner from that time period around the late 60s and early 70s is the one who last Sunday’s meet was named after. Many of today’s average young distance runners know who Ryun and Shorter are, but ALL of them seem to know who the late Steve Prefontaine was. And last Sunday’s Prefontaine Classic epitomized the points I talked about above.
On the one hand, you had the mixed bag in the Bowerman Mile. That race featured the hugely talented, but sometimes up-and-down Alan Webb – five years after he rocked the nation by breaking Ryun’s high school record in this race – contending into the last lap, but then pulling up, stepping off the track, then back on to stride in over four minutes. Yet, ahead of Webb, it was Lagat powering down the final stretch to take the measure of arguably the three best milers in the world: Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain, and his former Kenyan countrymen, Alex Kipchirchir and Daniel K. Komen. It was certainly his strongest statement on the track since he gained citizenship.
Incidentally, it seems strange to say “best milers in the world” without including World Record Holder and multi-Olympic and World Champion Hicham El Guerrouj, but of course the newly retired Moroccan was instead doing a lap of honor during the heart of Sunday’s downpour, giving back to the crowd that cheered him in Eugene. In fact, he became the only runner to break 3:50 at Pre ahead of Webb’s 3:53 in 2001.
But I digress. The counterpoint to the mile was the 2-mile, which may have featured a Kenyan 1-2, but surely was wildly cheered by every young distance fan for the gutsy running of Adam Goucher, Daniel Lincoln, and Matt Tegankamp. The comebacking Goucher, showing his best form in years this spring, just missed Webb’s American record as the trio ran 8:12, 8:13, and 8:16, respectively. The fans I mentioned above were no doubt thrilled to see Goucher, long touted as one of the few Olympic medal hopefuls, pushing back toward the world stage and the younger Lincoln and Tegankamp also well in the chase.
Tegankamp may have actually been the most inspirational. Here’s a runner from Missouri who was a Foot Locker finalist and 8:50s 2-miler back in 1999-2000 – good enough to impress, but maybe without that otherworldly talent of Webb or Dathan Ritzenhein. But after a mostly solid career as a team player for the Wisconsin Badgers, he’s rising to the next level. Very nice, indeed.
But whether it’s Teg, Goucher, Lagat, Webb, or someone else, the next generation of American distance stars need to be inspired to greatness by anyone wearing the red, white, and blue, because that’s where it starts. Winning becomes a habit and when you’re around winners it’s hard not to fall into that pattern.
So my advice to each of these potential champions is to embrace the fact that you’re running during a time when the heavens may be trying to align behind a resurgence in American distance running fortunes and you should hitch your wagon to whatever force takes you in that direction.