Runnerville

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At long last Sammy Wanjiru, the Japanese-trained Kenyan, brought order to the marathon world by winning his nation’s first Olympic gold over the classic distance.  But at the same time the tiny Kikuyu tribesman from the Central Highlands city of Nakuru might just as well have been an alien presence landing in Beijing.  That’s how much a re-ordering his 2:06:32 victory in the Olympic Marathon in 85 degree heat and high humidity created.  His run has completely altered the concept of what is possible over 42.2 kilometers.  Now, for the first time, the idea of a sub two-hour marathon has come onto the horizon as a realistic possibility.

No  longer an endurance event, the marathon has become no more than an extended 10,000 meters run in the wake of Wanjiru’s performance.  His laughable series of splits and surges throughout the brutal day just add further disbelief to the historic performance.  In both substance and style Wanjiru flew unperturbed through the zephers of every precept of marathon running.  4:41 for the first mile?!  Are you nuts?  Maybe in London or Berlin or Chicago, the flat, fast big city courses where pacers and cool weather create ideal record attempt racing.  But in championship racing profligage spending of energy would come back to haunt the intrepid for sure in the final 5K. Except it didn’t in Wanjiru’s case. 

1:02:38 through the half!?  Only a handful of marathons had ever registered a faster opening half, and certainly none on an Olympic stage much less on a hot, humid day.  They added no more than a mild irritant to the 5′4″, 112 pound dynamo who now casts his sight on the marathon world record to add to his half-marathon and world junior record over 10,000 meters.

Of the top ten marathon times ever run, Haile Gebrselassie’s 2:05:56 from Berlin 2006 stands out even more than his world record 2:04:26 from Berlin 2007.  The temperature in Berlin `06 was 72 degrees, making it the sole top ten performance run in conditions greater than 60 degrees.  Now add 10-plus extra degrees, high humidity, an Olympic field, no designated, hand picked pace setters, and wild surging.  The mind reels. 

Wanjiru entered the Olympic stadium not on his knees, but in full flight.  He picked it up over the final lap!!!  He wasn’t diminished, just out of territory to run.  He had plenty of gas left in his unimagineable tank.  Yonas Kifle of Eritrea, one of the intrepid five who formed the break away pack through halfway, faded like a real human being would be expected to in the second half.  He completed his Olympic journey in 2:20:03, good for 36th place.  

And let us not forget Morocco’s Jaouad Gharib, the two-time world champion and close runner up in the Chicago heat bath from last October.  Gharib’s brave silver medal in 2:07:16 also shattered the long-standing Olympic record 2:09:21 set by Portugal’s Carlos Lopes in L.A. `84.  Gharib was dropped at least five times throughout the course of the day, yet each time he managed to claw his way back into contention, except after Wanjiru’s final move at 35K when Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga also let go the tow line.

Americans Dathan Ritzenhein and Ryan Hall both acknowledged the temerity of Wanjiru’s run. 

“To run 2:06:32 in this is incredible,” said Ritz, whose left hamstring and calf cramped badly just past 30 kilometers, but who held on to finish 9th in 2:11:59.

“They went out really fast,” said Hall, tenth in 2:12:33, hoping for better after his 2:06:16 at the London Marathon earlier this year. “I thought it was way too hard, at least for me. I would have died if I went out that fast.”

Then, both Hall and Americ’a third Olympic marathoner, Brian Sell (22nd in 2:16:07) tempered the brutality of the conditions.

“It was definitely warm out there, but not as bad as I was expecting.” - Ryan Hall.

“It was not as bad as I had thought. It wasn’t stifling, but it wasn’t easy.” - Brian Sell.

So, was it the brutal 85 degrees we kept hearing on NBC or not?  Either way, 21 year-old Wanjiru is the undisputed new king of the marathon world, if, that is, he’s even from this world.

END 

From Gallup Poll

Television executives are nothing if not followers, and what they follow is the money.  So when 35% of women name swimming as their favorite Olympic sport (and only 8% track and field), it is not surprising that NBC chooses to replace track with swimming in the key primetime viewing hours.

With track mired in a cycle of drug accusations and disgraced heroes, and swimming sporting Michael Phelps and Dara Torres in the Olympic Q-factor ratings, perhaps none of this should be a surprise. 

At least USATF’s new CEO Doug Logan has stepped out vigorously with an anti-doping agenda.  I was pleased by his tone in his latest blog on USATF.org which spoke of the need to triple USATF’s annual operating budget ($15 million) to bring track back in line in the business world of modern sport.  The trend lines in Olympic interest point to the ailment.  Now all we need to find are the solutions. Read more…

Well, we’re one day away.  “Four years from now” is almost here, and I’m giddy.

If all goes as planned, my wife and I will be attending an Opening Ceremonies viewing party tomorrow night.  We didn’t plan it; some friends of ours did.  What a great idea to generate some excitement around the Games.  It’s probably not too late to send out some last-minute e-vites® to folks in your area, cook up some finger foods, stock the fridge with beverages, and watch the opening festivities in style.  Who wants to view the triumph of the human spirit alone, anyway?  That’s just depressing…

I just heard that Lopez Lomong (who has a pretty cool Web site … is this the new trend?), the former Sudanese “Lost Boy”-turned-1,500-meter Olympian, will carry the American flag.  Now that’s something I can’t wait to see.

And if tomorrow night is too soon to throw a shindig together, then plan something for another evening or two during the Olympics.  Maybe broadening the reach of our sport (and the Olympic spirit in general) is as much a grassroots movement as it is organizational policy.

A full debrief of the Olympic Trials with special guest Coach Vin Lananna (co-chair of the Eugene ‘08 organizing committee and director of track & field at the University of Oregon). Toni and Matt kick off the show with their assessment of the Trials - the highs and lows, surprises and disappointments - before bringing on Coach Lananna, who gives a candid recap of the show.What lived up to his expectations? What can be improved for 2012? How do we make the sport more professional? Can USATF succeed in Indianapolis? This and more on the Toni & Matt Show.

 Another sell-out crowd jammed into Hayward Field tonight for Day Six of the 2008 Trials.  Expecting fireworks on this Fourth of July with the semifinals of the men’s and women’s 1500 meters, along with the finals in the women’s 5000 and the men’s 10,000 - track crack for the Eugene distance junkies - the mood in the old barn was instead somewhat subdued compared with the other nights’ action.  Maybe it’s expecting too much for the Eugene fans to keep rising to new heights of frenzy, but though appreciative, there wasn’t the ferocity tonight we’d seen on night one with the women’s 10,000 meter final, or Monday night for the men’s 800. Still, it was somewhat surprising.

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 Night Four at the 2008 Olympic Trials had all the potential for hearts a thumpin’.  The men’s and women’s 800 meter finals, and the men’s 5000 final to close the show.  It may be a little choppy, but here’s how it played out in real time at Hayward Field on a glorious summer’s evening in Eugene.

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Damned if they do. Damned if they don’t.  What with the current state of affairs in the sport, and the standing USOC mandate that USATF re-organize it’s bloated bureaucracy, anything controversial here at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon is sure to bring out the boo-birds for USATF. 

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 So when did Track Town USA turn into Sprintville America?  Suddenly, by all the evidence.  Day Two of the U.S. Olympic Track Trials in Eugene saw the greatest quarterfinal round in sprint history, on a track renown for it’s distance running exploits.  With temperatures in the mid-nineties, an aiding wind just inside the allowable limit, and another amped up crowd busting through the gates at Hayward Field, the three 100 meter men’s quarters resulted in new American, collegiate, high school, U.S. and world junior records.  Wow! Read more…

Toni as host of and Matt as featured presenter at the first annual Running Film Festival.

(hat tip to Katie at RunningTimes.com)

Matt will be presenting this subject matter (but not this video)…