World Relays USA Team Announced: US 4x800 W Looking Great. Simpson, Symmonds, Centro, Cain NOT Running

Symmonds is far from competitive now. He has filled his life with distractions, which is fine - he seems to enjoy them. But he no longer has the focus/drive to push enough to compete with the likes of Aman. Compounding this, his decision to change coaches was poor. I don't see him ever approaching his peak again. He must know that entering a meet and competing with Solomon or Aman or others at the top would show how much he has lost and only result in the media asking him questions about what has been going wrong/what has changed - questions he doesn't want to/can't answer.

AR W 4x1500

17:11.80 Georgetown University 2 Philadelphia 24.04.2009

Christine Whalen (4:20.2) 05.10.87 USA

Emily Infeld (4:17.5) 21.03.90 USA

Renee Tomlin (4:16.7) 21.11.88 USA

Maggie Infeld (4:17.4) 10.04.86 USA

UofTenn 17:08.34 24 April 2009 can not hold AR one member Rolanda Bell is Panamanian.

Agreed , there never will be money in the sport.

Looking at a bigger picture though added value comes from being a part of medal twinning eam or world record team down the road as they ask for appearance money or trying to get a lane in Europe. Agents only think think for the now.

Think about it. Get your $500 bucks finish 4th at so and so meet or medalist at world relays champs.

Wejo,

The issue is the USATF tries to get everyone to run on the relay teams (not just at World Relays but at Penn, etc) for no money, just travel, AND they have to wear the Nike USA uniform which a non-Nike athlete doesn't want to do, and their sponsor certainly doesn't want them to do. Athletes are tired of it. Money is what could make it worth it (stipend from USATF or appearance money from IAAF), but they want to get everyone for free. No medalist should be racing for free! Ever! And no other meet asks them to do that. Not to mention the fact that athletes aren't happy with USATF right now in the first place, so they're certainly not in the mood to run for them for free.

And yes the prize money is decent, but split it between four people and throw in the fact that it will be paid to USATF and the athletes will have to wait until who knows when to get it. There are athletes that are owed stipends from USATF that should have gotten their money this FALL (after World Rankings were released) and still haven't received it.

I know this isn't relevant to the title of the thread, but I would love to see Mo in the 4x1500m for GB.

We don't have great depth, but we're not terrible.

We've obviously got Mo at 3:28 (though now slower due to marathon presumably)

Then Chris O'Hare has run 3:35

Ross Murray has gone 3:34

And then there's a host of other guys who are just down on them, like Baddeley and Grice. Maybe chuck Andy Vernon in there if no one is willing (13:11 has to be worth c. 3:34-36.

Mo does slow things down in individual races, but in relays he would be great, and he would be forced to work hard, as we would be down by a long way from team Kenya and Ethiopia, as well as USA most likely. Mo used to do road relays for his club and used to give it everything to get his team the lead.

I'd like to throw him in there just to see if he really is still a team player, motivated by medals to make "my country proud" in his words...

Rant over.

Brandon Johnson been globetrotting like Pitbull.

"I don't play football but I've touched down everywhere

Everywhere?

Everywhere!"

Re Rolanda Bell--Rojo is checking this out as I type. There seems to be some question as to when she became a Panamanian in IAAFs eyes at least. She may have competed for Panama as early as summer 2009.She is active on various social media sites so exactly when this Brooklyn raised young lady chose Panama should be easy to clarify. I believe Panama permits dual citizenship. There is also some conflicting info as to her birth place cited as Brooklyn NYC in some and Panama in others. I do remember some buzz in NYC T&F circles about her citizenship in 2009- but I'm unsure if anything 'official' came out of it. After all it's the USATF we are talking about here.

wineturtle wrote:

AR W 4x1500

17:11.80 Georgetown University 2 Philadelphia 24.04.2009

Christine Whalen (4:20.2) 05.10.87 USA

Emily Infeld (4:17.5) 21.03.90 USA

Renee Tomlin (4:16.7) 21.11.88 USA

Maggie Infeld (4:17.4) 10.04.86 USA

UofTenn 17:08.34 24 April 2009 can not hold AR one member Rolanda Bell is Panamanian.

Checked with a friend and his memory is the confusion about citizen ship was never resolved. Bell may have competed in a CARIFTA or NACAC event in the 2008-2010 timeframe.

If rojo does contact her thru social media he might be able to clear it up. I'd rather hear it from the horses mouth so to speak instead of circling around to the other end of the thing and wait for the stuff produced by USATF to appear.

I'm all for athletes skipping Penn and events like that. Those are not global championships.

This is a global IAAF sponsored championship. Very different than going to run at Penn.

And if the alternative is to go run at Oxy for free, money isn't the issue. Some athletes are choosing to run for free rather than go to the World Relays.

If we're trying to build a sport that people follow we need athletes competing on the biggest stage. World events, Diamond League.

wejo wrote:

I'm all for athletes skipping Penn and events like that. Those are not global championships.

This is a global IAAF sponsored championship. Very different than going to run at Penn.

And if the alternative is to go run at Oxy for free, money isn't the issue. Some athletes are choosing to run for free rather than go to the World Relays.

If we're trying to build a sport that people follow we need athletes competing on the biggest stage. World events, Diamond League.

LOL. You think running some crappy relay meet is going to get people interested in the sport? No one except a few dorks on this website even know that a relay championship even exists. This isn't a major event, that is why they aren't running it.

Heard USATF is asking Brenda Martinez to double and run both 4x1500 and 4x800. Any thoughts on this? I hope it's true.

WHERES LAGAT

mellow seeds wrote:

LOL. You think running some crappy relay meet is going to get people interested in the sport? No one except a few dorks on this website even know that a relay championship even exists. This isn't a major event, that is why they aren't running it.

Most people don't even know the Diamond League exists or the World Championships if you go to the population at large.

The World Relay event is a first time event that could get some traction and will have global tv. You have to start somewhere. The problem is the sport is so small everyone just fights for their own scraps and the governing body doesn't have much leverage like in bigger sports where they control all the $.

I'm impressed with the turnout. Most of the top Americans at least in the distances are running. Glad to see them embracing this event.

Are you joking or some Wheating Fan boy? The guy is great but he ran his 3:30.9 in 2010. At his SB he ran 3:34 I'm 2011, 3:35.9 in 2012 and 3:37 I'm 2013...what are you smoking even mentioning him?

With respect, Wego, I think you'll find that the reverse is true outside of the US. Diamond League is massive in Europe, always in the news, and screens live on Free To Air television. Ditto for the World Championships. This kind of gimmick event, however, isn't being taken seriously by most countries. The majority who are bothering to send teams are primarily focused on trying out combinations for the 4x100 and 4x400 events, prior to the next World Championships. Teams may be selected for the other events at the discretion of the member country if they think it is justified. I think that most people understand that this is an attempt by the IAAF to try and keep up some kind of global media interest in a very slow year. Good on them for trying something, but let's not try to sell it as something it's not. Diamond League promotors aren't going to drop one of their genuine draw-card athletes in order that someone who was part of the 4x1500m bronze medal winning team can get a start. Some medals are worth more than others.

I was thinking the same thing. Finally the World Relays are here and no 4x 800 or 4 x 1500 GB team. England's best hope is....? the womens 4x400 or mens 4x100 sneaking podium if the USA/Trini/Jam/ manages to drop the baton. The sun has set on the British athletics empire.

800 Coach wrote:

There is very little money in Track and Field. the athletes need to do what will maximize their income. If they want the athletes to go to this relays meet than they need to put up big money. I don't blame the athletes at all.

Ok. Have you read this? They have put up big money.

IAAF wrote:

In addition, the top eight teams in each event will be awarded prize money with the gold medallists taking home no less than USD $50,000. In the event that a team breaks a World record in Nassau, an additional bonus of USD $50,000 will also be awarded.

The women's 4 x 1500 is a mere formality. No one has really ever run the event. Beating Tennessee's record is a joke.

So the US women could split 100k - that's $25k per person