Shannon Butler USATF 1996 lawsuit article

whatever man wrote:

Let it be known that in 1997 Shannon Butler stood up to John Chaplin and his lawsuit against USATF was successful.

Now you've got my attention. What did he win? I did a search and couldn't find anything archived about the outcome of a trial or a settlement. Just curious as to if he was awarded damages or some other type of compensation. Thanks in advance if anyone knows...

Probably a confidential settlement.

Carl,

I'm working on a piece for Running Times on this issue. Can you write me? scott AT scottdouglas DOT biz. Thanks.

Will do. I'm off to work soon (8:00). Will write you on break, or I am at cerose88 AT aol DOT com. It's been awhile, but I might be able to put you in touch with Shannon Butler as well.

Scott, I sent you an email a moment ago.

This brief story is on a much lower scale than the Olympic Trials, but we found out the hard way just this year that USATF will do what they want, when they want...

At the 2008 Jr. Women's race at the US XC Champs in San Diego, we had a girl from our club (Maria Malone) finish 12th. There was a cancellation in the NACAC race (the US is supposed to field teams in a smaller international competition prior to worlds in Florida) and one of the junior women had to withdraw. Found out later she gave USATF plenty of notice. At this point, with all the top qualifiers bypassing the FL race for worlds in Scotland, our girl ended up as the #1 alternate. The team was supposed to be 'self-selection by order of finish'. Imagine our surprise when we looked at the NACAC results and found a Florida girl - who finished behind Maria in the race - representing the US on an international team - not Maria - probably because she could drive to the race, not have to be flown in from California.

Captain Krunch wrote:

Has [Goucher] ever been higher than last place in any Olympic or World Champs Track final?

1999 World Championships 5000m 12th

2000 Olympics 5000m 13th

2001 World Championships 5000m 11th

2006 World Cross Country Championships (Short) 6th

2007 World Championships 5000m 11th

In my opinion, Goucher belongs with Kennedy, Williams and Cullpepper as the guys who helped carry American-born distance running through the drought, and paved the way for guys like Webb, Ritz, Hall, Teg, Solinsky and Rupp.

As much as I hate the whole Nike and USATF conflict of interest issue, Goucher belonged in that final, and he proved it by finishing 7th despite having a troublesome season.

"There are three levels of appeals that a runner can take," said Mastbaum. "Those are before the USATF Appeals Council, the U.S. Olympic Committee, and the American Arbitration Association. At all levels, no official is authorized to award monetary damages. It shields them from being responsible for athletes harmed by their actions."

"By creating a complex, unwieldy adminstrative scheme, as a consequence the selection process is not based on merit," he said. "It is not possible for an athlete to obtain a quick and fair resolution to an eligibility dispute..."

This quote in particular is clutch for illustrating the unethical nature of USATF.

I agree with you. As long as no one who truly qualified (top 24) was denied a spot then it's ok for someone like Goucher to race. This board being anonymous allows a lot of people to "speak" when they wouldn't if everyone knew who they were.

There is also a lot of jealousy so people aren't thinking clearly.

Yeh but the point of this thread is not to rip Goucher, it's to call out the fact that USATF did deny Butler a top 24 spot. So they are pretty sketchy, especially given that Chaplin is still around calling the shots.

Except that it's NOT ok to tell other provisional qualifiers who appealed that their appeals weren't even looked at because the field sizes were set, even though in the men's 10,000 the field size was one over the limit as set in USATF's rulebook. It's the same kind of unequal treatment from sycophantic officials that Butler got. They told one set of people that they're holding the line on the rules with respect to their entry into the race and then turned around and overlooked about those rules with one guy who coincidentally just happens to have some connections with the meet officials through his coach and sponsor. That's why they've got to treat any appeal equally with respect to the rules that are clearly laid out on the books, to prevent even the appearance of special treatment and corruption.

7th without the A standard is hardly a justification, any given place outside of the top 3 wasn't the target of anyone in that race. 7th (or even 4th) is as good as 25th for athletes who only care about making the Olympic team to compete in Beijing, and I wouldn't know whether Goucher didn't care about competing in Beijing.

Carl,

Can you clarify for us exactly what happened at this point in your account?

When (and how) did Shannon "learn" that he was to be exclued from the field?

Who did he get this information from?

"Just prior to the trials, Butler learned he was to be excluded from the field although he had clocked a 28:33.54 mark at the 1995 Mt. SAC Relays in the 10000-meter run. This provisional mark qualified Butler as the 24th athlete out of 24 allowed into the field."

This is how I read it.

Shannon Butler learned shortly before the Olympic Trials he was not going to be let into the race. So he flew to ATL to race, presuming there had been an honest mistake which would be cleared up. He sought out John Chaplin to straighten it out and get entered into the 10000. Chaplin apparently blew a gasket and told Butler right there and then in the hotel lobby he was to be nixed from the field at all costs. What a prick!

The above guy is close enough to the mark, it was a few days before the trials. If you have particular questions about Shannon Butler's affairs, contact David Mastbaum, who served as Butler's legal representation in Boulder at www.mastlaw.com.

Anyone care to comment on what Marcy Projects wrote on page 1? If true, that's a pretty bad pattern of corruption. I'd love to hear some discussion from anyone who might be close to any of those situations.

Any ideas for doing some sort of street protest to get Chaplin fired? That would be unusual and likely get good media coverage. Are there enough of us in NY, Eugene, or Indianapolis to pull this off.

Or perhaps circulate a petition by email to have Chaplin fired. Get names/phones/emails of all who want to see him go and send this to USOC.

Really there must be something we can do to get rid of this dirtbag. I don't have a problem with the Goucher matter, but I'm upset at a lot of other things Chaplin has been accused of doing.

Only place where people are openingly complaining is here. You couldn't get one coach or athlete to speak up for themselves in the 10k for a reason.

Coaches all want to be a part of these US Teams

Athletes are afraid of retaliation.

College coaches have been told to be quiet from their A.D.'s. Because of problems with Nike.

So you will NEVER get change.

Well I coach some good runners and I'll speak up. Fire John Chaplin.

Marcy Projects,

I'm interested in speaking with you for the Running Times story I'm working on. Either for background or on the record. Write me at scott AT scottdouglas DOT biz. I'm trying to pull the story together in time to turn in on Wednesday. Thanks.