Jearl Miles-Clark Left Off 4 x 400 Relay

Let's see-- this thread is over 130 posts, and I'd say 98% of the posters are for Jearl, and maybe 2% for Brooks Johnson and Sue Humphries and their blatant display of age-ism.

That definitely says something to me! CC and MB had no business being on that relay. Unfortunately they had politics on their side (plus Brooks wanting a cut off CC's slice of the pie) whereas Jearl was alone in Athens with no one to back her up. Way to leave our finest U.S. female middle distance athlete of the last 15 years hung out to dry.

PS I am starting to think Richard Neer is the nom de plume of Brooks Johnson or Sue Humphrey. BTW why are we having field coaches and guys who have consistently failed with sprinters coach our sprint relay teams? Had the Russians been more competitive this years, our 4 x 800 would've been doomed w/o Jearl, IMO. And the travesty of the men's and women's 4 x 100 -- hey, they get all these "relay camps" with Brooks and Humphrey in exotic locales (free vacations for Sue and Brooks) and they STILL can't get it together?

GIVE THE MONEY TO THE ATHLETES--NOT THOSE USATF BOZOS.

Correction, I meant 4 x 400, not 4 x 800.

PS Anyone know how much of our dues went to line Brooks' pockets?

Why do they get paid so much when the relays don't do well? Why don't they hire experienced relay coaches?

They should hire relay coaches with proven records. This could solve the whole problem. These are just more topics to talk about at the convention...Please come!

After using my dictionary, I agree with MR.Clark

TonyT wrote:

It is not only about getting a medal, Jearl already has 2 gold and 1 silver for relay runs. If you are aware of world class running, there is just no room for a 51.99 RELAY carry when you have someone who has run 48-49 slpits EVERYTIME since 1991. Jearl has just not run 51 anything on any relay split. This is just common sense. You have your view point and the rest of America has theirs.

That's terrific.

The 4 x 400m team did not need her.

Barabas wrote:

Hold our weak hands and shut up. Now I find that to be interesting. CC and MR split 51.55 and 51.99 and you call our hands weak. Maybe you should be the one who shuts up. Bottom line JMC was wronged here and everyone can see that. Everyone that is except those who choose to be ignorant to the facts of the matter.

I don't agree that Ms. Miles-Clark was wrong and I'm not ignorant of the facts. I disagree with your point of view. Deal with it.

Who cares about the numbers. For all we know the 98% could consist almost entirely of JMC herself posting about her perceived wrong.

There has yet to be an explanation as to why Crystal Cox and Moushami Robinson should give their spot up to Jearl Miles-Clark.

Interestingly enough I've never met Brooks Johnson or Sue Humphrey. I have met, on a couple of occasions, members of the Clark family. They are nice people. I disagree with them on this issue.

This is up to 150 posts now? Gee, I bet even Jearl's over this by now. They did pretty well on the 4x400 without her, didn't they?

As to the guy who just said he'd met members of the Clark family and they're really nice people ... some of them are. Some of them are not.

It does not seem to be about the clark family who you think as nice. It seems you think that most of the people writing in are wrong on this point. ANd that is odd.

You are correct in that you are entitled to your opininon. And as Americans we are entitled to ours. You were the one that made it personal and took it to another level. I respect your opinion, while I do disagree, I only ask that you respect mine.

The 4x400 team won and I am proud of them.

The selection process stills needs to be cleaned up. This is nothing new, there have been problems for years. Get rules in writing and make it concrete. Don't hier people to make decisions about a relay pool when they are coaching people in the pool...It is just not professional. This is just a conflict of interest. Curtis Frye excused himself from the 4x400 selection because he had a athlete that he would be bias to...Smart man.

Barabas wrote:

You are correct in that you are entitled to your opininon. And as Americans we are entitled to ours. You were the one that made it personal and took it to another level.

Explain this one.

Tony T wrote:

It does not seem to be about the clark family who you think as nice. It seems you think that most of the people writing in are wrong on this point. ANd that is odd.

Why is it odd? First of all no one has answered the question as to why Ms. Robinson and Ms. Cox should move aside for JMC. Second of all there was no pressing need to put JMC on the relay to run the semis. The young women that had qualified for the pool at the trials were quite capable of getting through the semis and the four women who ran the final had every right to run that final over JMC. Ms. Cox has a better argument than JMC.

I'm a JMC fan but frankly I think, if it really was them, having members of her family appear on this board to cry for a medal is pretty sad and serves to make me think less of the entire family.

I think everyone on here is missing the point. The U.S. won the 4x400. Who cares if it was all political that they didn't put JMC on the relay. Yeah they may have made the wrong choice. But as it turned out they won. So I doubt the coaches care one bit. I think you all have too much time on your hands. I know I do

The Clarks are NOT crying for a medal. Jearl has plenty of those. And no, I am not a Clark nor have I have never met the Clarks. I am just an outraged track and field fan.

The POINT is that Jearl was faster than Cox and Robinson and should've been in there for the semis at least. You take your fastest relay runners and your most experienced. Didn't you see what happened with the 4 x 100 (men and women)?

The American girls did well and kudos to them. Yet after two botched relays, why did Humphrey and Brooks Johnson take an unnecessary risk and not run the USA's most experienced -- and still very fast and fit as evidenced by her 1:57 in the 800 at the Olympics--relay runner?

What the fans here are upset about is the favoritism and special interest shown. Brooks could get a cut of Cox's prize money if the USA won. So obviously he had extra incentive to run her over Jearl. And Robinson also had no business being on that relay over Jearl.

I mean Tony T's point that Curtis Frye excused himself from the 4 x 400 relay selection process.

As the woman who finished sixth in the OT I think Ms. Robinson would beg to differ.