1980 Olympic Marathon Team

I wonder how Kyle Heffner feels being displaced by Quenton Cassidy and one second?Also, this message board is such a great resource, because google could not even find this information.

Glenn Latimer wrote:

1980 USA Marathon Olympic Trials

1st Tony Sandoval 2:10:19

2nd Benji Durden 2:10:41

3rd Kyle Heffner 2:10:55

charme wrote: google could not even find this information.

Google found this link. Cool article.

The people most screwed by the boycott were the most sure gold medalists, people like Renaldo Nehemiah and Stanley Floyd.

The Soviets did some very blatant cheating in the field events, something that might have been tougher to get away with if U.S. YV cameras were there.

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No disrespect to Billy, who dominated U.S. marathoning from late 1976 through 1979, but in 1980, I probably would have picked Sandoval as the top Olympic medal prospect for the U.S.[/quote]

I have to second oldguy, Tony Sandoval would have been really tough for anyone to beat in 1980.

Although these were obviously not marathoners, Carl Lewis would had a good shot to medal in the long jump and 100m and Gerg Louganis to win the gold in diving.

Larry Myricks was still beating Carl Lewis in the long jump in 1980

Edwin Moses? Think he might have had a chance in '80?

Since he won the previous gold and then the next 2?

Right...I only did not include him because he did get golds in other years...the others did not

Why did we boycott?

The Soviets invaded Afghanistan.

Maybe, maybe not. Remember the USSR v. USA gold medal game in basketball? Can't remember the year, but somehow the Soviets got some extra time on that game clock. If we had gone to those Olympics, I wonder if we would have left with the same bitter taste in our mouths over steroid use as we did in previous years (such as Shorter's silver medal, female siwmmers in Munich, etc. ). We still talk about those incidents as much as we talk about the boycott.Not saying we would... just wondering out loud.

Lafayette wrote:

The Soviets did some very blatant cheating in the field events, something that might have been tougher to get away with if U.S. YV cameras were there.

Jimmy Carter gave running/jogging a bad name. Everyone knew Runners World had jumped the shark when they had that Jackass on the cover. Didn't he pass out at some 10-K? And I guarantee you it wasn't well received by the majortiy of people. How can you rationalize that it would hurt someone not to send your athletes to the Olympics. The USSR did it to us in 84, and oh wow, it really hurt us.

I have to admit I was young and naive back then. Initially, I didn't really care about Carter's call for a boycott because I thought SURELY the IOC would take the Olympics away from Moscow because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Obiously, I knew very little about IOC politics at the time.

Yea and wrote:

Jimmy Carter gave running/jogging a bad name. Everyone knew Runners World had jumped the shark when they had that Jackass on the cover. Didn't he pass out at some 10-K?

Not only did he give running a bad name...

"Jimmy Carter's presidency all but ended in 1979 when he became a symbol of American impotence as he collapsed while jogging."

He gave AMERICA a bad name! ... according to this Slate article about how Mike Huckabee would be a bad president because he would spend too much time keeping the weight off.

Although I still believe that Sandoval had an excellent chance for a gold medal in 1980, he did not have a great race in the 1980 Montreal International Marathon (held within a month of the Moscow Olympic Marathon). I don't remember his specific time or place, but I think he finished in the top 10. However, I suspect that after the Olympic Trials his training wasn't as focused, so it is probably not fair to use his Montreal race as a measure of how he might have done in Moscow. Sandoval was probably the smoothest runner I have ever seen about 116 pounds - a natural marathoner (with 1:49 speed for the 800m.)

I think Virgin had a shot at a medal in the 10,000m.

Rodgers had an outside shot at a medal in the marathon, although it would have been very tough. By 1980 his best years were behind him. I appreciate that he won Boston in 1980 on a hot day but it was a relatively weak field (because of the Olympics and the Olympic Trials). If the Olympics had been held in 1978 or 1979 I believe Rodgers would have won.

Perhaps the biggest victim of the boycott was Henry Rono. He set 4 world records in 1978. He broke the world record for the 5000m. in 1981. He beat Salazar in the famous Eugene 10,000m. in 1982 (a week before Salazar won Boston). During his peak, when he was training properly, Rono couldn't be beaten at the steeple, 5,000 or 10,000. He was training in early 1980. But for the boycott, I think he would have continued to train and race throughout 1980. In the end, I believe he would have won (at the very least) the steeple.

canada78 wrote:

Perhaps the biggest victim of the boycott was Henry Rono. He set 4 world records in 1978. He broke the world record for the 5000m. in 1981. He beat Salazar in the famous Eugene 10,000m. in 1982 (a week before Salazar won Boston). During his peak, when he was training properly, Rono couldn't be beaten at the steeple, 5,000 or 10,000. He was training in early 1980. But for the boycott, I think he would have continued to train and race throughout 1980. In the end, I believe he would have won (at the very least) the steeple.

That would have been some race - with Rono and Bayi fighting for the lead. After his 8:05 WR Henry's best time was 8:12. Malinowski shouldn't be underrated -he ran 8:09 in that final the same as 4 years earlier.

Edwin Moses

Carl Lewis (LJ)

there were a lot of athletes who wuz robbed!

However, Afghanistan was a sovereign nation, and it was during the cold war. The US Ambassador had been killed in Kabul one year earlier.

The Soviets made no bones that this was to be a showcase of their system. They could have invaded 9 months later (invading a mountainous country in winter?).

The US invaded Grenada 10/'83 and the Soviets boycotted LA. That is how the game is played.

Also, the women's team:

1. Lynn Petronella

(sorry, couldn't resist)

She would have won the gold too...she said so

rankler wrote:

actually, wrong. the government had enormous financial controls over the usoc as a result of sweetheart land deals and the 1978 amateur athletics act. the usoc had little choice. if anyone wants, i can post my history thesis on the boycott as i finished it a few weeks ago.

The Govt. also had enormous financial control over other countries that boycotted.