Blind pig finds acorn
There's a nice interview with Coburn on the House of Run podcast (it's great podcast if you don't listen to it, by the way):
http://www.houseofrun.com/episode-251-interview-with-emma-coburn/
To me, the big news was that Coburn says she thought she had the AR, attended the USATF annual meeting in December 2014 and never heard anything about the record not being ratified, and then, after she got home, first learned she didn't have the "official" AR from posts on Letsrun, I assume this thread from 12/16/14:
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=6184622&page=0
I defended the USATF in an earlier thread because I don't think it's their job to follow US athletes around the world and remind them of the rules. It's like knowing the course, running on certified tracks, and so on - it's on the athlete to know these things.
However, it seems very strange to me that no one from USATF ever communicated with Coburn at all and she only learned that her record wouldn't be ratified through gossip posted after the fact on Letsrun. After all, it's not like the USATF didn't know back in July 2014 that Coburn had run a record time:
http://www.usatf.org/News/Emma-Coburn-breaks-3,000m-steeplechase-American-re.aspx
http://www.usatf.org/News/Coburn-wins-second-USATF-Athlete-of-the-Week-after.aspx
It really makes you wonder who's minding the store at USATF. It seems like someone should have been in touch with her shortly after an apparent record was run or at least before the annual meeting when the record wasn't ratified.
And I suppose it goes to show again that Letsrun is where running pros have to go to learn what's going on - even about their own careers.