Report From Outdoor World Championships

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BERLIN , GERMANY. - A little time this morning to do some writing, and last night was one of the all-time great days, packed into about 30 minutes.
 
The Bolt WR was the highlight for most, and he is in a league by himself. Some of the Track and Field News crowd think his antics border on unsportsmanlike conduct, but he has revived interest in the sport. There are huge billboards and placards all over Berlin, and they are not of anyone else but Bolt.
 
Bolt was very gracious toward Gay at the press conference, no arrogance. Personally, I was happy for Gay, whose lead held up, and Asafa Powell, who has been called a choker. I've met him- not a bad guy- but then again, there's very few bad people in TF- only those who dope up.
 
But for me, the highlight was the heptathlon. There were a lot of yellow shirts out there yesterday, some Swedes with the blue three-crowns trim, but most in support of the multi-eventers. Personalized T-shirts with their hero's picture on them, most for Jennifer Oeser, but also others, including a large Norwegian crew for Ida Marcussen.
 
The heptathlon, going into the final event, the 800, was clearly a win for Brit Jennifer Ennis, but the other three places were in doubt.
 
The Ukrainian in fourth went out hard, but the place went nuts when Oeser, running in 7th, passed one person with 350 to go, and started to drive. The noise built to a crescendo, one of the loudest I've ever heard- the loudest ever was the last lap a the 83 World Champs in Helsinki, when Vainio took the lead on the last lap of the 10,000. My ears actually hurt after the race. Other loud ones were in Paris, when the French 4x400 took the lead on the third leg, then lost, then won a few years later when the USA team was dq'd for doping.
 
Back to the meet. While this was going on, and Oeser was claiming the silver over Kamila Chudzik of Poland, veteran shotputter Nadine Kleinert of Germany was thrilling the fans with her performance. Seemingly over the hill, she equalled her pb of 20.08 on her first throw, putting her into the lead over heavily favored Valerie Vili of New Zealand.
 
Vili took the lead again, but Kleinert came back with a 20.20 to keep Vili alert. The shots have een great, with Christian Cantwell of the USA winning on the last throw the other night.
 
The women's 800 semis are tonight- three heats, pick two plus two fastest losers. The semis of the 800 are the toughest in the sport, because te 800 is the most tactical of all track events. Do you run it as a time trial, or do you try to make the top two. Either way, it's a crap shoot. Usually, one heat becomes a time trial, and the others are ''normal'' races, but they have to be mentally taxing.
 
The men's 10,000 is also tonight. The Kenyans claim they have a plan- I think they better. The Kenyans like to interject fast laps in the middle to bust up the pack- but it seems to work better for them in the 5,000. I've seen opening miles in 4.08, followed by laps of 61 and 60- that usually takes care of most.
 
The Ethiopians have solved the problem in the 10,000 by just keeping the pace at a high level throughout, with teammates alternating doing the work. That seems to keep the Kenyans in line. I'll be interested in Galen Rupp, the best non-African at Beijing. He's dominated everything in this country, and he's better than last year. But is he ready to mix it up with the really big boys.
 
The rest of the USA has some catching up to do distance running, including the 800, if some call that a distance event. We just aren't tough enough. You can take this for what it's worth- it's my opinion, nothing more- write me back if you agree or disagree, but I think we've lost the meaning of competition inthe USA. There is a difference between running and racing. We are runners, and we train our athletes to be runners.
 
But there is a competitive aspect to the sport- prizes go to the top three, not to those who run fast times. Everything in the USA is geared toward qualifying on time- for Millrose Games and Penn Relays in high school, and meeting NCAA qualifying standards based on time.
 
This is why I'm never impressed with results from such late March, early Aril meets like the Stanford Invitational, where everyone runs a virtual time trial. People marvel because someone run a fast time, gets 12th place, but qualifies for a NCAA Regional berth. What ever happened to winning the race? These races are set up, someone sets the ace, the pace is even, and everyone ''benefits.' But that's not a race.
 
There's an interview on flotrack or somewhere else with Lasse Viren, who says he doesn't like track today because the races are set up- even the bi non-championship races. Everyone knows what the pace is going to be, and the public is satisfied because they see a fast time. But it's not racing- it's economical running, and in championship races, we seem to be at a big disadvantage because we can't, or won't, adjust.
 
The 1,500's generally feature a mad fit 200 for position, then a big slowdown, then a big last 600- hardly even. The women's 10,000 the other night was a jog for half the race, then the running started with 3,000 to go. Amy Yoder-Begely said that she didn't have the confidence to go with the Africans when the running really started- she said she made a mistake by waiting. She began to move with 2,400 meters to go, but the damage had been done.
 
I watched last year's Olympic marathon at Beijing, and annoyed my wife by telling her after the first 10K that the Americans were not going to do anything. ''It's over for us,'' I said. Hall and Ritzenhein were 45-60 seconds in back. It was steaming hot, and there was a world-record pace in the front, with a crowd of 12-15 runners. But in that front pack, 5 may have gone out way too fast, 5 may have gone out a little fast, but 5 are just jogging along. And that's the way it turned out.
 
Hopefully, we do something tonight.
 
The IAAF has introduced a no-false start rule starting next year.
 
I want Rupp to run with the Africans tonight- if he's able to. That would  a huge step for US distance running.
 
GK

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