From the Editor: The Agony of the Trials

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After smoking the field with a (wind-aided) 9.68 in the 100 meters, Tyson Gay looked to be the big story of the Olympic Trials this year as the 200 meters approached. He would be the big story, just not for the reasons he had hoped. 

Gay suffered a strain in his left hamstring in one of the preliminary heats of the 200, which means that he won’t compete in that race in Beijing. USA Track & Field selects all its Olympic spots through the trials: The top three in the race are in, as long as they’ve met the “A” standard to qualify for the games. If you’re injured—or have a bad race—you’re out of luck. You’ve got to perform at the trials if you want to compete at the Olympics.

And there’s something very egalitarian, very American about the process. Unlike other sports, there’s no back-room deal-making among coaches to choose the team. Track athletes can’t get by on reputation alone.

And yet…

You hate to see an Olympic event where the best athletes aren’t competing. The top 200-meter runner in the world will be there, at the track, and yet the U.S. doesn’t put him on its team. Assuming he’s healthy, wouldn’t it make for a better race to have Gay running rather than watching?

Can you image a golf tournament denying an entry to Tiger Woods because he was injured during a qualifying round?

The same problem exists for the marathon, the most fickle of events. Having a bad day in a marathon is commonplace. Yet we ask our top runners to have the race of their life at the trials, and then repeat it again at the Olympics. Meb Keflezighi, the reigning silver medalist, had a rough day at the trials in November. Yet he has impeccable credentials, not to mention the proven Olympic performance from 2004. Shouldn’t he be on the team?

Perhaps the current system is the fairest, but is it smart to ask our best athletes to peak for the trials and then peak again for the Olympics six weeks later?

But what’s the alternative?

We can only imagine the wheeling and dealing between coaches, agents and sponsors to ensure that the right athletes are on the team. We don’t even have to imagine it. The sport of track and field has had a long history of a controlling governing body yielding complete control over athletes. I don’t think anyone would suggest going back to that system.

Perhaps there’s a middle ground that offers some combination of trials and coaches choices. But then you get into the problem that plagues the selection of the triathlon Olympic team, which is so complicated that I’d need the rest of the magazine to explain it.

No system is perfect, but I’d like to see a way to avoid leaving the top athletes off the team in situations like Gay’s. Maybe an exemption for reigning world champions or world-record holder? Maybe the top two in the trials get an automatic bid, with the third chosen by USA Track & Field?

It may be inviting politics into the sport, but it should also allow us to send the best team possible.

And isn’t that the whole point of the Olympics?

• Just a reminder for those of you using the Nike+ system: We’re in the middle of our nationwide challenge against the other fitness magazines in our network. Team Illinois has consistently held on to second place in July, behind the juggernaut that is California. But we continue to gain ground. So if use Nike+, either with your iPod or with the new SportBand, go to  www.windycitysports.com and sign up for Team Illinois. We’d love to have you. And I’d really love to catch California by the end of the month…

Thanks for participating.

Jeff Banowetz

jeff@windycitysports.com

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