http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/ en mike@elitetrack.com Copyright 2008 2008-08-29T06:29:37+00:00 http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/4009/ http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/4009/#When:06:29:37Z If you're a track junky take note. Clear your calendar and make sure you have a good internet connection. On August 31st, WCSN will be broadcasting the AVIVA Grand Prix Meet at Gateshead for FREE. That's a price I think we can all afford....especially for the great coverage that WCSN provides. This is the first major meet following the Beijing Olympics so I'm sure it'll be a treat. Tyson Gay (200m), Wallace Spearmon (200m), Lauren Williams (100m) and Asafa Powell (100m) are all slated to compete. Can Asafa rebound after a disappointing Olympics as he did after last year's World Championships? Can Tyson beat back his old training partner and the would-be Olympic silver medalist over 200m? The broadcast will be shown on Sunday at 10am EST. Click the image to link to the promotion. Mike Young's Blog 2008-08-29T06:29:37+00:00 http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/4007/ http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/4007/#When:15:31:29Z I posted this in my personal blog yesterday. I thought it might be of interest to ET readers. Do you sit at a desk...read this If you sit at a desk or spend as much time on planes as I do you've probably got chronic back issues. I do. Nothing bad. Certainly not debilitating by any means but enough where daily maintenance is necessary. I stretch, exercise, and perform special exercises just to keep myself 'tuned up.' Part of that is because I'm pretty sensitive to misalignments and hypertonicity. Because of this, I find myself adjusting myself by performing a variety of self-manual cervical, thoracic and lumbar adjustments throughout the day. I'm sure I've actually found quite a few adjustment techniques that aren't even in a chiropractor's toolbox. Well, imagine my mindset when I read an article yesterday that said that cervical adjustments (self or by a chiropractor) might cause strokes. I'd heard this before but really only in the form of a pamphlet in a chiropractor's office stating that it was essentially an urban legend. Now I find myself thinking twice before getting out that crick. Mike Young's Blog 2008-08-28T15:31:29+00:00 http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/4006/ http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/4006/#When:05:11:00Z Yesterday, I blogged about America's track performance in Beijing and whether it was really as bad as it seemed. I kinda steered towards an optimistic view yesterday. Today, I'm back to give the other side of the argument. The answer to whether Beijing was a complete meltdown isn't real simple but I think it's safe to say that something wasn't wright in Beijing. First off, America has historically been very competitive in the jumps. In Beijing we had nothing except for Jen's silver medal performance in the pole vault. Where are you Carl Lewis? Mike Conley? JJK? Dwight Phillips? Bob Beamon? And in the sprints- chuh. The U.S. men and women took home as many sprint medals in the 100m and 4x100 as Tuvalu. Barring the 1980 Games where we boycotted, the U.S. has never gone 0-fer in these races. And the relay performances...I'm getting chest pains just thinking about it. These are the events that should be our bread and butter. The events where our combination of talent pool, sport science, medical care, nutrition, and coaching are second to none in the world. To have only one medalist in the jumps and NONE in the short sprints or 4x100m is atrocious. Now let's take a more quantitative look. Check out the table below. In it you'll find our most recent medal counts at the past 4 major championships. The second row represents a breakdown by color of the medals we won; the third row is our total number of medals won, and the fourth row is a cockeyed attempt to qualitatively assess our performances at those meets by assigning point values to each color medal (3 pts for gold, 2 for silver, and 1 for bronze). 2008 Beijing2007 Osaka2005 Helsinki2004 Athens 7-9-714-4-814-8-38-12-5 23 Total26 Total25 Total25 Total 46 Points58 Points61 Points53 Points One of the first things you notice is that Beijing was bad. Bad in almost every way. We had the lowest number of golds, the lowest total number of total medals and by far the lowest point total of any championship in recent history. Sure, there were many times when Lauren William's Voodoo doll statement sounded appropriate...Tyson getting hurt, Adam Nelson getting hurt, Deena's broken foot, bad conditions for 4 x 100m relay running that caused 1/3rd of all teams competing to DNF or DQ in the semis. These surely affected our medal, count but these types of things happen to every team at every championship (although I'll admit it was very bad in Beijing). These voodoo curses alone don't account for our performance meltdown though. It seemed we got off to a poor start and it affected the morale of the entire team. That's not something to be ignored as the psychosomatic effects of feeling confident and ready are immense. So what to do to remedy this before 2009 World Championships in Berlin? Here's what I'd do: In the next 3 National Championships I'd experiment with the timing and selection format to see what yields the best results. Take for example the effect that our trials format had on Tyson Gay. Sure, he runs like gangbusters in the 100m and takes home an American record. But he also leaves with a bum hamstring and bruised confidence. Why did the reigning world champion in the 100m and 200m even have to try out? Why did the man who had become the face of USATF and who had just weeks earlier run a 9.85 second 100m even have to step on the track and risk injury before the biggest meet of his life. I'd find a way to get talent back in to the jumps. With a couple exceptions, we're not seeing nearly as many guys with the same physical tools jump in to the sand as we did up until the mid 90s. It's almost as if the total domination of Lewis and Powell over the world made wannabe U.S. jumpers give up on the event for fear of not being able to fill such giant shoes. Or maybe it was the draw of the sexier (and potentially more lucrative) sprint events? I'd make relay team commitment a 4 year obligation much like Jerry Colangelo did with the Redeem team. If you want to have a chance to run at a major championship you better commit to relay camps that meet several times a year. We can win without our very best guys on the line so we shouldn't have to play tiddlywinks with this. There will be more than enough guys willing to do this. Create a pool of 10-12 people starting this year. Then build the relay model in a modular fashion. If you need to shuffle people around make sure you create pairings. For example, even if you had 10 people in the pool, you could make Spearmon and Dix always hands of to Tyson or Padgett. That pairing might go lead off-to-second leg; or second leg to third, or third-to-anchor; but the exchanges and the order of the exchange would stay the same. Making pairings like that will create some continuity in the relay skill development while still allowing for ample personnel flexibility. I'd reevaluate how we handle our pre-meet training camps. I know that this years' in Dalian was amazing and offered everything you could possibly want in a resort style manner. Is that what we want? I don't know. I'd suggest changes to the high performance division to ensure that all big-time athletes received the sport science research that is being done on them. As it currently stands, many athletes or their coaches do not receive the research that has been done on them and 99% of this research is never published. I would also ensure that all sport scientists present their information in a manner that is consistent with the best practices of motor learning and skill acquisition theory so that the most optimal changes can be made. Finally, I'd encourage a tighter integration of the sport scientists and the athlete's coaches. Ensure that we have the best therapists in the world readily available at our national champs and pre-championship preparation. That probably would have helped Tyson return sooner (as opposed to traveling to Germany for therapy) and might have even helped Adam Nelson. I'd reevaluate how National Team coaches are selected and what the criterion for selection is. USATF has some very good plans in place. I can personally attest to this. In many cases I really think they just need some tweaking, a little less politics, and a lot more selfless commitment to excellence. Mike Young's Blog 2008-08-28T05:11:00+00:00 http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/4005/ http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/4005/#When:03:48:48Z Yesterday, the following transcript of Lynn Cannon's remarks was posted on the USATF Associations listserve on Yahoo Groups. For those on the 'inside' this isn't new news, but it's still shocking as more and more enters the public domain. Following is the text of comments made at the USATF Association Workshop on August 23, 2008. Many attendees offered thanks for these comments and several asked for copies of the text. Not surprisingly, the only negative input came from two members of the USATF Board of Directors, neither disputing the accuracy of the information. I believe that the general membership of USATF should be knowledgeable about the issues surrounding the current USATF Board in order to make informed decisions that may address these issues. There is nothing personal about these comments and the responsibility for allowing these issues to develop is shared by every member of the Board including myself. The first step in solving a problem is to face it honestly. At the end of November of this year, just a few months from now, the general membership of this organization will be called upon to make two decisions that are crucial to the future of USATF. At this year's annual meeting you will be asked to approve a dramatic restructuring of our Board of Directors and to elect a new president for the organization. I call upon each of you to prepare your delegation to come to Reno and participate in an informed and orderly voting process that will significantly impact the future of this organization. In June of this year, under pressure from the United Stated Olympic Committee, the USATF Board finally approved a set of guidelines to significantly reform itself. Although some have characterized these changes as "mandated" I suggest that any reasonable observer to the actions of the USATF Board over the last few years would conclude that reform is sorely needed. For example: In the spring of 2005, the CFO of USATF distributed to the Board, ledgers for three committees. Highlighted on these ledgers were expenditures which in the professional opinion of the CFO should be brought to the attention of the Board. These included thousands of dollars for hotel suites, thousands of dollars for hospitality passes, thousands of dollars in travel and over a thousand dollars for a politically strategically timed reception ostensibly to honor the Olympic staff (some of which didn't even know about it) - charged to a committee budget during the 2004 elections. The expectation was that the Board would act to curtail these excesses; however, this did not happen. You see, all of the expenditures highlighted were by Board members themselves. During the Track Trials in 2004, the USATF Board held a discussion about having children of meet management credentialed and accessing the warm-up area at the Olympic Trials -- this issue was raised by local organizers and was a safety concern. Did the Board address the issue? NO - Again, the problem is that the folks whose children were on the warm-up track were members of the Board. Instead of addressing the issue, it was framed as an inadequacy on the part of National Office staff. In 2006, the Board considered a motion to pay childcare for people attending meetings -- seems some member of the Board had been charging child care to their committee budget. The Board on several occasions discussed travel expense policies -- including excessive prices for tickets because they were issued at the last minute and tickets issued for international travel and charged against committee budgets -- expressly prohibited in written USATF policies. Problem again is that the very people who violated these long standing written policies were members of the Board. In January of this year, the Board passed a motion directing the National Office to hire a Director level position at the National Office. A member of the board who fully participated in the discussion of the motion and failed to disclose any interest in the position became a leading candidate within a few days of the passage of the motion and enlisted other board members to lobby for them. A different person was hired. The National Office stood up to the Board. On the very next Board call, the same board member who had been a candidate for the position fully participated in another discussion and vigorously supported a motion to undo the hiring. It should be no surprise that the current board allocated $10,000 for a meeting just to address its poor relationship with the National Office staff. Was it the Board or the staff that had a problem? This board has spent untold hours and an incredible amount of money on issues surrounding its own members. Where is the vision? Where is the leadership? The very first memo distributed to the Board by our new CEO addresses expenditures for tickets to events -- it says basically if you want to buy tickets you have to pay with your own money (you can't use USATF committee money) and you have to keep track of who uses the tickets. Standard business practice right? Anyone with knowledge of our current Board would not be surprised that such an issue should arise as we begin the Beijing Olympics. The first memo in response FROM A BOARD MEMBER questioned his authority to implement these procedures. And so it goes on. We need a change -- We need to rein in the undisciplined spending by Board members. We need to create a board that will be a good partner for the staff -- not drive them out of town. A Board that can bring vision and leadership to the organization (and) not micromanage the office. We need an environment of mutual respect where diverse points of view are welcome, discussions are civil, actions are based on facts rather than emotion. USATF needs to restructure its board not because it is "mandated" but because we can do better. Some will argue that as long as we win a lot of medals in Beijing, USATF as an organization is fine -- it is not. We can do better. Some members of the Board have suggested that we should "show them the bubble gum" -- that is only make whatever minimal changes are necessary to "get the USOC off our back" -- such an arrogant and insincere effort again implying that we have no need to change. We can do better. As much as we hate to admit it, there are always a few bad apples that create the need to have rules or laws or policies that will protect the interests of the many -- that will enable a committee, an organization or even a country to function effectively. Currently we have come to a point where we must incorporate safeguards by virtue of a reformed structure, that will allow the staff to do their job, that will allow the volunteers to contribute in a meaningful and productive manner and will more effectively serve the sport. Will this be perfect, what we come up with in Reno? NO -- but please come prepared to make an informed decision on these two critical matters. Please educate your delegation, gather the facts, study the situation, discuss the issues and candidates. Please support changes in the structure of the board that will address an environment that has crippled the organization for the past several years and support candidates that will work with staff, not undermine them. Support candidates that will operate with both hands above the table -- with transparency and honesty. I started in this sport as an age-grouper. I was much less talented than most, but with a lot of time and hard work managed to progress and participate on several international teams and win a few medals for the good ole US of A. Upon retirement I began a second volunteer career of committee work and, after twenty some odd years, was lucky enough to rise to the rank of an officer for USATF. I have enormous respect for the work done within the Associations of USATF -- this is not the glory work -- this is the hard work -- this is the "in the trenches" work. And it is fitting that your vote . . . will determine the future of the organization. In my experience, those who work at the Association level respect and value hard work, determination, and honesty. Money is scarce and elbow grease always needed. Rules should be followed and things such as appointments to teams and committees should be based on merit and service not bartered as perks in exchange for political loyalty. Issues should be considered based on facts, not on political affiliation. Now is the time to be heard. Please go home from this workshop and organize your delegation. Gather the facts, study the records of the candidates -- ask for those ledgers -- and come to Reno prepared to embrace changes that will make this organization better. Mike Young's Blog 2008-08-28T03:48:48+00:00 http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/4003/ http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/4003/#When:21:15:52Z For the person who wrote me that the Jamaicans are not tested as frequently as other countries. I know that. How many times were Marion Jones and Justin Gatlin tested? You are naïve to think that testing catches the cheats. Let’s move on and recognize that there is an air of suspicion that surrounds all sports at the present time. I am not sure what can be done about this. Concerning some of the other comments, I know it is not JUST PE. Without talent all the PE in the world will not produce Olympians or world record holders. The fact is that the highly industrialized “first world” countries are rapidly losing the movement advantage. We need to get our whole society away from the computer and TV and get out and exercise and move. This is not to win medals, but to avoid a health crisis that will bankrupt this country. The comment about too much competition is a point well taken, that is another problem in developed countries. We think we need to have kids in organized competition from five years old on up. In our country I am convinced that the competition is for the parents not the kids. Parents can go to work on Monday and brag about how their kid won the class 20 age 11.3 junior national title. It is ridiculous. When they talk about primary school competition I assume it is the form of jamborees type play days. That was a staple of the American system forty and fifty years ago. In fact when I was growing up every Saturday we had school teams that played other schools in the sport that was in season, this started in elementary school. The key was that it was school based and supervised by trained teachers. Competition for kids is not bad; it is the frequency and the goal of the competition that is key. Kids love to race and test themselves. I am all for a having a system wide jamboree type play day four times a year in school district where the kids can show off what they have learned in PE. Vern Gambetta's Blog 2008-08-27T21:15:52+00:00 http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/4002/ http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/4002/#When:15:19:54Z My favorite Olympic moment was watching Matthew Mitcham win the gold medal in the men’s 10m platform. I got to watch him train last year when I was New South Wales Academy of Sport (NSWIS). I spent the day with his coach Chava Sobrino who is a great coach. I enjoyed that day with Chava talking about philosophy of coaching how to communicate with the athletes, a great learning experience. Matthew is great athlete, but great coaching also helps. Congratulations to the coaching and support team that helped Matthew achieve his golden moment. I would also like to congratulate Coach Denis Knowles who guided Dani Samuels to a position in the women’s discus final. If I am not mistaken she was the youngest finalist in the event. This girl has a great future. Denis another great coach who is always learning and working to further his knowledge, I was so fortunate to be able to spend time and learn with these great coaches. Vern Gambetta's Blog 2008-08-27T15:19:54+00:00 http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/4001/ http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/4001/#When:05:38:57Z It's been widely stated (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) in the media that the American track team had a complete meltdown in Beijing. USATF's new CEO, Doug Logan, has even gone so far as to say our recent failures in Beijing may warrant a shakeup of the infrastructure of the organization. I mean, even when we won, it seemed we had really lost. At the close of the games, the U.S. had won 23 medals. Is this so bad or is all this fuss something beyond anyone's control? I mean, who did we have that was going to run 19.29 in to a -0.9 m/s head wind to save the day for the U.S.? What 4 were we going to put on the track to run 37.09 to hold back the Jamaicans in the men's 4x100m? When you look at the medal counts you'll see we won only 2 less medals than we did in Athens and only one less gold. Also, we had some big performances that have gone largely overlooked in all this meltdown talk...Stephanie Brown-Trafton winning the women's discus, Harper winning the hurdles, taking 8 of the 9 medals in the men's 200m and 400m races (including 400m and 400H). So was this a case of a true meltdown or are we just looking at the most high profile events (100m and 4x100m) and extending our failures there to the entire team? Mike Young's Blog 2008-08-27T05:38:57+00:00 http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/4000/ http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/4000/#When:21:09:55Z As many of you have probably noticed there's been some pretty significant changes under the hood of ELITETRACK over the past couple weeks. I'd really like to see ET to become the top track and field / sport conditioning website on the net and the recent updates were made in an attempt to get there. Just so you don't miss out on any of the exciting new updates here's what's new: I've added the ability to rate blog entries and articles. This is pretty straight forward. If you read an article or a blog post- RATE IT. It's done with AJAX so it takes no time whatsoever. Addition of most recent topics and most popular topics section to forum navigation. Addition of a latest and greatest page. This page features the 30 most recent forum posts, 10 most recent blog entries, 10 most recent articles, 10 articles with the most views, 10 highest rated blog entries and 10 highest rated articles (using the new rating feature). Linked categories on all articles so you can now search by category much easier. This is available both in the latest-greatest tabs and the article page. Improved main navigation. It was finicky before and didn't work all the time. Now it does. New AJAX login and contact form. Fixed glitches in the database that made some forum posts invisible or attributed to the wrong author. Tightened up user interface. There's less deadspace on the page which means for a tighter appearance. Improved search functionality. New Features on ELITETRACK from mike young on Vimeo. Mike Young's Blog 2008-08-25T21:09:55+00:00 http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/3999/ http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/3999/#When:19:49:38Z I came across this on the BBC Sport website. I have to admit it warmed my heart to see this. According to the country's sports minister Olivia Grange, Jamaica gets a jump on its rivals right from the start. I always talk about the triple T - tradition, talent and training. We have an extremely good school system. In our primary schools, physical education is mandatory, and we actually start competing from early childhood. We have our prep school championships, primary school championships, our secondary school championships. For all of you out there looking for the secret it is right there in front of us. It is the same secret that developed all those great American athletes from the past. Physical education is the foundation for later athletic achievement. Way too simple for our country to understand or accept. It is not about kinesio tape, altitude tents, underwater treadmills, it is simple, get kids moving doing athletic activities. Let’s get real PE back into the schools and bring the focus of our athletic competition back to the schools. Vern Gambetta's Blog 2008-08-25T19:49:38+00:00 http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/3998/ http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/3998/#When:20:33:00Z There's been quite a bit of hubbub over whether Usain's early celebration in the 100m was unsportsmanlike. Check out these links and then watch the video of his celebrations. Post thoughts to the forum. IOC president Jacques Rogge hits out at Usain Bolt over his celebrations IOC's Rogge calls Bolt's celebrations inappropriate Bolt has reasons to celebrate Dad defends Usain's celebrations IAAF sides with Bolt on celebrations Mike Young's Blog 2008-08-23T20:33:00+00:00 http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/3996/ http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/3996/#When:20:19:01Z Sorry CFKA....I know you're the official ranter of ET but with all due respect, I have to vent. The NBC coverage of the track schedule of the Olympics has been terrible. The swimming coverage was outstanding. It was both live and had great commentary (over-emphasis on Ms. Phelps not withstanding). Same with Gymnastics and beach volleyball. But track has been another story. In almost all cases we've had to wait up to 20 hours to see events on TV. In today's world of instant media gratification that is just simply unacceptable. And that's when the event was shown at all. I know there are several Olympic events in track and field that received little more than a couple minutes of broadcast. Contrast that to swimming where we saw every single round and every heat of competition. Or gymnastics where we watched every vault, tumble, and quintuple forward-reverse-backward-straddle lutz of the entire pre-pubescent Chinese team. The worst was the 100m. I don't think this is my track bias speaking when I say that the men's 100m final is the premiere event of the premiere sport at the Olympics. And those of us in the U.S. had to wait 14 hours to watch it just so NBC could show it during prime time. What's worse, NBC has been the media equivalent of soup nazi's by immediately removing any videos put on YouTube or other similar outlets. I understand what they're trying to do (make money with commercials in primetime) but jeez...it's not like the people who are so passionate to seek out and watch it happen live on the net wouldn't tune in later for the full broadcast complete with analysis, multiple replays, and different angles. Mike Young's Blog 2008-08-22T20:19:01+00:00 http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/3992/ http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/3992/#When:21:02:43Z Ok. I've got a little bit of info back from Beijing on Usain's unbelievable 200m. It's not enough to do the type of review on the race that I did on his 100m WR but it should provide some interesting fodder nonetheless. Apparently, Bolt's splits were 9.96 and 9.34 for each 100m segment. Compare this to Michael Johnson's 10.12 and 9.20 seconds for his 19.32 in Atlanta. The faster start by Usain and the faster finish by MJ is somewhat to be expected given that Usain is clearly a 100/200 runner and MJ was the greatest 200/400 runner in history. It's also interesting to note that Bolt took 42 steps in his first 100m and 38 in the second 100m. The 42 steps is actually quite amazing when you consider that he took 41 steps in his WR 9.69 100m race. That means two things: He is an excellent curve runner. The curve does little to disrupt his speed or mechanics. He showed this ability last year at the World Championships when he lead through the first 100m only to take 2nd to Tyson Gay. As with many other things Bolt, this is the complete opposite of what we'd normally expect from an athlete of his stature. Common knowledge says that shorter athletes tend to be better curve runners because of their slightly higher frequency and that very tall runners might struggle on the curves...especially the middle and inside lanes. He probably could have run his 100m World Record in 40 steps if he hadn't put the breaks on at 80m. I'm confident in saying this because even though he has clearly displayed himself to be the best curve runner in 200m history; his step length on the curve (in his 200m WR) compared to being on the straight (in his 100m WR) is just simply unprecedented and probably not likely something to happen if he hadn't stopped running 20m before the finish line in the shorter dash. The 38 steps is obviously less because despite being fatigued, Bolt (and any other 200m runner) enters the second half of the race with a flying start. This means he doesn't have to accelerate from a standstill where the stride lengths are the shortest at any point of the race. As a result, he takes fewer strides. It would be really interesting to see how many strides he took in the middle 100m (from 50m-150m). This would be the point in the race when the fatigue effect would be minimal and he'd be coming in to the zone with a flying start. I'd guess that he probably only took 35 or 36 strides during that middle 100m. If correct, that's about 9 feet per stride. WOW. Well, that's it for now. If I get any more information on this race, I'll be sure to pass it on. Mike Young's Blog 2008-08-21T21:02:43+00:00 http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/3991/ http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/3991/#When:14:41:10Z The days of American dominance are over. That is not a bad thing. It simply reflects the globalization of sport. Other countries are developing sport systems. They are training coaches and athletes. We will always be in the hunt just by size of our population. I have not carried out my complete Olympic boycott as I had intended. I have watched selected events, mainly to learn more about the sport demands and current trends. I will give my two cents on Usain Bolt. I was unimpressed with his behavior in the 100 meters. I think it showed immaturity and a lack of respect for the sport and his competitors. That being said I am not sure he meant any disrespect, he is just kid out there having fun, perhaps there is a lesson we could learn. It is still a game. The other thing to remember about Bolt is that he is no flash in the pan. He was a great when he was 15 years old, much like Michael Phelps in swimming. His 9.92 in the heats of the 100 meters was the most amazing run I have ever seen, he sprinted 30 meters and then literally jogged the 70 meters, astounding! He also dispels the myth that someone tall cannot start effectively. I thought the greatest sprinter I have seen in my life was Tommy Smith, he was tall, 6”3” but not a good starter so he seldom ran 100 meters. However, in those days it was not accepted to strength train beyond a few push-up or pull-ups, I think that Bolt has developed his strength levels to enable him to start effectively. I have not seen his 200 meter final race yet, but what a time. I can’t wait to see him in the sprint relay, imagine what he will do with a running start. I hope his teammate can catch him to pass him the baton. It is also interesting to note the success of the Caribbean nations in Track & Field, it is not just Jamaica. I think that coaching development has been a key, they have taken advantage of IAAF coaching development and done a good job developing their youth. Certainly coaching is my bias, but it proves to be a key. It was cool watching the men’s springboard diving and catching a dive of one of the young divers I had worked with in Guadalajara. Also neat to see one of the Aussie women divers that I had gotten to see train last year in the hunt. Vern Gambetta's Blog 2008-08-21T14:41:10+00:00 http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/3990/ http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/3990/#When:05:10:56Z Flashback 12 years- I'm sitting on my couch with my good buddy Sean watching the NBC Olympic coverage of the 200m. It was a moment I'll never forget. We sat in awe through Michael Johnson's unbelievable 19 seconds of glory and I actually fell out of my seat when the time flashed up on the screen....19.32. MJ had obliterated his own previous world record by a whopping 0.34 seconds and beat back several legends in the sport by an even greater margin. I'm usually pretty laid back when watching track but I distinctly remember getting up off the floor and repeatedly saying "Oh my God." I had never seen anything like it. Flash forward to yesterday. The men's 200m at the Bird's Nest. After his unbelievable 100m race only days before, the world was abuzz that Usain might be able to break MJ's hallowed record. I had previously gone on record as saying that I didn't think he'd get it this season; but that was before he ran 9.69 while shutting it down with 20-25m to go. He proved me wrong. Yesterday Usain proved what NASA scientists have known for a long time....that lightning does strike twice. With his 19.30 for 200m, he moved himself in to uncharted territory for sprinters. Not only did he complete the rare Olympic 100-200 double (last achieved by none other than Carl Lewis in 1984) but he did so with world records in both events and the largest margin of victory in modern Olympic Games history. For goodness sakes, his closest competitor in the 200m was over half a second slower than the Jamaican Sensation. If we uphold the final results (and take out the lane violations of Spearmon and Churandy) he was 0.66 seconds faster than the next fastest man. That's 2/3rds of a second. That's nearly an eternity squared in world class sprinting. That type of margin of victory is normally reserved for the East Sheboygan County Games or swimming pools. To put it in to perspective, his margin of victory means that of the 6.7 billion people on this planet that the next closest competitor was almost 3.5% slower. That defies probability in practically every sense of the word. It means he is an outlier among outliers. More so than even Carl Lewis and Michael Johnson. Right now, I'm in awe of Bolt. I really don't know what to say. I'm a HUGE fan of Michael Jordan. He's my idol in many ways. I admired for his pursuit of excellence, his competitive fire, and his ability to dominate even the best competitors. I feel almost guilty saying this, but the thought has actually crossed my mind to think that Bolt might be even more dominating than my main man Michael Jordan. Mike Young's Blog 2008-08-21T05:10:56+00:00 http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/3989/ http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/3989/#When:06:01:13Z If you've been watching the Olympics, you've probably seen what appears to be gratuitous use of colored athletic tape all over the place. It's everywhere. I've seen athletes in sports as varied as gymnastics, diving, and track wearing the colorful tape. It's not a fashion statement and it's not your dad's athletic tape. It's what's called kinesiotaping. It's a form of therapeutic aid that has it's roots in aiding the disabled and neurologically impaired. In fact, it was developed more than 25 years ago by a Japanese chiropractor and only came to the States about a decade ago. My first exposure to kinesiotape was about 6 years ago when I was at LSU. One of our decathletes was having some hamstring problems that weren't clearing up with the normal high level therapy so one of the doctors on staff used kinesiotape on his leg. The results were mixed. Then only a year later, the same doctor used a similar configuration of kinesiotape as seen on Kerri Walsh on my wife's newly reconstructed shoulder . Again, the results were mixed, but even my wife says this is no indictment on the tape but likely more so on the extent of her injury. By this point you're probably wondering what it does and what makes it any different than regular athletic tape. Well, first of all, the tape itself is kinda special. While the tape has no medicinal properties, it's tensile strength is significantly higher and it has higher elastic properties than traditional athletic tape. As might be expected, this comes at a cost. It's considerably more expensive than traditional athletic tape at around $15 a roll. Kinda expensive but for those athlete's who've found success with it, the money is well spent. The other thing you'll notice that's different is the placement of the tape. Unlike traditional athletic tape jobs, kinesiotape is strategically placed to help assist in the joints action or treat a joint dysfunction. According to proponents, it can be used to provide support, relieve pain, improve circulation, reduce inflammation, relax or assist overstressed muscles, and correct dysfunctional muscle and joint actions. Unlike more rigid braces, kinesiotaping does not limit range of motion. And unlike traditional tape jobs, it isn't compressive or constrictive- 2 things which can limit circulation and lymph flow and consequently impair function both acutely and long term (if healing is impaired). Kinesiotaping can be used on major muscle groups and smaller joints alike to treat such issues as carpal tunnel syndrome, plantar fascitiis, and rotator cuff injuries. So far, I'm not aware of much research on its efficacy but I have seen it be quite helpful to several athletes. Is that a placebo affect? I can't say. From a purely mechanical standpoint, the concept of some pieces of tape being able to provide the stated benefits appears to be somewhat doubtful BUT the same might be said for the power-transfer technology seen in many of the spandex tights worn by today's top athletes and research has actually shown these to be effective at meeting their claims. Mike Young's Blog 2008-08-20T06:01:13+00:00