Happy 40th Birthday, Craig Mottram

Throwback Thursday #11
LRC I Was Bored, So I Watched Craig Mottram Battle Augustine Choge In Melbourne At The 2006 Commonwealth Games In honor of Craig Mottram‘s 40th birthday today, we revisit the race he called “the greatest race I have ever done in my life” – his incredible duel with Kenya’s Augustine Choge in the 2006 Commonwealth Games 5,000m final.
*MB: Time flies. Happy 40th birthday Craig Mottram. We celebrate by featuring your 2006 CG silver on Throwback Thursday

The AIU Says They Purposely Don’t Call Athletes?

• The AIU Says Testers Are Not Obliged To Call Athletes When They Aren’t Home To Be Tested Their statement said, “the lack of any telephone call does not give the athlete a defence to the assertion of a missed test” and added that drug control officers were specifically asked not to call athletes as it “provides an opportunity for evasion or other improper conduct which can limit the efficacy of testing.”
• Podcast Interview With Christian Coleman On Missed Drug Test Coleman says he wasn’t at home for the beginning of his testing window, but arrived home before the end of it. The tester says he was there the whole time. So someone is lying.

Trying To Come Back From Coronavirus

• 2020 High School Outdoor Track Championships Cancelled Due To Coronavirus The meet was initially postponed from June to July 30.
• Beijing Cancels Sports Events As City Tightens Coronavirus Restrictions After Outbreak At Market The number of new cases there reached its highest level since March.
• Runner’s World Asks Experts If It Is Safe To Run In Groups Again Experts say you can probably run with a training partner or two, but to still avoid big groups.
• Last Weekend There Was A Spartan Obstacle Race With 1,000 Participants In Florida To mitigate risks, the race had less participants, a lot of available hand sanitizer and tried to keep people spaced and took out some of its staple obstacles.
• IOC Survey Finds 50% Of Athletes Struggled To Stay Motivated During The Pandemic 56% of athletes were finding it hard to train effectively.
• World Athletics Publishes Outbreak-Prevention Guidelines For Competition Organizers
• USATF Updates Event Hosting Guidance
• University Of Oregon Athletes Returned To On-Campus Facilities On A Limited Basis This Week
• Some Irish Olympic Hopefuls Are Frustrated That Tracks Remain Closed Despite Coronavirus Restrictions Being Lifted

News From Oregon

• Saturday: Oregon Track Club Elite And The Atlanta Track Club Will Be Going Head-To-Head In A Virtual Dual Meet The meet will be streamed on Facebook and YouTube with Tim Hutchings commentating. Those competing include Nijel Amos and Chanelle Price in the 600m.
• UO Puts Finishing Touches On Hayward Field One of the last details included putting up 156 flags representing all of the countries that have been represented competing at Hayward Field.
• RIP: 1960 Olympian And University Of Oregon Running Great Jim Grelle Dies At Age 83 Grelle won NCAAs in 1959 running under Bill Bowerman and held the US mile record at 3:55.4 for 9 days before it was broken by Jim Ryun.
• Nike Co-Founder Phil Knight Getting An Honorary Doctorate From The University Of Oregon He’ll be honored this weekend as part of the school’s virtual graduation.

Anti-Doping News

• Athletes Say They Feel “Let Down” By Lack Of Drug Testing During Coronavirus Pandemic Christian Taylor made a good point when he said why did USADA have to announce that they were going to reduce testing. “I believe we still have to at least give the impression that testing is going to take place. … Why say anything at all?”
• MB: Olympic Boxer Ginny Fuchs Cleared Of Doping Violation After Saying Banned Substances Were Transmitted By Sex With Her Boyfriend
• Salwa Eid Naser’s Legal Representatives Denied Whereabouts Violation Charges He declined to offer more info on what her defense is. No date has been set for the hearing.

Other Links That Made The Cut

• Wayde Van Niekerk Says He “Was In Total Tears Before” Running The 400m WR At Rio 2016 “When I got into the blocks, I had to switch my mind back into the race. I thought: I can’t be sulking on my hamstring. In the first 200m, I was a bit fearful, but I decided to give it my all.”
• Originally Postponed Racers Grand Prix In Jamaica Now Cancelled Wayde Van Niekerk, Noah Lyles and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce were among those expected to compete.
• Bored? This Sports Quiz From The Guardian Includes Four Running Questions

Tokyo / Commonwealth Games News

• Tokyo 2020 Says 80% Of Its Olympics Venues Are Secured For 2021 Although negotiations are still ongoing for the Athletes’ Village.
  *A More Pessimistic Way Of Saying It: Tokyo Olympic Organizers Have No Agreement With 20% Of Games Venues
• Two-Thirds Of Tokyo Olympic Sponsors Undecided If They’ll Extend Their Contracts Past December
• Tokyo Lifts Coronavirus Warning And Enters Third Stage Of Reopening
• Commonwealth Games Trying To Adjust The Schedule To Make It Easier For Athletes Also Competing At Worlds And Euro Champs The track schedule has moved from seven days to five days, which might mean less rest between heats and finals or for athletes doubling.
• Birmingham MP Warns Funding For Commonwealth Games “In Danger” He said that the city’s council may not be able to provide the promised funding because of financial problems caused by coronavirus. The pandemic has reportedly cost the city council $205 million.

Coronavirus Comeback?

• Vin Lananna Doesn’t Know When They’ll Be Able To Host Track Meets Again; Says The Format Could Change So All The Events Aren’t At The Same Time “We’re going to have to consider not having all the events at one time. I feel we should compartmentalize track meets so they won’t be so long. If we’re interested in the jumps, you can watch the jumps. If you’re interested in the distances, you can watch the distances.”
• The Oregonian Takes A “Sport-By-Sport” Look At “How Much Coronavirus Risk Is Involved In Playing” Each Sport According to some experts, contact sports (like football) and indoors sports (like basketball) were rated with a higher risk, while XC and T&F were rated to have a lower risk.
• The Collegiate Fall Sports Season Is Cancelled In Canada An interesting note on eligibility. Apparently, Canadian universities count XC and track eligibility together. So even though XC is cancelled, if an athlete competes in indoor or outdoor track, they still use a year of XC eligibility.
• Parkrun To Resume In New Zealand At The Beginning Of July All social distancing requirements have been removed in NZ.

Protest / Race News

• Meb Keflezighi Shares His Thoughts On The Recent Protests And On Being Black In America Keflezighi says the Ahmaud Arbery story made him ask himself if he’s “really safe” when he goes out running.
• Oregon Coach Robert Johnson Speaks Out About Racial Injustice Johnson encouraged his athletes to speak out on social media, talked about how he feels getting pulled over by a cop as a black man, and said if you are “being silent, you’re for this injustice.”
• Sprinter Jasmine Todd Says “The overall system in the United States was created to keep black people as slaves.”
• Sports Illustrated: 14 Black Track Athletes Share Their Encounters With Racism In America Raevyn Rogers talks about how she had a gun pointed at her by a police officer when there was an intruder in her building earlier this year.
• IOC Athletes’ Commission To Consult With Athletes On Olympic Protests IOC president Thomas Bach said a rule banning athletes from protesting at the Olympics could be reviewed.
• Seb Coe Backs Athletes’ Right To Protest Despite IOC Rules Banning Political Protests, Including Taking A Knee Coe said, “I am reluctant to discourage athletes from expressing their views and I sense that the current generation is more willing to speak out than some previous generations were.”
• The Telegraph: “Black Power Pioneers Paid Dearly – They Raised A Fist And The System Punched Them Back” The writer claims that because of sponsorships, the IOC “fears a 21st-century equivalent of the Black Power protests” from 1968.

Brown Track Is Back!

MB: Brown University Reinstates Men’s Cross-Country And Track And Field Teams A letter from the university president to the Brown community stated that they realized their original decision to cut the teams would “have real and lasting implications for efforts to build and sustain diverse and inclusive communities for our students at Brown, and particularly our community of black students and alumni.”

More Black Athlete News:

• IOC Confirm Athletes Face Bans For Taking Knee At Tokyo 2021 Olympics IOC says disciplinary action “will be taken on a case-by-case basis” but current guidelines are “still in place.”
• GB Olympic Sprinter Chris Lambert Says Track And Field Is “As Close To A Meritocracy As Any Other Profession” He Knows, Where “Athletes Are Paid According To Their Station, Regardless Of” Race Or Gender Lambert also says, though, that success of black athletes in sports is “used to whitewash the discrimination they face” outside sports.
• USOPC Chief Executive Sarah Hirshland Creating An “Athlete-Led Group” To Challenge Rules Preventing Athletes From Protesting Last year a fencer and US hammer thrower Gwen Berry were both placed on a one-year probation after staging separate podium protests at the Pan American Games.

Diack Trial Begins In Paris

• Lamine Diack Trial Begins; Prosecutors Say He “Solicited $3.9 Million) In Bribes” Diack’s lawyer claimed, “The fact financial exchanges took place is not enough on its own to prove corruption.” He faces 10 years in jail if convicted.
• Former IAAF Anti-Doping Chief Gabriel Dolle Tells Court That Lamine Diack Urged Him To Bend The Rules On Russian Doping Cases To Avoid A Scandal That Would Scare Off Sponsors Dolle is on trial alongside Diack for accepting bribes to cover up Russian doping.
• AP Article Charged anti-doping chief Gabriel Dolle claims he was “betrayed” by Diack as he had agreed to let Russians serve suspensions “discreetly,” not for them to be allowed to compete.
• Court Rejects Postponement Request As Diack Trial Starts In Paris Papa Massata‘s legal team requested a delay since they weren’t able to travel due to coronavirus restrictions.

LRC Exclusive

LRC Cross-Country In The Age Of COVID-19: What The 2020 NCAA XC Season Will Look Like … If There Is One Will there be a 2020 NCAA XC season? Jonathan Gault spoke to NCAA coaches, medical experts, and members of the NCAA’s coronavirus advisory panel to figure out if a cross-country season is feasible and what it might look like. And there is good news. “I think it is very feasible that there will be a cross-country season,” says Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security and a member of the NCAA’s coronavirus advisory panel.