March 2017

Track and Field Contents Writers of P. 1 President’s Message America P. 3 2017 TAFWA Awards (Founded June 7, 1973) P. 4 The TAFWA Awards Short List 2016 P. 6 Photos from 2017 TAFWA Dinner in NYC PRESIDENT P. 10 Soldier-Athlete Olympic Gold Medalist Jack Pfeifer 216 Ft. Washington Ave., P. 13 Larry Byrne, New York State Historian Among Many Other Roles, Passes Away NY, NY 10032 at 88 Office/home: 917-579- P. 15 Olympic Gold Medalist Danny Everett to Present Icon Award to 5392. Email: Former Teammate [email protected] P. 16 Legacy of Rio Olympics so Far is Series of Unkept Promises VICE PRESIDENT P. 19 Hosting Olympics is a Risk LA is Willing to Take Doug Binder P. 20 Clashing Agendas: Antidoping Officials vs. U.S. Olympic Leaders Email: P. 22 A Tone Deaf IOC Won’t Hear What Cities Do: Hosting the Olympics Sounds Like [email protected]. Phone: 503-913-4191 Sour Notes P. 24 Rio Olympics: Lamine Diack’s Son ‘Paid $2m by Brazilian’ as Vote Loomed TREASURER P. 25 Partial Fixtures List Tom Casacky P.O. Box 4288 Napa, CA 94558 President’s Message - March 2017 Phone: 818-321-3234 Email: [email protected] Drugs, Russians, Payoffs Can’t get away from the relentless cascade of misdeeds, investigations and coverups at the SECRETARY highest levels of Track & Field. Some of this is reported in this month’s issue. The head of the Jon Hendershott IAAF might have been paid millions – or his son, or both – by a contractor in Brazil to help Rio Email: got the ’16 Olympics? You mean so that Brazilian contractors could make fortunes on the ensu- [email protected] Phone: 503-967-6553 ing construction craze, creating dozens of buildings that already sit empty or in disrepair? No wonder some question the future of the Olympic movement and the credibility of such figures FAST as Bach and Coe. (Saying “Olympic movement” doesn’t let T&F off the hook, by the way, as our Dave Johnson sport remains at the center of the corruption. Witness the Russians, WADA etc.) Email: Meantime, the vote to select the hosts of the ’24 and possibly ’28 Summer Games is sched- [email protected] uled for September, with two great international cities – Los Angeles and Paris – still standing Phone: 215-898-6145 now that Budapest wisely stepped aside. Will both be awarded at once? Will the LA Coliseum WEBMASTER become the first structure to stage three modern Games? Michael McLaughlin Winter Awards Dinner Email: In spite of blizzard conditions in the New York area, our event came off as scheduled. Forty [email protected] hardy souls braved the weather and showed up in the back room of Coogan’s Restaurant, in- Phone: 815-529-8454 cluding two 90-year-olds. (Can you name them?) The get-together had also been planned as a 40th-anniversary celebration of the founding NEWSLETTER EDITOR Shawn Price of the newsletter Eastern Track by our own Walt Murphy. Some of Walt’s extended family and Email: close friends were in attendance and told Walter Stories. [email protected] It was all duly recorded on video; the link is available here: http://www.armorytrack.com/ Phone: 979-661-0731 gprofile.php?mgroup_id=45586&do=videos&video_id=197974-New-York-Track-Writers- Awards-2017. Two Oregonians contributed mightily to preserving the evening on film, as Pat Holleran flew in from Eugene and took photos and Kim Spir sat in her office in Portland and assembled them for your viewing pleasure. Three awards were presented: James O. Dunaway Journalism Award to David Monti, of Race Results Weekly Cordner Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award to the above-mentioned Walt Murphy H. D. Thoreau Broadcasting Award to Larry Rawson None of the three knew in advance that they were being recognized – they were all secretly lured to attend on the belief that they would be honoring others – and they all appeared properly surprised and humbled, hooray! The finalists for two other awards – Book and Film – were announced and appear here. Those and our remaining awards for 2017 will be presented either in Eugene or Sacramento in June. We will have get-togethers that month in both cities, at the NCAA and the USATF. Be there or be square. Mike Rauh Retires A fixture in the New York area for many years as an announcer and press steward, Mike Rauh has retired to spend more time on his sailboat with his wife. A photo of the well-appointed press area at this year’s Millrose Games at the Armory, a result of Mike’s meticulous handiwork, appears in this Newsletter. Research Inquiries Our good friend Gary Corbitt ([email protected], www.tedcorbitt.com) is looking for help with his Running History Scholars Forum, especially the History of African-American Long Distance Running 1880-1940. With the passing of Larry Byrne, one of Larry’s annual research projects, The Greenbook, is in need of a successor. The Greenbook is a history of high school cross country at Van Cortlandt Park, in the Bronx. If interested, contact me directly at [email protected]. Larry was a close personal friend who died in Rhode Island three days prior to his beloved Millrose Games. A longtime TAFWA and FAST member, Larry was a Marine Corps lifer (I only did a couple of years, both of us during Vietnam), train aficionado, and father of eight. He married his longtime companion, Bernice DeMello, a year ago. (Larry, and I had a genealogical peculiarity in common – Irish Catholic and Jewish grandfathers.) Larry was a longtime track announcer in the East, his gruff, deep-throated, distinctive New York style unmistakable. He directed the IC4A Championships for many years, and nurtured the HS Boys mile run at Millrose for three decades. Today the race is named in his honor. Laurence Thomas Byrne (called LT by some) was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in 1928. He went to P.S. 241 in Pros- pect Heights, a block from Prospect Park, followed by St. Teresa’s Parochial School, four blocks north, across Eastern Park- way. He attended two high schools, Xavier in Lower Manhattan, and Brooklyn Prep, but to his regret never graduated. A few years later, the Marine Corps beckoned, and he served as an enlisted man until his retirement in 1970 as a 1st Sergeant (E-8). His children were born in a 10-year span from 1954 to 1964. He was a runner for a time. Here is a photo of him, taken after service in Korea, as a member of a USMC squad. (2nd from right). After retirement from the service, he began a second ca- reer, working for Met Life. He lived on Long Island, got his GED and then a college de- gree, and became increasingly involved in , behind the mike, putting on meets, compiling records. He became the keeper of the New York Blue Book – all- time lists and records for the Empire State, boys and girls, indoors and out, updated and published every year – and after moving to Rhode Island, did the same for that state and eventually for all of New England, as well as the VCP Green Book for XC. It will take half a dozen of us to replace him. Semper fi. Dues To keep this Newsletter coming every month in your In box, please pay your dues of $30 for 2017. This will also entitle you to a copy of the 2017 FAST Annual when it is ready in the spring. Book Sale A cache of past TFNs and NCAA Guidebooks has been uncovered here at the TAFWA Home Office. Need to fill some holes in your collection? They are available, first-come, first-served. Email your interest to [email protected]. Track & Field News 1968 to 2005 $1 per issue, plus $10 shipping, min. order 10 issues NCAA TF Annuals 1948 to 1972 $10 per book, shipping included TAFWA Newsletter - Page 2 - March 2017 2017 TAFWA Awards Recognizing excellence in track & field journalism, announcing, photography, film & video, blogging, broadcasting and books in 2016 as well as ongoing cooperation with the media

General information: These awards will be presented in June 2017 in Eugene and Sacramento for work in 2016 unless otherwise noted. Self-nominations are allowed. Please include nominee’s name, address, e-mail address and phone.

James O. Dunaway Memorial Award For excellence in track and field journalism, both in print and online Presented in NY Feb. 2017 to David Monti, of Race Results Weekly

Sam Skinner Memorial Award For ongoing cooperation with the press Award Chair: Jon Hendershott ([email protected]) Nomination Deadline: May 1 Note: Submit name of nominee and a brief narrative

Announcing Awards For excellence in track and field announcing Scott Davis Memorial Award: presented to a current announcer Pinkie Sober Award: presented to a retired announcer or posthumously Award Chair: Dave Johnson ([email protected]) Nomination Deadline: May 1

Rich Clarkson Photography Award For excellence in track and field/cross country/running still photography Award Chair: Jack Pfeifer ([email protected]) Nomination Deadline: May 1 Note: Submit an electronic portfolio with a minimum of 10 photos and maximum of 20.

Bud Greenspan Memorial Film & Video Award For excellence in track and field/running film & video production Award Chair: Nancy Beffa ([email protected]) Nomination Deadline: January 1 The five finalists have been selected and announced. Note: A second award recognizing works shorter less than 25 minutes will be inaugurated in 2018.

Adam Jacobs Blogging Award For excellence in online personal writing on track and field, cross country or running in 2016 Award Chair: Parker Morse ([email protected]) Nomination Deadline: May 1

Armory Foundation Book Award For the leading book published in 2016 on track and field, cross country or running Award Chair: Peter Walsh ([email protected]) The five finalists have been selected and announced.

Cordner Nelson Memorial Award For a body of work writing about track & field and running. Awarded in NY Feb. 2017 to Walt Murphy of Eastern Track, X-County X-press and NBC

H. D. Thoreau Award For excellence in track & field broadcasting Awarded in NY Feb. 2017 to Larry Rawson of ESPN

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 3 - March 2017 THE TAFWA AWARDS SHORT LIST 2016 This years TRACK AND FIELD WRITERS ASSOCIATION final selection for the Best Book of the 2016 Year and THE ARMORY TRACK AWARD ARE:

THE BOY WHO RUNS THE ODYSSEY OF JULIUS ACHON By John Brandt Ballentine Books, New York 2016 The inspiring story of a boy running through the jungle becoming an Olympian and a problem solver for his fellow man. Huck Finn like Julius Achon takes on the adventures of his life running full tilt into the bad, the sad and overcoming evil as he pushes away the obstacles to the starting line. Partnering with an unlikely ally he cre- ates a world of safety, joy and lastingness. This book is about the character of men and the goodness of human kind. Running with heart can lead to great triumphs and in this case a greater life. The author of DUEL IN THE SUN John Brandt writes with a knowledge of running and a pulse of poetry.

OLYMPIC COLLISION THE STORY OF AND ZOLA BUDD By Kyle Keiderling University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London, 2016 The most famous running mishap in the history of the Olympics. Keiderling writes in a rat-a-tat-tat style that moves the story in a hot off the press immediacy. We follow Decker and Budd as they punch and paw, run and gun, rise and fall, surrounded by the craziness of their lives and the usual insanity of politics, media and bureau- cracy. You might think you knew the story, but now you feel the pain.

SHOE DOG A MEMOIR BY THE CREATOR OF NIKE By Phil Knight Scribner, New York 2016 Shoe Dog is a chronological memoir of one of the great revolutions of business, sports and innovation. Knight takes us around the world where his “crazy idea” and the serendipity of friends, acquaintances and events continually open doors and manufacture reality from his wheel of dreams. Focused on the core people of family, friends and workmates this juggler keeps the show moving and exciting. Knight especially knows how to give some good payback to bankers and connivers as he runs this story true, and sometimes blue.

THE RIVER ROAD BECOMING A RUNNER IN 1972 By Dennis Barker Self Published 2016 A young person’s story of going down to the river and finding solace, himself and the exuberance of running. Samuel Clemens must be in the air because when you take a young man, a river and those extraordinary charac- ters that step into our lives as we meander in search of ourselves you have a Twain adventure.

THE WAY OF THE RUNNER A JOURNEY INTO THE FABLED WORLD OF JAPANESE RUNNING By Adharanand Finn Pegasus Books, New York, 2016 In case you haven’t noticed, the Japanese do it differently. Finn immerses himself into a running culture that gets rid of the clutter and stoically strips down the urge to why we run. So get ready to find the joy in pain or the pain in joy or just getting smashed with monks throwin’ cold water on frigid loin clothed bodies jumpin’ in the frosty. I believe that is enough to make this a special book and perk the interest of even the most mundane jogger. Gambatte (Good Luck)

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 4 - March 2017 THE TAFWA AWARDS SHORT LIST 2016 Bud Greenspan Film & Video Award finalists:

Crossing the Line: The Danny Harris Story David Tryhorn dir. & pro.

Free to Run: A Look at the Last 50 Years of the Marathon Pierre Morath dir. & pro.

I Am Bolt, dir. by Benjamin and Gabe Turner

The Fall: Mary Decker and Zola Budd 1984 Daniel Gordon dir., Karen Ensley pro.

Gun Runners Anjali Najay dir., pro. by Kat Balau and Annette Clarke

Some meets still have a Working Press, such as this year’s Millrose Games at the Armory in NYC Feb. 11. Photo by Pat Holleran

TAFWA Membership Dues for 2017 TAFWA dues dor 2017 will remain at $30, and will buy you a series of excellent newsletters, the 2017 FAST Annual, and privileged entry to special TAFWA social events at New York’s Millrose Games in February, the NCAA Championships in Eugene (our yearly breakfast with athletes and coaches), and at the USATF meet in Sacramento. Don’t miss out! You can send a check, payable to TAFWA, to PO Box 4288, Napa, CA 94558, or use PayPal, to the ad- dress [email protected]. TAFWA Newsletter - Page 5 - March 2017 Upper left: David Monti, winner of the James O. Dunaway Memorial Award for excellence in track and field journal- ism. Upper right: Walt Murphy wins the Cordner Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award. Below: Coogan’s backroom and the Sports Illustrated covers wall. Photos by Pat Holleran TAFWA NewsletterTAFWA Newsletter- Page 6 - March - 2017 Top: friends and family of Walt Murphy gather at the 2017 TAFWA event at Coogans in NYC. Lower left: Peter Walsh. Lower right: Larry Rawson. Photos by Pat Holleran TAFWA NewsletterTAFWA Newsletter - Page 7 - March - 2017 Upper left: Ray Flynn is awarded the Meet Director of The Year, recognized by the Meet Directors’ Association. Upper right: Larry Newman gives one of the tributes to Walt Murphy. Lower left: Broadway and 168th Street on February 9. Lower right: Jack Pfeifer. Photos by Pat Holleran

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 8 - March 2017 TAFWA Newsletter - Jack Pfeifer, TAFWA president, presents Larry Rawson with the H.D. Thoreau Broadcasting Award. Photo by Pat Holleran TAFWA NewsletterTAFWA Newsletter- Page 9 - March - 2017 Soldier-Athlete Mel Pender Olympic Gold Medalist By TSgt George Banker, USAF Ret. Melvin “Mel” Pender, Jr., is not a household name outside of the track world. If there were a game show with a wheel and labels on it would have terms such as family, Christian, soldier, athlete, coach, mentor, speaker. You spin the wheel and you would learn about that aspect of Pender’s life. Pender states, “The theme of my life story is overcoming adversity.” The journey for Pender began in , Georgia on Oc- tober 31, 1937. There was no road map that was laid out to show the path ahead. The athletics in the long run proved to be the key. During high school a love for football was devel- oped and there were obstacles, “there was no track and field in high school, and there were plenty of challenges to play football. The schools were not integrated and we had hand me down equipment. Even though we had these challenges, we still played because we loved the sport”, Pender recounts. At the age of 17 (1954) he entered in the U.S. Army, “My decision to join the Army was the movie that I saw when I was 10 years old “To Hell and Back” with Audie Murphy. I wanted to be just like him since he was short in stature just like me. I also wanted to get away from the discrimination I faced in the South”, stated Pender. Staying involved with sports was a key component to Pender as he matured at an early age. There were choices which Pender could have made that would have resulted in a different outcome. Pender states, “I think that every kid should be in some type of sport growing up. It not only helps them physically it helps them mentally and with their educational endeavors and plays great role in team work as an adult.” The military can change a life but it’s a mindset according to Pender, “The army had many obstacles. Most units didn’t like athletes; they felt you should be there like everyone else, not traveling around the world running. The military changed my life style from poverty to prosperity. It taught me how to be disciplined, how to overcome diversity and how to be a gentleman. It made me want to get my educa- tion of which I did. The message I would pass along to teen- agers looking forward is: Don’t fight the system, take advan- tage of it. Desire to be educated and make good choices, the military isn’t for everyone but it could be for you.” Pender maintained a belief in self and was able to over- come the diversity which was faced. The talent which Pender Pioneer Track Club after meeting Alex Woodley at Morgan had developed did not go unnoticed, “I never ran track till I State College in Baltimore, Maryland at a track meet. He was 25 years old. I was stationed in Okinawa with the 82nd inspired me to join and setbacks were tough. I listened to airborne division. Playing football on the army ranger foot- my coach and trainers and did what was necessary to move ball team, I was discovered by my head coach as the fastest forward.” runner and was asked to run in the friendship meet against Coach Woodley’s athletes who won Olympic gold medals the Japanese Olympic team who was training for the 1964 included , , Charlie Greene, Mel Olympics that were to be held in .” Pender, and . Other leading Early on in his career there was a vision to which Pander athletes from the club included , , wanted to see through. Pender stated the following, “Foot- Curtis Mills, Edwin Roberts, Tom McLean and Benn Fields. ball and track were what I participated in. Football was my Pender served the first 11 years as enlisted with the 82nd heart, but track became everything. It helped me find out Airborne Division. It was at the age of 27 he qualified to who I was and developed me into the person I am today. I run in the U.S. Olympic team at the 1964 Summer Olympic trained three times a day while in training came. That was Games in Tokyo. It was the explosive speed which a total of four to six hours. In the military I trained two was his trademark. At the Olympics in round one of the hours a day. My role model as a youth was my grandfa- 100 meters Pender ranked second in a time of 10.53, in the ther. When I was in track in field it was my coach Colonel quarter finals the rank was second in a time of 10.44, and Lipscom who offered inspiration. I got involved with the the quarter final time was 10.49. The finals were set and TAFWA Newsletter - Page 10 - March 2017 Pender placed sixth in Place yourself in the a tie of 10.47 shoes of Pender and Pender stated, “My how would you evaluate experience in the the situation? Pender 1964 Olympics was was making a trip which very enlightening and there was no time to exciting, but was disap- prepare properly as pointing when I pulled other athletes who were a muscle in my semi- on the track while he final race and only plac- was in the jungles and ing 6th in the finals. engaged in a war. Pender There was always doubt was changing one venue when I stepped on the for another where he track and got into the would be running on the starting blocks. At any first all-weather track given time, there were instead of a cinder track. sprinters that were Pender adds, “My good enough to beat experience in the 1968 you.” games was two-fold. I The journey for was grateful to be able to Pender took another make my second Olym- turn, “After the 1964 pic team at my age, but I greatly disappointed by needed to concentrate the way we were treated on my future with the by the USOC president military. That is when Avery Brundrage.” I made the decision to In viewing the track go to Officer Candidate Pender states, “My focus School to be become was on both, my com- and office”, stated petitors and my skills. I Pender. still didn’t want to lose According to Pender, even though I was get- “Football was first. ting tired of track. How I played it in high I balanced training with school. I never ran my military require- track till I was 25 we ments was by training at never had a track in night. I also was sent to high school. Once I an Army training camp found out that I could for three months.” run, I became very seri- The lineup for the ous and dedicated to track. My love for football was even 1968 Olympic 4x100 team was set up, Charlie Green, Mel greater, but after getting hurt play football in the military Pender, Smith, and . and in the war, I knew that it was not the sport for me. I Charlie Greene was a standout from the University of was offered five National Football League contracts but it Nebraska and collected numerous records along the way. wasn’t for me. There was never a time I wanted to stop in At the 1967 NCAA Championship in the 100 yards a new Track and Field. I always wanted to keep going.” meet record was set at 9.21. Greene retired in 1989 with the Pender through his career was faced with choices and rank of Major from the U.S. Army. Greene was inducted into opportunities. It was his inner strength and training that the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1992 and into the always led him in the right direction. The military was University of Nebraska Hall of Fame in 2015. a driving force and there were times which he could not Ronnie Smith attended San Jose State and at the 1968 understand the reasons why. The term used today is the AAU Championship the 100m time was equaled in a time of soldier-athlete. The duty first and then all else follows. 9.9. While at San Jose State he was coached by Lloyd (Bud) There was second opportunity for Pender which was Winter during the “Speed City” era. Smith ran the third leg produced at the 1968 Summer Olympics Games in Mexico. of the 4x100 relay. Smith was inducted into the San Jose At the time, Pender was stationed in Vietnam, “There was Sports Hall of Fame. no advanced notice. I was pulled out of combat. I had just At the 1968 US national championships in Sacramento, completed a mission and was told that I was being sent back California, Jim Hines became the first man to break the 10 to the U.S. My reaction was stunned when they pulled me second barrier in the 100 meter race, setting 9.9 (manual out of Vietnam. The first time they pulled me out I was 30 timing), with an electronic time of 10.03 – two other ath- and the second time I was 33 years old. I was surprised that letes, behind him (electronic time 10.13) they considered me with my age being a negative to many. and on the other semi-final (electronic I proved them all wrong by making the team. I also was time 10.09) having the same official clocking. That evening divided about leaving my men. My heart was troubled, but I of June 20, 1968 at Hughes Stadium has been dubbed by had no choice since it was an order.” track and field historians as the “Night of Speed.” (https:// TAFWA Newsletter - Page 11 - March 2017 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Hines). Hines attended Texas After Pender’s military career the journey was begin- Southern University in Houston. ning a new direction. Pender set out to make a difference in Hines was inducted to the following Hall of Fames, Texas the lives of others and the youth would be the beneficiary. Track & Field Coaches Association (2016), International The labels for Pender include husband, Olympian, military Track & Field, USA Track & Field, Texas Sports Hall of Fame officer, entrepreneur, and a community leader. A few of the (1994), Oakland Athletic League (2013). civic recognitions include: History was made in at the Games of the XIX Olympiad as the four athletes set a new world’s record in the 4x100 relay in a time of 38.24. In round one the qualify- 1964 and 1968 All American Award ing time was 38.86 and they advanced to the semi-finals 1966 Infantry Officers School and ran 38.69. 1981 member of Georgia’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Pender shares the following, “The difference between Council 1964 and 1968 Olympics were many. The surface of the 1982 appointed by Gov. George Busbee to the Jail/Prison Over- track in the 64 games was cinder and 1968 it was rub- crowding Committee berized. 1964 was not as political as the 1968 games. The 1994 recognized by Dollars and Sense magazine as one of the feeling in setting the world record and getting gold was best and brightest business and professional men Unbelievable and Exciting. Winning at my age was unheard 1995 US Dept. of Justice Bureau of Investigations / FBI Com- of was elated at the accomplishment I had just achieved.” munity Leadership Award In playing the sports there was a price to pay, “My inju- 1995 Awarded the Mel Pender Day by the Mayor of Atlanta ries were in football, jumping out of airplanes that cause me (Maynard Jackson) to have concussions and neck fusion along with lower back 1995 & 96 Southern Bell Calendar Spirit Legends Award surgery. In running I pulled hamstrings and many shin 1996 Atlanta Committee for the Youth Advisory Council US splints of which took time to heal. I overcame them by do- Olympic Games ing what the coach told me to do.” 1997 Doctoral Degree from Adelphi University Pender had the passion for the track like he had for 1998 graduated from Leadership Atlanta football. An opportunity presented itself as he was recruited 2006 appointed to the United States Olympic Alumni Board as the first black track and field coach at the United States 2007 Awarded Mel Pender Day by Vernon Jones CEO of Dekalb Military Academy at West Point by Carl Crowell. He was Co. Georgia coaching 1970 to 1976. While in this position the added 2002 to Present United States Sports Academy task was taken to complete his education and in 1976 he 2014 Smyrna Community Steering Committee • Current: Au- earned a BA degree in Social Science with honors from Adel- thor of “Expression of Hope: The Mel Pender Story” phia University. 2015 Campaign Chairman for Mayor of Smyrna, GA Pender turned professional in 1973 and was running under the International Track Association (ITA). At the age The life of Pender has been like a roller coaster and there of 35 Pender broke his own world record for 60 yards (5.8 were challenges and armed with faith and belief in self seconds). The ITA was started to deal with athletes making Pender made the right choices. To obtain a better picture an income from their athletic ability. The ITA was in exis- of Pender is in the newly published book, “Expression of tence from October 25, 1972 to August 25, 1976. Pender set Hope: The Mel Pender Story”, Dr. Melvin Pender and Debbie world records at 50 yards at 5.0, 60 yards at 5.8, 70 yards at Pender. 6.8, and 100 meters at 9.9. Pender comments, “I realized at 35 years old while run- The book overview: ning pro with ITA pro track team in San Antonio TX that I “Determination was etched into Pender’s DNA, and he was losing interest and it was almost time for me to retire wanted to do something to make his family proud, and “be from the military. I needed time to concentrate on the next step in my life.” somebody!” His, is a story of the American Dream. He owns Pender retired from the Army in 1976 with the rank of it, and he embraces it. He was scarred by the racial challeng- Captain after 21 years. The military awards and medals in- es of the 1950s and , but Pender found better angels, clude the Bronze Star, Joint Service Commendation Medal, black and white, and kept his dream from becoming a racial Vietnam Service Medal, and the Combat Infantry badge. nightmare. The United States Army and track propelled him into an historic figure. For some, Pender is the track Pender’s Hall of Fames recognition: world’s “Black Knight,” not because of his color but because 1984 & 1985 100% Wrong Club Hall of Fame Inductee he befriended and helped others in his profession as a big 1984 Georgia State Sport Hall of Fame Inductee brother, father-figure, and as a friend. One of the young 1985 Louisiana Hall of Fame Inductee men he influenced is United States Army Brigadier General 1996 Adelphi University Hall of Fame Inductee Richard B. Dix.” 1996 Bellsouth Spirit of Legends Hall of Fame Inductee Pender’s closing thoughts, “I want readers to know that 1997 Doctoral Degree from Adelphi University Mel Pender is a real person. He is first a Christian who loves 2001 Hall of Fame Inductee 2012 Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame Inductee his family, all people and his country. My top three personal 2015 United States Army Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame achievements are education, Olympic Games, and becoming Inductee an officer. Everything I have done and all the achievements I 2015 Georgia Military Veterans’ Hall of Fame Inductee have made have been to make my family proud of me.”

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 12 - March 2017 Larry Byrne, New York State Historian Among Many Other Roles, Passes Away at 88 http://ny.milesplit.com/articles/202161

Warwick, Rhode Island - One of New York’s great Track and Field Historian’s and Record Keepers, Larry Byrne, passed away on February 8. Byrne was more than just a passive con- tributor to the sport, supplying the now-famous “Blue Book,” which for many years before the advent of the internet, would list the Top 50 All-Time Marks for New York State High School Track and Field. He was also involved in Cross Country, publishing a “Green Book,” of marks run at the famed Van Cortlandt Park. Larry will also be remembered most for his dedication to the , attending 55 renditions of the annual event. In 2013, Larry Byrne began collaborating with MileSplit NY, to help preserve the historical nature of his work. It was then we crowned the Larry Byrne Archives, a resource for all historical data from New York State, organized into a singular database and location. Through his tireless efforts, names dating back to the 60’s and before, will not go forgotten in the annals of Track and Field History. The Archives will continue to bear his name, proof of his lasting legacy upon the sport in New York State, and beyond. See the Archives in their entirety, by clicking this link: http://ny.milesplit.com/pages/Byrne_Archives

Byrne’s first connection with track & field began in high school where he was as a distance runner for two catholic high schools. He enjoyed moderate success on the oval, clocking a best of 4:37 for the mile. School didn’t quite go as planned. “I started off at Xavier High. I was there for a year and a half and I flunked out,” he said. “I then went to Brooklyn Prep, also a catholic high school, and I still couldn’t get along with the Jesuits and dropped out.” After his two stints in high school, Byrne enlisted in the Marine Corps, where he served for 22 years, retiring in 1971 as a Sargent. During his time in the Marines, he would earn his GED and bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. “I started going nights at Georgetown,” he said. ‘I got transferred all over the United States. Wherever I was stationed, if there was a college there I went. It took me 14 years to get a degree.” Byrne would land a job at Metropolitan Life where he worked as a recruiter, a position he held for 18 years until his retirement at 59, the same age he retired from the Marines. Shortly after, Byrne coached for three years at Chaminade High where he was an assistant and later a head coach for the indoor squad in 1971. “That’s when I got my baptism to The Armory,” he said. “They don’t have dual meets in New York. They have big meets every weekend.” It was during this time that Byrne began his timeless collection of stats on high school T&F athletes. His dedi- cation to the sport made him the likely choice to succeed nationally-recognized running author and journalist, Marc Bloom, as the Primary Invitation Director of the high school mile at the Millrose Games, a position that Bloom himself chose as Bryne successor. The race now bears the name of Bryne, who held the position for 34 years. For many years, Byrne also served as the meet director for the IC4A Championships. Among other tings he TAFWA Newsletter - Page 13 - March 2017 Mary Cain reacts with excitement after Byrne tells her she just set the national sophomore mile record at the 2012 Penn Relays. has also done announcing for several track & field meets including the Yale Track Classic. He’s also been an of- ficial and a member of the “split crew” in Press Row at the Penn Relays. Speaking of the Penn Relays, it seems only fitting to talk about Byrne’s association with the coveted meet that’s being held this week. In the past 69 years, he has attended 55 Penns. His first experience was in 1946, his senior year of high school. ‘I was like, ‘Wow!” said Byrne, when he first entered Franklin Stadium as a teenager. “It was amazing seeing some of the best runners in the United States competing. The stadium wasn’t quite as packed as it is now, but it was the most I have ever seen.” Byrne has attended 22 straight Penn Relays since 1993. An operation to remove what turned out to be a benign tumor is his brain in 1999 has forced him to use a wheelchair. But it hasn’t slowed him down.”He still at- tends many meets, including Penn, with his longtime companion and now wife of one month, Bernice DeMello. For his contributions to the sport, Byrne was given the prestigious Donald H. Potts Award by the Penn Relays committee, an award that comes with a plaque, a yellow officials cap and a gold watch, the same coveted watch that is given to the winners in the Championship of America events. While he has many great memories of the Penn Relays, he list seven among his favorite. At the top of the list is when he was honored as the Carnival Referee in 1999. He also cherished the time he was able to give the great Mary Cain her gold watch after the distance ace from Bronxville, New York set a national sophomore and NY state record of 4:39.28 in 2012.

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 14 - March 2017 Olympic Gold Medalist Danny Everett to Present Running Icon Award to Former Teammate Steve Lewis On March 12, 2017, Olympic track and field gold medalist Danny Everett will present Village Runner’s Run- ning Icon Award to his former UCLA Bruin, , and Olympic teammate Steve Lewis at the 14th Annual St. Patrick’s Day 5K in Redondo Beach.

The race winds along the scenic Redondo Beach waterfront and both starts and ends in Riviera Village.

“I am honored to present this Running Icon award to Steve Lewis, my friend and teammate,“ stated Everett.

The 1988 Olympics was Everett’s Olympic first appearance, where he ran alongside Steve Lewis to secure the gold medal in the 4x400 m. relay for the United States. That same year, Everett won the bronze in the Olympic 400 meter race.

Everett returned to the Olympic stage at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, where he ran the fastest Olympic qualifying time for the United States and the second fastest time in history at 43.81 seconds. During his career, he also set world records in the 300, (outdoors) 400, ( indoors) and 4x200 m. races, (outdoors) as well as the 4x400 m. relay (outdoors) at the World Championships.

Alongside Danny Everett and Steve Lewis, current “Top Chef” season 14 contestant Brooke Williamson will be an honorary host at the race. Williamson is the executive chef and co-owner of South Bay restaurants like Hudson House, the Tripel, Playa Provisions and Da Kikokiko, and plans to also run the 5K. Everett is also an esteemed chef who is known for his “soulful cooking.”

The race features chip-timing and age division awards. The top three male and female winners in each age division will receive medals. The race’s overall male and female winners will get $200, second place will get $125, and third place will get $75.

The Saint Patrick’s Day 5K will feature the “Chase Stecyk Leprechaun Dash for Gold,” a kids dash for children under the age of nine, as well as a costume contest and a post-race party.

The contest will be held at 7:30 a.m. prior to the 5K and will feature prizes for the top costumes entered. Winners will receive gift certificates in amounts of $100 for first place, $75 for second, and $50 for third place, respectively.

The race will also have a two-day Health and Fitness Expo with local vendors, music, and a team competition. The team with the top five fastest combined times will earn a special award.

The cost to enter the race before February 13, 2017 is $35 for the 5K run/walk and $25 for the Little Lepre- chaun Kids Dash. After that, prices jump to $40 for the 5K and $30 for the Kids Dash.s

A portion of the proceeds from the St. Patrick’s Day 5K benefits the Redondo Beach Educational Foundation as well as local schools and running programs. About $200,000 has been donated from this race as well as their annual 4th of July 5K.

Race sponsors include Allstate Insurance Company, Quan Insurance Service, the Plaza Del Amo Animal Hospi- tal & Pet Keeper in Torrance and the Healthy Spot, an organic pet food and supply store.

Race registration for the 14th St. Patrick’s Day 5K is now open, and applications can be found online or in person at the Village Runner stores in Riviera Village and Manhattan Center.

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 15 - March 2017 Legacy of Rio Olympics So Far Is Series of Unkept Promises Less than six months after the Games ended, many sites have been abandoned, despite government promises to leave “no white elephants” behind. By ANNA JEAN KAISER | The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/15/sports/olympics/rio-stadiums-summer-games.html?hpw&rref=sports&action=clic k&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=2 RIO DE JANEIRO — It is not uncommon for the Olympics to leave behind some unneeded facilities. Rio, however, is experiencing something exceptional: Less than six months after the Summer Games ended, the host city’s Olympic legacy is decaying rapidly. Empty Olympic buildings abound, puncturing any uplifting buzz from the competitions last summer. At the Olympic Park, some stadium entrances are boarded up, and screws are scattered on the ground. The handball arena is barricaded with metal bars. The broadcast center remains half disassembled. The warm-up pool is deco- rated with piles of dirt and puddles. Deodoro, a neighborhood in Rio’s poor periphery, has the second-largest cluster of Olympic sites. The canoe slalom course was to be converted into a giant public swimming pool. It closed to the public in December. Today, residents fill plastic pools a few hundred feet away. “The government put sugar in our mouths and took it out before we could swallow,” Luciana Oliveira Pimen- tel, a social worker from Deodoro, said as her children played in a plastic pool. “Once the Olympics ended, they turned their backs on us.” Olympic officials and local organizers often boast about the legacy of the Games — the residual benefits that a city and country will experience long after the competitions end. Those projections are often met with skep- ticism by the public and by independent economists, who argue that Olympic bids are built on wasted public money. Rio has quickly become the latest, and perhaps the most striking, case of unfulfilled promises and aban- donment. “It’s totally deserted,” said Vera Hickmann, 42, who was at the Olympic Park recently with her family. She lamented that although the area was open to the public, it lacked basic services. “I had to bring my son over to the plants to go to the bathroom,” she said. At the athletes’ village, across the street from the park, the 31 towers were supposed to be sold as luxury condominiums after the Games, but fewer than 10 percent of the units have been sold. Across town at Maracanã Stadium, a soccer temple, the field is brown, and the electricity has been shut off. “The government didn’t have money to throw a party like that, and we’re the ones who have to sacrifice,” Ms. Hickmann said, referring to local taxpayers. In the preparations for the Games, the city of Rio promised “no white elephants” and outlined plans for facilities to be turned into public sporting areas and schools. The arena that hosted taekwondo and fencing

Maracanã Stadium, where the Rio Games’s opening and closing ceremonies were held, is now in shambles, with seats torn out and bare patches adorning the pitch. Credit Silvia Izquierdo/Associated Press; Nacho Doce, via Reuters TAFWA Newsletter - Page 16 - March 2017 was to be transformed into a school. Two other arenas were to be taken apart, and one put back together as four schools in another area. None of that has happened. The mayor’s office said those plans were still in the works, but it did not offer a specific timetable. The decay of Olympic sites is happening as a financial crisis engulfs federal, state and munici- pal governments. “The nation is in crisis, Rio de Janeiro is in crisis — it’s time to be cautious,” Marcelo Crivella, who became mayor on Jan. 1, The closed parking lot in front of the former athletes’ village. Credit Dado Galdieri for The New York Times told incoming city council members. “Spending is prohibited,” he added. Rio’s mayor during the Games, Eduardo Paes, was among the strongest evangelizers of an Olympic legacy. He said in an email that it was too soon to call any of the sites white elephants and that “the path to implementing a legacy has been given.” After the Games, the city held an auction for private companies to bid on administering the Olympic Park, but there were no bidders. That left the Ministry of Sport, an organ of the federal government, with the financial burden. The minister of sport, Leonardo Picciani, said in an interview that the agency’s goal was to find a private company to take over the park, but because there has been no interest, it is the government’s responsibility to maintain the sites. Mr. Picciani also said that the stadiums would not become burdensome relics, pointing to several sporting events scheduled for this year at Olympic Park, along with sports training programs. Renato Cosentino, a researcher at the Regional and Urban Planning Institute at the Federal University of Rio, who studies the Olympic Park region, said the park “was born as a white elephant,” because it was built in a far- flung wealthy suburb that is home to only about 5 percent of Rio’s 6.3 million residents. Having the majority of investment there, he said, proves that the Olympics were meant to serve real estate developers, who took on much of the construction for the Games in exchange for being able to build on the land afterward, in what is known as a public-private partnership. But even developers’ expectations have not panned out. The construction giants Carvalho Hosken and Ode- brecht took on the project of building the athletes’ village in hopes of selling the accommodations as luxury con- dominiums after the Games, banking on the area’s becoming a desirable neighborhood for the city’s elite. In the 31 17-story towers that make up the village, only 20 units have been sold since the beginning of the Olympics in August, bringing the total sold to 260, out of 3,604 apartments. In a scramble to sell off the apartments before Carvalho Hosken becomes responsible for about $6.5 million in monthly interest payments (previously paid for by the local organizing committee for the Olympics), the com- pany is in the process of striking a deal with Rio’s city government to sell them to civil servants, such as military personnel, at discounted prices with low interest rates, according to the Brazilian newspaper O Globo. Rio’s prominent soccer stadium, the Maracanã, which hosted the opening and closing ceremonies, has also fallen into disrepair, with a brown field, several thousand seats uprooted, televisions missing and nearly $1 mil- lion owed to the electricity company. The consortium that normally administers the stadium, Maracanã S.A., claims that Rio 2016 and the Rio State government did not hold up their end of a contract that required them to maintain the stadium and return it in the state in which it was given to them. TAFWA Newsletter - Page 17 - March 2017 The run-down Deodoro neighborhood was a favorite talking point for Olympic officials before and during the Games. Several sites — including those for equestrian events, shooting and field hockey — were constructed there, heralded as a shining example of how the Olympics can lift a blighted area. The flagship, however, was the giant swimming pool, used as the canoe slalom course, which opened to the public before the Games. When the pool opened, Mr. Paes, the mayor at the time, beamed. “We’ve made an early legacy here,” he said. “I think this is something unheard-of in the history of the Olympics.” The pool is now closed, though temperatures are regularly in the 90s and the neighborhood is a long bus ride from Rio’s beaches. The current mayor, Mr. Crivella, again said the city intended to reopen the pool as soon as possible, but he did not forecast a date. Close by, the Triângulo favela community was disrupted to make way for rapid bus lines that were expanded before the Olympics. Several homes and the community’s plaza, its main leisure space, were removed by the construction. Today, a turnaround for the buses looms over where the plaza used to be, but residents have no access to the buses. They say they were promised a bus terminal and a new leisure space, but neither has come. “The government, business people — they tricked us,” said Camila Felix Muguet, 36, who lost part of her home and her backyard to the project. “They came, they robbed, and they said goodbye. Now they’re gone, and where are our upgrades?” Ms. Pimentel, the Deodoro resident whose children were playing in a plastic pool, said she had always suspect- ed that the public pool might not last. “The Olympics ended, Deodoro ended,” she said, shaking her head. “We’re going to be forgotten.”

A television broadcast center at Olympic Park has yet to be taken down, almost six months after the Games ended. Credit Dado Galdieri for The New York Times

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 18 - March 2017 Hosting Olympics Is A Risk LA Is Willing To Take By Peter Daut http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2017/02/22/hosting-olympics-is-a-risk-la-is-willing-to-take/ LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — It’s supposed to be ting dangerously close to the situation it faced in the the greatest honor a city can receive: a chance for it early 1980s, when the Olympics were practically an to welcome the world and show off, but hosting the orphan with no one willing to take them in. Olympics is increasingly being seen as an unnecessary burden. Wednesday was another example of that after “You’ve seen that costs have been rising, and also Budapest withdrew its bid to host the 2024 Games there’s developed this sort of chasm between the bid amid strong opposition in Hungary. The International and the estimates on the front end and what actually Olympic Committee must now decide between Paris eventuates on the backside in terms of final costs,” and Los Angeles. Boykoff said. Unlike Rio, Paris would rely on existing infrastruc- Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has consistently ture for what would be its 100th anniversary of the pointed to strong support in the Southland for the 1924 Games. Also helping “The City of Light” is the Games. fact some IOC members have expressed concern about “We intend to win this,” Garcetti said. “There’s 88 President Trump and any possible travel bans. percent support, L.A. has been able to turn a profit and will do it again.” “They’re not keen on some of these policies that Trump is putting forth, and let’s face it: that could Meanwhile, almost six months after Rio hosted hurt the Los Angeles bid, whether Garcetti does every- the Olympics, the legacy is crumbling. Several of the thing right or not, “Boykoff said. venues are abandoned and falling apart. The Olympic Garcetti says L.A. is prepared to host the Games for park is a ghost town, and the athlete village sits empty. a third time with a budget-conscious plan that does With billions of dollars wasted and unused venues in not require building new venues. several other Olympic cities, many countries are no longer willing to host the games. L.A. 2024 would include four unique sports parks Before Budapest dropped out, ‘Rome’ said ‘ thanks, spread across the Southland. but no thanks’ to a bid for 2024. Rome’s mayor said Garcetti promises the games would boost the local hosting the games would be “irresponsible” and would economy by as much as $11.2 billion and create more only cause the city to fall into more debt. than 74,000 full-time jobs.

L.A. was tapped to replace Boston after the U.S. “L.A. is a place where we have the infrastructure Olympic Committee faced vocal opposition and a lack built and we’re constantly building our sports infra- of political support. In the past two decades the IOC structure and transportation infrastructure.” has seen twice as many cities drop out of the bidding The IOC is scheduled to choose the 2024 host city in process as have remained. September. The IOC may also choose the host city for Dr. Jules Boykoff has written books on the Olym- the 2028 Games then, in which case, both Paris and pics and says the IOC cannot disguise the fact it’s get- Los Angeles could walk away winners.

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 19 - March 2017 Clashing Agendas: Antidoping Officials vs. U.S. Olympics Leaders By REBECCA R. RUIZ | The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/27/sports/clashing-agendas-antidoping-officials-vs-us-olympics-leaders.html COLORADO SPRINGS — Executives at the United States Anti-Doping Agency here are agitating for a forceful response to Russia’s state-run doping program, lobbying international sports officials for more aggressive sanc- tions and for an overhaul of the global regulatory system. Executives at the nearby United States Olympic Committee’s headquarters have a different agenda. They are lobbying the same officials to award the 2024 Summer Games to Los Angeles, a likely financial boon for the committee, and have pressured Congress not to amplify the antidoping concerns. The competing agendas have put some of the most powerful sports executives in the world in conflict as the Olympic Committee enters the final months of its effort to bring the Games back to the United States for the first time since 2002. “Fighting with an organization responsible for giving future Olympic Games — it’s a big mistake,” said Vitaly Smirnov, an influential Russian Olympic official. He singled out criticisms by Travis Tygart, America’s antidoping chief, who has argued for severe penalties against Russia. “This gentleman is doing a very counterproductive job with respect to the Los Angeles bid,” Mr. Smirnov said. The choice for the 2024 Games is down to Los Angeles and Paris, and United States Olympic officials and other powerful interests involved with the bid have expressed concern to members of Congress that the clean- sports crusade could alienate some of the global officials who will make the decision. Mr. Tygart is to continue his crusade on Tuesday, when he is scheduled to address a House subcommittee about the doping scandal and the ways in which the global sports system could be improved. Testifying alongside him will be Michael Phelps, the world’s most decorated Olympian; Adam Nelson, an American shot putter who was awarded a gold medal nearly a decade after his 2004 Olympic performance when a competitor was disqualified for doping; as well as officials from the I.O.C. and the World Anti-Doping Agency, to which the United States contributes $2 million annually. Scott Blackmun, chief executive of the United States Olympic Committee, acknowledged that over the last year his organization had discussed the pending bid, along with a range of other issues, with both the House and the Senate. The Senate Commerce committee, which has not called a hearing but confirmed that its parallel inquiry was continuing, said on Saturday that it had “challenged suggestions that the 2024 bid is a legitimate rationale for stopping or delaying necessary oversight of doping in international competition.” Mr. Blackmun said he thought a congressional hearing would be “more productive” after international sports officials had signaled how they planned to address the scandal, and that he supported lawmakers’ desire to stay informed. He also said he supported the fight for clean sports, but that his organization prefers a quieter ap- proach. As the Russian doping scandal was roiling global sports weeks ahead of the Rio Olympics, with sports officials scrambling to respond to the pressure Mr. Tygart and others were applying in calling for extreme sanctions, the American Olympic committee worked to stave off congressional attention. “We were not saying hearings were inappropriate, but instead that right in front of the Olympic Games is not the right time,” Mr. Blackmun said. “Travis’s style, I would be lying if I told you it wasn’t having an impact,” he said of Mr. Tygart and the nation’s Olympic bid. “At the end of the day, he’s doing his job, and he’s doing it really well. Would we like him to be a little bit more of a silver-tongued devil? Yes, we would.” Mr. Tygart shrugged off the critiques of his methods. “It’s not unusual when you’re trying to do the right thing that there are attempts to pressure you to back off these fundamental values,” he said. Though based mere miles apart, the two prominent officials rarely cross paths in person. If ever, it might -hap pen at the airport, since each travels frequently. They speak by phone every two to three months. While both organizations are aimed at serving American athletes, their pursuits are not always in harmony. The tension over the last year has not surprised American athletes who have expressed frustration at what they call global officials’ hesitancy to discipline Russia for systematic cheating. TAFWA Newsletter - Page 20 - March 2017 “The I.O.C. is responsible for the integrity of the Olympics and keeping it functioning, and they’re not doing it,” said Sarah Konrad, an American biathlete who until last month was chairwoman of the United State’s Olym- pic Committee’s athlete advisory council. “I know Scott Blackmun thinks more needs to be done by WADA and the I.O.C., but he’s not willing to get out and stand on a pulpit and say that because of the bid.” Asked to respond to Ms. Konrad’s statement, Mr. Blackmun called her “a very smart person.” The host for the 2024 Games will be determined in September by secret ballots cast by the roughly 100 mem- bers of the International Olympic Committee, representing countries from Brazil to Liechtenstein to North Korea. Russia has three members. The global officials are accustomed to autonomy and may bristle at this week’s scrutiny from the American government, prompting some like Ms. Konrad to wonder if a hearing could cause more harm than good. “We want the I.O.C. to be independent, nothing to do with politics,” Gerhard Heiberg, a longtime I.O.C. mem- ber from Norway, said. “That is of course not possible, but it could be very difficult to have one nation getting involved in how we are handling doping and putting pressure on us.” Mr. Heiberg said that whims often guided the individual votes of I.O.C. decision-makers. “On Sept. 13, when we choose between Los Angeles and Paris, a lot of people will vote with their hearts,” he said. Congress’s interest in the doping scandal, Mr. Tygart’s activism and the United States’ inquiries into interna- tional sports corruption — from the FIFA case focused on soccer’s global governing body to a Justice Depart- ment investigation into the Russian doping scandal — could inform how some of his colleagues voted, he said. “It could affect some members — ‘you want the Games, fine, but don’t mix things up,’ ” Mr. Heiberg said. Gian-Franco Kasper of Switzerland, who sits on the I.O.C.’s executive board, also said that Mr. Tygart’s out- spokenness, coupled with Donald J. Trump’s election, could diminish Los Angeles’s attractiveness as host. Mr. Trump has expressed public support for the Olympic bid, though some of his policies — most notably on immigration, including his recent executive order barring visitors from seven predominantly Muslim nations — have caused concern among sports officials. Mr. Blackmun said the American Olympic committee had received assurances from the State Department and Homeland Security that global athletes and officials would have no trouble entering the United States in 2024. “The Games are more than seven years away at this point and, candidly, the I.O.C. has been through this a number of times,” Mr. Blackmun said. “I think they have the ability to look past what I would call the short-term political or situational environment.” As a dwindling number of cities have expressed willingness to host the Olympics, the I.O.C.’s president has suggested he would like to see fewer “losers” in the bid process, setting off recent speculation that both Paris and Los Angeles could be chosen at the same time to host two future Summer Olympics, for 2024 and 2028. Even so, Mr. Blackmun emphasized last week in his fifth-floor office in downtown Colorado Springs, -deco rated with oversize photographs of American athletes marching in various opening ceremonies, that the United States was exclusively focused on hosting in 2024. If Los Angeles receives the bid, Mr. Blackmun said, the Sum- mer Games could make an example of the country’s strong antidoping system. A 10-minute drive north, Mr. Tygart walked into the antidoping agency’s staff kitchen and pointed to an array of motivational words decorating the wall. “Courage,” he said, gesturing above the refrigerator. “That’s the most important one.” Mr. Tygart’s colleague — an Olympic medalist and chairman of the American antidoping agency’s board — expressed consternation that the agency’s principled positions might undermine the bid. “If standing up for the rights of athletes and fair play somehow makes a country less likely to host the Olym- pic Games — wow,” he said. “That says about all you need to know about that process. It’s also exactly why sport has no business trying to police itself.” Ms. Konrad, the Olympic biathlete, said she appreciated that Mr. Tygart had sacrificed a cozy relationship with Olympic officials, displaying the independence he and others have called for regulators to embrace at the global level. “I can sympathize with people showing restraint because they want L.A. to happen,” Ms. Konrad said. “But a clean playing field is more important to me than a home playing field.”

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 21 - March 2017 A tone deaf IOC won’t hear what cities do: hosting the Olympics sounds like sour notes By Philip Hersh | Globetrotting http://www.globetrottingbyphiliphersh.com/home/2017/2/28/olympics-2024-ioc-paris-losangeles-budapest How’s that Olympic Agenda 2020 thing working studies Olympic issues. “The Budapest bid implosion out, Mr. Bach? helps expose the weakness of a recommendation-with- All that hot air about reform and cost-cutting in out-teeth model of reacting to crisis.” both bidding for and staging the Games that filled a Boykoff calls the crisis serious, even though, luckily Monaco conference center in 2014, inflating a bal- for you, Mr. Bach, there are two outstanding cities left loon of self-congratulations that has been leaking ever who apparently still want the 2024 Olympics – Los since? Angeles and Paris. “Like most people, I am sick and tired of hearing the Even as you smile at that good fortune while dis- mantra of Olympic Agenda 2020,” Canada’s Richard missing the Budapest withdrawal as being motivated Pound said in an email. by politics (well, doh), others within and without your Pound is the senior member of the current 95 in an organization have realized that this is a perilous mo- International Olympic Committee presided over by ment for the future of the Olympic Games. Mr. Thomas Bach since September 2013. It is more than 30 years since Peter Ueberroth’s Agenda 2020 was rushed to a vote in December privately-financed and profitable 1984 L.A. Olympics 2014 after cities in five countries either dropped out regenerated cities’ interest in being hosts, at a mo- of bidding for the 2022 Winter Olympics or, in one ment when the IOC didn’t have two nickels to rub case, dropped even the idea of a bid after public op- together. Now a stupendously rich IOC, with reserves position. That left just two authoritarian nations in of some $1.5 billion from sponsorship and TV rev- a race Beijing won over Almaty, Kazakhstan, despite enues, is peddling a product almost no one is willingly serious environmental and logistical issues related to buying. having skiing events in a low-snow area miles away Caveat emptor, indeed. Of late, cities have begun to from the host city. take that advice seriously. And, then Mr. Bach, it was barely six months after Seven cities made it to the IOC’s first cut of the bid- your IOC membership rubber-stamped Agenda 2020 ding for the 2016 Summer Games, with four going to that cities in the 2024 Summer Games race began the final vote. For 2012, the IOC cut from the original laughing at an emperor who still had no clothes. nine bidders left five major world cities in the run- The latest city to realize it could be the butt of the ning. The 2020 process started with six formal bids, joke was Budapest, which gave up its 2024 effort last with three making it to the vote after two were cut and week in face of a referendum likely to produce a nega- Rome dropped out. tive result about the public’s support for a bid. (The And seven cities wanted both the 2010 and 2014 official end came Wednesday.) That’s what also hap- Winter Games; both times, the IOC cut the field to pened to the 2024 bid from Hamburg (a city in your three. own country, Mr. Bach – the second such referendum But just three cities bid for the 2018 Winter Olym- slap in your face from would-be German hosts since pics – the lowest number since only three came you became IOC President, following the one that forward for the 1988 Summer Games, when the vote ended a 2022 Munich bid aborning.) preceded the L.A. ’84 success. And, of course, just two Rome’s mayor killed her city’s 2024 bid because she hung in for the 2022 vote. didn’t want to spend the money. An intelligent oppo- “Gone are the days when Bach and his ilk can stand sition group, No Boston Olympics, laughed off being behind the podium and make grand promises with- dismissed by 2024 bid chief John Fish as inconsequen- out committed citizens standing up and asking tough tial and then spurred the effort that led the city’s may- questions about the Games’ disturbing track record,” or to dump its bid like rotting cod after it had become Boykoff said. the U.S. Olympic Committee’s designated candidate. That track record includes reported Olympic costs of Los Angeles dove headlong in as a replacement. $40 billion for Beijing in 2008, $51 billion for Sochi in “Olympic Agenda 2020 is a set of recommendations 2014 and $15 billion, three times the original budget, that carry very little heft. It has always been more for London in 2012. It makes no difference that much phantom than opera,” said Jules Boykoff, a political of that money went to infrastructure each Olympic science professor at Pacific University in Oregon who city may or may not have needed for a successful TAFWA Newsletter - Page 22 - March 2017 The No Olympics move- ment in Budapest got enough signatures for a public referendum that seemed certain to doom the city’s Olympic bid, leading the mayor to end the bid before a vote.

Games. The numbers are enormous, wasteful and Icarus) economically, the IOC was utterly derelict in its legitimately frightening. duty to supervise the project until it was too late. And the latest Olympics, last Summer’s Rio Games, When an AP story detailed the obscene per-diems, seem the most of all, as has been made clear by the freebies and lavish perks bestowed upon IOC members recent news reports and devastating photos of already in Rio, that let-them-eat-cake negligence was ampli- moldering, unused facilities in a city staggering from fied. economic dislocation The greatest irony is the IOC finds itself in a win- And what was your opinion of Rio when it ended, win situation for 2024 (and possibly 2028), with what Mr. Bach? seems a well-conceived and economically sound plan “I think this is a really iconic Games,” you said the in Los Angeles and a good if somewhat economically day before they closed. “It is also Games in the middle riskier plan in Paris, where there again are rumblings of reality. They were not organized in a bubble. They of a referendum on whether to bid for the Games. were organized in a city where there are social prob- The IOC can compound that good fortune and buy lems, social divides, where real life continued and I some time by changing the rules to have a two-for- think it was very good for everybody.” one special at the September vote for 2024. Let the Some may think you must have been channeling 2024 loser have 2028 (if it agrees.) Or maybe forge Candide, Mr. Bach. You know, that guy in Voltaire’s an agreement beforehand and dispense with the vote eponymous book who said, “All is for the best in this entirely, no matter that it would deprive many IOC best of all possible worlds,” while unimaginable hor- members of their only useful task. It would provide rors took place around him. Candide was satire rife a breather to find better ways than Agenda 2020’s with irony, Mr. Bach. The reality, in both Rio and in platitudes to make being an Olympic host a reasonable Voltaire, was sadly neither – and definitely not good notion. for everybody. If there are any such reasons for a democratic coun- “The Rio legacy was overblown by Bach and makes try, that is. him look like a ritual cheerleader (although that may “As to the choice of host cities, I think we can well be part of the job description,)” Pound said. “ The improve that and perhaps the time has come for the fact of the matter in Rio was poor planning, corrup- IOC to go `shopping,’ rather than to see what comes in tion, political maneuvering to cover up the corruption from time to time over the transom,” Pound said. through the impeachment process (of the country’s Asked what he meant by “shopping,” Pound replied, president) and the collapse of oil prices. Rio self- “I don’t think the modalities have been considered destructed. It was not the Olympics that caused that yet - more the idea that we might be more proactive in self-destruction.” seeking hosts.” The Games themselves may not have been entirely At this point, would-be hosts are turning into responsible for Rio’s problems, but the IOC was. Not ghosts, and Bach is whistling through a graveyard. If only should its members not have allowed its former his tune sounds off-key, what else would one expect president, Jacques Rogge, to have the legacy ego trip from tone-deaf IOC leadership? of awarding the first Olympics in South America to a Correction: The IOC meeting at which Agenda city rife with corruption and briefly flying high (like 2020 was approved occurred in 2014. TAFWA Newsletter - Page 23 - March 2017 Rio Olympics: Lamine Diack’s son ‘paid $2m by Brazilian’ as vote loomed By Sean Ingle | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/mar/03/rio-olympics-lamine-diack-son-paid-2m-brazilian-vote-ioc

A Brazilian businessman gave $2m to the son of Lamine Diack, the now disgraced former IAAF president and at the time also an IOC member, just three days before Rio won the right to host the 2016 Olympics, the French newspaper Le Monde has claimed. Citing sources among French investigators, Le Monde said it had established concrete information that Pamodzi Consulting, a company founded by Papa Massata Diack, received a $1.5m payment from a holding company based in the British Virgin Islands. Diack Jr, at the time a marketing executive for the IAAF, received $500,000 from the same company, which was transferred to a bank account in Russia.

The International Olympic Committee has launched an investigation into the revelations and into further al- legations against Frankie Fredericks, the former Namibian sprinter who is now an IOC member and head of the 2024 Olympics evaluation commission. Fredericks denies any wrongdoing. “The IOC remains fully committed to clarifying this situation, working in cooperation with the [French] prosecutor,” the organisation said. According to the paper, French investigators believe the money may have been used to influence the election for the 2016 Olympics, which was held in Copenhagen in 2009. It said that French investigators had established the holding company is linked to a Brazilian businessman who specialises in subcontracting. It also alleged that the businessman had been involved with many construction deals with the state of Rio, related to the Olympic Games.

Diack Jr, who was banned from athletics for life last year and is currently on the run from Interpol, told the paper: “Good luck for your article!” when asked for his response. Last year, the Guardian revealed how the Tokyo Olympic bid team made a €1.3m payment to the Black Tid- ings secret bank account in Singapore, which is linked to Diack Jr, during ’s successful race to host the 2020 Games. Diack Jr was also apparently involved in 2008 in a scheme to deliver “parcels” to six influential members of the IOC at a time when Doha, Qatar, was trying to bid for the 2016 Olympics.

Diack Sr, who is currently in custody in France facing charges of money laundering and corruption, refused to comment on the story. However the Rio 2016 spokesman Mário Andrada told Le Monde: “The elections were clean. Rio won by 66 votes against 32, it was a clear victory.” Le Monde also said that Diack Jr had transferred $299,300 via Pamodzi Sports Consulting to the offshore company Yemli Limited on 2 October 2009 – and that Yemli Limited was linked to Fredericks, who was an Inter- national Olympic Committee scrutineer at the vote in Copenhagen.

Fredericks told Le Monde that the payment had “nothing to do with the Olympic Games”. He said: “I had the idea to develop a relay championships. In addition I supported the IAAF marketing programme, the African ath- letics programme, the IAAF Continental Programme and the African athletics championships. My attendance at various events and promotional efforts are documented and accordingly these services can be substantiated by other evidence. “Payment was in respect of services rendered in the period 2007 to 2011. The payment has nothing whatsoev- er to do with the Olympic games. By the way, I was not an IAAF board member at the time, but an IAAF ambas- sador, and did not breach any regulation or rule of ethics.”

When asked why it was he had been paid in 2009, precisely on the day of the election day for the 2016 Olym- pics, he replied: “Despite the contract being concluded in 2007 I had not been paid, and therefore started to put pressure on Pamodzi Sports Consulting, and this culminated in the payment in 2009.”

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 24 - March 2017 Partial Fixtures List 2017 March 2-4 NAIA Indoor Championships, Johnson City, Tennessee March 3-5 USATF Indoor Championships, Albuquerque, New Mexico March 10-11 NCAA Division I Indoor Championships, College Station, Texas NCAA Division II Indoor Championships, Birmingham, Alabama NCAA Division III Indoor Championships, Naperville, Illinois

March 26 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, Kampala, Uganda April 22-23 IAAF World Relays, Nassau, Bahamas April 27-29 Penn Relays, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Drake Relays, Des Moines, Iowa May 25-27 NCAA Division I East Preliminary Rounds, Lexington, Kentucky May 25-27 NCAA Division I West Preliminary Rounds, Austin, Texas NCAA Division II Championships, Bradenton, Florida NCAA Division III Championships, Geneva, Ohio NAIA Championships, Gulf Shores, Alabama May 26-27 Prefontaine Classic, Eugene, Oregon June 7-10 NCAA Division I Championships, Eugene, Oregon June 9 TAFWA Awards Breakfast, Gerlinger Hall, University of Oregon campus (9 a.m.) June 23-25 USATF Outdoor Championships, Sacramento, California June 25 TAFWA Brunch, chez Jarvis, Sacramento, California July 12-16 IAAF World U18 Championships, Nairobi, Kenya Aug. 4-13 IAAF World Championships, London

Nov. 18 NCAA Division I Cross Country, Louisville, Kentucky NCAA Division II Cross Country, Evansville, Indiana NCAA Division III Cross Country, Elsah, Illinois

2018 March 2-4 IAAF World Indoor Championships, Birmingham, England March 9-10 NCAA Division I Indoor Championships, College Station, Texas

April 4-15 Commonwealth Games, Gold Coast, Australia May 24-26 NCAA Division I East Preliminary Rounds, Tampa, Florida May 24-26 NCAA Division I West Preliminary Rounds, Sacramento, Calif. June 6-9 NCAA Division I Championships, Eugene, Oregon July 10-15 IAAF World U20 Championships, Tampere, Finland August 7-12 European Championships, Berlin, Germany Sept. 8-9 IAAF Continental Cup, Ostrava, Czech Republic

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 25 - March 2017