Who is the genius who came up with this? The same event is NEVER contested by both sexes at the same meet. Women's 1500 = no men's 1500. What is this, Title IX on nandrolone? And that's just the beginning.
Here are but a few of the "gems" of the Diamond League format:
No two meets have identical events on the schedule.
It's like they went out of their way to achieve this, as if it's a GOOD thing, a selling point. No, it's not a selling point. It's a killing point.
The 3000 or 10000 "can be run" in place of the 5000.
As of now, NO 3000s or 10000s are scheduled at any of these meets. Only 5000s, but if they want to change it to a 3000 or 10000, change away is the "policy." Granted, the difference between a 3000 versus a 5000 isn't all that great, but do they not know that training/scheduling/preping-in-general for a 10000 is drastically different than that of a 5000?
The same event is NEVER contested by both sexes at the same meet.
This one bears repeating. So at the two U.S. stops (NYC and Eugene) there will be no men's 400. What's even more ridiculous is that there isn't even a women's 400 at the NYC meet. Why would they not want to showcase an event in which the U.S. has such depth, on both the men's and women's sides?
This really sucks for the 400m specialists out there. On the men's side, when there is a 400 offered, there is almost always a 200 at the same meet. But when there is no 400, there usually isn't even a 200 either. At the meets where there is not a men's 400, the next closest distances are the 100 and 800. NO chance of competing at such meets.
They're already so convinced of this format, they've already set up tentative dates for the 2011 season.
I realize that all events have never been offered at one meet, even when it was the GL, but the way they're going about this does not showcase the stars of our sport. Even if they just have one heat of the 400 or the 800 or whatever, I'd rather get to see eight of the stars of that event than none at all. Can you imagine going to a (US) football game where running backs were not part of the team at "certain" games, but were at others? They are presenting an inconsistent product with this format. Period.
Why can't they make more of these meets two-day events, such as the London meeting, if time is such an issue?
If time is such a factor, why not have more two-day meets, then? Especially at stops outside Europe where they don't get many chances to see world class events like these as often. They could make the Doha and Shanghai meets a two-day, and I personally would love it if they made both U.S. stops two-day events if need be. The thing is, I don't even think it would be necessary, but if it were it would still be better than the hyperabbreviated format they have planned now.
Anyway, there you have it. Thoughts?