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I admit that I'm feeling a little guilty that three days after the fact, I still haven't written anything about the 800 finals or the men's 5,000 final. I sat down to write immediately after the races, but what I had to say about the men's 800 final could basically be summed up as "Wow." Three days later, I'm not sure I have much more to say. It was one of the best races I've ever seen, if not the best. No, I don't believe that the crowd at Hayward Field directly affects the outcome of the races, but I do believe the crowd is capable of inspiring athletes to push themselves to their absolute best, as was the case with Christian Smith the other night. Nick Symmonds just dominated the race, and the general consensus seems to be that Andrew Wheating could or will end up being the best of them all.
As for the women, I think any race at the Trials in which some of the athletes don't have or get the Olympic "A" standard is going to be less exciting. It's nice to see the top three athletes cross the finish line and know that they are the ones who will be representing the U.S. in Beijing. Even though anything can happen, Hazel Clark and Alice Schmidt were the two most obvious picks for the team, and they came through. It was hard to watch Kameisha Bennett deal with the mixed emotions of finishing third but not making the team, because she didn't have the Olympic "A" standard. On the other hand, I am absolutely thrilled for Nicole Teter. Though she has been through a lot in the past four years, talk about pulling it together at the right time to make her second Olympic team.
In his brief chat with Sean Quigley, Scott Douglas basically asked why someone without the "A" standard wouldn't push the pace in a distance race at the Trials. That was all I could think about as I watched the men's 5,000 meter final. Yes, everyone who has watched a bunch of distance races knows that more often than not, if someone with equal or lesser ability tries to run away from his/her competitors, he/she gets swallowed up by the chase pack and spit out the back later in the race. However, if you run slowly, you definitely won't make the team, so why not at least go for it a little? So I was surprised that no one really tried to go with Brent Vaughn. Yes, maybe he would have run faster and placed higher if he had hung back early on, but at least he went for it.
As for the people who did make the team...having watched Bernard Lagat race here three times now, he is just at a completely different level than everyone else right now. It's almost like he is being polite by not blowing everyone away too badly. Matt Tegenkamp apparently had a very rough road leading up to the Trials. He had a minor injury which kept him out of the Prefontaine Classic, then he had a setback involving an allergic reaction to some ultrasound cream. In the race itself, he struggled with a killer sidestitch. Anyone who has followed Tirunesh Dibaba's career (or has gotten a killer sidestitch), knows how such things can stop you in your tracks. Good for him for gutting it out and making the team. Ian Dobson has had a bit of a rough time since college, so it was great to see him run the race that everyone knew he could run. Bolota Asmerom ran a great race. It's unfortunate that Chris Solinsky can't be on the team too, but such is the nature of the Trials. Despite Solinsky's initial comments about being "hung out to dry" during the final, it appears that all is good once again in the Tegenkamp-Solinsky relationship...because I know our readers must have been terribly worried about this.
Being in Eugene feels like being at track camp. If you are a track fanatic, I highly recommend trying arrange your life in a way that will make it possible for you to be here for the Trials in 2012. I've been running with a variety of interesting people, and meeting many people who I either a) didn't know at all, or b) only knew via the web. We seem to end up running on Pre's Trail most days, even though there are other nice places to run in Eugene as well. On one of our eight-ish mile runs, we counted 11 running "celebrities." It kind of makes me feel like a stalker, but it's also fun to play the identification game. It can be surprisingly difficult (especially with the men, in my opinion) to ID people when they are not wearing their sponsor or school uniform. Some of my colleagues appear to be growing a little weary and have expressed their eagerness to return home. I think I'd be happy to stay here at the Trials for a couple months, as long as we had constant entertainment. Unfortunately, I only have one more day in Eugene, but fortunately it will involve watching the women's 5,000 and men's 10,000 finals, which should be great.
Today featured the first round of the 1,500 (men and women), the women's steeplechase final, and the men's steeplechase prelims. I do indeed have a bunch to say about those races, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow. We are getting up at the crack of dawn to participate (but probably not compete) in a well-known local race, the Butte to Butte 10k.
Posted by Alison Wade at 11:34 p.m. | Tags: 2008 Olympic T&F Trials
Alison commented, on July 4, 2008 at 1:50 p.m.:
Good point about Vaughn already having the A standard. I knew that, but had forgotten that while I was writing last night. The opportunity was there for anyone else who wanted to go for it. Hopefully we won't see a repeat of this in the men's 10,000 tonight.
Peter commented, on July 4, 2008 at 11:31 a.m.:
The funny thing is that Brent Vaughn had the 'A' standard. He was trying to make it an honest race. I'm surprised the rest of the guys who didn't have the 'A' standard didn't go out with him. It's not like he went on a totally suicidal pace. If some guys went with him they would've hit 64 flat for the 1st lap which is the pace they want for the 'A' standard.
Alison, keep up the good work!