April 2019 Contents
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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 Kenya Portland, Oregon 97210 Office/home: 917-579- P. 10 Paula Radcliffe Weighs Into Row on Trans Athletes Being Allowed to Compete in Women’s Sport 5392. Email: P. 11 Kara Goucher Shares Why She’s Leaving Roads for the Leadville Trail Marathon [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 Atlanta 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 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Phone: 215-898-6145 P. 22 2019 USATF Outdoor Championships - Qualifying Standards P. 23 Shalane Flanagan’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 Steve Cram 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 track and field. 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 Prefontaine Classic 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 Paris. 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 Philadelphia, 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.