I'm not one to hate on the racewalk, but this is absurd:
http://www.usatf.org/news/view.aspx?DUID=USATF_2007_08_13_06_57_00
Note the following:
"A purse of over $55,000 will be awaiting the top finishers of the 50 kilometer (31 mile) walk, the longest track and field event at the Olympic Games. First place will be worth more than $15,000 with the top eight finishers guaranteed prize money."
In 2004, they had 12 finisher's total:
http://www.usatf.org/events/2004/OlympicTrials-RW/results.asp
The disgusting part is 4 hours is the Olympic standard. And to make it worse, only Kevin Eastler is racing for the US in Osaka...with a time over 4 hours.
Who the hell is bankrolling that? And what is the point of rewarding THAT MUCH MONEY to someone who doesn't even stand a chance at placing in the top HALF of the field at the Olympics? AND the biggest kicker is only men compete in the 50k - clearly women racewalkers are getting jipped here as well (though who really cares about that, though it sure does add to the ridiculousness of this whole thing. I imagine if I was a woman trying to qualify for the OT in the 20k walk I'd be pretty pissed that I didn't get an opportunity to walk away with free money considering only 6 women even FINISHED the national USATF 20k this year....)
And the best part of this all:
"Men who can run faster than 2 hours and 30 minutes for the marathon are encouraged to contact [VINCE] Peters for more information on race walking as well as U.S. Olympic Trials qualifying opportunities."
Are any of you sub 2:30 guys gonna bother to look at this page let alone learn to racewalk fast enough to do a 50k in 4:45 by the end of the year so you can qualify for a race in FEBRUARY? Who are they kidding?
This is the most absurd thing I've seen in a long time.
Fun Fact: Vince Peters, in addition to being the national racewalk chair, also coached Sam Borchers this year.