This Week’s Podcast

LRC Coach Sean Brosnan Tells His Cool Story – How He Went From Journeyman Runner To Top High School Coach In 4 Years + Tokyo Cancelled + Greatest American Runner Bracket Brosnan picked the brains of, did workouts with, & ran under many of the greats including Alberto Salazar, Scott Simmons, Joe Vigil, Brad Hudson & Steve Scott.

More On Tokyo Postponement

• IOC Working Towards July-August 2021 Window For Postponed Tokyo Games They hope to confirm a new schedule within a month.
• RRW: Rescheduling Olympic Games Like “A Huge Jigsaw Puzzle” Says Thomas Bach “This is like a huge jigsaw puzzle putting together and every piece has to fit. If you take out one piece, the whole puzzle is destroyed.  Therefore, everything has to come together, and everything is important.”
• Runner’s World: “No, Let’s Not Rerun The Olympic Marathon Trials” We’re not sure if this had to be said, but yes, we agree.
• USOPC Open Letter To Team USA Athletes About Tokyo 2020

More On Olympic Postponement Decision

• Thomas Bach Says That The Tokyo Games Could Be Held In Spring Of 2021 Bach admitted that cancellation had been on the table, but it was “very clear that this should not be something the IOC would in any way favor.”
• Seb Coe Warns Dopers That Event Delays Won’t Protect Them Even though there will be less testing done, Coe says the AIU has already moved away from mass testing to “intelligent testing” and will still catch them. Coe also talked about the complications of rescheduling events and Olympic qualifying.
• The Telegraph: Who Are The Winners And Losers From Tokyo 2020 Postponement? For some athletes who are getting a bit older, like Mo Farah (who will be 38 in 2021), an extra year of aging probably isn’t helpful. But for others like 400 hurdler Eilidh Doyle, who gave birth in January, it gives them time to make a comeback.
  *MB: Let’s pretend the Olympics are postponed. The following athletes would benefit the most from it:
• Thomas Bach Says Costs Were Not Discussed When Deciding Olympic Postponement – “This is about protecting lives.” That’s BS. Of course they considered the costs. However, the IOC’s former head of commercial doesn’t think they shouldn’t suffer major losses, “You may be dealing with a little bit of re-engineering on the margin, but nothing of substance.”
• BBC: “Tokyo 2020 – The Right Decision, Made Just In Time” “When half the globe is under curfew in their own homes the idea of a vast assembly of athletes and spectators no longer makes any sense.”
• The Telegraph: “Coronavirus Has Done For Tokyo 2020, But We Can Still Unite The Country By Reliving London 2012”
• Sport Ireland Promises To Maintain Athletes’ Funding Despite Tokyo Postponement

Other Coronavirus Links

• Runner’s World: How to Run Safely During Coronavirus Most shelter-in-place mandates allow for people to go outside to engage in solo outdoor activity.
• Quarantine Got You Bored? Speed Quiz: How Man Women’s 100m Olympic Champions Can You Name?
• Claim Free Ebooks For Runners Through April 20th

Non-Olympic Cancellation / Fallout

• RRW: 2020 USA Olympic Trials To Be Rescheduled Ticket holders for the 2020 Trials will be able to retain their tickets for the rescheduled Trials or request a refund.
• Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Worried Rescheduled World Championships Will Conflict They are worried if Eugene 2021 gets pushed back to the 2022 “off” year, then top British stars will skill the CWG.
• RRW: Payton Jordan Invitational Cancelled The meet was scheduled for May 8th.
• World Athletics U20 Championships In Nairobi Postponed
• Athletics Australia Cancels National Championships

Distance News

• Recommended Read: Meet Jon Green, The 25-Year-Old First Time Coach Behind Molly Seidel’s Monstrous Marathon Debut Green and Seidel started off teammates and friends, but when Seidel left their club team, Green offered to send her some workouts, with no plans on making it permanent. He didn’t have prior coaching experience, wasn’t certified and only got into the post-race press conference at the Trials on a loophole.
• USATF Q&A With Emma Coburn Get to know some random facts about Coburn like pets, her favorite recipe and what she wanted to be when she grew up.

To Help You Through The Pro Racing Drought

LRC Looking For Some Running Content To Watch? On Running’s Chasing Tokyo Series May Be Just For You The series starts in 2019 and follows the On Zap Endurance team through the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials. Yes, we had a major sporting event less than 3 weeks ago!

Drug News: The Battle Against The Coronavirus Is Going To Hurt The War On Doping

• Ethiopia’s African Games 10,000m Champ Berehanu Tsegu Gets 4-Year EPO Ban Tsegu tested positive in an out-of-competition test at the Copenhagen Half Marathon in September 2019.
• AP: Olympic Doping Tests Continue, But At A Lesser Rate USADA CEO Travis Tygart said their testing is “focused only upon mission critical testing of those sports still competing and as needed for those preparing for Tokyo.”
• MB: Friend: ‘The biggest winner of coronavirus outbreak will be dopers as they’ll be able to dope with impunity now, right?’

The Latest Coronavirus Running-Related News

• Eliud Kipchoge’s Training Camp Has Shut Down To Covid-19. He Explains What He’s Doing Now In Isolation At Home
• UK Athletics Chairman Says Olympics Should Be Postponed As He’s Worried About The Stress That Non-Knowing Puts On Them “With facilities closing down, their ability to get themselves in the best possible shape is compromised at best. That is creating intense pressure. And I think that intense pressure is what people have to understand is there and release it.”
• MB: USA Swimming Asks Fr 2020 Olympics To Be Postponed 1 Year To Protect “Mental Health And Wellness” Of Athletes
• Jamaican Track Federation States The Obvious – They DOn’t Have The Financial Resources To Compensate Pro Tracksters For Lost Income Due To Covid-19

IOC – Please, Do NOT Panic And Cancel Prematurely

• Virus? What Virus? Tokyo Olympics Organisers Under Scrutiny Over Their Unwillingness To Either Postpone Or Cancel The Summer Games In Response To The Coronavirus Pandemic Sweeping The World. We’re glad they haven’t panicked. There is no reason to prematurely act when it seems likely the coronavirus will be very much on the downswing worldwide long before the Olympics. Today, less than 2 months after the Wuhan quarantine was enacted, there were zero new cases in Wuhan.
• Seb Coe Says No Decision On Olympics Needs To Be Made Now But Admits “Anything Is Possible” We agree with Coe – there is zero reason to make a decision until the end of April. It would be very uplifting to have the world unite in July after so much sadness.
• Sport Ireland CEO And Former Olympic Medalist John Treacy Calls For Tokyo 2020 To Be Postponed Treacy points out that for athletes who haven’t already qualified, they might not have a chance to and it’s hard to plan their peak. He calls the situation “ridiculous.”
• Under What Grounds Could The Olympics Be Cancelled? The IOC can withdraw the organisation of the Games from the host city “if the safety of the participants is seriously threatened.”
• Japan’s Deputy Prime Minister Claims Olympics Are “Cursed” Every 40 Years He’s got a good point as the 1940 Games were cancelled, 1980 games were boycotted and now Covid-19.
• Olympic Flame Officially Passed To Tokyo 2020 In Athens Swimming Olympian Naoko Imoto received the flame on behalf of Tokyo 2020 at a shortened ceremony in Athens.

European News

• Apparently Two-Time Olympic HJ Champ Blanka Vlasic Isn’t Retired Yet She hasn’t competed at all since winning Olympic bronze in 2016 due to Achilles tendon problems, but says she still wants to make a comeback, although it won’t be for Tokyo 2020.
• European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen Hospitalized With Stroke He’s in the intensive care unit at a local hospital.
  *Seb Coe Expresses Concern For His Longtime Colleague And Friend, Svien Arne Hansen
• Greek Javelin Thrower Loannis Kyriaziz Gets 4-Year Doping Ban Slovenian javelin thrower Martina Ratej also got a provisional suspension based on re-testing from the 2012 London Olympics where she finished 7th.
• European Athletics Looks Back At The Inaugural European Indoor Championships In 1970 They were held in Vienna in March.
• Dina Asher-Smith Wins British Ethnic Diversity Sports Award