April 2019

Track and Field Contents Writers of P. 1 President’s Message America P. 3 TAFWA 2018 Armory Book of the Year Selections (Founded June 7, 1973) P. 4 Jack Shepard Inducted in U.S. High School Track & Field Hall of Fame P. 5 The Complicated Case of Transgender Athletes in Sports PRESIDENT P. 6 The Scientist is Racing to Discover How Gender Transitions Alter Athletic Performance - Including Jack Pfeifer Her Own 2199 NW Everett St. #601 P. 9 Concerns of Age Cheats Leads to Investigation Into Team Portland, Oregon 97210 Office/home: 917-579- P. 10 Weighs Into Row on Trans Athletes Being Allowed to Compete in Women’s Sport 5392. Email: P. 11 Shares Why She’s Leaving Roads for the Leadville Trail [email protected] P. 12 Should the IOC Dispense With Olympic Host City Elections? There May Be No Choice P. 13 Governor Criticized for Putting Hands in Pockets During Tokyo Marathon Ceremony SECRETARY- P. 14 New Hitch to Russian Reinstatement as IAAF Task Force Probes Allegations of Discredited Coaches TREASURER Tom Casacky Remaining Active P.O. Box 4288 P. 15 TC Executive Director Rich Kenah on New Olympics Standards Napa, CA 94558 P. 15 Top American Pros and Coaches React to USATF’s New Olympic Qualification Process Phone: 818-321-3234 P. 17 Cut Short: IAAF Revamp Leaves Distance Running Fans in the Cold Email: [email protected] P. 18 Why Pro Runners Are Upset Over the New Olympic Standards P. 19 FloSports Offers Full Refunds After Rough Debut, Vows to Win Back D.C. United Fans’ Trust FAST Dave Johnson P. 20 France Issues Arrest Warrants for Two Russian Ex-Athletics Officials: Sources Email: P. 20 Mt. SAC Update [email protected] P. 21 Don’t Change the Name of Memorial Coliseum Phone: 215-898-6145 P. 22 2019 USATF Outdoor Championships - Qualifying Standards P. 23 ’s Spring Goals: Acing TV Commentary, Coaching, and Family WEBMASTER Michael McLaughlin P. 25 ‘There Should be Third Sex Competitions for Them’ - Medical Expert on Female Testosterone Case Email: P. 26 Can Running Pull Itself Back From the Brink? [email protected] P. 27 Hayward Field Renovation Update - Video Link Phone: 815-529-8454 P. 27 Says Health and Safety in Schools is Hobbling British Athletics P. 27 US Lawyer Launches Legal Challenge to Get Women’s 50km Race Walk Into Tokyo 2020 Olympics NEWSLETTER EDITOR Shawn Price P. 28 2019 TAFWA Awards Email: P. 29 Partial Fixtures List [email protected] Phone: 979-661-0731 President’s Message - April 2019 Dues for 2019 It is time to pay your TAFWA dues of $30 for 2019 if you haven’t already done so. The amount has stayed steady for years. Members who pay their dues by April 15 will be able to receive the electronic version of the 2019 FAST Annual. After that date, you will have to acquire it by way of USATF. Those of you who haven’t paid yet will receive a personal email reminder shortly. If you don’t pay for 2019 by the end of the month, this could be your last Newsletter. Payment goes to Tom Casacky by Paypal or check.

Stadiums The track stadium saga continues. Suitable domestic facilities are the driving force right now for where major meets can be held. It was behind the drastic recent decision to pull the 2020 Olympic Trials out of Mt. San Antonio College in Los Angeles and return them to Eugene, Ore. The full story of how that transaction occurred has never been revealed. So where do those two stadiums – rebuilt Hilmer Lodge and Hayward Field – stand today? It appears that, ironically, Hilmer Lodge will be completed first. In Eugene, complex ticket applications have been sent to Oregon season ticketholders with a confusing array of Points Plans and deadlines, minus such details as the actual cost of tickets or seat locations. It appears that to secure a seat on or near the finish line in the new Hayward Field will require a minimum donation of $50,000, regardless of how many years you have been a season ticketholder for . The next level of seating requires a minimum $20,000 donation. No seating chart exists yet. (We hope to include a copy of the University Ticket Notice in the Newsletter for your enlightenment.) The for 2019 has been moved out of state for one season, to Stanford, in late June. Given that Mt. SAC was awarded the 2020 Trials, only to have them taken away, it is the thinking here at the TAFWA Home Office in Portland that perhaps the 2024 Trials could wind up at SAC as compensation. The Games that year will be in . The U.S. Trials for the last Paris Games – 100 years earlier, in 1924 -- were held on the East Coast, at Harvard. The last men’s Olympic Trials held on the East Coast took place 83 years ago, in 1936, at then-brand-new Randalls Island, in New York. (The Triborough Bridge opened the day before.) (The 1972 U.S. women’s Trials were held in Frederick, Md., before the genders were combined four years later.)

Would it be a wonderful thing to have the Olympic Trials on the East Coast again? In spite of the humidity and congestion, sure, but where? Randalls Island has been rebuilt but is too small now. Same with Princeton, once beautiful Palmer Stadium was torn down. The track has been pulled out of Wallace Wade Stadium at Duke. The only place left in the East is Franklin Field, in , home of the venerable Penn Relays. It seats upwards of 65,000 and has never held an Olympic Trials, but the track configuration does not meet all interna- tional standards and the throws are no longer held inside the arena. (They did, however, once have a baseball diamond inside the track.) Thus, the West Coast, with perfect summer weather and track stadiums that seat 10,000 and more, beckons. That brings us to the fate of another famous American track complex, Edwards Stadium, built in 1932 on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. In its heyday it was the site of many important meets, includ- ing the California state meet, the NCAA and the AAU. No longer. The NCAA championships have not been held in Berkeley since 1968. The structure, which once held 22,000 for track, has not been maintained well and has been in decline for years. Word comes that this is about to change. There has been no official announcement, but it is our understand- ing that over the next five years there will be a complete overhaul of this famous facility. The backstretch stands – eerily empty for years because of the lack of costly earthquake retrofitting – will be replaced by facilities for other Cal sports. The field will be widened to better accommodate soccer, and will remain natural grass. And finally, the decaying homestretch grandstand will be torn down and replaced by a brand new Edwards Stadium, seating at least 5,000, with a state-of-the-art press box that will include modern wiring and electronics. This means the NCAA meet could possibly return to Berkeley or Los Angeles in future years. That meet has not been held in Southern California in 65 years, since 1955 in the Coliseum. The current schedule for those Championships is Austin this year and next, Eugene in ’21 and ’22. Meantime, new track arenas, indoors and out, continue to be built at a record pace. This weekend Texas A&M hosts its first outdoor meet in 15 years; our congratulations to Pat Henry and the Aggies. New municipal indoor arenas are in the planning stages, in Chicago and Spokane, Wash. Boston may soon have a fourth indoor banked track – joining Reggie Lewis, BU and Harvard -- to be built by New Balance.

TAFWA Awards This is the final month to nominate yourself or others for our 2019 Awards. The list of criteria appears in this issue of the Newsletter. All awards will be presented during the NCAA Championships in Austin, on the Texas campus. TAFWA is not holding an event at the USA Nationals in Des Moines. In 2020 we plan to swap that scenario, with festivities in Eugene during the Trials rather than in Austin dur- ing the NCAA.

TAFWA Membership Dues for 2019 TAFWA dues for 2019 will remain at $30, and will buy you a series of excellent newsletters, the 2019 FAST Annual, and privileged entry to special TAFWA social events at the NCAA Championships in Austin (our yearly breakfast with athletes and coaches). 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 2 - April 2019 Track & Field Writers of America 2018 Armory Book of the Year Selections Five Finalists Will be Announced April 15, 2019, the Winner Announced June 7, 2019, in Austin, Texas This was a vibrant year for Track and Field writing. Our 2018 selections range from biography, memoir, history and theory to training and whimsey. THE TRACK IN THE FOREST We follow Joe Dial vaulting onto the pages in a memoir/diary THE SKY’S The Creation Of A Legendary 1968 US Olympic Team THE LIMIT. The story of an undersized athlete reaching great heights while By Bob Burns having fellow Oklahoma State star Garth Brooks practice his singing on the Chicago Review Press-Chicago, 2018 team bus after throwing the javelin at a meet. THE INSIDE TRACK, Tom Courtney THE TRACK IN THE FOREST is the story of the high-altitude prepara- By Tom Courtney tions for the 1968 Olympic team that would compete in Mexico City sur- Page Publishing-New York, 2018 rounded by controversy and social revolution. TIGERBELLE: The Wyomia Tyus Story THE INSIDE TRACK, by and about Fordham Ram Tom Courtney, a By Wyomia Tyus and Elizabeth Terzakis New Jersey kid from an athletic family of baseball players and boxers com- Akashic Books-Kindle 2018 peting in the race of gladiators--the 800 meters. Finding not only gold, but a place in life, he passes on the knowledge of a lifetime of competing, investing THE WIZARD OF FOZ and raising a family. Dick Fosbury’s One-Man High Jump Revolution By Bob Welch with Dick Fosbury THE WIZARD OF FOZ is the incredible story of how a high-school Skyhorse Publishing-New York, 2018 sophomore who perfected a new style and technique and brought high jumping to a higher level. A HURDLER’S HURDLER The Life Of Rodney Milburn, Olympic Champion There is more to than overcoming physical challenges. In By Steven MaGill her memoir LET YOUR MIND RUN she lets us into her dynamic of think- McFarland and Co.-N.C., 2018 ing her way to victory. THE UNIVERSITY OF NIKE : HISTORY’S FASTEST MARATHONER opens How Corporate Cash Bought Higher Education the door to the Kenyan lifestyle that has produced so many world-class run- By Joshua Hunt ners. Melville House-Brooklyn, 2018

Rod Milburn’s glorious and tragic life is told in A HURDLER’S HUR- LET YOUR MIND RUN DLER where the hypocrisy of the sport’s bureaucracy kept athletes down. A Memoir of Thinking My Way to Victory By Deena Kastor and Michelle Hamilton Then there is BORN TO RUN, not that one, but the LEON COLEMAN Crown Publishing; New York, 2018 STORY and being the best you can be while surrounded by the best. ELIUD KIPCHOGE: HISTORY’S FASTEST MARATHONER THE INCOMPLETE BOOK OF RUNNING by Peter Sagal is complete An Insight Into Kenyan Life That Shapes Legends in all the elements of great writing about exceptional blue-collar running, By Tait Hearps, Matt Ingless Fox and juggling work, family and the daily demands of life. And who knows, Published Independently 2018 by nominating Sagal he might mention on radio that TAFWA stands for TRACK AND FIELD WRITERS OF AMERICA. BORN TO RUN: The Leon Coleman Story By Leon Coleman ENDURE is just that, as Alex Hutchinson escorts us to the peak of per- Self Published, 2018 formance without destroying our minds or bodies. WHEN RUNNING MADE HISTORY TIGERBELLE: The Wyomia Tyus Story tells about this wonderful Olym- By Roger Robinson pian, coached by another legend, Ed Temple, in a time of women riding in Syracuse University Press, 2018 the caboose of athletic history. THE INCOMPLETE BOOK OF RUNNING THE IRISH-AMERICAN ATHLETIC CLUB OF NEW YORK is the By Peter Sagal story of the Winged Fist in turn-of-the-century New York. It is astounding Simon and Schuster NY, 2018 how a tribe of Irish athletes came together outside the closed doors of New York society and became the best in the world. Winning Olympic gold and ENDURE-Mind, Body and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human setting National records with a team of New York City cops, and embracing Performance a membership that included Jews, blacks and anyone else who had to use the By Alex Hutchinson Servants entrance to the American dream. Harper Collins, 2018

While Kenya has its Rift Valley, why so many runners come from the THE IRISH-AMERICAN ATHLETIC CLUB OF NEW YORK: town of Spokane in Washington State is answered by Peter Hawkins in The Rise and Fall of the Winged Fists 1898-1917 VARSITY SEVEN. McFarland Publishing, 2018

WHEN RUNNING MADE HISTORY by Roger Robinson takes us VARSITY SEVEN: An American Rift Valley around the world and back to the heart of running America with insight, By Peter Hawkins history and social change. Starr Press-Spokane, Wash., 2018

In conclusion, this year we make special mention of a book that doesn’t SPECIAL MENTION meet the requirements for 2018 TAFWA Best Book since it was published in (Not Eligible because of 2017 Publishing) 2017. RUNNER IN RED by Tom Murphy is a mystery/thriller of a woman reportedly seen running the Boston Marathon before Kathrine Switzer. RUNNER IN RED By Tom Murphy TRACK AND FIELD WRITERS OF AMERICA Encircle Publications-Farmington, Maine, 2017 2018 BEST BOOK SELECTIONS

THE SKY’S THE LIMIT--The Joe Dial Story By Doug Eaton with Joe Dial Gold Medal Publishing-Tulsa, OK 2018 TAFWA Newsletter - Page 3 - April 2019 Longtime TAFWA member Jack Shepard was inducted into the U.S. High School Track & Field Hall of Fame last month in ceremonies at the New York Athletic Club in New York City. The Hall of Fame was inau- gurated by the National Scholastic Athletics Foundation last year. Jack was selected as a Contributor. He has been the mainstay of high school track statistics for half a century. Three cheers for Jack!

Houston Coach Leroy Burrell tweeted (left) about the lack of press coverage at the recent NCAA Indoor meet in Birmingham, Ala., and the USTFCCCA’s Tom Lewis replied. The South has some advantages -- lower prices on meals and overnight, some excellent new facilities such as Birmingham and others, a modest winter, convenience to other regions by car and bus. One question is, does track matter?

USATF returns to Des Moines for the 2019 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships INDIANAPOLIS -- The Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships are returning to Des Moines, Iowa, July 25-28, 2019. The best track and field athletes in the country will compete at Drake University’s Drake Stadium on a quest to qualify for Team USATF at the 2019 IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar. The four day meet is the final stop of the 2019 USATF Out- door Championship Series and will be broadcast on the NBC family of networks and webcast on NBC Sports Gold. Tickets are available now at Draketix.com/USATF, including all-session (Thursday - Sunday) and single session. Youth (ages 3-18) and students (with a valid college student ID) may purchase $10 General Admission tickets on-site on event day. Offer valid Friday-Sunday sessions.

2019 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships broadcast schedule (Subject to change) All four days of competition be streamed live and commercial free on NBC Sports Gold. (Day 1) Thursday, July 25 | NBC Sports Gold (Day 2) Friday, July 26 | NBCSN| 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. (Day 3) Saturday, July 27 | NBC | 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. (Day 4) Sunday, July 28 | NBCSN: 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. | NBC: 8:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 4 - April 2019 The complicated case of transgender athletes in sports Chibuogwu Nnadiegbulam, AIPS Young Reporter, Nigeria http://www.aipsmedia.com/index.html?page=artdetail&art=25293

LAUSANNE, March 4, 2019 - The world of sports is currently abuzz with the complex and delicate, yet heated, debate on transgender women athletes. On the one hand is the fight for human rights and inclusion, but on the other hand is a loud cry for fairness. The bone of contention is whether they should be allowed to participate in female sports, considering that they were born male and still possess physiological characteristics that makes them faster and stronger, like high levels of testosterone. But do they really have “unfair advan- tages” or they are just better?

DEMORALIZING At the grassroots level, transgender teens Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood grabbed headlines for dominating the 55-meter dash at the state open indoor track championships on February 7 in Connecticut. Miller of Bloomfield High, who won the race, set a girls state indoor record of 6.95 seconds, while Yearwood of Cromwell High finished second in 7.01 seconds. The third-place competitor, who is not transgender, finished in 7.23 seconds.

Glastonbury High School junior Selina Soule finished eighth in the race, thereby, missing out on qualifying for the New regionals by two spots and she blamed her failure to qualify on Miller and Yearwood. “We all know the outcome of the race before it even starts; it’s demoralizing,” she said. “I fully support and am happy for these athletes for being true to themselves. They should have the right to express themselves in school, but athletics have always had extra rules to keep the competition fair.”

RULES But Yearwood told ESPN in May 2018 that “there are people that are faster than me. I just think that some people are making it into a bigger deal than it needs to be.” A month later, she finished behind Miller in the 100-meter race at the state open champion- ships. This led to some Connecticut parents starting a petition to change the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference rule that allows high school students participate in sports based on their gender identity. It is a rule that aligns with the state’s anti-discrimination law. Miller told ABC news last year that if the roles were reversed, she would not have had issues welcoming a transgender teammate. “It would just push me to run faster,” she said. “I’d be happy for them, ‘cause they get to do what they want. They’re happy, so then that should in turn make me happy.”

On the flip side, however, Miller and Yearwood would have been compelled to compete against boys if they were in Texas high schools because the University Interscholastic League, which oversees rules and administration for Texas high school athletic competitions, only recognizes the gender listed on an athlete’s birth certificate. That was what Mack Beggs, a transgender male wrestler, had to endure as he won back-to-back Texas girls high school state championships. It is a situation that complicates the involvement of trangender athletes in sports even more and there are no easy answers to the questions being raised.

‘INSANE’ Tennis legend Martina Navratilova, a gay rights activist, has been receiving huge criticisms for being very vocal on the matter. The 18-time Grand Slam winner’s column in The Sunday Times described as “insane” the idea of allowing transgender women compete in women’s sport.

“To put the argument at its most basic: a man can decide to be female, take hormones if required by whatever sporting organization is concerned, win everything in sight and perhaps earn a small fortune, and then reverse his decision and go back to making babies if he so desires. It’s insane and it’s cheating. I am happy to address a transgender woman in whatever form she prefers, but I would not be happy to compete against her. It would not be fair.”

HYPERANDROGENISM But Navratilova supports South Africa’s Caster Semenya, who has been in a running battle with the Inter- national Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) since 2009 due to her gender. On the global stage, she is one of the most dominant athletes in track and field but she has a condition called hyperandrogenism. According to the IAAF, she is an athlete with “differences of sexual development” (DSD), who has testes and male levels of testosterone. The governing body explained that such ath- letes “get the same increases in bone and muscle size and strength and increases in haemoglobin that a male gets when they go through puberty, which is what gives men such a performance advantage over women.”

A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The IAAF decided it was best to issue a new rule to level the playing field. Hence female athletes with high levels of testosterone will have to take medication to reduce and maintain lower levels of the hormone if they want to participate in track races between 400 meters and a mile at international events. The implementation of the controversial rule should have been on Novem- ber 1, 2018 but was postponed by five months after Semenya dragged the IAAF to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The hearing of the “pivotal” case in February lasted a week. A verdict is expected by March 26. But will that put this matter to rest? Navratilova thinks Semenya is different from transgender women athletes because “she has never taken medication or sought an advantage. She has just trained and run.”

Yale professor emeritus of pediatric endocrinology Dr. Myron Genel, who was a member of the International Olympic Committee’s Medical Commission on issues regarding gender identity in athletics, was quoted as saying: “A level playing field is a fallacy. There’s so many other factors that may provide a competitive advantage. It’s very hard to single out sex as the only one.”

COMPROMISE A compromise seems far-fetched at the moment but transgender athletes believe they have as much right to compete and succeed in sports as their cisgender counterparts. But it is feared that their dominance could ultimately push female sports into oblivion. TAFWA Newsletter - Page 5 - April 2019 This scientist is racing to discover how gender transi- tions alter athletic performance—including her own By Katherine Kornei | Science Mag https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/07/scientist-racing-discover-how-gender-transitions-alter-athletic-performance-including PORTLAND, OREGON, AND PHOENIX—Joanna Harper swal- prove their sex by showing sporting officials their genitalia. Those lowed a few pills in late August 2004, a day after running in the unpopular “nude parades” were soon replaced by chromosomal Hood to Coast relay race between Oregon’s highest mountain and tests, which had their own problems. Biology does not always the Pacific Ocean. They delivered a small dose of estrogen and a cleanly divide human beings into two sexes. Some people, often testosterone blocker and set in motion changes that Harper, who described as intersex, have unusual sex chromosome arrangements was designated male at birth and raised as a boy, had imagined or physical attributes such as ambiguous genitalia. Others have an since childhood. Harper’s timing was deliberate—the 47-year-old innate sense of gender differing from the sex they were assigned at nationally ranked runner wanted one more race before disrupting birth; they often choose to hormonally and/or surgically transition her hormones because she knew she’d never run as fast again. to the gender they identify as.

The testosterone that courses through a man’s body after Harper, who grew up in Parry Sound, a small town about 250 puberty triggers and maintains a slew of physical changes: Men, kilometers north of Toronto, Canada, is among the latter. The whose levels of the hormone are usually some 10 to 15 times those oldest child of a high school teacher and a nurse, Harper wore her of women, typically have larger muscles, denser bones, and higher mother’s and sister’s clothing in private from a young age. Leaving fractions of lean body mass than women. That hormone-fueled elementary school one day, Harper asked a male friend an earnest transformation confers certain athletic advantages, and men on question—had he ever thought, as Harper had, about being a girl? average run faster, lift more weight, and throw harder and farther The boy recoiled. “It was clear from the way that my friend looked than women. Sporting events are therefore usually split into male at me that I was never going to ask anybody that again,” Harper and female categories to ensure fair competition. But this division says. of the sexes, which has existed for as long as women have com- In high school, Harper threw herself into sports. She was best peted as athletes, forces an important question: Who, at least from known as a star basketball player, averaging 18 points per game as an athletic standpoint, is female? a guard on the boys’ team her senior year. But Harper was short for the men’s college game. Instead, she ran track and cross-coun- Many people believe transgender women such as Harper have try as an undergraduate at what was then the University of West- athletic advantages over non-transgender women—sometimes ern Ontario in London, Canada, where she majored in physics. In called cisgender women—because of their previous exposure to 1982, Harper earned a master’s degree in medical physics, training male levels of testosterone. But Harper, a medical physicist at a that prepared her to determine radiation treatment dosages for large medical center in Portland, Oregon, has been challenging cancer patients. The career choice was, in part, lifestyle-oriented. that assumption with data. In 2015, she published the first study “It was clear medical physicists were not putting in huge hours, of transgender athletes’ performances, finding that transgender and it would allow me time to run,” she says. women who received treatment to lower their testosterone levels did no better in a variety of races against female peers than they “It just blew me away, and it very much piqued my inter- had previously done against male runners. Although Harper’s est as a scientist.” study included only a few transgender women, Eric Vilain of The Joanna Harper George Washington University in Washington, D.C., a geneticist who specializes in gender-based biology, calls it “groundbreaking.” Harper moved to Oregon a few years later to be closer to family in the Canadian province of British Columbia and to take a job in That work helped make Harper an unpaid adviser for sporting Portland. But her gender dysphoria always lurked. By 2004, “I was bodies, such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC), that very close to a mental breakdown,” she says. She started to see a are wrestling with transgender issues and other matters of gender. therapist, who asked her to list what she’d lose if she transitioned Although Harper has just a master’s degree, she is helping spearhead several studies documenting how the physiology and per- formance of transgender athletes change as they make their transition.

Harper may not have the traditional pedigree of a scientist, Vilain says, but “her approach is highly respected.” Harper has made “very important” contributions to understanding gender and sports perfor- mance, anticipating the debate that now swirls around transgender and “intersex” athletes, adds Stéphane Bermon, a sports physician and exercise physiologist at the Monaco Institute of Sports Medicine and Surgery.

A light at the end of the tunnel Joanna Harper’s personal journey and love of running have shaped her re- In the 1960s, elite female athletes had to search interests. BETH NAKAMURA TAFWA Newsletter - Page 6 - April 2019 genders. Near the top of that list was competitive sports—trans- a scientist.” gender athletes had no official opportunities to compete at the time. In 2005, Harper realized her experience wasn’t unique after reading an article in Runner’s World about another transgender Barely 3 months later, in May 2004, IOC announced a landmark female runner who had also become significantly slower. But when ruling: Transgender athletes could participate in the Olympics. Harper searched for studies about the physiology of transitioning, Strict stipulations were in effect for transgender women compet- she found none. So on nights and weekends, she began to moon- ing in women’s events—they needed sex reassignment surgery, light on a research project. legal recognition of their gender by “the appropriate official au- thorities,” and at least 2 years of verifiable hormone replacement Different, but same therapy—but it was “a light at the end of the tunnel” for Harper. A study of transgender women found their race times slowed She wasn’t an Olympic-level athlete, but she believed that change after transitioning, but their age grades, which compare people to would trickle down to other sports organizations and she would be the best runners of the same sex and age, hardly changed, suggest- able to compete again. ing they have no advantage over non-transgender women.

Harper started hormone replacement therapy in August 2004. Harper searched for transgender female distance runners will- Spironolactone, a testosterone blocker and diuretic, flushed the ing to share race times from before and after their transitions. testosterone her body was producing, and estradiol, a form of The transgender population, even now, tends to be “small and estrogen, began to make her form more typically feminine. In just secretive,” Harper says, and it took 7 years of contacting athletes a few weeks, Harper noticed changes such as breast tenderness through Yahoo and Facebook groups to collect data from eight and a decrease in body hair. The transition was a “very, very, very runners. All the women had undergone hormone therapy to bring difficult time,” Harper says. She lost most of her male friends, and their testosterone levels in line with typical female levels. In Harp- her mother—her only living immediate family member—was not er’s study, titled simply “Race Times for Transgender Athletes” and supportive. “When it became clear that I was going to go through published in 2015 in the little-known Journal of Sporting Cultures with my transition, my mother said she never wanted to see me and Identities, she showed that all but one person ran substan- again,” Harper recalls. Barbara Harper, who died in 2013, eventu- tially slower after transitioning. ally relented, in a way. “When I visited, she didn’t tell anyone who I was.” “This is Joanna,” was all her mother would say. Harper also calculated each subject’s age grade, a common met- ric in track and field and distance running that reflects an athlete’s Today, the 61-year-old with collarbone-length red hair describes performance compared with the fastest known time by someone herself as a scientist, an athlete, and a transgender person—in of the same age and sex. Harper showed that the athletes’ age that order. But being transgender can sometimes overshadow grades before and after hormone therapy remained nearly the everything else. “We joke in the transgender world that if Hitler same. That is, the women were as competitive with their age- and had been transgender, he would be described as ‘that transgender sex-matched peers as they had been when competing against men. dictator.’ That’s the category that everybody wants to put you in.” They weren’t, in other words, likely to dominate women’s races. “No one had previously looked at actual performance of transgen- Going to the science der athletes pre- and posttransition,” Vilain says. In 1976, Renée Richards entered a New Jersey professional tennis tournament. Richards, who had enrolled at Yale University Harper has since shown similar results for a transgender rower, as Richard Raskind and captained its men’s tennis team before un- a cyclist, and a sprinter. Together, the findings make a case that dergoing sex reassignment surgery, was met with open hostility— previous exposure to male levels of testosterone does not confer more than 20 female players boycotted the competition in protest an enduring athletic advantage. of her perceived advantages. Indeed, some physical attributes such as hand size and height—like Richards’s tall frame—remain largely In 2015, IOC invited Harper to attend its Consensus Meeting unchanged after hormone therapy, Harper says. on Sex Reassignment and Hyperandrogenism held in Lausanne, Switzerland. After 3 days, the panel of scientists and physicians Many people expect other physical advantages to linger, too. converged on revised rules for transgender competitors, includ- Men generally have blood with higher oxygen-carrying capacity ing at least 1 year of hormone replacement therapy for female because testosterone stimulates bone marrow to produce more red competitors, rather than the 2 years previously required. That blood cells, says Siddhartha Angadi, a cardiovascular physiologist change was a nod to Harper’s personal transition experience and at Arizona State University in Phoenix. Male bodies are also gener- to research published in 2004 in the European Journal of Endo- ally leaner, and carry less body fat—”an obvious benefit when it crinology showing that the testosterone levels—and therefore comes to athletic performance,” Angadi says. performance—of 19 transgender women stabilized after 12 months of hormone therapy. The revised IOC policy also lifted Some people therefore insist that transgender women and many the requirement for sex reassignment surgery. That decision was intersex athletes competing in women’s events will always have a long time coming, Harper says. “What your genitals are doesn’t an unfair edge. (Little controversy exists over transgender men make a difference.” in sports, as many expect them to be at a disadvantage.) Others believe athletes should be able to compete in their self-identified Less settled, however, is the debate about the appropriate upper gender without regulations. Harper wants to address the question limit of women’s testosterone levels in elite athletic competition. with data. “You have to go to science.” The current IOC policy dictates that transgender women must have a testosterone level less than 10 nanomoles per liter, roughly Before her own transition in 2004, Harper expected that her the low end of typical male values. But because more than 99% of 10,000-meter race time might increase by “a minute or two” as women have testosterone levels less than 3 nanomoles per liter, her testosterone level dropped and she slowed. But in less than a some researchers have suggested that limit is too high. Harper is year, Harper was running a full 5 minutes slower than her personal among them. “If you’re competing in the women’s division, you best. “It just blew me away, and it very much piqued my interest as should do so with women’s hormone levels,” she says. “I under- TAFWA Newsletter - Page 7 - April 2019 stand just how much difference they make.” says.

South African runner Caster Semenya, who has always com- During her visit in April, Lauren pulled on a bright blue mask peted in women’s races and won Olympic gold in , that covered her nose and mouth, and Andrew D’Lugos, an Brazil, in 2016, recently refocused attention on the testosterone exercise physiologist, had her start to run on a treadmill. “Way to issue. In 2009, the International Association of Athletics Federa- go, Lauren!” “Enjoy the flat!” and “Looking good!” he and other tions (IAAF)—the Monaco-based, world-governing body for track scientists called out. D’Lugos cranked the treadmill up to 13, and field—controversially required her to take a sex-verification then 14 kilometers per hour. A large screen displayed Lauren’s test after she breezed past competitors in the 800-meter race at heart rate and oxygen consumption, new points popping up every the IAAF World Championships. The results, leaked during the 15 seconds. D’Lugos gradually increased the treadmill’s incline, competition, allegedly revealed that Semenya was intersex and had effectively forcing Lauren to run up an ever-steeper hill at her three times the testosterone of a typical woman. Neither she nor marathon pace. When at last she could go no farther, she pushed IAAF has ever confirmed that publicly, however. down on the treadmill’s side railings, lifting her thin frame above the spinning black belt, her head bent in exhaustion. In April, IAAF issued a policy that many groups—including Athletics South Africa, the country’s athletics federation—view “No one had previously looked at actual performance of as targeting Semenya. It applies to women competing in certain transgender athletes pre- and posttransition.” track and field events, including those that Semenya excels at, who Eric Vilain, The George Washington University have specific intersex conditions in which their bodies produce and are sensitive to higher levels of testosterone. Drawing on Within 6 weeks after she started estrogen injections, Lauren’s performance and hormone data from an IAAF-sponsored study peak oxygen consumption rate—a measure of fitness—fell by of athletes competing at its recent World Championships, which 17%, the researchers reported at the American College of Sports was published last year in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Medicine’s meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in June. “She lost the policy requires testosterone levels below 5 nanomoles per liter, a fair bit of performance really quickly,” Angadi says. But Lauren’s half the previous IAAF threshold. The goal is “leveling the playing fitness probably hasn’t stabilized yet, he notes, because she only field to ensure fair and meaningful competition,” IAAF President recently started to take a testosterone blocker. Angadi’s team said in a statement. will test Lauren into 2019, when she runs the Boston Marathon. Charissa, a triathlete living in Colorado who is taking part in a In June, Semenya called that policy discriminatory and said similar study, lost roughly 15% of her aerobic capacity in 9 months she would challenge it at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. “I just since beginning hormone therapy, Harper reported in March at a want to run naturally, the way I was born,” the 27-year-old told British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine conference held media. “I am a woman and I am fast.” And earlier this month, three in Doncaster, U.K. researchers who analyzed a subset of data from the 2017 study claimed to have found “significant problems and anomalies” and There, Harper announced that she and Yannis Pitsiladis—an called for its retraction. IAAF updated the paper, but told The New exercise physiologist at the University of Brighton in the United York Times, which first reported the flap, that “the conclusions Kingdom best known for his so-far futile efforts to train a man remain the same.” to run a marathon in less than 2 hours—plan to monitor roughly 20 men and 20 women as they transition. The largest study of its More controversy may be on the way: Within the next few kind, it will recruit subjects from a London-based gender clinic and months, IAAF is expected to issue updated testosterone-based enlist the expertise of endocrinologists, muscle physiologists, and regulations for transgender women as well. IOC also plans to mental health professionals, among others. The undertaking will announce new testosterone limits for athletes in women’s events, be enormous, Harper admits. “We’re going to need help,” she told which will be in effect for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. the Doncaster audience. Pending research funding from the U.K. government, the study will begin in 2019. Research in transition To get a clearer picture of how changing hormone levels affect Harper still has her day job, and she’s writing a book about gen- an athlete’s body, Harper and others want to collect data from der variance in sports. Fortunately, a refuge from all the demands people during their transitions. “It’s important to know more on her time—and the controversies that come with her research— about lean body mass; hemoglobin concentration; and psychologi- is just a block and a half from her front door. Several times a week, cal, endocrine, and metabolic changes during transition,” says Harper turns left from her house toward Mount Tabor Park, one Bermon, who is also a scientific consultant for IAAF. of Portland’s largest. There, she runs 95 kilometers a week, often with friends, on trails that weave among 100-year-old cedar, Harper recruited the athletes for the first such studies. One spruce, and redwood trees. Just like the paths that sometimes focuses on a 28-year-old distance runner named Lauren. (The open up to reveal fleeting views of Mount Hood in the distance, athletes undergoing testing requested that only their first names Harper’s life has had its share of twists and turns. But she doesn’t be used in this story.) Roughly once a month, Lauren makes the regret the decision she made 14 years ago. “I became a much hap- 45-minute drive from her home in Queen Creek, Arizona, to down- pier person.” town Phoenix to undergo a battery of tests in Angadi’s lab.

He and his team have been measuring, among other things, the elasticity of Lauren’s arteries, her bone density and distribution of fat, and how the myocardial fibers of her heart twist and untwist with each beat. After she started estrogen injections last fall, Lau- ren’s blood pressure dropped by about 10 points and her body fat increased, Angadi says. Those changes are small, he cautions, and more measurements are needed. Another year of data may reveal a decline in bone density. “Bone is a really slow-turnover organ,” he TAFWA Newsletter - Page 8 - April 2019 Concerns of Age Cheats Leads to Investigation Into Team Kenya

By AYUMBA AYODI | Daily Nation | https://www.nation.co.ke/sports/athletics/AK-investigating- age-cheats-in-Team-Kenya/1100-5010434-5ld4cw/index.html Athletics Kenya are investigating the eligibility of some members in the Un- der-20 team for the World Cross Country Champion- ships planned for March 30 in Aarhus, Denmark.

AK senior vice president Paul Mutwii, who is also in charge of competitions, noted that some athletes might have presented fake birth certificates to earn se- Athletes battle for a place in Team Kenya during the junior women 6km race in the Lotto/Athletics lection during the National Kenya National Cross Country Championships at Eldoret Sports Club on February 23, 2019. PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA | NATION MEDIA GROUP Cross Country Champion- ships held on February 23 at Eldoret Sports Club. There was information that some athletes, who had competed as juniors many year ago and had used different birth certificates to earn places both in men and women’s Under-20 teams. “We are looking into that matter and we want to make sure everything is well and that we are in line with Ath- lete Integrity Unit requirements,” said Mutwii adding that a report will be out by Thursday when they will make the final entry for the World Championships. Mutwii, who declined to disclose the identity of the athletes saying that they don’t want to victimise any athlete before the truth is known. “We don’t want to come up with names and then it turn out to be otherwise.” Mutwii disclosed that only two athletes are yet to report to residential training that got underway on Friday last week at Kigari Teachers Training College, Embu. Kibet Kandie and Agnes Mwikali, who form the men and women’s Under-20 team respectively, have not com- municated on their whereabouts. Mutwii warned that they are exploring the logistics of replacing them before the end of the day on Wednes- day. “The duo haven’t report or communicated and that will leave us with no option but replace them,” said Mut- wii. Mwikali finished fourth while Kandie sixth in their respective races to make Team Kenya for the Aarhus World event. World Under-20 5,000m champion Beatrice Chebet and little-known Samuel Chebole won the men and women’s Under-20 races during the National Championships to lead the juniors teams to Denmark. AK selected a team of 30 athletes during the Nationals where World and Commonwealth champion Hellen Obiri and 2016 World Under-20 3,000m steeplechase champion Amos Kiru won the senior races. Mutwii said that their kit sponsors Nike have already delivered the training and competition kit and the team will receive it today alongside their allowances. “We are happy that we have the kit on time this time around,” said Mutwii.

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 9 - April 2019 Paula Radcliffe weighs into row on trans athletes being allowed to compete in women’s sport By Sabrina Barr | The Independent | https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/women/paula-radcliffe- transgender-athletes-olympics-bbc-radio-4-a8807836.html Paula Radcliffe has weighed in on the debate of whether transgender athletes should be allowed to compete in women’s sport, saying that “different levels of transgender” must be considered in the discussion. On Tuesday 5 March, the long-distance runner told BBC Radio 4 that in her opinion, athletes who were born male have “certain advantages that women will not ever get”, in terms of physical traits such as their height and strength. Radcliffe, who’s held the record for the fastest marathon run by a woman since 2003, also stated that she thinks it’s important to distinguish between athletes who are transgender and those who have disorders of sex development (DSD). “First of all you have to explain that it’s part of a much bigger issue, and there are more elements around that, so there is a difference between transgender and DSD,” the athlete said. “There is also the different levels of transgender, so whether they’re fully transitioned, or whether they are taking hormone suppressants or not.”

In 2018, cyclist Dr Rachel McKinnon became the first trans athlete to win a track world title at the Masters Track World Championship in California. The Radio 4 host referenced Dr McKinnon, telling Radcliffe that the cyclist believes there’s no evidence of trans athletes having an unfair advantage. “She is arguing that from her own point of self interest and as far as I’m aware the facts that she talks about are not facts,” Radcliffe responded. “There are facts that clearly point to the advantages that testosterone give in terms of performance, and I’m not aware that she has actually undergone transition or is taking the hormone suppressants.” In 2018, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) introduced a rule which requires fe- male athletes who have naturally high testosterone levels to take hormonal suppressants to reduce them. The rule has been challenged by South African runner and Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya, who has a rare condition called hyperandrogenism, which causes her to have higher than average testosterone levels. “I just want to run naturally, the way I was born. It is not fair that I am told I must change. It is not fair that people question who I am,” Semenya recently said.

While Radcliffe believes the introduction of the rule is a “step towards making it fair” for women competing against trans athletes, she still thinks trans athletes could be at an advantage due to higher testosterone levels. “You have to start looking at the advantages that athletes who transition, after they’ve gone through male puberty, have over other female athletes and what can be done to level that playing field, which is when they’re bringing in the hormones, so to suppress the levels of testosterone,” she said. “Even if [the testosterone levels] are down at five, [they] are still significantly higher than those in the normal range for female athletes.” Radcliffe added that trans athletes “make a choice” when deciding whether or not they wish to continue com- peting and comply with the rules of women’s sport.

Former British swimmer Sharron Davies recently said that she doesn’t believe trans athletes should be al- lowed to compete in women’s sport. On Friday 1 March, the former Olympic athlete tweeted that she has “nothing against anyone who wishes to be transgender”, but believes that in order to “protect” women’s sport, “those with a male sex advantage should not be able to compete”. Davies expanded on her comments today, tweeting that it’s “time to bring out the proper science” in order to “protect female sport”. Earlier this week, former professional tennis player Martina Navratilova apologised for recently using the term “cheat” when discussing whether trans athletes should be allowed to compete in women’s sport.

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 10 - April 2019 Kara Goucher Shares Why She’s Leaving Roads for the Leadville Trail Marathon By Lisa Jhung | Runner’s World | https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a26755214/kara-goucher-runs- leadville-trail-marathon/ All I had going for me in my attempt to keep up with One of the most refreshing parts about running trails, Kara Goucher were the rocks. The two-time Olympian and Goucher explained, is that she doesn’t have to worry so 2:24:52 marathoner is relatively new to trail running, and much about pace. on our car ride over to a trailhead in Boulder, Colorado’s, “I’m kind of enjoying not constantly obsessing and check- Chautauqua Park, she claimed to be “terrible at it.” And so, ing my watch,” she said. “Since I was 12 years old, I’ve just to abate my own fears of being dropped by the pro—even stared at my watch. I’ve always been so obsessed with how on a casual run—I chose a particularly rocky and technical fast I was going. But on the trails, it just doesn’t matter. I route. can actually look up and see where I am. I’ve lived here for The purpose of our jaunt was to chat about Goucher’s so many years and I never really see how beautiful it is.” transition from road racing to trails. After a disappointing She admitted to checking her data after each run, but DNF because of an injured hamstring at January’s Houston promised that that’s just to compare her trail runs—she’s Marathon, the 40-year-old athlete hinted via Instagram that tracking her progress on the rocky routes separately from she wanted to take her running “in a new direction.” She her past training on the road. told Runner’s World after the race, “I have my eye on a race Another difference between road and trail running cul- in June, but it is not on the roads.” ture, which she discovered recently on a group trail run with That goal race, she revealed to Runner’s World, is the Trail Sisters and Life Time, is how trail running groups stop Leadville Trail Marathon on June 15. The 26.2-mile course, at junctions to make sure no one gets left behind. located roughly two hours from her home in Boulder, winds “I was like, ‘Wait, we’re stopping?’ That’s not what I’m through rocky, rugged terrain and tops out at 13,185 feet in used to,” Goucher laughed. “On a road run, when you elevation. It’s a far cry from the road routes Goucher is used get dropped, you get dropped. But on that trail run, we to—and will certainly demand a different style of running. stopped—and no one stopped their watches or anything! It “I’m scared of downhills, especially,” she admitted on was different. Everyone was looking out for each other.” our drive to the trail. She explained that while she grew up Though she’s enjoying her break from road racing for running on trails in Duluth, Minnesota, and frequented now, Goucher noted that she isn’t entirely done with pave- nearby mountain trails while on the University of Colorado ment; rather, she’ll run three to four days per week on cross-country team, for many years she became what she trails, and the remaining days of the week on roads, where calls a “surface diva.” she can “just let go a little bit” on a surface where she can “As I got older and more injury-prone, I did less and less run fast. [off-road] running,” she said. “I was worried about stepping “I still want to run hard. I like the way that feels,” she funny, throwing a hip out, rolling an ankle.” And so she’d said. Still, she knows she must spend the majority of her opt for 12 miles on a treadmill when the roads were slick time on the kind of terrain she’ll face in Leadville in June. with even the faintest bit of ice. She’s also planning to train at altitude to prepare for the “Now I want to get back into nature a little bit more,” mountain marathon—but not at the expense of time with Goucher said. “I grew up getting lost in the forest and com- her family, because her goal in Leadville is not the same as it ing back muddy and dirty. That’s when I fell in love with would be at a road race. running. I want to explore more.” “I’m not going to try to light the world on fire or prove On the early March day we met up, we explored a route anything,” she said. “But the more comfortable I feel, the that starts on a wide, smooth incline before turning to more enjoyable the experience will be. I know I may twist an rocky singletrack, climbing and descending through dense ankle, but for so long, I’ve been afraid of falling and hurting woods that occasionally open up to sweeping mountain something that would keep me from running. Right now, views. To my dismay, a recent snowstorm has covered all the reward is worth it, because it’s a new adventure.” the rocks, leaving us to run on packed snow. I ask her loads And though she says she might return to road racing and of questions so she uses her breath to answer and I can use run another road marathon at some point, for now she’s mine to keep up. happy learning something new. Goucher said that, since switching to trails six weeks “After the Olympic Trials [in 2016, where she missed ago, she’s loved every run she’s been on, including a recent making the Olympic Team by one spot], I felt like I had outing with ultrarunner Cat Bradley. “But,” she added, “I am something to prove,” she said. “I don’t feel like that any- not the same athlete on the trails as I am on the road. I am more. I still want to run hard, but going up those hills today not confident, I am tip-toe-y.” were hard in a different way—I was out of breath and have When our run finally reached a point on the trail where to walk for a second, which is new for me.” the snowmelt has revealed rocks and ice patches, I saw After our six- through the snow-covered moun- it: the Olympic runner, unconfidently tip-toeing over the tain (and yes, I was gassed; she was not), I asked if she ground. We both attached traction devices to our shoes and thought getting back on the trails was making her feel kid- continued on the trail, which had turned back to snow. On a like, bringing her back to her roots as a trail runner. long climb, she kindly slowed the pace so we could continue “I know it’s in there somewhere,” she said. “It’s been bur- to talk. ied for 30 or 35 years, but I know I can bring it back out.” TAFWA Newsletter - Page 11 - April 2019 Should The IOC Dispense With Olympic Host City Elections? There May Be No Choice By Robert Livingstone | https://gamesbids.com/eng/winter-olympic-bids/bidweek-should-the-ioc-dispense-with-olympic-host-city- elections-there-may-be-no-choice/A BidWeek, Reporting From Toronto, Canada – Less than two Previously the Olympic Charter forbid candidate cities to be years ago, those who follow the Olympic Movement and take an jointly named, which is why was forced to drop the hy- interest in the Games site selection process were gearing up for a phenation with Whistler from its 2010 bid candidacy brand. Now, potentially epic battle between Paris and Los Angeles for the right the IOC seems to be embracing the joint naming convention for to host the 2024 Summer Games. the Winter Games bids as it emphasizes the regional nature, and A hundred-or-so International Olympic Committee (IOC) thus the perceived sustainability of the projects. members were to cast their ballots in September 2017 and choose Stockholm added Åre to its bid brand just a few weeks ago, and between a persistent European Capital and its venue-rich Ameri- only days ahead of the Åre 2019 World Skiing Championship that can rival. got underway and grabbed international headlines at the start of The election never happened. February. And it could be several years before another such vote is even What else will the IOC be willing to change in order to ensure it necessary. has a willing, capable and supported host city for future Olympic Both Paris and LA were awarded Games, for 2024 and 2028 re- Games? spectively, without the need for a formal vote. The historic double- Could the organization do away with bid city elections altogeth- allocation was made possible after Budapest, and Hamburg er and conduct individual negotiations with compatible cities and dropped out of the race amid public push-back and concerns with let the Executive Board decide? the costs and risks to organize the event. Arguably, the most anticipated privilege of the 100-or-so IOC Fearing further public resentment from two important Olympic members is their opportunity to cast a ballot in support of their nations, IOC President Thomas Bach decided that locking in both chosen bid. It won’t be easy for that same group to to agree to sur- cities to host the Games was better than declaring one a “loser” in render that right. But maybe that doesn’t need to happen. the race. Should either Stockholm-Åre or Milan-Cortina fail to deliver Now with the 2026 Winter Olympics bid cycle upon us, there on IOC requirements ahead of the scheduled June election – there are again only two interested candidates remaining after five cities will be no vote. The other city would simply need IOC Member have fallen out of the race for various reasons. But it remains pos- approval to be named host city – something that would be a simple sible that an election between the two cities scheduled to be held rubber-stamping. If they both fail to stay in the race, there will be June 24 in Lausanne, Switzerland may not happen at all, despite no ballot and the IOC would have to leverage its plan B. IOC efforts to put the decision to the IOC Session and its members Oh, and IOC President Bach said last year that there is no plan as it was meant to be. B. But certainly opening up another bid process would not be an Indeed, there may be two bids in the running – but potentially option. only one or none at all – when Summer begins and IOC members Salt Lake City has been named the United States Olympic gather at the shores of Lac Leman to conduct business. Committee (USOC) nominee to host a “future bid” for the Games. The breaking point could be the existence of government sup- With most venues constructed for the 2002 Games still in use and port, or the lack of it. read to go any time, the Utah city remains the go-to site should the The exact minimum requirements remain ambiguous as the IOC IOC be left with no other option. There would be no vote, simply has already extended the deadline for bids to secure guarantees an executive decision. beyond the original January 11 deadline and have been willing to The USOC’s ambiguous plan to bid for and host a an unnamed accommodate each project individually in order to keep them in future Games was put in motion with a letter of intent to the IOC the running. just hours before the deadline for 2026 applicants – but USOC Delays caused by a previously hung Parliament in Sweden have officials have vehemently denied any interest in hosting the 2026 caused challenges for the Stockholm-Åre 2026 candidate, and a edition because of how it might interfere with marketing programs city government coalition formed on the basis that it would not set for the Los Angeles Summer Games scheduled two years later, support an Olympic bid. Officials say talks with the government in 2028. are underway, and some progress has been reported. Los Angeles, by-the-way, was elected without contest as part of Last month a spokesperson for the Milan-Cortina 2026 joint that double-allocation. bid told me that all guarantee requirements were delivered to So now there is a precedent, one that could apply to Salt Lake the IOC ahead of the January deadline and that I can be assured City should the IOC prefer to lock in the U.S. city for the 2030 Italy will be ready to sign the host city contract in June. But last Games rather than roll the dice and see what cities may or may not year the Italian government vowed that it would not provide any be interested in the opportunity four years hence. funding for the Olympics, and bid officials now say cash from the Later this year citizens of Denver will vote on a proposition wealthy regions representing the joint bidders will fund the project that could force any future Olympic bids by the city to be subject which includes a USD $53 million sliding track renovation in Corti- to a city-wide referendum. Colorado’s capital had been seeking na d’Ampezzo to leverage facilities built for the 1956 Olympics. the USOC nomination won by Salt Lake City in December, and is On Tuesday, IOC Executive Director Christophe Dubi put his famous in Olympic circles for being the only elected host city to spin on the situation declaring that there was no longer a deadline later renege and send the Games elsewhere. for specific guarantees, and that information would continue to be Calgary, the 1988 host city for the widely acclaimed Winter delivered to the IOC up until the date of the final ballot. Games, saw its 2026 bid disintegrate when a referendum revealed “Flexibility is the key word,” he said in a media call from IOC that over 56 percent were against hosting the Games for a second headquarters in Lausanne. time. Last week – without a Games on the horizon and the associ- “The project is really building up to a level where all the informa- ated government funding – the sliding track made famous by the tion is required.” Jamaican Bobsled team may have closed for the last time. It needs But does the IOC really have any other choice than to be flex- millions of dollars in repairs before it can reopen again. ible? Earlier in the Summer voters across Valais, Switzerland similar- I have been unable to confirm claims from Swedish and Italian ly rejected a 2026 bid for a Games right in the IOC’s home country. officials that necessary guarantees are already, or about to be put The IOC is running out of choices. in place. The IOC seems to be rewriting the rules, and its own The 2024 and 2028 Summer Games were awarded without an charter, along the way. election, could the 2026 and 2030 Winter Games follow the same TAFWA Newsletter - Page 12 - April 2019 path? never fully disclosed, raising suspicions, and IOC officials said the And it’s not as if the recently held elections for the Games have vote had been tallied and seen by scrutineers, but the results were been credible or fair. never reported. won by a close 44-40 vote on the subse- Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) President Tsunekazu Take- quent manual balloting. da is currently under investigation for payments to a consulting Last month IOC honorary member Gian Franco Kaspar seemed firm to allegedly influence IOC voters to vote for Tokyo’s winning to throw his support behind the selection of autocratic nations to 2020 Olympic bid. host the Games. Tokyo soundly defeated rivals Istanbul and in 2013 fol- “Everything is easier in dictatorships,” said the 75-year-old lowing what was originally thought to have been a close race. Swiss, who is head of the International Ski Federation. Rio’s 2016 Olympic bid to become the first South American host He told a Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger that “dictatorships city has since been tainted after French prosecutors accused IOC can organize events like this without asking anyone’s permission.” member Frank Fredericks and Rio 2016 organizing committee The IOC distanced itself from the controversial statement. Chief Carlos Nuzman of trying to influence voters with a suspi- Indeed, it has been several years since there has been an un- cious payment of (USD) $1.5 million. All allegations have been tainted election among candidate cities to host an edition of the denied but are being investigated. Games. And speaking of Fredericks, the Namibian acted as scrutineer in An evaluation commission from the IOC will travel to Stock- the suspicious election that saw Beijing defeat Almaty, Kazakhstan holm and Åre next week before heading to Milan and Cortina to host the 2022 Winter Games. After an initial completed vote d’Ampezzo at the start of April. Things may become clearer for held at in 2015 at the IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur the scruti- 2026 after those visits by the IOC experts. neers intervened when the technology behind the electronic bal- Will there be an election in June? We will wait to see. lots was said to have failed and members were forced to use pencil If not, it could be four, or six years before the IOC Session is and paper instead on a second try. The nature of the problem was next called upon to cast ballots for their choice of host city.

Governor criticised for putting hands in pockets during Tokyo Marathon ceremony By Mike Rowbottom | Inside The Games | https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1076439/governor- criticised-for-putting-hands-in-pockets-during-tokyo-marathon-ceremony Tokyo Governor Yuiko Koike has been criticised on social media for putting her hands in her pockets after a presentation to the winner of Sunday’s (March 3) men’s Tokyo Marathon, Ethiopian runner Birhanu Legese. Koike, the first woman to hold the position as Gover- nor of the Japanese capital following her election in 2016, offered the 24-year- old Ethiopian - who won in 2 hours 4min 48sec – her congratulations as she placed the winner’s medal around his neck and shook his hand. But after posing for a photo with Legese, Koike Tokyo Governor Yuiko Koike commits a social faux pas by putting her hands in her pockets during the stepped back towards the victory ceremony for Birhanu Legese, winner of Sunday’s annual Tokyo Marathon ©Twitter/@dai4mae rear of the podium as an- other presenter came forward to place a crown of laurels on his head. At that point, Koike, perhaps feeling the chill of the unseasonably cold and rainy weather - the temperature was around six degrees Celsius during the race - slipped her hands into the pockets of her jacket. Traditional Japanese etiquette dictates that this is considered an extremely casual posture, which some have seen as be- ing disrespectful to Legese. Even before the social media backlash, Koike was asked about her hands-in-pockets conduct by reporters following the awards ceremony, and responded: “I apologise. “That was rude of me.” Angry remarks left on Twitter included “Get your hands out of your pockets” and “So it’s cold. Deal with it”. “No common sense on her part,” added another. “If your hands are too cold to leave outside your pockets, then wear gloves.” Tokyo is preparing to host the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games next year. “How can we expect her to show sufficient hospitality to athletes during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics?” one comment said. TAFWA Newsletter - Page 13 - April 2019 New hitch to Russian reinstatement as IAAF Task Force probes allegations of discredited coaches remaining active By Mike Rowbottom | Inside The Games | https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1076643/new-hitch- to-russian-reinstatement-as-iaaf-task-force-probes-allegations-of-discredited-coaches-remaining-active The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Task Force is requesting an urgent meeting with the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) over recent allegations that coaches involved in the sport’s discredited old regime in their country are still involved with current competitors. It was confirmed today following the conclusion of the two-day IAAF Council meeting in Doha that the RusAF remains suspended - the 10th time it has been extended since initially being imposed in November 2015. There remain two ongoing issues - agreed payment for costs incurred by the IAAF and the analysis of data now supplied by the Moscow Laboratory - but the Task Force chairman Rune Andersen noted recent allegations made by German broadcaster ARD about the continuing involvement of Russian coaches.

“The Task Force also took note of the ARD allegations that some coaches from the old regime are involved again in coaching national team athletes,” Andersen said. “This runs counter to the assurances that the Task Force has previously received from RusAF that it is disassociating itself from the old regime. “The Task Force have therefore today written to RusAF and asked for clarification. We have also said we would like to meet in order to receive as much clarification as possible. Pending the outcome of this meeting we will discuss the possibility of how the Athletics Integrity Unit’s intelligence unit might further look into these allegations.”

The ARD broadcast alleged that the former head coach of the Russian athletics team, Valentin Masla- kov, who resigned at the height of the doping scandal four years ago, remains involved in the Russian system. Asked whether Russian athletes could be officially reinstated in time for this year’s IAAF World Championships in Doha, due to take place from September 26 to October 8, Andersen remained non- committal.

“We are not setting any timeline,” he said. “It might be before, it might be after. It is not something we have to take into consideration. What we have been tasked to do is to look at the criteria. Those have to be met. If that is before, so be it. But if is after, so be it too.” Russian athletes cleared by the IAAF to compete in international competition, like the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow earlier this month, take part as Authorised Neutral Athletes.

On the subject of the ongoing requirements of RusAF since the IAAF Task Force was established in 2015, Andersen admitted the money they owed for the cost of the investigation remained a priority. “The Task Force reported to the IAAF Council today that two key issues remain outstanding before the reinstatement of RusAF,” he said. “Regarding the payment of the outstanding costs to be repaid, RusAF has raised some logistical con- cerns about the payment, but the IAAF will get this resolved shortly. Secondly, receipt of the analytical data and any samples that the Athletics Intelligence Unit (AIU) needs from the Moscow lab in order to determine which athletes have a case to answer under the IAAF Anti-Doping rules. “The data is currently being processed and authenticated by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and WADA has committed to getting it to the AIU as a matter of priority.”

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 14 - April 2019 Atlanta TC Executive Director Rich Kenah on New Olympics Standards By Tony Revis | https://tonireavis.com/2019/03/11/atlanta-tc-ex-dir-rich-kenah-on-new-olympic-standards/ In an addendum to my post earlier today, NEW OLYMPIC ENTRY STANDARDS, I received the following email from Atlanta TC executive director Rich Kenah, who will host the U.S. Olympic Marathon Team Trials next Feb- ruary.

“The thrill of a U.S Olympic Trials is unrivaled. USA Track & Field’s make-or-break selection system of a top- three finish at the Trials, while attaining a reasonable qualifying mark, allows every participant and spectator to dare to dream regardless of an athlete’s seed time at the start line. With due respect to the leadership at the IAAF and the decision makers involved with yesterday’s announcement, Atlanta Track Club is concerned that the uncertainty created by this massive change from past practices will render a U.S. Olympic Team Trials in the Marathon irrelevant for participating athletes, and wildly confusing for the media assigned to cover them. I recognize the need for a credible world rankings system, but I hope the powers that be reconsider the damage this will do to the Olympic movement in the U.S., the organizations committed to organizing Trials events, and most importantly the athletes who are chasing their Olympic dream in 2020.” Top American Pros and Coaches React to USATF’s New Olympic Qualification Process By Jonathan Gault | Letsrun.com | https://www.letsrun.com/news/2019/03/top-american-pros-react- usatfs-new-olympic-qualification-process-it-doesnt-favor-upcoming-athletes/ On Friday evening, LetsRun.com broke the news that like the Trials, which is big in the United States especially, USATF plans to largely ignore the IAAF’s new world rank- is not as fun as before. I want to go into the Trials knowing ing system and will instead pick its 2020 Olympic team that a) I’m top three, I have the standard, I’m going to the by selecting the top three finishers at the Olympic Trials Olympics. But it’s going to feel different if you go there and who have the new, significantly harder, Olympic standard. you don’t know what to expect. You can be 5th place and USATF’s decision has many implications, which we discuss they’re like ‘oh you are going to the Olympics.’” in depth here, but the biggest one is this: USATF is not do- Boston Marathon champion Des Linden called the new ing everything in its power to ensure the top three finishers qualification system “kind of a mess,” adding that “I think at the Olympic Trials actually get to go to the Olympics. it’s a little bit frustrating for a lot of athletes.” Linden USATF would rather send the fourth-placer in an event over acknowledged that for America’s top female marathoners, the Trials champion if the fourth placer has the Olympic hitting the standard (sub-2:29:30, top 10 at a World Mara- standard and the Trials champion does not -- even if the thon Major, or top 5 at an IAAF Gold Label marathon) is not Trials champion would be in position to receive an invita- likely to be a problem. But she also said that had the current tion to the Olympics by virtue of his or her world ranking. system been in place when she was just starting out in the Over the weekend, LetsRun.com spoke to several elite marathon -- Linden did not break 2:30 until her fourth athletes, coaches, and agents about USATF’s decision. None marathon -- it may have altered the course of her career. of the feedback was positive, and none of them said they “Obviously for our Trials it takes a lot of excitement out were consulted about the decision. One of the most vocal of it,” Linden said. “For me personally, it doesn’t change critics was 2016 Olympic 5,000-meter silver medalist Paul my day. I’ve got to get the time, I want to be top-10 at Chelimo. majors and I want to be in the top three [at the Trials], so USATF’s decision actually favors Chelimo as it makes I look at it like that. But I’ve been on both sides of it. In it easier for him to make the 2020 Olympic team; he was 2008, I thought I had an outside shot of making the team. I one of only two Americans to run faster than the IAAF’s thought I could finish in the top three and I thought I could 13:13.50 Olympic standard in the 5,000 last year. But in run 2:32, and that’s what it took to make the team at that 2016, the new qualification system would have worked time, and if that [option to make the team] hadn’t been on against him; had the rules been in place back then, Chelimo the table, maybe I go in a different direction in my career.” would not have been selected for the US team despite finish- US marathon champion Emma Bates did not criticize ing third at the Trials. USATF’s decision, but said that it will likely change her “It doesn’t favor upcoming athletes,” Chelimo said. 2019 racing plans. Initially, Bates was hoping to represent “Where is that athlete going to get that time to run fast? the US at the World Championships in Qatar in September, For me, I’m not really worried about getting 13:13, but we but may abandon those plans in order to ensure she has the just have to consider other upcoming athletes…Now I feel 2020 Olympic standard, as running the automatic qualify- TAFWA Newsletter - Page 15 - April 2019 ing time (2:29:30) in the heat of Qatar will be very difficult. tion: For the U.S., the three highest-placing finishers at the “The whole Olympic standard definitely throws a weird 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials, and who have the 2020 Olympic wrench into [whether or not to do a spring marathon],” Games qualifying standard, will select themselves for the Bates said. “Maybe [I’ll do] a fall marathon. I was hoping U.S. Team. to maybe run the World Championships if I get selected. The statement was in response to detailed questions But now, who knows what the plan is going to be. Maybe a outlining various Olympic qualifying scenarios sent by Lets- Berlin or Chicago kind of fast race, possibly. Making top 10 Run.com to USATF. at Worlds (which counts as the Olympic standard) would be If you read the excerpt below from the IAAF’s official ideal, but you never know with Doha being so hot.” document on the 2020 Olympic qualification system, it US marathoner was not as worried about the makes quite clear that there is a difference between the new USATF selection process. Olympic “standard” and qualifying for the Olympics based “For those that don’t want to worry about it, you choose a on world ranking. marathon and you try to hit a standard,” Ward said. “Fortu- nately for us here, there’s a number of major in “Qualification process: America and an opportunity to get one of those auto times An athlete can qualify in one of two ways: • Achieve the entry standard within the respective quali- by finishing in the top 10 [which results in automatic Olym- fication period pic qualification]. I imagine we’ll see a lot of US athletes • Qualify by virtue of his IAAF World Ranking Position in take advantage of that.” the selected event at the end of the respective qualification But Ward would like to have a system where the top period” three finishers at the US Olympic Marathon Trials are the three athletes who will represent the US in Tokyo. Had the LetsRun.com has sent multiple emails and made multiple 2020 qualification system been in place in 2016, Ward, who phone calls to USATF over the last three days seeking to finished third at the Olympic Trials and went on to finish clarify USATF’s statement, but as of Monday afternoon, had sixth in the marathon in Rio, would not have been selected not received a response. for the US team. One option to preserve the importance Simmons said that, if indeed USATF will select the top of the Trials would be for USATF to work with the IAAF to three athletes with the Olympic standard, he is not in favor create an exception for the US Olympic Trials where anyone of the decision. who finished in the top three would be considered to have “I don’t think it affects most people in our group because achieved the automatic qualifying standard. they’ll get that tougher standard,” Simmons said. “But it’s “I don’t know where you draw the line in exceptions, but just the principle of it.” I do think it makes sense in countries that are going to have It is important to note that, while going to back and ap- more than three athletes who are going to hit the standard plying the 2020 selection policy to the 2016 Trials can be [in an event] and when there’s media opportunities for a helpful, it’s also not a perfect exercise as athletes such as chance to showcase our sport with a trials, it would be nice Chelimo -- whose 13:21 season’s best that year was under if they preserved that as a viable option,” Ward said. the 2016 Olympic standard but not the 2020 Olympic stan- *** dard -- may have changed their racing plans had they known Some people we spoke to last weekend were so taken they were required to hit a tougher standard. aback by USATF’s decision that they refused to believe it. But just because an athlete wants to run fast doesn’t One of the top agents in the world told LetsRun.com that mean they’ll be given the opportunity to do so. Sim- our story had to be wrong. Scott Simmons, coach of Che- mons said that Bor and Chelimo struggled to gain entry limo and Olympians , , and to events prior to becoming Olympians , also told us that USATF’s statement could (Bor ran zero, Chelimo ran one -- the 2016 Pre Classic, not be correct. where it’s easier for Americans to get in the field). And with “I’m absolutely sure that was a misstatement from a USA the IAAF eliminating four disciplines from the Diamond Track & Field standpoint,” Simmons said. “Because first of League in 2020 -- including the men’s 5,000 -- there will all, the communications director doesn’t make that deci- be fewer opportunities for athletes to hit the standard sion. Max Siegel doesn’t make that decision. The commit- in certain events. Since the start of 2010 -- the first year tees make that decision. And there’s no way, when this just of the Diamond League -- Americans have run under the happened this week, that they met and made the decision, 2020 Olympic standard in the 5,000 (13:13.50) a total of we won’t use the rankings, we’re just gonna go top three 75 times. Forty-one of those (55%) have come in Diamond [with the standard]. I think it was a misstatement. It’s gotta League meets. be.” “If they don’t change [the selection policy] for 2020, Two other prominent American distance coaches called they’ll change it after that,” Simmons said. “Because they’re and texted LetsRun.com asking for clarification on USATF’s going to see some really uncomfortable situations of ath- statement and expressing their displeasure with it. letes being top-three not going to the Olympics, more so The statement provided to LetsRun.com on Friday on than we normally see. Occasionally we’ll see somebody who behalf of USATF by USATF Managing Director of Commu- just doesn’t have the standard and they finish in the top nications Susan Hazzard leaves little room for interpreta- three, but now it’s going to be more pronounced, probably.” TAFWA Newsletter - Page 16 - April 2019 Cut short: IAAF revamp leaves distance running fans in the cold By Adharanand Finn | Fastrunning | https://www.fastrunning.com/opinion/comment/cut-short-iaaf- revamp-leaves-distance-running-fans-in-the-cold/24141 The decision to cut all the long-distance races from the Diamond plays out over 12 or 25 laps. People push the pace, hang back, League misses the chance to connect runners and the sport. make moves. It’s a psychodrama at full speed, hearts pounding, Announcing the IAAF’s plan this week to revamp its flagship blood pumping. product, the Diamond League, by cutting out all the long-distance But if all the viewer sees between cutaways to the field events is races, the athletics body’s president, Seb Coe, said he wanted to the first few laps, a tiny bit in the middle that looks much make it “more relevant to the world our athletes and our fans live the same, and the final sprint finish … it means nothing. Even to in today”. me, a long-time fan of the sport, I don’t want to watch that. All I can say is: what is he talking about? Running 5km and Of course athletics by its nature is multi-event, so I’m not say- above – the distances culled – is basically the most popular partici- ing ignore the field events, but in 2019 we have the technology pation sport in the world. Every Saturday, hundreds of thousands to split the screen. It’s really not that hard. So we can still follow of people line up at 5km parkruns around the globe the world. the race on one side, while seeing the long jumper discussing his Across the UK, virtually every single week, tens of thousands of foul jump with his coach, with action replays of the red flag being people take part in long-distance races. raised, on the other. Of course, professional sport doesn’t have to imitate our rec- And what about teams? The ekidens in Japan are partly so reational activities, but if athletics is in search of new fans and a popular because they are team events, making it easier for fans to way to be relevant in the modern world, you would think a growing form allegiances and root for a victor. You get team tactics, rival- army of long distance runners would be one place to look. ries, ace runners coming good, star signings. Even if 1% of the people who run regularly became fans of There is the odd team in athletics, such as the Nike Oregon Proj- running as well, it would probably save the sport. But rather than ect, with its black vests with the skulls. But it needs some rivals, in try to connect the two, the IAAF has cut the wires completely. It rival outfits, instead of everyone else running around in the same makes no sense. Nike and Adidas vests. The way it is currently, if you don’t follow Of course, what Coe means by “the world our fans live in today” things closely enough to know the individual runners, a distance is the perceived short attention spans of the digital age. Kids today race on the track looks like a swarm of identikit clones. Why would want everything fast-paced. Bitesize. Tweet-friendly. Right? you care who wins? Yet sales of printed books continue to defy expectations and The elephant in the room rise year on year. Feature-length films continue to dominate cin- The elephant in the room here is that the champions of these ema. The internet and Facebook have changed the world, no doubt, events are almost all East African. This should really be a reason to but the idea that people can any longer engage with anything that protect and celebrate these events. There are so few sports in the lasts more than five minutes is simply not true. world where the main stars are all African. Africa needs its sports And in any case, long distance track races are not even that stars. The world needs African sports stars. long. A world-class men’s 5000m race lasts around 13 minutes. A Ah, but they don’t do good interviews. They don’t do Mobots. I Premier League football match, which even the most ardent fan hear that so often I don’t know where to begin. How about, firstly, will admit can be as boring as hell at times, lasts 90 minutes. Even they get interviewed in their own language? the shortest cricket matches take many hours. Tennis. Rugby. Golf. Then we might get to hear their real thoughts on things. They’re all way longer than a 5000m or 10,000m track race. Secondly, have you ever watched a Premier League football player In Japan, road relay races (called ekidens) that cover hundreds being interviewed without falling asleep? Yet it doesn’t mean their of kilometres are among the country’s most popular sporting games get cut. And thirdly, have you ever seen the Kenyan Ezekiel events of any kind, with huge viewing figures for their wall-to-wall Kemboi race? His crazy tactics and celebrations make the Mobot television coverage, and pages and pages of newspaper reporting. look like something the Queen might find rather droll on a wet day No, endurance events aren’t inherently boring to watch. When at Windsor. the story of a race is told well, when the fans can connect with the The truth is the African distance running stars are undervalued competitors, long-distance running can be a compelling drama in by the sport. The IAAF has already cut the World Cross Country many acts, with lots of unpredictable, gut-wrenching plot twists. Championships down simply because the East Africans were domi- Think back to London 2012. nating it. Now it wants to cut long-distance track races. Everyone in the UK was glued to their screens for the men’s Yet the rivalry between Kenya and Ethiopia, particularly, is 5000m and 10,000m finals, because the tension had been built up. epic. It’s Brazil vs Argentina at football. New Zealand vs We had our man to root for. The lone Brit against the might of East at rugby. As one (knowledgable) TV commentator put it during Africa. the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton, Canada, when the Sport works when you take sides, when you know the personali- marathon came down to a Kenyan and Ethiopian in the last few ties, their histories and their rivalries. What is most often lacking miles: “It’s the Red Sox vs the Yankees.” in distance running is the storytelling. Yet rather than celebrate this rivalry, stoke it, promote it – what So what could be done? about they all wear their national colours? – the IAAF wants to cut For a start, we need knowledgable commentators. Too often it dead. during a distance race on TV, the commentator struggles to even And so the millions of parkrunners carry on oblivious to the identify the leading runners, let alone know their backstories. Diamond League (why would high jump and 400m hurdles have In the Boston marathon last year, for example, the US com- any relevance to them?), Nike and Adidas continue to make all mentator thought the eventual winner, Yuki Kawauchi, was a fun their athletes wear the same kit, and the IAAF continues acting runner, looking for his five minutes of fame by racing away at the like a middle-aged man trying to be down-with-the-kids by offer- front at the start. It’s not too much to expect TV commentators to ing up a “fast-moving, action-packed format for broadcasts”, as its know their stuff. That’s their job. new chief executive, Jon Ridgeon, put it this week. Then the producers need to understand that a distance race Well, good luck to them. Now, have you seen who’s running the is an unfolding drama. The tension builds as the war of attrition this year? TAFWA Newsletter - Page 17 - April 2019 Why Pro Runners Are Upset Over the New Olympic Standards By Cathal Dennehy | Runner’s World | https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a26811597/new-olympic-standards/ On Sunday, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), track and field’s world governing body, announced a wave of big changes, including a two-tiered qualification system for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics that will see athletes get into the Games either by time or via a world ranking. The announcement saw many athletes take to social media to criticize or share their confusion about the changes, with U.S. stars such as , , and Lauren Fleshman among those raising con- cern. Here’s what you need to know about the new Olympic standards, why people are upset, and how it could affect some of your favorite races and runners.

What has changed? Before, athletes simply needed to run a qualifying standard time and secure selection from their national governing body—USA Track & Field (USATF) in the case of the U.S.—to earn their place at the . But, for the first time, world rankings will now be part of the criteria for running, with the bar set much higher for those wishing to qualify via time alone. Each event in Tokyo will also have a designated quota—lowering the number to 45 athletes in both men’s and women’s 1500-meter, 27 in each 10,000-meter race, and 80 in each marathon—with about half the places filled by athletes who achieve the new, stricter time standards. The highest athletes on world rankings will be offered the remaining places. But the rankings are not not just based on your best time during the designated qualification period. Points are awarded on the strength of a time, with bonus points also available that vary according to the status of the meet. (For example, a Division 1 NCAA outdoor title at 1500 meters earns athletes 60 points, the equivalent of finishing 10th in a Diamond League 1500-meter race. First place gets 200 points in a Diamond League 1500.) In events up to 1500 meters, athletes’ ranking scores are calculated from their five best results across a 12-month period from July 1, 2019, to the end of June 2020. In the 5,000 meters it’s three results, and in the 10,000 me- ters it’s just two. For the marathon, rankings are calculated from a runner’s two best results; one must be in a marathon, but the other can come from a , 25K, 30K, or marathon. Athletes can also qualify by finishing top-10 at the 2019 World Championships in Doha or in a World Marathon Major (Boston, New York City, Tokyo, Ber- lin, Chicago, or London marathons), or finish in the top five at an IAAF Gold Label Marathon, such as the Paris, Rotterdam, or Dubai marathons. The rankings window for marathoners is longer, covering the 18 months up until May 31, 2020.

Why the uproar? Athletes are used to qualifying simply by posting one strong performance, but to do so in the same way they will now have to hit a far more difficult mark. For example, the women’s Olympic 10,000-meter standard has moved from 32:15 to 31:25, with the men’s going from 28:00 to 27:28. The women’s marathon time dropped by more than 15 minutes, from 2:45 to 2:29:30, while the men’s time dropped from 2:19:00 to 2:11:30. For some perspective: Although last year’s performances will not count toward Olympic qualification, was the only American to run below the men’s standard in 2018, clocking 2:06:07 in Prague and 2:06:21 in Chicago. However, Jared Ward, , Scott Fauble, and Shadrack Biwott all secured top-10 finishes at a World Marathon Major. On the women’s side, was the fastest of 10 Americans who ran below the new women’s standard, with nine more securing top-10 finishes at World Marathon Majors. On this front, U.S. athletes have an advan- tage over international rivals with a better ability to get into the elite fields in Boston, New York, and Chicago. Runners at shorter distances were riled up by the new qualifying standards. “I see no fairness here to upcoming athletes,” Paul Chelimo, the Olympic 5,000-meter silver medalist, wrote on Twitter. “Another example of how track and field is killing itself with no mercy.” Chelimo went into the 2016 Olympics with a best of 13:21.61 for 5,000 meters, just below the previous qualifying standard of 13:25 (the new standard is 13:13.50), but ended up winning silver. If the current system was in place ahead of the Rio Olympics, Chelimo would have secured a place based on his ranking, but there is a chance athletes who enjoy breakout seasons like he did in 2016 could potentially not secure a place at the Games. TAFWA Newsletter - Page 18 - April 2019 FloSports offers full refunds after rough debut, vows to win back D.C. United fans’ trust By Scott Allen | The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/03/12/flosports-offers-full- refunds-after-rough-debut-vows-win-back-dc-united-fans-trust/ In the wake of technical issues experienced Sunday during D.C. United’s first broadcast on the subscription- based streaming service FloSports, Mark Floreani, the Austin-based network’s co-founder, apologized and vowed to “win the fans’ trust back” over the remainder of the season. FloSports is also offering full refunds to new subscribers not interested in giving the product a second chance. “We’re apologizing to the D.C. United fans,” Floreani said in a phone interview Monday. “That’s not how we wanted to off the season.” Floreani took personal responsibility for Sunday’s issues, which stemmed from inaccurate geofencing restric- tions that prevented many subscribers from accessing the broadcast at the start of the match and caused the stream to buffer or cut out completely for others during the first half. “We were too restrictive, and there were people inside the region that couldn’t view the stream,” Floreani said. “We obviously tried to get that fixed quickly, and our fix did impact some other isolated viewers.” The issues affected viewers at D.C. United’s official watch party at Lou’s City Bar in Columbia Heights, where fans missed the first minutes of the match because the stream wasn’t working. Members of the Barra Brava sup- porters’ group who gathered to watch United’s 0-0 draw against New York City FC at Finn McCool’s on Capitol Hill experienced similar problems in the first half. FloSports has since added a coverage map to its site. Floreani, who declined to share viewership numbers for Sunday’s match, said the problem was resolved by the second half and he does not anticipate similar issues for United’s next appearance on the network, Saturday against Real Salt Lake. “We have fixed the geoblock issue going forward, so we’re confident that won’t happen again,” Floreani said. “Just in case, we’re going to start the stream earlier for the next game, replaying last week’s game, just to make sure that people can log on. If there’s any issues, they can contact customer support. We’ll have a little more leeway into the event.” United’s matches were shown on WJLA 24/7 News for the past three years, and on NBC Sports Washington before that, but the club cut the cord during the offseason and signed a multiyear deal with FloSports to broad- cast 21 of its 34 regular season matches this year. The remainder of United’s games will appear on the league’s national TV platforms (Fox Sports, ESPN or UniMas). After Sunday’s disappointing debut, United’s co-chair- men, Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien, released a statement saying they were “deeply disappointed.” “We are taking these issues very seriously and find the problems encountered unacceptable,” the statement read. “We entered into this agreement with FloSports to offer in-depth year-round coverage and to ensure that our fans can watch our matches in high definition and on their mobile devices for the first time in our 24-year history. . . . In the coming days we will be working with FloSports to ensure this does not happen again.” “All we can do is fix the problem, apologize for the inconvenience, and if people don’t want the subscription or aren’t happy, we’re giving full refunds,” Floreani said Monday. “We hope and we believe that we can win the fans’ trust back. . . . If they’re not happy with it and they don’t want to continue on with the season, we’ll give them their money back. We want people that want the product.” D.C. United season ticket members are eligible for a discounted yearly subscription to FloSports, a one-time payment of $71.88. The yearly rate for non-season ticket members is $108 if purchased using a link provided on United’s site. Monthly subscriptions are available for $29.99. In addition to game broadcasts, which are archived and available on demand, FloSports offers supplemental United content to subscribers, including behind-the-scenes video and player interviews. Subscribers also have access to FloSports’s other programming, including track and field, swimming, wrestling and other various col- lege sports. “We’re always looking for ways to create more content for the team,” said Floreani, whose company an- nounced a broadcast partnership with Cincinnati’s MLS expansion club Monday. “As we build out our soccer vertical, we’re going to invest more. We’re less than two months old. Yeah, this wasn’t the greatest debut, but we signed Concacaf, we have FC Cincinnati, and we’re going to continue to sign more and more content to make the subscription worthwhile for our users and customers.” Without providing FloSports subscription numbers of D.C. United supporters, Floreani said he’s been “very happy” with the partnership with the club thus far. “We’ve got to hold up our end of the bargain, and we will,” he said.

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 19 - April 2019 France issues arrest warrants for two Russian ex-athletics officials: sources https://www.france24.com/en/20190319-france-issues-arrest-warrants-two-russian-ex-athletics-officials-sources France has issued arrest warrants for two former senior Russian athletics officials in an investigation into a doping cover- up, sources told AFP on Tuesday. The two men targeted are Valentin Balakhnichev, the former head of Russian athletics who was also treasurer of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), and Alexei Melnikov, a former Russian national team coach. In the same probe, French investigating magistrates issued a warrant in 2017 for Papa Massata Diack, son of former IAAF president Lamine Diack. Lamine Diack was charged at the time with taking millions of dollars to cover up failed Russian doping tests along with two other IAAF officials. His son, a marketing consultant widely known as PMD, has been on Interpol’s most wanted list since December 2015 but is sheltering in Dakar as the Senegalese government refuses to extradite him to France. Diack senior was in charge of world athletics from 1999 until he was arrested in France in 2015. French investigating magistrates charged him for a second time in June last year, accusing him of allowing his son to “appropriate IAAF receipts from sponsors” including Samsung, Chinese TV channel CCTV, Chinese energy firm Sinopec, Russian bank VTB and the Abu Dhabi Corporation, according to information about the hearing received by AFP. France has undertaken the investigation because it believes some of the funds were laundered in France. The IAAF suspended Russia in November 2015 after the eruption of a vast state-sponsored doping scandal. Russia was allowed back into the Olympic fold a year ago but the IAAF continues to ban Russian athletes from competing under their own flag. Speaking to Russian media, Balakhnichev said he considered the French arrest warrant to be baseless. “I’m not in the know. I just don’t know how to react to it,” Balakhnichev told TASS agency. He said Russian investigators who had probed the case had not accused him of any wrongdoing. “I cannot comment on the case as I’m not in the know about what they are blaming me for,” Interfax agency quoted Balakhnichev as saying.

Mt. SAC Update The final girder of Mt. SAC’s new stadium was lowered into place this morning. The new 10,400- seat facility is scheduled to be complete by the end of the year. Prior to the placement, construc- tion workers, Mt. SAC staff and former Mt. SAC coaches were able to sign the beam.

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 20 - April 2019 Don’t change the name of Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum By Janice Hahn | Los Angeles Times | https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-hahn-coliseum- name-usc-united-airlines-20190325-story.html

An aerial view of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles on April 4, 2014. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) Football fans entering Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum greatest sports teams — the USC Trojans, UCLA Bruins, this fall are likely to see something nobody will want to Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Dodgers. The city hosted cheer. two summer Olympic Games there, in 1932 and 1984, and USC, which was given control of the stadium by the is now planning to use it in a third in 2028. Coliseum Commission in 2013, sold stadium naming rights The Coliseum’s name is cemented in Los Angeles history. for $69 million last year. The change is scheduled to kick in Its concrete bowl has resonated with the voices of Pope this August. John Paul II celebrating Mass; John F. Kennedy accepting The new name? United Airlines Memorial Coliseum. the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination; evangelist But maybe it’s not too late. Billy Graham issuing a massive altar call; and Nelson Man- The name change was announced by USC’s last president, dela rallying Angelenos to end apartheid. C.L. Max Nikias, in 2018. Now the school has a new presi- Throughout it all, Los Angeles has never broken faith dent, Carol L. Folt, who has a chance to rebuild some trust with the Coliseum’s dedicatory purpose. We’ve never by revisiting the deal. messed with its name, which resides in the National Regis- Unlike other modern sports venues, Los Angeles Memo- ter of Historic Places. Until now. rial Coliseum is not just a stadium — it is a war memorial. There’s still time, however, to revisit the issue and balance Removing “Los Angeles” and replacing it with a corporate the demands of history with the needs of fundraising to sponsor insults the memories of those the Coliseum was renovate the structure. intended to honor. The 2013 deal giving USC control of the stadium and Unlike other modern sports venues, Los Angeles Memo- authorization to sell naming rights was shortsighted. rial Coliseum is not just a stadium — it is a war memorial. The Coliseum Commission, of which I am now president, The civic visionaries who fought for the structure, includ- has been trying for months to work with USC on a compro- ing the Chandler family which then owned the Los Angeles mise. Now, with the selection of Folt, USC has an opportu- Times, dedicated the stadium to the doughboys from Los nity to generate some needed goodwill with L.A. residents Angeles who marched off to the fields of Europe in 1917 by preserving the history and legacy of the Los Angeles and 1918 – many of whom never came home from the “war Memorial Coliseum. to end all wars.” USC should consider a reasonable alternative, such as An April 1921 Times story about the signing of a Coli- renaming the field the “United Airlines Field at the Los An- seum contract by city and county officials declared “Million- geles Memorial Coliseum.” This would still give the airline Dollar Structure to be City’s War Memorial.” commercial exposure while maintaining the historic name That promise was broadened in 1968, during the divisive of the stadium structure. Vietnam War, when my father, Supervisor Kenny Hahn, Corporate sponsorship dollars are necessary for a sorely rededicated the stadium to all Americans — not just Angele- needed upgrade of a beloved stadium. But we simply can’t nos — who served in World War I. But he would never have allow the temptation of collecting them to denigrate the dreamed that the city’s name would be removed from the memories of veterans who served in World War I and the memorial altogether – nor would he have allowed it. Angelenos who wanted to honor them. The Coliseum has been the home field for some of L.A.’s TAFWA Newsletter - Page 21 - April 2019 2019 USATF Outdoor Championships • Des Moines, Iowa Qualifying Standards All events listed, except for mile, will be contested at the Championships. The mile may be used as an alternate for quali- fying in the 1,500m. See Qualifying Guidelines below for full details.

Qualifying Windows • For the 10,000m, 20,000m Race Walk, and Combined Events the qualifying window is: January 1, 2018 – July 21, 2019 at 11:59PM EST • For all other events the qualifying window is: June 1, 2018 – July 21, 2019 at 11:59PM EST

Men Standard Field Size & Rounds Event Women Standard Field Size & Rounds 10.16* (32–3) 100m 11.26* (32-3)

20.50* (32–3) 200m 23.20* (32-3)

45.70* (32–3) 400m 52.20* (32-3)

1:47.50* (32–3) 800m 2:03.00* (32-3)

3:39.00** (30–2) 1500m 4:09.00** (30-2) ( 3:56.50 )** Mile (4:28.50) **

13:35.00** (24–1) 5000m 15:25.00** (24-1)

28:40.00** (24–1) 10000m 32:25.00** (24-1)

47:00:00** (18–1) 10000m RW 50:00:00 (18-1)

13.80* (32-3) 110m/100m Hurdles 13.10* (32-3)

50.35* (28–3) 400m Hurdles 56.80* (28-3)

8:40.00** (26–2) 3000m SC 9:50.00** (26-2)

2.24m (18–1) High Jump 1.85m (18-1)

5.62m (18–1) Pole Vault 4.50m (18-1)

8.00m (18–1) Long Jump 6.60m (18-1)

16.40m (18-1) Triple Jump 13.60m (18-1)

20.30m (18-1) Shot Put 17.75m (18-1)

60.75m (18–1) Discus Throw 58.00m (18-1)

69.40m (18-1) Hammer Throw 67.00m (18-1)

73.50m (18-1) Javelin Throw 54.00m (18-1)

n/a Heptathlon 6200 pts 16

7,800 pts 16 Decathlon n/a

* F.A.T. is the only method of timing acceptable for qualifying marks for events listed with an asterisk. Times submitted in hundredths of a second, must be fully automatic times.

** A manual time may be used for qualifying in events with a double asterisk only if no fully automatic qualifying time exists for the individual in that event during the qualifying period. A manual time may not supersede any fully automatic qualifying time for an event. Qualifying manual times, for eligible events, not already listed, are always the FAT qualifying time without the last zero. Manual times will be converted for seeding purposes using USATF Rule 76

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 22 - April 2019 Shalane Flanagan’s Spring Goals: Acing TV Commentary, Coaching, and Family By Erin Strout | Women’s Running | https://www.womensrunning.com/2019/03/news/shalane-flanagans- spring-goals-acing-tv-commentary-coaching-and-family_101118 She won’t be racing at the Boston Marathon this year, but the 2017 New York City champion still has pre-race nerves. On Monday, Shalane Flanagan was passing time in the Portland Airport on her way to the World Cross Country Championships in Denmark, where three of her teammates will compete on Saturday for Team USA. Flanagan hasn’t been to the championships since 2011, when she brought home two bronze medals for her individual and team performanc- es—which is also the last time an American woman and team were on the podium at the notoriously fierce international competition. This time, however, Flanagan is on board in a different role: as a coach, supporting the U.S. women in general, but Bowerman athletes in particu- lar, including , , and , who join Anne Marie Blaney, Stephanie Bruce, Sarah Pagano, and Elaina Tabb to complete the squad. At a time when Flanagan is usually in the throes of marathon training, she instead has enjoyed a vacation with her parents and husband, Steven Edwards, in New Zealand, preparing to join the Boston Marathon broad- cast team at WBZ-TV, and helping members of her training group get ready for their spring races. During a phone interview with Women’s Running, the four-time Olympian shared her thoughts on what she wants to bring to the sport’s television coverage, why she’s not currently training, and her hopes for an expanding family. is and get tidbits about them beyond the athlete. Like, what’s their favorite Women’s Running: You’ve done a little television commentating food? Craig calls them “water cooler moments.” The next day, is there some- before—what have your previous experiences been like? thing people are talking about beyond the athletic performance, like some tidbit of insider info about an athlete that made people smile, laugh, and Shalane Flanagan: I’ve only had two significant previous experiences. humanized them? I want to show that they’re more than just runners and The first was with WBZ, the local television station in Boston in 2017 when show they can relate to the back-of-the-pack or mid-pack runners. I couldn’t race [due to a back injury]. They said, “We’re sorry you can’t race, but your loss is our gain.” I was really honored that they thought I’d be of What else has Craig taught you? value and I was terrified and nervous to be on air for so long. It’s like three Craig prepared me for little nuances and logistical things. He said or four hours of talking. But they made me feel really comfortable and real- sometimes you’re just looking at a tiny TV screen and it’s hard to see. Or ized that I never went to school for this—I didn’t major in journalism or you could be freezing for hours because the broadcast is on a scaffolding and broadcasting. They just said, “Be yourself.” you’ve got wind and elements to deal with, so you’re trying to pretend you’re I loved my experience. It’s definitely a reflection of who you work with. not cold. Sometimes you don’t realize how close you are to the other com- [On-air personality] Toni Reavis is like an encyclopedia and tees me up well mentators—you’re on top of each other. You feel like your personal space is with good questions that he knows I’m going to be capable of answering being violated, but it’s good for TV. and highlighting my knowledge. And then [anchor] Lisa Hughes’s knowl- At this point for me, it’s building the confidence that I’m capable. The edge is extremely valuable as well. She’s interviewed me the many years I’ve nerves are high for me because I want to good job. I want to come off as run the Boston Marathon, so I’m very comfortable with her. more confident and at some point carry more of the broadcast. Boston loves their sports and they put on a great production. It’s an all-day affair. I loved it. I got the same types of nerves and excitement that When you do your research do you talk to athletes beforehand? I would to race. I loved the pressure, too—how I go out and perform is a I’ve reached out to agents because I understand what it’s like to be an similar feeling to competing. athlete and have people ask a lot of questions at the last minute. Sometimes Then Nike asked me to come to Italy for the broadcast as a it depends on your mindset—sometimes it hasn’t bothered me at all and I backup commentator to Paula Radcliffe. I learned a lot and at the very end love to chat. Sometimes I feel just edgy enough that I don’t feel like talking. I did hop on air and concluded the last 20 minutes of the race. It was an I try to be respectful of individual athletes and what they need to perform honor to be part of that. It was pretty epic. well. I’d never want to take away from that. I value my relationships with agents and coaches—I try to talk to them more so. Has anybody given you any tips? Who have you watched? I’m going to be in Boston for the press conference this year, so hopefully I I’ve wanted to learn more about commentating. Craig Masback at Nike, can pick up some tidbits to add to the broadcast. who also does NBC productions of track and field has been a great mentor Mostly it’s just being a fan and student of the sport. Naturally I keep to me if I have questions. I feel like there’s so much to learn and I’m trying track of how athletes are doing and what races they’re running. I definitely to learn as quick as I can. The best way is through experience. I’m hoping have a bias toward the women’s racing, though, so most of my homework is to get better and work at it. I think I have a passion for it, but I don’t know. studying the men’s race, making sure I can pronounce names correctly, and I’m exploring it. Carrie Tollefson does a great job; Juli Benson has been knowing about athletes from different countries. great. There needs to be more female voices out there. I’m excited about the potential and hopefully I have as much excitement for it that it requires. After nearly every broadcast of track and field and road racing, we can always point toward moments when the predominantly How do you prepare for the broadcast? male commentators have remarked on female athletes’ bodies and You have to do a lot of homework. You’ve got to look up stats and be appearances. Is that something that will only change when more prepared to have tons of notes. Marathons can be very unpredictable, so women are invited to the mics? What’s the answer? the last person you thought was going to win the race could be winning. Every now and then I go back and watch broadcasts—I should probably You can’t overlook anyone—you have to look up what their current form do more homework and hear what’s being said. I’ve actually been kind of unaware of the fact that there are comments made like that. To me, it’s not TAFWA Newsletter - Page 23 - April 2019 relevant. It wouldn’t even come to mind—I’m thinking about their charac- ing me quite a bit. I’m getting them closer to being completely healthy, ter and ability to compete more than anything. Our bodies are our vehicles but they’re still fickle. I have good days and bad days. I promised myself I for performance, so I guess in some instances it could come into play. But wouldn’t make a decision [about retiring from competition] until I am com- I’ve never really considered talking about the physique of athletes too pletely healthy. Of course I wouldn’t want to run while my knees hurt, so if much. I understand to a degree why it would come up, but in my headspace I’m not healthy and feeling good while I’m running, it’s not a good time to it’s not something to focus on. figure out what’s next. I’m very much dedicated to and excited about coaching. [Bowerman Do you get more nervous to race a marathon or be on the broad- coach] Jerry [Schumacher] has given me a few responsibilities with the cast? team this winter and I’ve loved every second of it. I get to go right now to It’s very similar, actually. You know when you’re really fit and a the World Cross Country Championships, which is one of my favorite races prepared—the nerves are just a different level. Because I’m so new to that I’ve ever run. It’ll be a great experience. I told the women that it’s the broadcasting, the nerves are extreme. When I first got started in running, hardest race they’re going to run all year. From here on out it’ll just get I was terrified for half of my races and paralyzed at times. Thankfully I easier—we’re going to tackle this and hopefully have fun and have some haven’t been paralyzed on a broadcast, but I’ve had limited chances to good results. practice, which intensifies the butterflies for me. It’s a good nervousness, I’m getting more responsibility and I’m loving it. It’s really rewarding though—I have a team around me who wants to make me look good, so I and really fun. I feel just as passionate about their running as I do my own. feel confident in them, which helps me relax. The fact that they think I’m capable and believe in me gives me a little boost. I want to give insight and What do you like most about it? show my sport in a great light, so I take it seriously. Every time I commit I’m not writing the Xs and Os of training, but being there for the to a broadcast, I end up saying, “Oh god, why’d I do this?” It’s good to be women in other ways like emotional support, advice, and a lot of ways I’ve challenged in a new way. always been there for them, but during this time I haven’t had one concern about myself as an athlete to have to also think about. The focus has been What’s your biggest fear? solely on them. I joke that I’m the bag lady and Sherpa—I’m carrying their Drawing a blank, like forgetting an athlete’s name or not knowing how stuff at races. But I love being in a supportive role. I see their great results to pronounce a name. I just want to be respectful. But that’s the great thing and helping them is extremely rewarding. Seeing their progress—their about a marathon—it’s a long broadcast, there is time to retell a story and confidence build, their fitness build, and their small transitions on a daily make fun of yourself if you mess up. I’m more inclined to doing marathon basis—I really enjoy watching them train and evolve as athletes. broadcasts than track and field because the intensity of events. Track races are so quick—you have to be so sharp and so on, I don’t think I’m at that So, what’s going on with your knees anyway? level yet. Plus my interest lies in telling stories about athletes, so to have They were really bothering me last fall and I almost felt like I wasn’t go- three hours to do that seems more fun to me. ing to make it to the start line in New York, but through a lot of taping and anti-inflammatories I was able to get there. I was in a lot of pain. Editor’s( What have you enjoyed most about it so far? note: She placed third in the race.) When you say something that’s remembered, it makes you feel good. I thought I’d just take some time off like a normal injury, but I’ve had People after Breaking2 told me that what I said made them get chills or get really bad tendinopathy and some tears in my patella tendons. From what choked up, so to make a connection with people was really nice. I didn’t I’m understanding from all the experts, they take a really long time to heal. say anything profound and it was quite obvious—sometimes just stating I’ve done everything under the sun to try to get them to be happy, but I’m the obvious is all you need to do—I said, “With each step Eliud Kipchoge realizing it’s a long road toward getting them healthy. It’s quite frustrating is taking, he’s making history.” No one had ever run that fast [in a Nike ex- because I’ve never really had tendon injuries; I’ve always had bone injuries, periment to break two hours in the marathon, Kipchoge finished 2:00:25]. when you’re like, “okay, in 10 weeks it’ll be healed.” But tendon problems That’s not profound, but it needed to be said in that moment, that even are a rollercoaster—one day you’re good, the next day you’re in pain. I have though he wasn’t going to break two hours in a marathon, it was still some- a lot more compassion for this kind of injury now. thing that nobody had ever done before. You hope you have one of those I’m at the point where I’m grateful if I can run one day and then moments, because that feels good. sometimes I have to take the next day off. It makes me appreciate my run- You’ve been in similar circumstances as all the athletes you’re watching ning and that even if I don’t run at a high level anymore—who knows if I will be in. You bring the context to it that others on the broadcast don’t will?—I just want to get to a point where I can run an hour a day or warm have. up and cool down with my team and help them. I’m a little scared because That’s my greatest asset. I’m never going to be Toni Reavis, a human I just want to get back to running for my life and health, so I’m trying to be encyclopedia, but I have a completely different skill set and perspective. cautious. I don’t want to ruin my chances of long-term running. What do your quads feel like at mile 20? They feel shredded, like some- I’ve been busy enough that I haven’t had time to feel too sorry for body’s taken a stapler to them. I can offer insight and description that they myself. haven’t experienced. I hope that people can somehow find that relatable. You and Steve have said you’re in the process of potentially Any thoughts on the women’s field yet? adopting a child, too? Any updates on that part of your busy life? Edna Kiplagat [of Kenya], you can never count her out. She’s competed in every major marathon and has won most of them. Despite her age, she Yes, we actually just concluded an Oregon Department of Human doesn’t seem to be slowing. You have some athletes who are lesser known, Services training for fostering and foster-to-adoption, just to open up all like my former teammate . She won the two possibilities. We’ve applied for an infant adoption, but we’re on a wait-list years ago and she’s in Kenya training really hard. You never know when for that, so in the meantime we are looking into foster adoption. That’s athletes are going to have a breakthrough moment. a different style of adoption, but it’s a way to adopt kids who are in the And then of course the U.S. women are always in contention now. I foster system. There are so many kids in the state of Oregon and across the believe our confidence is a lot higher. We believe in ourselves more than country who need homes. [Bowerman teammate] and ever now. Des is really good at Boston—she’s the total package mentally, his wife are the ones who gave us the knowledge about this, because they physically, the whole thing. You can’t count her out and having the swagger adopted a little boy through the foster system and they continuously work of defending champion doesn’t hurt either. with children. There’s a lot fresh, new faces we’ll see in terms of East Africans. Getting There’s such a need and my heart goes out to these kids. I feel like Steve to know them and do some homework will be good for me because some of and I are in such a fortunate position to be able to give kids care and a them are a lot younger. home. It’s definitely something we’ve become passionate about—I never in a million years thought we would be doing this, but because of our experi- Let’s turn to you and what you’re up to now outside of preparing ence [in 2016] having [foster daughters] Breauna and Keauna, it spurred for television. It seems like you’ve been taking on a lot more coach- us on to take the next step and adopt through the foster system. We may ing-like duties with the Bowerman Track Club over the winter? adopt an infant. We may adopt toddlers. We don’t know, but we’re putting Yes, I would classify what I’m going through as kind of like an intern- ourselves in a position for whatever kids are in need. It’s scary but exciting. ship. I’m not a completely retired athlete yet. My knees have been bother- It’s a totally different life, but it’ll be fun. TAFWA Newsletter - Page 24 - April 2019 ‘There should be third sex competitions for them’ – medical expert on female testosterone case https://www.rt.com/sport/455087-testosterone-semenya-third-sex-competition/ Medical expert Dr. Sherif el-Refee, who specializes in disorders of sexual development and hormonal prob- lems, has suggested that athletes with biological irregularities should compete in separate “third sex” tourna- ments.

Dr. Sherif, a senior paediatric endocrinologist consultant at Imperial College London Diabetes Center in Abu Dhabi, backs the view of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) that high testosterone can help professional athletes to enhance their performance.

Talking to RT, Dr. Sherif explained the impact that testosterone has on female athletes, adding that the much- publicized case of South African runner Caster Semenya could trigger an influx of athletes who change their hormone levels to win female competitions.

“Disorder of sexual development or what used to be called intersex is very controversial,” Dr. Sherif said.

“And the more we understand about it, the more confusing it gets. Now we know there are so many condi- tions that make a person not typically male or not typically female.

“We used to think that doing chromosome analyses will solve this problem. However we now know that in rare circumstances some women are actually XY and some men have XX chromosomes.”

Dr. Sherif pointed out that testosterone helps to build muscle mass and increase physical strength, which potentially makes the hormone a powerful performance enhancer.

“We started to look at the hormone level. We know that men have very high level of testosterone and very low level of estrogen, the female hormone. And women have very low level of testosterone, but very high level of estrogen.

“The high level in male subjects of testosterone makes their muscles bulkier and stronger and also makes their bones thicker and actually the angulation of their bone differs from women.

“And therefore their performance and physical activity is higher than women. And it is well known that even some men are taking extra testosterone as performance enhancing drugs. Therefore currently we take the tes- tosterone level as an indicator of maleness or femaleness,” Dr. Sherif said.

The medical expert stressed that women with a high testosterone level have an unfair advantage over female competitors, suggesting that “third sex” competitions should be introduced for athletes with biological specifics, such as Semenya.

“Would we consider he or she as a man or as a woman? Who can decide this? Can he or she decide this or should authorities decide this based on testosterone level? And if somebody has a high testosterone level, the argument is why don’t they compete with men rather than competing with women?

“Therefore it seems unfair to allow a woman with a male level of testosterone to compete with women. Be- cause this will open a flood of athletes who can change their hormone level and compete with women.

“Perhaps the way out is to establish a separate third sex competition. This is purely my medical point of view, but obviously there is other consideration which should be taken by (sports) authorities,” Dr. Sherif concluded.

Two-time Olympic champion Semenya is currently attempting to overturn new IAAF regulation which re- quires athletes with high testosterone to reduce the hormone level. The South African runner insists that her elevated testosterone is a biological specific she has had from birth.

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 25 - April 2019 Can Running Pull Itself Back From the Brink? By Toni Reavis | https://tonireavis.com/2019/03/29/can-running-pull-itself-back-from-the-brink/#more-19280 With a Warrior Games like course that has jaws dropped throughout the Twitter-sphere, there’s a real excitement for Saturday’s IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark. The hunger has been even further driven by biennial scheduling of what once the most competitive annual footrace in the world. So, yes, Aarhus is a true God-send for a sport still reeling from recent disheartening news. The amputation of long-distance races from the 2020 IAAF Diamond League tour – along with the reduced quotas for all athletics’ events in the 2020 Tokyo Games as the IOC announced the inclusion of surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing, and breakdancing for Paris 2024 – is a sobering recognition that 1) the sporting world is more competitive than ever as it expands and diversifies, and 2) that the arrested development and long-time corruption endemic to the – as well as its inability (or unwillingness) to grow out of its Balkanized amateur past into a fully functioning professional future – has now come up against Recognition No 1. It also illustrates that the emotional tether that once linked the best long distance runners to the great herd of joggers who run behind them every week across the globe – much less to a robust fan base – has unraveled. Yet in one sense, the IAAF’s reduction of distance running is nothing more than a reflection of what distance running has done to itself. By focusing primarily on its general jogging population, running allowed its top-end product, its Show, to fall into disrepair and irrel- evance. It didn’t happen overnight, but it certainly did happen. While long-distance running developed over the course of many decades through a wide cast of nations, over the last generation it has seen the top talent emerge primarily from two, Kenya and Ethiopia, as the former great nations of the sport have all but disappeared. Just look at the number of former top European cross country nations who didn’t send teams to Aarhus. This happened not just because of the drive and talent coming out of East Africa but by the sport’s inability to fold this new talent into what remains a divided structure that offers low-level prize purses while instituting no professional standards to control the unrestricted flow of inexpensive foreign labor flooding the market. Over time, those forces killed off the domestic workers without ever helping develop the foreign talent’s professional media and marketing skills as they displaced the homegrown heroes who helped grow the sport. As a consequence, fans and fellow runners stopped caring who won. Put on its back foot, the IAAF is now trying to reform into a tighter configuration to be more responsive to the larger sporting land- scape where attention spans are shorter and options are greater. And that new configuration, evidently, does not include long-distance running. Like baseball, athletics (track & field) is a 19th-century pastoral sport, perfect for the settings and pace of the 19th century, but too loosely configured and time-consuming for the 21st. Yet since 1969, when Major League Baseball lowered the pitcher’s mound to generate more offense, MLB has continued to tweak its rules to maintain its audience’s attention. The Designated Hitter – which eliminated poor-hitting pitchers from batting – arrived in 1973 in the American League, and today, the consideration is to make every relief pitcher throw to a minimum three batters to keep the game moving to conform to an ADHD society. Athletics, on the other hand, has stood pat despite growing evidence that something pro-active was needed to maintain public interest in their sporting contests as new sports and activities continued to offer other more appealing options. Something new like team-based competitions on the track where each event is tied to every other one or outrageously difficult courses like we see in Aarhus, for instance. As one long-time maven joked (sorta): “if you sign up 30 or 40,000 people, who cares if the winner from last year comes back?” It’s been proven, people won’t pay attention to a string of anonymous runners wearing identical shoe company sponsored uniforms racing over 25 laps for 27 minutes vying for a prize purse which, even if mentioned, is a pittance compared to what other professional sports pay. (Don’t even start with Mike Trout’s $430 million over 12 years for baseball’s LA Angels). Without stars or rooting interest, there’s no hook. And even world-record finishing times cannot make up for the absence of recogniz- able heroes. So even though today’s top marathon runners are bettering yesteryear’s stars by nearly two kilometers in time – 2:03 vs 2:09 – the public doesn’t care. In any sport, the key isn’t IT, it’s THEM. Without fan favorites or large enough stakes to lend importance to the competition, the public has become inured to the charms of athletics and long-distance racing. Even the slower runners in the same fields don’t know who is racing up front, and the IAAF doesn’t think people will even watch for 12 1/2 laps and 13 minutes in the 5000 meters. Time is money, and the IOC (along with the IAAF) believe distance-running is wasting theirs. So from this point forward, the par- ticular discipline of distance-running is being cut out to do its own thing, rather than being an integral part of a larger thing. Makes one wonder how much longer before other events are put on the chopping block, as well? Of course, the demise of distance racing comes across as racist, even if unwittingly, because the vast preponderance of great long- distance runners hails from East Africa. But there is complicity there, too. After years of believing there was some hidden Eden laying high along the Great Rift Valley where a combination of altitude and lifestyle had developed the greatest runners ever seen, in recent years we have born witness to its more sinister underbelly, performance- enhancing drug use, which has tarnished the reputation of that part of the running world no different than any other. But when you add that dark mark to what is already a disinterested, disenchanted public, that’s how the existential moment can come so suddenly to hand. Time passes and with it so do fads and sports and international hegemonies. We thought Americans and Europeans winning major races was the norm because that’s how it was when we first got involved in the 1970s. Look at the lead pack of the 1984 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in New Jersey’s Meadowlands: an American (Pat Porter, 4th), Welshman (Steve Jones, 3rd), Portuguese (Carlos Lopes, 1st), and Brit (, 2nd). Instead, as we found out, that was the anomaly. Then we thought the East African domination would pass just like the once dominant Finns in the early 20th century finally fell or the Japanese marathoners in the mid-1960s were eventually caught. But the separating forces of sporting domination, lack of a system to build recognizable stars, drug failures and corruption, and a stagnant prize pool have led to the erosion of all the former top nations in the game – Italy, Portugal, Brazil, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, etc. In the face of these recognizable factors, and competition from new sporting and quasi-athletic activities, the IOC finally put its foot down, and the IAAF has been forced to capitulate. What’s left is for the leaders of the long-distance running community to come together to recognize and address this disquieting turn in their discipline’s fortunes. I guess now we will see who’s who and what’s what. Until then, let’s enjoy Aarhus. TAFWA Newsletter - Page 26 - April 2019 Hayward Field Renovation Update

Unbelievable Spring day in Eugene brings a great view of the excellent progress being made by the construc- tion crews. Be sure to check out the view of the first roof support.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omDbxw2OqyY Exclusive: Steve Cram says health and safety in schools is hobbling British athletics By Tom Morgan | The Telegraph | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/athletics/2019/03/30/steve-cram-says-health-safe- ty-schools-hobbling-british-athletics/

Steve Cram believes the modern-day obsession with health and safety around schools and local authorities is hampering efforts to find Britain’s next track and field stars. The former, world champion, middle-distance runner says likes of hurdles, long jump and pole vault are suffering as institutions become increasingly risk-averse. “Modern society is not one which embraces the culture of our sport as it might have done 15 [or] 20 years ago,” said Cram, 58, “so athletics clubs have to work harder to get youngsters those opportunities. It’s a harder sport for us to keep producing in because we are cutting the opportunities.” The BBC broadcaster, who is now working with the Forestry Commission to promote running in woods, added: “Schools have not been encouraged to take on the more difficult sports. “They are harder to teach and harder to have a class doing different things. There are lots of health and safety issues at schools and indeed athletics clubs and local authorities don’t want to build long-jump facilities and that kind of thing because people consider them unsafe. A lot of schools won’t do hurdles because it’s deemed unsafe.” On Saturday, Cram will run in the Hamsterley Forest 10k, in County Durham, part of a series of running events to mark the Forestry Commission’s centenary celebrations. US lawyer launches legal challenge to get women’s 50km race walk into Tokyo 2020 Olympics By James Diamond | Inside The Games | https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1077477/us-lawyer-launches- legal-challenge-to-get-womens-50km-race-walk-into-tokyo-2020-olympics A lawyer from the United States is set to launch a legal challenge at the Athletes to have backed the legal challenge include European and world Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne this week, demanding a champion over 50km Ines Henriques, Australian champion Claire Woods, women’s 50-kilometre race walking event be included at the Tokyo 2020 Ecuadorians Paola Perez, Johana Ordonez and Magaly Bonilla plus Spain’s Olympic Games. Ainhoa Pinedo. Paul F. DeMeester first threatened legal action back in 2017, when he One male athlete, New Zealand’s Quentin Rew, has also reportedly accused the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) of backed the case, with DeMeester’s press release saying the two-time Olym- discriminating against women by not including a race for them at major pian “feels strongly that women athletes should have the same opportuni- championships. ties as men.” A race was part of the 2017 World Championships programme in Two years ago, the chair of the IAAF’s Race Walking Committee, London amid legal pressure from DeMeester and former Australian athlete Maurizio Damilano, said they considered gender equality to be “very im- Tim Erickson, but only seven athletes took part and the discipline is not portant” but suggested the priority in this case is improving the standard set to feature at Tokyo 2020. of women’s racing over 50km before including it at major events. The IAAF’s Race Walking Committee has previously said the quality of “We are very happy to have men and women in all disciplines,” the the women’s event must improve before it can be considered for Olympic men’s Olympic 20km champion at Moscow 1980 said. inclusion but DeMeester, along with several athletes, are launching a legal “We need to defend race-walking in athletics – but we need quality.” challenge against both the IAAF and International Olympic Committee The IOC initially wanted to cut the men’s 50km race from Tokyo 2020 in (IOC), saying to include a race for men but not women is discriminatory. favour of a mixed relay to ensure a more gender-equal programme, but the In a statement DeMeester, who successfully lobbied against an IAAF schedule was rejected in April 2017. plan to cut the men’s 50km race from Tokyo, said the Olympic Charter’s In a statement sent to insidethegames, a spokesperson for the IAAF said position on gender equality that any form of discrimination on the grounds they had tried to get a women’s event included in the 2020 Games. of gender is “incompatible” with the Olympic Movement, means a women’s “The IAAF requested the inclusion of the 50km women’s race walk in the 50km race should have featured in every Games since Beijing 2008. event programme for Tokyo 2020 following discussion by the IAAF Compe- “Obviously that did not happen, rendering all those lofty constitutional tition Commission and Council in December last year,” they said. and fundamental Olympic principles of gender equality and the prohibition “The IOC has restated in its response that the IOC Executive Board against gender discrimination as mere empty words,” DeMeester said. finalised the Tokyo 2020 event programme in June 2017. The release continues that female race walkers have “proven their “This was before the 50km women’s race walk was included at the IAAF worth” over 50km, highlighting that the difference between the men’s and World Championships in London in 2017. women’s world records is similar in percentage terms to the difference in “We continue to discuss race walk events with the IOC ahead of finalis- the marathon – an event which has consistently featured both men and ing the Paris 2024 Olympic Games programme.” women in the Olympics since 1984. However, in a further development, under plans recently approved by “The lawsuit will seek to have women race walkers included in the Tokyo the IAAF Council, the 50km race walking event may cease to exist after 2020 Olympic 50km race walk event,” it reads. Tokyo 2020. “We are not seeking a new event,” DeMeester said, adding they would Last month the IAAF Council approved plans “in principle”, to reduce like to see women complete the course alongside the men, merely with the 50km distance to 30km after the next Olympics in an attempt to separate classifications. improve the sport’s appeal among younger audiences. “That’s one small step for the IOC and IAAF but one giant leap for The plans would also see the 20km distance halved, another move that gender equality.” has received criticism. TAFWA Newsletter - Page 27 - April 2019 2019 TAFWA Awards Recognizing excellence in track & field journalism, announcing, photography, film & video, blogging, broadcasting and books in 2018 as well as ongoing cooperation with the media.

General information: These awards will be presented June 2019 in Austin for work in 2018 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 Award Chair: Jack Pfeifer ([email protected]) Nomination Deadline: May 1

Sam Skinner Memorial Award For ongoing cooperation with the press Award Chair: Walt Murphy ([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

Photography Awards For excellence in track and field photography Rich Clarkson Award: presented to a current photographer Award Chair: Kim Spir ([email protected]) Nomination Deadline: May 1 Note: Submit an electronic portfolio Manning Solon Award For a career of excellence in track and field photography Award Chair: Steve Sutton ([email protected]) Nomination Deadline: May 1

Bud Greenspan Memorial Film & Video Award For excellence in track and field/running film & video production Award Chair: Nancy Beffa ([email protected]) Nomination Deadline: May 1 Note: This award will recognize outstanding achievement in film or video on track & field or running during 2018 Criteria: contact Nancy Beffa for details. •Submissions are judged on innovation, impact and content •Entries must have been released, televised or copyrighted in 2018 •Must be at least 25 minutes in length •Submit 5 DVD copies of the film or a link to the work online.

Adam Jacobs Blogging Award For excellence in online personal writing on track and field, cross country or running in 2018 Award Chair: Paul Merca ([email protected]) Nomination Deadline: May 1

Armory Foundation Book Award For the leading book published in 2018 on track and field, cross country or running Award Chair: Peter Walsh ([email protected]) Nomination Deadline: May 1 Note: Please submit three copies of the book for review to Peter Walsh, Coogan’s Restaurant, 4015 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10032

Cordner Nelson Memorial Award For a body of work writing about track & field and running Award Chair: Peter Walsh ([email protected]) Nomination Deadline: May 1

H. D. Thoreau Award For excellence in track & field broadcasting Award Chair: Jack Pfeifer ([email protected]) Nomination Deadline: May 1

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 28 - April 2019 Partial Fixtures List 2019 April 15 Boston Marathon April 24-27 Drake Relays, Des Moines, Iowa April 25-27 Penn Relays, Philadelphia April 28 London Marathon May 11-12 IAAF World Relays, Yokohama, Japan May 23-25 NCAA Division I East Preliminary Rounds, Jacksonville, Florida NCAA Division I West Preliminary Rounds, Sacramento, California NCAA Division II Championships, Kingsville, Texas NCAA Division III Championships, Geneva, Ohio June 5-8 NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships, Austin, Texas June 21-23 USATF U20 Outdoor Championships, Miramar, Florida June 23-28 European Games, Minsk, Belarus June 30 Prefontaine Classic, Stanford, California July 25-28 USATF Championships, Des Moines, Iowa Aug. 6-10 Pan-American Games, Lima, Peru (tentative dates for track and field) Aug. 9-11 European Team Championships, Bydgoszcz, Poland Sept. 9-10 Europe vs. USA, Minsk, Belarus Sept. 27-Oct. 6 IAAF World Championships, Doha, Qatar Nov. 3 New York City Marathon Nov. 23 NCAA Division I Cross Country, Terre Haute, Indiana NCAA Division II Cross Country, Sacramento, California NCAA Division III Cross Country, Louisville, Kentucky

2020 Feb. 29 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Marathon, Atlanta, Georgia March 13-14 NCAA Division I Indoor Championships, Albuquerque, New Mexico NCAA Divsion II Indoor Championships, Birmingham, Alabama NCAA Division III Indoor Championships, Geneva, Ohio May 21-23 NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships, Kingsville, Texas NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships, Rochester, New York May 28-30 NCAA Division I East Preliminary Rounds, Lexington, Kentucky NCAA Division I West Preliminary Rounds, Lawrence, Kansas June 10-13 NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships, Austin, Texas June TBA USATF U20 Outdoor Championships, Miramar, Florida June 19-28 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Track & Field, Eugene, Oregon July 7-12 IAAF World U20 Championships, Nairobi, Kenya July 24 - Aug 9 Olympic Games, Tokyo, Japan (Track & Field dates: July 31 - August 8) Nov. 21 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, Stillwater, Oklahoma NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships, Evansville, Indiana NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 2021 Aug. 6-15 IAAF World Championships, Eugene, Oregon

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 29 - March 2019