Update September 11th ,2009 No change No calls No meetings about it yet : – (
First Wrtten Mid- August Last week after much back and force e-mail conversation. An e-mail was sent to Lionel Leach,USATF National Youth Chair by Henry and I.
The e-mail in part reads as follows:
“Mr.Leach,
My husband and I look forward to speaking with you.Unfortunately, We never received any e-mail with a CC to Mr.Logan regarding the status of this situation”
There was considerable frustration by all communicating parties and finally reaching a point of understanding and clarity, Lionel Leach expressed in a subsequent e-mail to Henry and I a public apology for inadvertently not contacting us regarding next steps to resolve this unfortunate situation. He was also willing to speak to us personally.
Mr. Leach’s responding e-mail in part reads as follows:
“Our youth program recognizes the seriousness of this issue and we don’t take this lightly. We will be discussing this at our youth executive board meeting and moving forward with a clear direction on handling this matter. I ask that we use your blog as a way to ask everyone involved to be patient while we are going through this process. As Chair of this Division, and I feel strong enough to say this for the rest of my fellow board members, take our job very seriously. We have to protect ALL of the girls involved and since they are minors, we have to be at a higher level of protection over these student/athletes.
Please rest assured that when this matter is concluded, you as well as the all of the other parents and athletes involved will be brought up to speed and will know what the over all resolution will be”.
Speaking to a friend that was in Berlin to watch her daughter compete,she reported that the track and field world from Berlin to Los Angeles, Youth to Elite have heard about the Long Jump. She heard that the coaches are happy that this youth event had brought attention to the need for a review and correction of the problem that lead to this mistake. All of Track and Field want a fair and just resolve, as well as some explanation as to how this could have happen and how it can be prevented in the future. I hope USATF will take advantage of this opportunity to restore the confidence we have previously in the measured and timed results.
Thanks for your continued e-mails and comments regarding the Long Jump Controversy. Things appear to be moving in a positive direction. We are grateful for all the support on getting to the bottom of this and awarding the medals appropriately. I hope and encourged that this wll happen,and Lauren will be recognized as the 2009 Bantam Girl Long Jump Champion.
The exact how of the process to restore the medal to Lauren and the correct medals,gold, silver and bronze and place holders 4th through 8th will occur.
Many people have written me as to how they think the process should be handled.Here is a scenarios that could possible happen. Understanding I am not priviledged to any knowledge of the rules and how they may apply in this situation.
1. Contact all parents of involved athletes and notify of th re-awardment of medals and placement and related information of the boads ultimate findings.
2. Award the Gold medal and all other medals to rightful athletes
3. Amend official results record to reflect correct top 8 finshers
3. Award the Loader family and Lauren L. with a special merit award for Competiting With Integrity
4. Present awards at December Convention or 2010 Junior Olympics in a separate ceremony
I continue to recieve comments and e-mails and below I have reprinted a few .I appreciate the hundreds of positive messages I have recieved and know that in no small measure your voice has weighed in to assist in correcting this situation.On behalf of Lauren and all the medalist of the 2009 Bantam Girl Long Jump Thanks for your time and concern.
Recent messages and comments to TrackMom.com
Alexa writes: “I think at this point the best way to get USATF’s attention would be to propose some changes in how Long Jump competitions are run using Lauren’s case as an example as how NOT to run a competition. From the first mistake to the last, what were things that could have been done differently? By proposing changes-and forcing the USATF to respond to the proposals-you might see movement. In other words, force USATF to admit that the event was not a perfect event. I’d like to see a write up not just of what went wrong, but what SHOULD have been done at each stage of the ordeal. Maybe the things that should have been done aren’t part of the official procedure [yet]. Since the case has been laid out pretty clearly, and nothing has happened, this may be another approach worth trying”.
*Doug3fresh writes:”It is encouraging that the pieces are all coming together to give a clearer picture on what the actual results of this event should have been. It is great to see all the support on this forum that you have created for youth track.
I will give Coach McCannon huge Kudos for having the integrity to share this information. And for the willingness to have this dialog with you says volumes of the character of this man. His track team is in good hands and I wish him and his athletes the best of luck.
Hopefully everything is coming together, now if the USATF will eat a little of the proverbial cake and do the right thing and admit thier error and correct this issue. So we can all move forward and remove this cloud over our sports pinnacle event JO Nationals”.
*Doug 3fresh was the first one to discover and realize the power of the pictures.He sent them to me as a help and aid to resoultion in this matter. Thanks D3F
Alexa writes:”These pictures seem to show the need for a camera device at the boards, similar to the photo finish on the track. If there was such a device it would be relatively easy to substantiate protests. As I mentioned in a previous post, we witnessed quite a few ‘false’ finishers in the pit this season so it is clear that problems in the pit range from, the local level all the way to the national level. While it is probably too expensive for local meets to have a ‘board camera’ I think an argument can be made for one at all JO qualifiers.. At the least, there needs to be more professionalism in the pit, from the exclusion of parents and unnecessary coaches from the competition areas, to keeping all athletes a respectful distance from the runway and pit. Sometimes too many people in the competition area can be a distraction from the volunteers who are working the pit. I hope the unfortunate, and sadly not uncommon, lapse in professionalism experienced by the Bantam girls at JO nationals will spur reform next season“.
Until Next Time
Great news now you have a dialog created with the USATF, next step is hopefully to correct this error, erase the erroneous National Record and award the correct medals. I am glade as well they take there jobs very seriously, they should I am concerned in the delay of the response and also question the lack of insight with recognizing this was a problem from the conclusion of this event. The picture evidence is difinitve to me and tells the story of the actual
Showing the desire to protect all the athletes of this event needs to now be put into action, as it sits you have 8 that have been affected by this error, and 8 still are continuing to be affected by this mistake. Award them their proper medals, apologize to them and their associations and lets all move forward. So USATF be tactful and careful but as it stands 8 young athletes, 8 families and more then 8 coaches are waiting for the Win with Integrity statement to come to fruition.
I stumbled on your blog by accident, and was quite shocked to read about the situation with the Bantam girls LJ at the JO. I am also the mother of a long jumper, and I have seen some atrociously run pits in some of our local meets, but am dumbfounded that this could happend at a national event!
At one of the local invitationals we participated in (middle school), the long jump pit was being run by teenagers, not a single adult or otherwise knowlegeable person around. They were too busy chit-chatting amongst themselves to pay attention, and were not calling any fouls, unless they were like a foot over the board, and they were not measuring right. They gave my daughter a 15′-4″ jump, which would have set a new school record, and she knew that wasn’t right. First of all, she thinks she did scratch by about half an inch, but worst of all, they measured wrong, and instead of measuring to where she first touched the sand, they measure to where her foot stopped and left an obvious heel print, giving her an extra 6-8″. She was really upset, afraid she was going to win 1st place, when she felt she didn’t deserve it, and did not want it recorded as a new school record.
I didn’t really know what to do at the time, but knew that they were screwing up in so many ways with so many jumps, so I didn’t feel like withdrawing her would necessarily give the right person the right place. In the end, she placed 3rd, which is probably where should should have placed, based on her other 2 jumps, and knowing the other jumpers. But it was very frustrating and she was so rattled by it, that it totally wrecked her concentration for the triple jump event following and she did terrible.
I thought it was bad enough to see this kind of thing in a local meet, I never imagined it could happed at a USATF national meet! I hope this gets resolved soon and your daughter (and the other girls) get the medal she earned and the results are corrected, and that changes are made to prevent this in the future. I do feel bad for the other girl, though. Being stuck in the middle of such an ugly situation thru no fault of her own….
I AM HAPPY TO SEE THAT THEY ARE ATLEAST LOOKING INTO THIS MATTER. IN MY OPINION, THE APPEAL PROCESSES OF BOTH USATF AND AAU ARE A JOKE. FIRST, THEY MAKE YOU PAY SUCH A LARGE SUM OF MONEY TO DETER YOU FROM EVEN PROTESTING. SECONDLY, THE REVIEW PROCESS SEEMS TO BE NOTHING MORE THAN JUST A FORMALITY. THEY COULD EASILY JUST REVIEW VIDEO OR PHOTOS TO SOLVE MOST OF THESE PROTESTS, BUT THEY DON’T EVEN GIVE YOU THAT COURTESY. FORTUNATELY FOR LAUREN, YOU HAVE THIS WEBSITE AND IT HAS EMPOWERED YOU TO TAKE THE LEAD AND CHALLENGE THIS RULING THROUGH BOTH WRITING, AND PUBLIC OPINION. THIS SHOULD NOT HAVE EVEN LINGERED ON THIS LONG, BUT THE LONGER IT DOES THE LEAST LIKELY THE RESULTS WILL CHANGE. WE UNDERSTAND THAT THEY ARE HUMAN! THEIR JUDGES WERE WRONG! THEY MADE A MISTAKE! THEY NEED TO JUST “MAN-UP” AND ADMIT IT. AS FOR NOW, I HAVE NO RESPECT FOR EITHER ORGANIZATION FROM WHAT I’VE SEEN OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!!!! AND THEY CALL THEMSELVES PROFESSIONALS–HA!
This is incredible and remarkably discouraging, The USATF is now simply playing a game of attrition and hoping this whole thing goes away! Mr. Logan and Mr. Leach where is the action on this issue, where is the resolution, where is the culpability that your motto win with integrity requests from its members! How can you stand by this Motto when you drag your feet like this, your inaction and lack of response on this issue shows no integrity in fact it tarnishes it!
8 little girls, 8 families, 8 coaches and 8 track teams are waiting for you to do the right thing! How much longer must people wait for the right thing to be done, at this point it beyond awarding the correct medals and correcting the results. The USATF needs to explain why and how this could happen and apologize to all athletes involved from Lauren Loader to the girls that should of been 8th and was denied the oppurtunity to even compete!
Mr. Leach said “As Chair of this Division, and I feel strong enough to say this for the rest of my fellow board members, take our job very seriously. We have to protect ALL of the girls involved and since they are minors, we have to be at a higher level of protection over these student/athletes”. I find this statement at this point extremely questionable! It has been over 1 month since the completion of this event our sports biggest stage, and this problem has not been resolved! I think at this point there only thing done seriously is avoiding this issue, which hangs a dark cloud over the USATF and the JO National Championships!
I think we should start a letter writing campaign and or maybe even start a legal fund because it seems the only thing that at this point will get any action on this issue might have to be legal!