Lolo Jones and Nick Symmonds blackballed by Aviva Diamond League - Stand up for them!

Awesome guys, way to step up and support your athletes.

Adam and "co.," I truly hope you guys will use this as another piece to galvanize your athletes into a union.

It is time again for a change.

You ought to be able to have multiple sponsor logos on yourself or your uni.

Just as it took athletes coming together in the days of Pre, and more later to get the government to take down the AAU and the TAC, it is time to take down USATF and have a new org crafted to the times and needs of the athletes.

Selfish old farts like Ian Stewart need to be shown the door as well.

Wouldn't it be great if next year ALL USA athletes boycotted his meets until an apology is won for Lolo and Nick?

Heck, boycott the next Aviva.

This sport should be for the fans and the athletes, not the gray haired meet directors.

Sometimes you gotta fight for your rights.

Why don't they sue Ian Stewart ?

Sue the Ass A Ho La wrote:

Why don't they sue Ian Stewart ?

Laws are different in the UK, not as easy to sue as here.

Nicks twitter page history:

https://twitter.com/NickSymmonds/

You can email Ian Stewart here:

istewart@uka.org.uk

Nick's tweet:

"Please let Ian Stewart know your thoughts about his practice of using DL meetings to carry out his personal vendettas.

istewart@uka.org.uk

"

IAAF should strip the London meet of its Diamond League status. The diamond league should allow the best athletes to compete.

Or do a drone strike. That would work too.

Yes , if the organization representing the athletes had a backbone it would declare a boycott of all meets Mr. Stewart is directing. I also wonder how much influence or suggested ban came from the wife of Mr. Stewart , Ms. Hightower, She has stated her negative stand on added sponsorship for athletes.

Athletes unite , know your enemy.

Absolutely agree with the poster above. This is why a track and field athletes union WILL NEVER WORK. Athletes will not agree as a whole to boycott meets that violate whatever standards the union will set.

It is common knowledge among athletes not to piss off Ian Stewart or he won't let you in his meets.

Sue USATF. The USATF president used her connections with the London meet director, her husband, to sabotage US athletes Olympic preparations because of personal vendettas. Also, she prevented them from working and earning income.

USATF is a ram shackle organization! Good Lord they are petty and small minded. Let our US athletes breathe and BE the awesome energy talents they are.

call me when they are blackballed from the Olympic Trials.. this is not interesting. Lolo Jones and Nick Symmonds are both annoying as hell and a meet director has every right not to let them in.

True,this was a 'private' invitational event, they can pick whomever they want. You can not denigrate an event/organization and then want to be part of it. Plus, they were hardly missed especially Lolo, Nick Symmonds might have even won, but, Lolo would not have beaten the other ladies. Both of them can be very annoying and puerile

sanchobaile wrote:

call me when they are blackballed from the Olympic Trials.. this is not interesting. Lolo Jones and Nick Symmonds are both annoying as hell and a meet director has every right not to let them in.

why bother? they are mediocre runners. when they start banning bolt or tyson or allyson or lagat or rushida or even jeter - let me know.

The apathy by the previous three posters is simply asinine. If you don't support the sport, please leave and take your WWE mentality with you.

This is not the first time Ian has pulled this sort of crap. He did with with me and my athletes when he first took over from Andy Norman in the late-90s. The heads of federations and meets know that athletes careers are short. Agents also realize this and might sacrifice an athlete to stay in good graces of meet promoters. Both athletes have the same management but Stephanie Hightower probably nailed her own coffin shut by her actions. I believe her term to be up in December but she should probably resign now. It's great to have network media connections.

I am amazed at the idiots who don't see the broader implications of this issue. It matters not at all whether you like Nick or Lolo, what does matter is whether a-holes such as Stewart and Hightower should be allowed to use their positions of authority in the sport to carry out personal vendettas against athletes, and especially against athletes whose biggest "crimes" include standing up for the rights of other athletes. Hopefully, someone is exploring the possible legal ramifications of what seems to be going on here!

i support nick in his pursuit of change. (not sure about lolo, it's not as clear there).

however, it isn't like he wasn't warned. among all the mob were wise warning voices. you can't pick a fight with someone bigger than you and then complain when your nose is bloodied. he knew and accepted this as a likely outcome of his campaign.

If Symmonds actually wanted to sue Ian Stewart, he probably has a case. But the aggravation and expense may not be worth it.

This is about the only time I have agreed with A Duck on anything: he is 100% right here.

The W100h and M800 are part of the DIAMOND LEAGUE series. Blocking athletes with the obvious credentials to run (as accepted by other, better DL meets - eg Paris) is nothing short of match-fixing. It's like sponsors colluding to keep a golfer out of Tour events to make sure Tiger Woods has the best chance possible for a slam.

Speaking of match-fixing, funny that the London DL couldn't find a single sub-13:00 guy to get in the way of Farah's romp to victory, right? There are 5-8 Kenyans, at least, who could have actually pushed Farah in the 5000, but Stewart wants a clean path for the golden Brit. Pathetic. Simply no integrity.

I sort of understand why Symmonds was banned, although I disagree and find it to be bad form on the part of Stewart.

But why Lolo? What has she done?