With 11 weeks to go until the US Olympic Trials, LRC co-founders Robert and Weldon Johnson and LRC staff writer Jonathan Gault make their picks for who will represent Team USA in Tokyo in every distance event.
*MB: U.S.A. Olympic Team Picks 800 to10,000 -- who ya got?

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• 1 day after stating it, US State Department walks back comment that 2022 Olympic boycott is "something that we wish to discuss"
• Cool idea: Germans want to jointly host 2036 Olympic Games with Tel Aviv to help make amends for stain of 1936
• Osaka governor pulls Olympic torch relay off of public roads due to rise in Covid-19 cases He wanted to cancel it entirely but is now considering staging it on a closed route inside a park.
• 2004 hammer Olympic champ Koji Murofushi is battling brain cancer
• 15-years ago Donald Thomas took up the HJ on a whim at lunch and won the World title a year later, now he's looking for his 4th Olympics

Willie Banks as an athlete did his part to promote the sport by jumping far and entertaining (he invented the rhythmic clap). Now he's an administrator and wants your input to try and grow the sport we all love. Fill out a quick online survey to help him out.

• New Hampshire High School Coach Fired For Telling Athletic Director He Wouldn't Have His Team Wear Masks When Racing Brad Keyes: “There’s very little indication that coronavirus spreads outdoors. ...There are kids who have asthma who run. You throw a mask on them it makes it worse. It’s not unusual for a kid to throw up afterward or even occasionally pass out after running a 400 (meter run) or 800. ...I think the fundamental problem with it is that these rules and regulations are being put in place to cover (rear ends), basically.”
  *MB: NH hs coach fired for standing up against Gestapo-level mask requirements - how can we help?

• 7,000 Protest Hokkaido University Banning Student Athletes from Competing While Letting Olympic Marathon Test Event Happen on Campus Student athletes argue that the university banning them from competing is too strict and hypocritical considering they're holding a mass participation race on campus.
• MB: Alan and Julie Webb Covid-19 positive, get well soon We wish them a speedy recovery.
• Steve Cram: "We need events back!" “Even the Prime Minister’s talking about the health of the nation in a wider perspective but I sometimes get fed up to the back teeth of hearing that because we all know and understand that, but nobody really wants to support it..."

Giles: "Everyone else pings out 60-plus miles a week, but I ping out 15-20, yet I can still compete with the best."

• Athletics Weekly: "Standalone British Marathon Trials Is The Way To Go" Race director Tom Bedford: “It needs a few more beer tents, for sure. And let’s interbreed a bit of the Night of the 10,000m PBs with a bit of London Marathon class.”
• Chris Thompson: "As much as I will be 40, I still want to go there and compete hard because I still take myself very seriously as an athlete and not just someone who is defying odds in a way."
• AW: By Happenstance, Britain's Laura Weightman (14:35) And Kenya's Mary Ngugi Enjoying The Perfect Training Partnership They ended up living near each other by chance as Ngugi's boyfriend is based in the UK.

He estimates the mileage comes up to about 23 miles in a day

• Recommended Read: Jakob Ingebrigtsen: “1500m is the most painful race." “I usually get really nervous – not only because of my expectations but it’s also about the pain [that comes] with racing. I don’t enjoy being in pain."
• Beth Potter's 14:41 Unlikely To Even Be Ratified As A UK Record There wasn't drug testing on site and even though UKA's rules are less strict than World Athletics on this, there also wasn't a "level 4" qualified timekeeper on site.
• Three Distance World Records Ratified By World Athletics The records from Gudaf Tsegay (3:53.09 - 1500m), Beatrice Chepkoech (14:43 - 5k) and Kibiwott Kandie (57:32 - half marathon).