1980 Olympic Trials 10000m photo

Found it (halfway down the page):http://www.runningentertainment.com/runningshots2.html

Felix El Gato wrote:

last lap wrote:

Running was more epic in black-and-white.

Agreed. I have this awesome black and white photo of Virgin (in an Front Runner jersey) leading Salazar and Nenow (in Athletics West and Todd's Road Stumblers jerseys) in the pouring rain, in what I think was a non-Olympic year national 10k race, probably '82 or '83 or something. However, I'm not sure if that's right. As I recall, someone told me that it was raining and miserable all weekend, the races were slow across the board and runners were pulling out like crazy. But come the 10k, those three just went out and hammered each other into the ground from the gun. Anyone know if this is correct, or the year/story of the race?

Thanks, everyone (P.S., I have now dug a hole rather than getting work done).

thanks for the great pictures malmo, maybe you have a picture of Virgin at World Cross the year he won, 1980 i think? i'd love to use one as my wallpaper.

Malmo, write a book about your experiences. The stories you tell are inspirational. I grew up (running) in the 70's and love to hear about the hard core runners of the day.

From RW 1980:

"While the Trials were raising anywhere from $200,000 to $400,000 for the USOC, athletes were only provided with room and board from the day before their events to the day after. As a result, some of the 10,000 meter racers could not afford to stay around and watch their friends compete in the other distance races later in the week. More ludicrously, don Paige, the 800 meter winner and a definite threat at 1500 until a sore Achilles tendon forced him to drop out, had to fork over $26 for the second of the three days between his two events."

Lorenzo the Magnificent wrote:

From RW 1980:

"While the Trials were raising anywhere from $200,000 to $400,000 for the USOC, athletes were only provided with room and board from the day before their events to the day after. As a result, some of the 10,000 meter racers could not afford to stay around and watch their friends compete in the other distance races later in the week. More ludicrously, don Paige, the 800 meter winner and a definite threat at 1500 until a sore Achilles tendon forced him to drop out, had to fork over $26 for the second of the three days between his two events."

AAU=TAC=USATF=Horseshit. And I'd like to find any PhD to refute this mathematical proof.

runn wrote:

Malmo, write a book about your experiences. The stories you tell are inspirational. I grew up (running) in the 70's and love to hear about the hard core runners of the day.

Or at least ... someone of note start a new thread from the past. No doubt that this thread has been the best of the last few months. What about the 1980 OT Steeple Malmo, love to hear your personal account .....

Some coach, there's not much to report on the 1980 OT steeple. I had a wardrobe misfunction (spike blowout) and flopped my way to 7th place (8:32) in my heat. 13th fastest of the semifinals: 12 went to the finals. I think I ended up being the fastest non-qualifier in a US competition for about 20 years.

malmo wrote:

Some coach, there's not much to report on the 1980 OT steeple. I had a wardrobe misfunction (spike blowout) and flopped my way to 7th place (8:32) in my heat. 13th fastest of the semifinals: 12 went to the finals. I think I ended up being the fastest non-qualifier in a US competition for about 20 years.

Youch, it's one thing to be the bridesmaid, another because of a damn spike (Adidas, Nike ... who's to blame?). Was that your only trials experience on the track? 1976? Didn't you go Marathon in 84?

Correction. in 1984 Ricky Pittman didn't make it to the OT Final with an 8:26.

Some Coach wrote:

Lorenzo the Magnificent wrote:

From RW 1980:

"While the Trials were raising anywhere from $200,000 to $400,000 for the USOC, athletes were only provided with room and board from the day before their events to the day after. As a result, some of the 10,000 meter racers could not afford to stay around and watch their friends compete in the other distance races later in the week. More ludicrously, don Paige, the 800 meter winner and a definite threat at 1500 until a sore Achilles tendon forced him to drop out, had to fork over $26 for the second of the three days between his two events."

AAU=TAC=USATF=Horseshit. And I'd like to find any PhD to refute this mathematical proof.

Ollan Cassel was the worst administrator and biggest thief in modern day sports. The old AAU/TAC -whatever you want to call it today is about the same. As today, it's about a bunch of grumpy old white guys who officiate and never about the athletes. Back in those days, all the money went to the AAU and the athletes got screwed. The Cassels of the day live a lavish lifestyle in the US and lived even better in Europe because the meet promoters wanted all the US sprinters to race in their meets. You had to grease Ollan's palm to get the fastest sprinters.

Okay, that one was epic even in color.

malmo wrote:

Image:

http://i27.tinypic.com/2zqewao.jpg

It sounds like Stemmer may have been the inspiration for Nacho Libre. Thanks for sharing these great stories!

Mark Heckel ended up in the Finals the 1980 Heavyweight Class of the Intramural Wrestling Tournament at PSU while throwing the Hammer on the Track Team and captaining the tuba section of the Blue Band. Didn't wear a mask, though. I think he lost to one of the notable football players. Coach Groves was not happy, and I doubt JoePa was either.

Sorry I missed this thread the first time through. Thanks to Malmo and the other "fold arts." Damn, that was some loaded field for a "meaningless" 10,000 track race.

trek bicycles wrote:

Do you have a pic from the 5k from that year? Did Bobby Snyder run the trials in 1980?

Here are a few of mine from the Runningentertainment.com site:

malmo wrote:

Image:

http://i31.tinypic.com/vqis91.jpg

L-R: Alex Kasich, Paul Geis, Paul Stemmer, Craig Virgin (1st), Ric Rojas, Stan Vernon, Stan Mavis, Alberto Salazar (3rd), Greg Fredericks (2nd)

Annoying anal-retentive correction of the day: I used to work with Stann Vernon in the early '80s, and I'm pretty certain his first name is spelled with two n's.