HUGE INJUSTICE at USA's

Anybody think that there is the potential for a lawsuit particularly if, as posted earlier, one of the athletes has an email stating 30 athletes will be taken?

It's not cheap to take time off work and fly across the country just to be told to take a seat in the stands.

You would think that USATF would not want to be in another lawsuit after the Logan fiasco. They are not doing themselves any favors with this situation. If it is true that these 3 athletes were told they could run and then USATF scratched them at the last second, they should definitely lawyer up. Maybe another lawsuit will wake USATF up.

Yes.This is a breach of contract. The proper course of action would be to sue in small claims court to recoup the costs of flying to the meet.

lawsuit wrote:

Anybody think that there is the potential for a lawsuit particularly if, as posted earlier, one of the athletes has an email stating 30 athletes will be taken?

It's not cheap to take time off work and fly across the country just to be told to take a seat in the stands.

this is not a matter of the number of athletes being arbitrary or dumb

The USATF does have the power to set the number of athletes at whatever it feel will produce the best meet and the best team for worlds, and is not really obligated to offer a justification for its decision

what sucks about this, however, is the complete disregard for other people's schedules and obligations in leading them believe theyd be admitted then pulling the rug out from under them once they'd taken time off from work anf flown across the country

from the information posted on this thread, it sounds like some people on the selection committee have a completely delusional perception of how important their job actually is...

while I am too lazy to do so myself right now, anyone who would like to post and email of a responsible party...Id imagine we could effectively flood their inbox

uh_no wrote:

Yes.

This is a breach of contract. The proper course of action would be to sue in small claims court to recoup the costs of flying to the meet.

I doubt theyd find a valid contract here, chance at an estoppel claim...but that's a lot harder to establish than an actual breach of contract case

"I am a tad confused. Why 32 in women's race and fewer in men's? If this is real, I find it disturbing"

Similarily, in the 10K, why are there 28 women running and only 22 men allowed?

From the USATF website: "Athletes who have attained the "B" Standard will be allowed to declare, but will be notified if they have been accepted into the Championships to compete in order to fill an event for competitiveness. The Sport Committee chair will make the final field size determination once declarations close. The "B" Standard MAY [caps mine] be used to fill the fields, in ranked order of those athletes who have entered and declared their intention to compete. For notification purposes, a current phone number/e-mail address should be provided during the declaration process."

The should have still allowed 32 in, but the above seems clear enough. Probably John Chaplin just woke up feeling ornery this morning.

The same thing that occurred in the 800m is happening in the men's 5000m. Athletes were scratched by USATF after 'the committee' met on Tuesday. Wednesday morning at 10am athletes discovered their fate online. There are 16 on the start list in the men's 5000m, 3 of them scheduled to race the 10000m the night before. We could have 13 competitors in our national championship in a WC and pre-Olympic year. That doesn't bode well for the development of our athletes.

I bet they charge them for their ticket in the stands too!

I hesitate to even post this, but trust me, it's a nightmare.

I coached an athlete in 2008, Blake Boldon who they did the exact same thing to in the 5000m at the Olympic Trials.

The entire experience was documented in Running Times, Runner's World, the Eugene Registar Guard as well as flotrack, letsrun, etc.

There were a total of 28 men declared to run the 5000m (who had qualified well under the provisional standard), two heats of 14 (they take 14 to the finals). Ironically, two of them (Rupp and Rohatinski) even stated that if they made the finals they were not planning to compete because they were using the 5000m heats as a tune up for the 10k - thank you Mr. Salazar, which screwed Hassan Mead and Ryan Bak out of the finals, but that's another story...

Boldon, along with Ian Burrell, Forest Braden and Patrick Smythe got cut out of the two heats and were not allowed to compete. Boldon, Burrell and Braden all filed an appeal together in person at the meet. The whole process was a joke and the way they were treated was horrible. I will not even bother to type what was said to them. It was the worst experience I've ever had in the sport as a coach, athlete, fan, etc. and I left the trials early and came home.

The USATF treats athletes differently if you're a star. Ironically, without the athletes who aren't the "stars" there would be no USATF or sport. These guys aren't making money, they pay their own way and have coaches who do it for free for the love of the sport. They put their lives on hold and give it everything, yet have their future determined by a committee and not by a stopwatch.

All that the athletes and coaches have ever asked for was consistency, transparency, clarity and fairness in the process from start to finish. That's it.

Either openly declare a rational field size in each event and stick with it or else set a single qualifying standard (no "A" and "B" stuff that leaves the athletes in "purgatory" wondering what's going on) and whoever hits the mark is in. That way everyone knows where they stand, can make travel arrangements, etc.

I also believe if an athlete declares and then doesn't show up on the starting line then they should be fined for not competing barring injury because they just shafted another athlete that could've competed and in a way that's just being selfish and unsportsmanlike. I understand people have differing opinions on that and that's okay.

Fire away, that's my 2 cents on it.

PS. A little bit of history, Christian Smith made the 2008 Olympic Team in the 800m. He only got in the field as the 30th man because Alan Webb scratched. Imagine that.

Yeah just let them fly out and maybe they'll give them a phone call the day of the race, Jesus. Typical USATF bs

I doubt they were told that they would run. They were told a minimum of 30 would be taken and they were the next three on the list. That's parsing, I know, but there is a difference.

Still, you can't send out an email stating the criteria and then change your mind a couple of days later. They pull this crap because they know they can get away with it. Somebody needs to kick Chaplin in the balls.

How hard can it be to set rules months in advance and then stick by them?

Actually, it's all good. USATF is holding their Member Appreciation Day on Friday.:

http://www.usatf.org/Events---Calendar/2011/Member-Appreciation-Weekend.aspx

As these lads are in Eugene anyway - with nothing to do - they can pop in for the Ice Cream Social and see their membership fees at work.

It comes down to whether:

a) The USATF said they would take 30.

b) The athlete RSVPed correctly.

c) The athlete was led to believe he was part of the 30.

If all this can be proven, then the USATF f'ed it up.

The main attraction at the Ice Cream Social is reported to be a "John Chaplin Float" The exact recipe is a closely guarded secret, but the main ingredient is reported to be a quart of hogwash, and it also appears to have a significant quantity of baloney in it as well...no nuts apparently.

Maybe they are trying to keep the heats uncrowded because of all the falls and complaining that accompanies them.

But I do agree if they sent out an email indicating that the athletes would be allowed to run, then that sucks.

The number of athletes in each race should mimic the number of athletes in the heats at Worlds. The association's job is to support the athletes, promote the sport, and choose the best team for Worlds. Power trips, egos and selfishness are not part of the asociation's duties.

The late date and process to make athletes aware of their fate in the meet is terrible...that needs to be changed as well!

I think I know one of the athletes. It could possibly be Erik Sowinski from Iowa. A couple days ago his facebook post was "Not happy with USATF..." or something like that. He has made the qualifying times too I think.