Bob Hersh, the current VP of the IAAF, has released his own memo in response to the USATF Board's memo from over the weekend that explained their rationale for wanting to nominate Stephanie Hightower instead of Bob to the IAAF Council. Read Bob's memo for yourself here.:
That's a pretty devastating response by Hersh. The other board members had to have known that their memo that connected Hersh with doping and corruption, even indirectly, would draw a response from Hersh and keep the controversy going instead of calming the situation.
Boom....
Mic Drop
Game, Set, Match.
Stephanie, Please leave. You aren't wanted and your politics are juvenile.
I love his signature line with titles. It shows his experience towers over any current USATF board member. Of course, Stephanie doesn't know about things on an Olympic/International level, she's never experienced that.
Great, great response from Hersh. Professional, factual, and yet very damning.
USATF is really in a tight spot now. We need to continue organizing the membership and pushing against the favoritism and corruption that is tarring our sport.
Bob should retire from the IAAF. He should bow out before he embarrasses USATF. The next generation of leaders are here now and it's time for Bob to get his Golden Swiss watch and say goodbye.
Bye Bob. Job well done. wrote:
Bob shouldn't retire from the IAAF. Stephanie should bow out before she embarrasses USATF. The next generation of leaders are here now and it's time for Stephanie to get her Golden Swiss watch and say goodbye.
Fixed.
ish wrote:
Great, great response from Hersh. Professional, factual, and yet very damning.
USATF is really in a tight spot now. We need to continue organizing the membership and pushing against the favoritism and corruption that is tarring our sport.
No. Not really. Ms. Hightower, or her Nike minders got it all locked up.
I'm still waiting to hear examples of Stephanie advocating for athletes. Or examples of how she is more "new era" than Bob other than her age. Bob clearly has superior skills...
A big thing that hasn't been mentioned much is that Bob's age works in his favor. He is retired (as far as I know) and has the time to travel all over the world for these various committees he is on currently and has volunteered on in the past. Yet he has ample energy and has certainly kept up with technology.
Stephanie works full-time. I'm not going to pretend I know much about her personal life or finances, but I would be surprised if she were in a position where she could quit her job to focus full-time on this volunteer position.
A big reason Bob gained as much support within the IAAF as he has is because he has spent many years putting in the hard work required to get there. This idea that Stephanie can just waltz in and immediately rise to the top is insane, and knowing her personality, it just doesn't seem likely. She can be very charismatic and will certainly win support in a few places, but the IAAF is very broad and diverse, and her strong personality, and the backstabbing route she took to get there, will likely turn off many delegates, especially those who like Bob.
pop_pop! wrote:
No. Not really. Ms. Hightower, or her Nike minders got it all locked up.
You know nothing. The IAAF's sponsor is Adidas, btw. Stephanie is loud mouthed, disrespectful, and lacks diplomacy- not going to go over well at the international level. Karma is coming for her.
Good response from Hersh. Stephanie, please go away.
Great response from Bob. He is a beacon for integrity. I think this coup d'etat will backfire for Hightower and if it is pushed through, will put the USATF in a bad position with the IAAF. She will be marginalized in the IAAF council.
I spit up water on my computer when I got to the signature lines.
#teamHersh
Hightower needs to resign immediately.
polevaultpower wrote:
I'm still waiting to hear examples of Stephanie advocating for athletes. Or examples of how she is more "new era" than Bob other than her age. Bob clearly has superior skills...
A big thing that hasn't been mentioned much is that Bob's age works in his favor. He is retired (as far as I know) and has the time to travel all over the world for these various committees he is on currently and has volunteered on in the past. Yet he has ample energy and has certainly kept up with technology.
Stephanie works full-time. I'm not going to pretend I know much about her personal life or finances, but I would be surprised if she were in a position where she could quit her job to focus full-time on this volunteer position.
A big reason Bob gained as much support within the IAAF as he has is because he has spent many years putting in the hard work required to get there. This idea that Stephanie can just waltz in and immediately rise to the top is insane, and knowing her personality, it just doesn't seem likely. She can be very charismatic and will certainly win support in a few places, but the IAAF is very broad and diverse, and her strong personality, and the backstabbing route she took to get there, will likely turn off many delegates, especially those who like Bob.
Yes but don't forget that Stephanie is one thing that Bob can NEVER be.
A minority woman.
It's pretty obvious to any rational observer that Hersh is by far the more experienced and reputable representative for the US at the IAAF. His letter calmly and ruthlessly points out the flawed logic and justifications the USATF board used to attempt to justify their decision to overturn the memberships' overwhelming recommendation.
If Hersh does in fact go before the USATF board in March to state his case, I think we all know what to expect. This is the USATF leadership. Their response will likely consist of lengthy references to rules, bylaws and subsections that will say that they either can't or don't have to reconsider their vote. In other words, they will keep the focus on the procedures involved, not on whether what they did was right.
Rational Observer wrote:
If Hersh does in fact go before the USATF board in March to state his case, I think we all know what to expect. This is the USATF leadership. Their response will likely consist of lengthy references to rules, bylaws and subsections that will say that they either can't or don't have to reconsider their vote. In other words, they will keep the focus on the procedures involved, not on whether what they did was right.
They can reconsider the vote, but they don't have to.
Revolt,
Revoooooooooooooooolllllttt!!!!!!!
I'd love to see some "We Support Hersh" signage being held up in the stands at Millrose this weekend....
A great read, but he could have written this much better (I wanted so much to redline it). He could have stayed classy and just clarified some things and not be political. It would have had the same effect. But he has taken a much more publicly adversarial position. I don't think its the best tone for getting what he wants. He's almost going for overthrowing of the whole regime than keeping his job. It's the equiv to we have a cancer in the White House.
I think its absolutely true of course, the cancer, but the question is what is he trying to achieve here. If he wants to start an overthrow, great. If he wants his job back, not so good.