Suing USATF over Goucher 10km entry ahead of faster runners

A large part of the blame goes on the shoulders of USATF President and Acting CEO Bill Roe for allowing this to happen. He has no history of integrity and a long history of favoritism.

This is the happiest Ive ever been with Runners World. He makes some real good points.

Granted, the 10k issue concerns people who are highly unlikely to make the Olympic team anyway; but it's still pretty fvcked up. I think Rupp and Rohatinsky backing out of the 5,000 final at the last minute is particularly skeevy. That cost two runners some valuable experience. Track and field has enough problems as it is, but a total lack of transparency of this sort is really inexcusable. If Goucher ultimately places in the top ten or so, it will seem somewhat justified, but if he DNFs or places poorly, it will stink just as bad as the 5k stunt.

I will gladly subscribe to RW for this piece, and no longer renew my membership to USATF.

wah, wah, wah.

at worst goucher will be one of the last guys to fall off rupp and abdi and rohat. he needs to be in there because he is a multi time national champ whos training partners are doing very, very well in these trials. if his coach thinks he has a real shot, he does.

at the very least he'll make it more competitve. when was the last time joggers world cared about competitive racing? renew those subscriptions and get the 38th rerun on how to get instant abs.

He compares the USATF to the AAU of the 60-70's... anyone care to comment about that? I'm willing to bet that its not NEARLY as bad as that!

Way to go Amby!

I am already on my way to relieving myself of any further USATF affiliation.

Actually, the real crybabies here are the ones in the Nike-Salazar-Goucher circle who pleaded with officials for a runner with an inferior seed time to gain entry over other runners who have better credentials as they pertain to this meet.

provo qualifiers have no rights. Suing would be an exercise in stupidity and futility.

There is nothing in the USATF rules that says that provo qualifiers will be taken in order of their marks is there?

pull your head out. this is a question of fairness and following the rules. do we jut let salazar determine who gets in the 10km and get rid of qualifying times?

midwaste wrote:

There is nothing in the USATF rules that says that provo qualifiers will be taken in order of their marks is there?

Yes, there actually is. In order of performance list rank.

If Goucher runs: 20 laps max, runs off track, hugs Kara to the delight of a horde of cameramen and the whole world sighs. Aaaaaaaaaah....

The rule itself doesn't specify how the athletes should be selected. it just says that they can take additional athletes to fill in the field.

cry baby wrote:

wah, wah, wah.

at worst goucher will be one of the last guys to fall off rupp and abdi and rohat. he needs to be in there because he is a multi time national champ whos training partners are doing very, very well in these trials. if his coach thinks he has a real shot, he does.

Bullshit. If goucher had run a top qualifying time it would be one thing, but he hasn't, not even close.

Salazar and his band of lackeys completely suck.

What's the earliest date a qualifying time can be accepted? Goucher ran 27:59 in 2006.

Harry Kooter wrote:

The rule itself doesn't specify how the athletes should be selected. it just says that they can take additional athletes to fill in the field.

It would be nice though, if they stated why they selected Goucher.

"To be fair, USATF Rule 11.3 (b) says that the Trials can add extra athletes “to make a competitive field.” But still, how does a slower runner, Goucher, make the field more competitive than Joe Driscoll, who has run almost 15 seconds faster than Goucher but been denied a start position? Where’s the USATF rocket scientist who’s ready to explain that one to the world?"

I'm really not sure why this is so hard to tell. Let's compare the running history, personal bests, and accomplishments of Adam Goucher to those of Joe Driscoll.

Goucher

http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/biographies/country=USA/athcode=132608/index.html

Driscoll

http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/biographies/letter=D/country=USA/athcode=188005/index.html

Sure, Driscoll's seed time for the meet is 15 seconds faster than Goucher's. Goucher has a history of being a competitive international runner; Driscoll does not. Simple as that, Goucher will make the field more competitive.

Bullshit. If goucher had run a top qualifying time it would be one thing, but he hasn't, not even close.

Salazar and his band of lackeys completely suck.[/quote]

Man, you don't even know how the rules work do you? Or what they were set up for. If BK was in his prime years and had started off in an olympic year injured without enough time or chances to get a fast qualifier, and was a the back of the prov. qualifiers would you knuckleheads be crying this same tune? this is exactly why the rules are how they are. if you try to tell me that goucher is not one of the top guys in that race (dude was 2nd at u.s. cross last year with culpepper, ritz and torres in the race among others such as abdi) than I believe I see sh#t coming out yer ears.

the knowledgeable people who are not looking through the biases salazar/nike/rupps training partner etc. goggles are looking at a guy who has a legitimate shot at making the team, and even if he fails to do so will make the race more competitive. read it, weep, end of the simple story.

"Let's compare the running history.."

Monday Goucher ran off the track in the 5000 because he wasn't fast enough.