Good Morning from OMAHA,I have a complete post from yesterday but I am unable to get internet service in the hotel Crowne Plaza , to transfer my post from the word doc to trackmom. I will try and catch up later today,these public computers are hard to get to once the youth athletes get here : ) HAVE A GREAT DAY HOPEFULLY I WILL TALK TO YOU SOON!
Lauren and Jannete run the 200m today…. Go Quiet Fire!!
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Imagine a day when a line may be drawn under every world record in the record book. Would it be a fresh start for athletics, or an unfair measure on legitimate champions? Do we over emphasizes the performance measurement ? Should we focus more on the actual competition of our youth athletes, not just the record breaking potential of our youth athletes? Does the non record breaking race take away from the excitement we have for our youth athletes? I agree to a great degree with Reynaldo Neimiah’s view point(see below) What do you think? ”Spikes The New Heroes of Athletics“ interviewed a few athletes recently.See what they have to say……..
Renaldo Nehemiah (USA) – Former world 110m hurdles record-holder
“Times have destroyed the sport and the pursuit of times and for me they should be irrelevant because when you go to the Olympics Games the only thing that people care about is who won the gold, silver and the bronze. They really don’t remember the times. The foundation of the sport was always about competition, but the foundation of the sport today is not about competition, it’s all about performance. We’ve lost sight of performance and what made this sport go. As soon as the athletes realise they are not being incentivised by performance the true essence about what the sport is all about will come back. Fans will be embraced again because there will see competition. The performance is in the competition. It is not in the clock.”
Sanya Richards (USA) The two-time Golden League jackpot winner and 400m sprinter
“That is such a touchy subject and so hard to say. The world record is what it is and if I want to be remembered as the best quarter miler in the world that I have to surpass it. I do think that if I did (go ahead with Year Zero) we would have a new dimension and excitement because people love to watch world records because world records are broken so rarely, so in that respect it is cool proposal. As regards taking existing world records away I don’t know how fair that would be because the athletes were never caught.”
Greg Foster (USA) – Three-time former world 110m hurdles champion
“I’m kind of for it and kind of against it. I speak personally that not everyone has used steroids. I can honestly say that and believe it. Unfortunately, they have been some that have gained financially as well as athletically. It is kind of hard for those who have not, but we have no way of knowing that. It is not a bad idea but it is a tough decision to make. Being an athlete and loving the sport I cannot believe that everyone was cheating. I know my team-mates and myself I can only speak for those that are around. They are some world records that look like being there for a long time to come. But how do we know that these up and coming athletes are going to be clean? With science the way it is people will always think of bigger and better ways of cheating.”
Great question and fun debate. But there were a good number of hard working athletes who would be robbed by simply wiping out records, because they would not get an opportunity to set a new record.
Wiping out the current world records would wipe out a big part of the sports history. Some of the history is good, and some of the history is not-so good but it all comes as a part of the sport.
This sort of action would probably only serve to place even more emphasis on times rather than competition–which Renaldo summed up well.
Here are just a few names that quickly come to mind are: Michael Johnson, Jackie Joyner Kersee, Sergey Bubka, Hicham El Guerrouj, Wilson Kipketer.
Jay HIcks
Editor
PreraceJitters.com
I’m not sure if the answer is as simple as the question. Personal times should be more important to the young athlete than their place in a competition. As a coach, I can always find a race for my athlete to win and just as easily find one for them to lose. Doing better than they did before is a more difficult task and that should be the goal of the athlete and the expectation of the coach.
As a fan however, I always want to see a great race. As most of us know the heats are often more exciting than the finals. When done properly the lowest seeded races can produce as much excitement as the meeting of the champions. This is what makes our sport so special. We can manufacture excitement, create competition and thereby provide all of the excitement and joy that has always been there for us.
What performance enhancing drugs have done is make chasing someone elses time more important than chasing your own. In the final analysis Everything about the sport of Athletics should be personal. Athletes against the clock and in pursuit of their goal of being the best that they can be. How we measure that for posterity is with the clock.
I like to tell my athletes that the fans will probably not remember your time for as long as they will remember who won the race but you will always remember your time because that is your yardstick and measure of success.
I guess the race is for the fans and the times are for you.
Ron Jackson