Athletes & coaches upset over Goucher selection to 10,000 final

[GTF]

It’s a slow day here in Eugene-the second “off day” in the Track Trials—except for all the frantic phone calls, emails, and protests-in-the-works. Athletes are ticked off, coaches are ticked off, and now they’re trying to rally the media (like me) to their cause. They’re also discussing possible legal options. Some even believe that the USOC might be ready to fire another shot at USATF and seek an injunction to correct a confusing and illogical situation.

The issue is this: Who gets to run in the Trials, who doesn’t, and who decides? You’d think these things would be black-and-white issues. You’d think everyone would understand every step of the process.

But that’s not the case. “There’s no transparency, there’s no due process, there are no athlete rights,” says one highly regarded national coach who doesn’t want to be identified. “It’s like we’re still fighting the same fights that Pre raged against almost 40 years ago. The big decisions are being made by old men in dark rooms. And the worst thing of all is that people like me, and many athletes, are afraid to go public because of possible recriminations against us.”

Full item

[Ryan]

Update

From the link above:

At 7:30 p.m. this evening (Eugene time) Indianapolis-based attorney Jonathan Little provided further details about the ongoing negotiations among USATF, coaches and athletes concerning the men’s 10,000-meter start list. Little is a 2:21 marathoner who qualified for last November’s Olympic Marathon Trials in New York, where he finished 97th in 2:33:03. In a phone interview, Little said he has become involved in the controversy because he hopes to “make the process more fundamental and fair, to restore integrity and transparency, and to prevent this sort of thing from happening again in the future.”

Additional comments from Little, who has apparently been assisting coaches and athletes in their approach to USATF: “It’s important that everyone understand this is not about penalizing Adam Goucher. We have no ill will toward Goucher, who is not the one responsible for this situation.

“Things are moving along very well. I believe everyone involved wants a sensible outcome. I believe the cooler heads at USATF will prevail, and more athletes will get to run. I don’t think it’s going to go any farther than it has. From a legal standpoint, this is a beautiful case.

“My biggest concern is that there are so many athletes and coaches who are scared to voice their feelings. These people are petrified. Perhaps their fear is needless, but they are worried about reprisals.”

[GTF]

A doozy:
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=2555760

[GTF]

Just a ridiculous situation:

ARBITRATION HEARING DROPPED BY ATHLETES: Attorney Jonathan Little, who was hoping to face off with USATF officials this afternoon, says the plan has been dropped because he could get no athletes to step forward and initiate the proceedings with him. “I’m very disappointed by this,” says Little. “I thought we had an excellent chance to make the system better for everyone.”

Little says the athletes and their coaches were afraid to step forward, beyond the appeals process that had already failed them, because they feared future retribution from USATF. In the case of at least one college athlete, Little claims the school athletic department put out an order not to do anything that might interfere with Nike support for the department.

“The runners who filed appeals to get into the 5000 and 10,000 were told their appeals weren’t even considered because the field sizes were set and were not going to be expanded,” said Little. “However, they made an exception for one athlete in the 10,000 that required leapfrogging over other runners with faster qualifying times. We bear no ill will toward Adam Goucher. We just think they should have stuck to the field-size rules, which have been strictly enforced in other races, or they should have included the other athletes with times as fast as Goucher’s.”

Meanwhile, USATF has released an official statement regarding the Goucher situation. It reads: “Any athlete lacking a qualifying mark in any event is allowed, under USA Track & Field rules, to appeal their entry into the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. A two-person Entry Appeals Jury examines all such appeals and rules on them on an individual basis. Several appeals have been granted into this meet in events ranging from the javelin to long jump, decathlon to the 10,000 meters. Adam Goucher appealed his entry into the men’s 10,000 meters last week, prior to the men’s 5,000m final. He is a five-time USA champion on the track and in cross country, who was a finalist in the 5,000m at the 2007 World Outdoor Championships. It is not unusual for past national champions who lack qualifying standards to be granted entry into national championship events, and Mr. Goucher’s case is no exception.”

http://tracktrials.runnersworld.com/2008/07/its-a-slow-day.html

On top of that, there is also this rule outlining exceptions for qualification:

Automatic Qualification [USATF Rules 10.3(b)i and 10.3(b)ii]

A Track & Field athlete is eligible for automatic qualification into the Olympic Trials in the same event if that athlete has:

* Earned an individual medal in an Olympic Games or in an IAAF World Indoor or Outdoor Championships during the year 2008, or during the four previous calendar years (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007)
* Won an individual 2007 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championship event
* For automatic qualification purposes only, the indoor 60m, 60m hurdles, mile, and 3000m distances are interchangeable with the outdoor 100m, 100m/110m hurdles, 1500m and 5000m, respectively

Which could not have any bearing on Goucher's entry into the 10,000m since he has never represented the USA nor won a 2007 US Outdoor title in that event.

Finally, Scott Bauhs's revealing insight into some of the principals within the administration of the sport:
http://track.flocasts.org/blogs/blogger/xcrun04/3038-john-chaplin

[GTF]

Scott Douglas's exposé on the appeals bungles at the OT:

http://masterstrack.com/blog/002661.html