USATF’s Unprofessionalism Continues, New Pan Am Team USA Roster Is Released But Press Release Fails To Mention 36.8% of Team Was Changed

By Robert Johnson
July 24, 2019

The unprofessionalism many have come to expect from USA Track & Field (USATF) continued today when they put out a press release about the 2019 Pan American Games. The release was your standard pre-meet press release in that it provided a mini preview of next week’s meet and included the Team USA roster.

What the release didn’t mention at all, however, was the fact that the Team USA roster was drastically different than the one that USATF released back on June 26. In fact, if you click on the link to the June 26 press release, it just takes you directly to today’s press release. Additionally, there was no mention of the fact that, last Friday, an arbitrator forced USATF to re-pick the team because they initially picked the team in a manner that went against their published criteria.

Totally. Bush. League.

Talk about perjury by omission. USATF was once again trying to hide the fact that they totally butchered the Pan Am team selection process.

Thankfully, I had downloaded a copy of the team that was released on June 26 and was able to determine that 32 of of the 87 (36.8%) athletes that will be representing the United States individually at the 2019 Pan American Games in track and field were not on the team on June 26. USATF lost two arbitration cases on the matter, one of which was paid for by LetsRun.com (Click here to see a spreadsheet of the two teams).

The fact that they are trying to hide that they messed up one of their major duties as an organization is embarrassing. An athlete’s right to participate in the Pan American Games is protected by US federal law. It’s one of four competitions covered by the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act (Olympics, Paralympics, and WCs are the others).

Shame on you USATF. Just admit you screwed up and were held accountable for your screw-up. We all make mistakes, but the cover-up is normally worse than the crime.

MB: USATF completely botches selection of 2019 Pan American Games team 

Previous:

• LRC USATF Ordered to Re-Pick Entire 2019 Pan Am Games Team Based on 2019 Comprehensive List
• LRC USA Track & Field’s Pan Am Debacle Gets Even Weirder: An Arbitrator Has Apparently Ruled Against USATF, But Only In Certain Events
• LRC Up To 39 Athletes May Have Had Their Spot On Team USA Denied Thanks To USATF’s Incompetence, Hear Some Of Their Stories Here
• LRC USA Track And Field Tries To Hide The Fact That They Messed Up BIG TIME, Quietly Names New Pan Am Team
• LRC USATF Makes It Up As It Goes Along (Again), Ignores Its Own Selection Procedures For 2019 Pan American Games