September 2016

Track and Field Contents Writers of P. 1 President’s Message America P. 3 TAFWA Notes (Founded June 7, 1973) P. 5 Men’s Rio Olympics P. 8 Philip Barker: Eighty Years of Olympic TV, and now an Olympic Channel PRESIDENT P. 12 The Calculus of Enjoying ’s World Record Jack Pfeifer 216 Ft. Washington Ave., P. 15 California Senate Passes Resolution on East German Doping NY, NY 10032 P. 15 Court Seizes Russian Doping Whistle-Blower’s Assets Office/home: 917-579- P. 16 Nina Ponomareva, Soviet Olympian Who Set Off a Diplomatic Crisis 5392. Email: P. 18 The Sports Linchpin [email protected] P. 20 NBC is Stuck in 20th Century with Olympic Coverage, Faces Uncertain Future VICE PRESIDENT P. 21 Neil Wilson: Only the Athletes Can Feel Proud of These Olympics Doug Binder P. 23 Who Will Be On the Rio Podium in 10 Years? Email: P. 24 D’Agostino and Hamblin Receive Fair Play Awards from CIFP [email protected]. Phone: 503-913-4191 P. 25 Isinbayeva Quits, Saying Pole Vault Winner Will Not Earn ‘Proper Gold’ P. 25 ’s Isinbayeva Earns IOC Spot Despite Opposition TREASURER P. 26 Seeks to Rebuild Trust in Tom Casacky P. 28 The Olympics Are the End of a Track From Poverty P.O. Box 4288 Napa, CA 94558 P. 30 GB Athletes Have ‘Doubts’ Over Result of Women’s 1500m Rio Race Phone: 818-321-3234 P. 31 Bolt Says Tight Schedule Slowed Down 100-meter Sprinters Email: [email protected] P. 32 Yuliya Stepanova ‘Certain’ There were Athletes Doping at Rio Games P. 34 The Height of Achievement SECRETARY Jon Hendershott P. 37 Empty Seats Detracted From Full Quality Athletics in Email: P. 38 The Soviet Doping Plan: Document Reveals Illicit Approach to ‘84 Olympics [email protected] P. 42 Cross Country: Kennedy Coach Celebrates 65th Birthday with 65 Laps Phone: 669-231-4177 P. 43 What Are the ‘Worst’ Olympic Sports? FAST P. 46 By ‘Packaging’ the Olympics, NBC Insults Viewers, and the Athletes Themselves Dave Johnson P. 47 San Jose State University Reinstating Men’s Track and FIeld Program Email: P. 48 Attention Boys and Girls of America: Let’s do the Hop, Skip and Jump [email protected] P. 49 Van Niekirk’s 43.03 Ranks Highest on Games’ Top 25 List Phone: 215-898-6145 P. 51 Partial Fixtures List WEBMASTER Michael McLaughlin Email: [email protected] President’s Message - September 2016 Phone: 815-529-8454 Rio and Beyond NEWSLETTER EDITOR While many of our members were in for another Summer Olympics – work- Shawn Price ing, eating, on the beach – some of us were home, in the States and elsewhere, being Email: [email protected] consumers. Phone: 979-661-0731 There were the newspapers and magazines, the websites and Twitter and Instagram and Facebook on and on, but mostly there was television. NBC, which of course paid a fortune for the rights and probably lost money on the deal – the parent company, Comcast, can afford it – did however take the televising of these Games to a new level. There was the usual packaged prime-time show every evening, dinner is over, the family gathered around the 216-inch flat screen TV to cheer on the Americans in swimming and diving, golf, tennis, gymnastics, equestrian, synchronized swimming, rhythmic gymnastics, women’s field hockey, and endless hours of beach volleyball. And winning another 100 meters. Bolt was two tokens, the other-nation hero and the track guy.

But if you had the time and interest, there were many other avenues for absorbing these Games onscreen. For one thing, NBC used all of its affiliate stations (platforms, they probably call them) for much more intensive broadcasting of particular sports. These included MSNBC, NBCSN, CNBC, USA and the Golf Channel. NBCSN became the go-to channel for track and field.

They used separate crews for the daytime and evening windows, and the NBCSN track group was able to get away with not being overly nationalistic. They also did not preach down to their audience by assuming that many of them were already fans of the sport, thus did not have to be told how far 10,000 meters is, or that the triple jump used to be called the hop, step and jump, or that pole vaulters get three tries at every height. This was an immediate relief.

Did they show the distance finals without interruption? No. But while the prime-time shows might only show the beginning and end of a distance race, NBCSN showed a majority. (Nevertheless, to break away constantly for another or triple jump could be aggravating, especially during a championship final.)

But for this, there was still another option – nbcolympics.com, online. To receive this, you needed to already be a cable subscriber, similar to the espn3.com model – that’s insulting – but once on, it was a marvel. On this site, there were additional options. For example, if you wanted to see a track race without any interruption whatsoever, there was a button for Track Only. The downside was that there was no audio. Ditto field events. Want to see every decathlon javelin throw, every single one? You could do this. No audio, but … who’s complain- ing?

These webcasts could also be viewed again and again, if you missed something, or wanted to see it once more, or twice more, or slow motion of the final 400.

NBC came in for a lot of criticism for its handling of these Games – some such critiques appear in this issue of the Newsletter – but they always do. As a consumer, I would say that they offered a much broader, deeper menu of coverage than ever before. Three cheers for that.

Newsletter frequency We will skip October. Next Newsletter should arrive first week of November.

TAFWA Awards Several of our 2017 awards will be presented at next year’s Winter Banquet, Feb. 9 in New York. As a result, the deadline for nominations for these awards will be Dec. 31. Those are:

James O. Dunaway Journalism Award

H.D. Thoreau Broadcasting Award

Bud Greenspan Film & Video Award

We will remind you in November of the criteria for these awards. Nominations can be sent to jack.pfeifer@ gmail.com.

Nominations for our remaining awards will open Jan. 1, with presentation in Eugene in June at the NCAA Championships or, as appropriate, at the USATF Nationals in Sacramento.

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 2 - September 2016 2017 FAST Annual Needs Compilers

Work has commenced on the 2017 FAST Annual, with a stellar roster of event experts compiling deep lists of 2016 performers and performances. This year, we’re proud to be joined by Track & Field News Editor Emeritus Jon Hendershott, working from his new base in Oregon. However, there’s always room for more volunteers. If you have a statistical interest in any event, or would like to try your hand at assembling one of the 2016 lists, write to Tom C. at [email protected]. Fame and fortune await you!

TAFWA Membership Dues for 2017

It’s never too early to think about your TAFWA dues. For 2017, they will remain at $30, and will buy you a series of excellent newsletters, the 2017 FAST Annual, and privileged entry to special TAFWA social events at New York’s Millrose Games in February, the NCAA Championships in Eugene (our yearly breakfast with athletes and coaches), and hopefully at the USATF meet in Sacramento. Don’t miss out!

You can send a check, payable to TAFWA, to PO Box 4288, Napa, CA 94558, or use PayPal, to the address [email protected].

World’s Greatest in Athletics This is a valuable and entertaining contribution to track and field lit- erature, both as a reference and as a stimulating source for discussion.

Three respected international statisticians/historians — Richard Hymans, Peter Matthews and Jo- nas Hedman — have produced an 832-page volume that contains: a never-before-published top-10 world all-time ranking of men and women at all standard events with career details, best performances and annual progressions for the top selections (228 pages); 500-deep all-time lists to January 1, 2015, perhaps the most extensive and authoritative printed lists available anywhere (510 pages); and top-10 lists by decade from 1900 through 2010 (96 pages).

There are more than 300 photos of athletes and competitions.

This book was advertised in the January, 2016 TAFWA Newsletter; if you haven’t seen it or obtained a copy, you should.

You can order via www.worldsgrea- testinathletics.com, or from Jonas Hedman at [email protected].

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 3 - September 2016 Olympic 1,500m Gold Celebration Posing for a picture after the Rio at Coogan’s are (l to r) Walt Murphy, Dave Johnson, Jack Pfeifer and Peter Walsh, who posted the banner at the front of his restaurant, Coogan’s, in Upper Manhattan, prior to the historic victory in Rio by Matthew Centrowitz. Olympic Games Result Books

Final result books from the Olympic Games in are available on the www.rio2016.com website.

The link for results from track and field: https://www.rio2016.com/en/athletics-schedule-and-results- download

In addition to the results book in track and field, there are files available to download which include a placing table, records set and medalists by event.

A direct link to the pdf of the track and field results book: https://smsprio2016-a.akamaihd.net/_sport/R/i/Rio_2016_ Athletics_Results_Book_V1.0.pdf

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 4 - September 2016 Men’s Shot Put Rio Olympics By Mac Wilkins Men’s Shot Put August 18 Eight hours a day working for his masters in Finance Full Disclosure - I have known Ryan since he was 8 and have through May. advised him and his dad from time to time up through his high Eating light snacks from class to class. school years. I have been involved with his training on a daily Training was catch as catch can, yet he still managed a basis since the first of June this year. This fall Ryan and I will PR to win NCAA indoors. work together full time at the Training Center in Chula Vista. Wisely, he planned his five years of eligibility to keep I have been a supporter of my colleague Art Venegas and the spring of 2016 free from collegiate competition. He World Champion Joe Kovacs for the last three years while Joe took this time to complete his Masters, keep the lifting go- has trained at the Training Center. I was around most of Joe’s ing but back way off the throwing. final training sessions and all of Ryan’s. When Ryan came to the Training Center in Chula Vista he I don’t claim this report to be objective, but I am in a unique was strong, his body was fresh from relatively little throw- position to comment on the shot put. ing outdoors and the rocket fuel on his fire was: Background to Rocket Launch Healthy food, all you can eat 13 hours a day Normally in an athlete’s career, particularly a thrower 8-10 hours of sleep every night, there is a time of development that exceeds all other times No mid terms, finals, no late night study sessions etc., in rate of improvement. Once in awhile these faster periods His dad and coach from the start was able to come of growth are exceedingly rapid. Sometimes it’s the senior down for a couple of 3 day sessions, year of high school. Frequently starting college or just after I was there as a sounding board and guide for the men- graduation. tal perspective required These rapid growth spurts are almost always one time The training environment included Joe Kovacs, World shots. Growth continues afterward, by no means is it the Champion and Darrell Hill his Olympic Teammates. end of the road. But the pace in these spurts is unmatched. The San Diego weather. Duncan Atwood went from 195’ to 249’ during the sum- KaBooom! in mid June! ... mer as a 16 year old because he could hear the rhythm, hear June 18 Chula Vista competition, two PRs, the best the timing of the sound of the foot steps of better javelin 21.85m. The week before the Trials he lifted and threw throwers during their training. “I can repeat the rhythm of training PRs. Ryan won the Trials/US National Champion- those sounds!” young Atwood correctly surmised. ships with a PR of 22.11m. Russ Francis broke the National High School Record in But Wait, there’s more... A Second Season of Growth the javelin at 259’, just 60-90 days after his first ever throw If a relatively young athlete is able to have ‘another sea- with the spear! son’ after the State Meet or the NCAAs there is often addi- For more mature throwers it usually happens as a result tional growth. They are starting fresh on a new, shorter sea- of good work and growth building up but for some reason son but in near Championship form. As if you could double not being expressed in performance gains. Then a situa- the growth with “two seasons” per year. We hoped the time tion changes, the total life stress load is reduced, a technical between the Trials and Games would act as another season epiphany may occur, or a change of training environment of growth for Ryan because he was fresh from not compet- and... Booooom. Performance can jump 5% from season to ing outdoors in the spring, AND he had the feeling of what season. it’s like to throw 22m in a competition! My career had such a period of growth. After college I And it did! spent two years building a foundation getting thousands of The training program for the 48 days between the Trials “Failure Reps” in the circle and over 40 competitions of not and Games was treated like an annual cycle only greatly “getting it all out”. compressed; fitness/volume, strength and then taper. In And then I moved to San Jose CA to train with 20 other Rio in the weeks before the Games Ryan took yet another throwers working for the Olympics. World Record Holders step up exceeding all lifting and throwing PRs established Al Feuerbach, John Powell, and Brian Oldfield, to name the before the Trials. top throwers. Living and training with this group was the Those on the US Team could see it like a freight train gasoline to the fire already burning in me. coming down the tracks. Although you can never be sure how training translates to competitive performance, Ryan’s Workload Management for Crazy Stoopid Growth training was steady, methodical and controlled (no fouls), This year it was ’s turn in the shot put. not the result of crazy, mad, psyched up, screaming, shirt Ryan was the center of The Perfect Storm the likes of ripping all out efforts. The feeling was another 22m compe- which hasn’t been and may not again be seen in our life- tition would be likely. By the way, Joe’s training was right times. there as well. A 22m shootout looked probable. The buildup was a combination of several factors. He AND FINALLY, HERE IS THE CAPSTONE of the mas- finished school and eliminated that life stress from his daily terpiece, Ryan’s greatest strength is his mind. Focused, yet routine. calm and undistracted by the unusual external and internal TAFWA Newsletter - Page 5 - September 2016 noise that goes with competing in the Olympic Games. He Q mark, kind of ease into the right amount of effort to just has a great understanding of the event, awareness of his get it over the line. body and the forces it is and isn’t creating. His technique Highlights of qualifying were the HUGE roar from the is simple and stable so dealing with the adrenaline of the stadium when the Brazilian putter set a new National Re- competition is a more manageable challenge. And make cord. lead the first Round with 20.80m. no mistake, Ryan is a very physically gifted athlete at 6’ 7”. Ryan Crouser opened the Second Round with an easy 295lbs. looking 21.59m. This distance was the best qualifying throw With training sessions of multiple throws, seemingly ever in the Olympic Shot Put. Maybe a bit farther than effortless, without fouling, over 22m, how could we be sur- he wanted but it didn’t look like he was over amped. One prised by his Record Breaking Performance? throw and he was done for the morning. With PRs in the weight room and throwing with the 16lb Second best was 21.03 by Indoor World Champ and Rio and light shot in the 10 days before the competition, the Medal contender Tomas Walsh of . I didn’t surprise would have been if he had a lesser result. know the status of his health but was surprised Some of Ryan’s training included morning sessions to qualified only 11th at 20.47m. simulate the Qualifying Round with two warm up full OK boys, back to your rooms, rest up and be ready to- throws, then three throws between 20.60m and 21m spread night for the medal round. over a period of about 25 minutes. In the afternoon he I have always contended that when the final twelve would come back and simulate the competition warm up throwers walk onto the floor of the stadium for the Finals, then take six throws without fouling. The first would be each athlete knows within one or two places where they about 21.30m, the next five at 22m. Then he would work on will finish. The order is predetermined by the competitors’ technique. perceptions of themselves and their competitors. Occasion- For Olympic success Ryan only had to throw well, not ally “Happy Accidents” can happen. even a PR, just close, like 21.70m. Not tonight. None of the prognosticators ranked him to finish in the I didn’t walk onto the floor to put the shot, thankfully, top five. Outside our group the expectations were low. but I knew Joe and Ryan would be the top two. Joe after a Inside the group we knew he was capable of another Life Re- long string of 22m competitions was under 22 at the Trials cord in the Games as in the Trials and thus a strong chance and then opened at a surprisingly low 19.59m, 64’ in the for a medal. qualifying. After the Qualifying Round, the Gold seemed Final pre-competition instructions, “stick to your plan, Ryan’s to lose. but Joe is a fighter and that’s why they have (don’t compete in warmups, open a little over 21m) and the competition! then have fun. THE FINALS Let everyone see your passion when you throw. Show The two favorites would open the throwing, Ryan first, them what it means to you.” Joe second. Could Walsh get close to 22m? Was Storl really Ryan was the only thrower to record all six throws with- out of it? out a foul. Joe bombed several over 22m in warmups, with full on Four of his six throws were long enough to win. emotion and energy. Ryan broke the Olympic Record set in 1988. This was to help him establish his 22m rhythm and per- Oh, and he improved his Life Record Three Times in the haps for impact on the competition. competition. Ryan had seen it before, though, and sat out the “warmup And that is an exceptional example of the Perfect Storm competition”. of rapid acceleration of growth at the highest level. Round 1 First throw for Crouser 21.15m, on target. We can’t con- Season Highlights - Ryan Crouser trol the other throwers but we can try to execute our plan. Feb 27 PR 21.73m 71’ 3.5” Big 12 Indoor Champs Second throw of the competition, Joe hits a big one, May 27 20.27m 66’ 6” Pre Classic 21.78m! June 18 PR 21.85m 71’ 8” Chula Vista Wanting to see if the pressure of coming from behind July 1 PR 22.11m 72’ 6 1/2” Olympic Trials would tighten up Ryan, Joe hoped he could jump on his first Aug 18 PR 22.52m 73’ 10” Olympic Games - Rio throw and he did. Joe had also been well over 22m in training without foul- The SHOT PUT COMPETITION Thursday August 18 ing. The question was, could he find his rhythm to make Qualifying 9:55 am Auto Qualifying distance 20.65m these long throws, something that had been just off in the - Finals 8:30pm Trials. Everyone’s goal is to throw the Automatic Qualifying His opener at 21.78m might get a medal but probably Distance with as little energy as possible. However, rarely wouldn’t hold off Ryan. But it was a great start for Joe, do 12 throwers exceed the Automatic Distance. something to build on. First timers often blow all their adrenaline in the quali- The rest of the first round had a BIG National Record fying round and are flat in the finals. Veterans can control from Franck Elemba of the Congo at 21.20m, a beautiful their emotions and find “just enough to qualify” at 9:30am. glider, who moved Crouser to third. Its OK for a favorite to need two attempts to get the Auto Romani, the Brazilian, drew another INCREDIBLY HUGE TAFWA Newsletter - Page 6 - September 2016 roar from the crowd with another PR/NR at 21.02m in His third PR of the night! fourth place. His fourth throw long enough to win. No one else was over 21m in the round. His feeling for the rhythm and the ball increased with 1. Joe - 21.78m each throw. 2. Elemba - 21.20m Being in third didn’t tighten him up after Round 1 be- 3. Ryan - 21.15m cause his distance was on target for his plan. 4. Romani - 21.02m And that ladies and gentlemen was your Ball Game! Round 2 Round 6 Ryan wanted 22m in Round 2 and hit it, 22.22m a PR by In the last three rounds only the Medalists had throws 2 1/4”, and into the lead. over 21m. You just won the jackput er jackpot!! There is nothing Walsh solidified his performance with his third throw better than throwing a PR, your life record, in the Olympic over 21m, 21.25m and the Bronze Medal. Final!! Last chance for Joe who now needed a near PR (22.56m) Mission accomplished. Sit down and relax. to win and was behind by 2’ 5”. “Excuse me, Not quit yet please. He had the Silver Medal in his pocket. Always a fighter, You told me to have fun and I have four more tries at fun, he made a good effort at 70’ 2”, 21.35m. All three of his at expressing my passion for the throw.” legal throws were over 21m, 68’ 11”. Joe just missed with a foul but was second, still within A great performance! striking distance of Ryan’s 22.22m. You can’t knock an Olympic Medal of any color. moved into a tie for third with 21.20m but After having watched Joe for three years I can only say he started to look like he wouldn’t get close to 22m. just seemed a little off with his rhythm. But he fought and 1. Ryan - 22.22m pushed on Ryan and won the Silver Medal. 2. Joe - 21.78m Technique and feeling is not as easily managed and 3. Elemba - 21.20m brought to a peak as strength. 3. Walsh - 21.20m It can be a bit mercurial with its coming and goings. 5. Romani - 21.02m Sometimes its only a few days, but sometimes its an Round 3 entire season. Ask a golfer or a bowler or pitcher or batter or Ryan was told to have fun. a shot putter. PRs are fun. And the new Olympic Champion steps in for his final Don’t mind if I have another one, thank you, 22.26m! throw. A nice final attempt, but a semi-anti-climactic Looked like he was loosening up a bit. 21.74m, only 71’ 7”. He executed his plan to a T. Joe is the only other thrower over 21m in Round 3 After his training in the days before the competition Now we get down to the top eight throwers for the last it would have been a surprise had he NOT thrown 22m three throws. tonight. Its shaping up to be Ryan and Joe for the first two places. The big question was How Far over 22m would he throw? Ryan looked so connected to the ball, Joe was just a little Looked to me like he still has more to go beyond 22.52m. off but capable of well over 22m. BUT WHO THROWS THREE LIFE RECORDS IN THE 1. Ryan - 22.26m OLYMPIC FINAL? HOW CAN A SPINNER HAVE SIX LEGAL 2. Joe - 21.78m THROWS IN THE OLYMPIC FINAL? ALL THREE MEDAL- 3. Elemba - 21.20m ISTS WERE SPINNERS! 3. Walsh - 21.20m Final Results Round 4 Gold Ryan Crouser 22.52m 73’ 10” Reverse order now, shortest going first so Joe throwing Silver Joe Kovacs 21.78m 71’ 5” ahead of Ryan who gets the last throw. Bronze Tom Walsh 21.36m 70’ No one is over 21m, Joe fouls and Ryan misses at 21.94m 4th Franck Elemba 21.20m (enough to win). 5th Darlan Romani 21.02m Round 5 6th Tomasz Majewski 20.72m Walsh is finding his groove but its not going to catch the Olympic Champion 2012 & 2008 two Yanks, 21.35 and out of the tie and into sole possession 7th David Storl 20.60m of the Bronze Medal. Elemba moves down to 4th. World Champion 2011 Olympic Silver 2012 Joe had been working and building to get beyond his 8th O’Dayne Richards 20.64m strong opener. He gets it in the fifth round as he unleashes From where we sit today its still a race between Joe and his longest of the night just over the 22m tape but his right Ryan to 23m and then the World’s Record. foot comes down on the top edge of the toeboard for a foul. All that work and build up for his longest throw of the night Note: As of Sept 3, in competitions after Rio Tom Walsh goes for naught and he is down to one last throw. has moved his PR out to 22.20m! If fouling his biggest throw was deflating for Joe, the next Who would have thought of Crouser breaking Ulf Tim- throw, Ryan’s fifth attempt was the hammer, a PR by 26cm mermann’s Olympic Record at the end of May when he or 10”, a NEW Olympic Record 22.52m, 73’ 10”. threw only 66’6” at the Pre? TAFWA Newsletter - Page 7 - September 2016 Philip Barker: Eighty years of Olympic TV, and now an Olympic Channel By Philip Barker | Inside The Games There was no widespread international TV coverage http://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1040999/philip-bark- of the Olympics in the 1950s, but many within the er-eighty-years-of-olympic-tv-and-now-an-olympic-channel Olympic Movement saw television as something to be embraced. Eighty years ago, spectators in ’s Olympic In 1960, the Winter Olympics were held in the Stadium might have caught sight of a rather peculiar Californian resort of Squaw Valley. Walt Disney was and cumbersome piece of machinery. What they were engaged as “head of pageantry” to oversee a telegenic seeing was one of the world’s first television cameras. ceremony for the television cameras. The peerless The 1936 Berlin Olympics were the first to be tele- American broadcaster Walter Cronkite covered the vised, albeit on a limited scale. The pictures could only Games. be seen in viewing rooms. It is estimated that 160,000 The Rome Olympics were a significant milestone watched and the great was among them. for viewers in Europe. For the first time, competi- When war broke out, television screens across Eu- tion was beamed live by the European Broadcasting rope went dark for more than five long years but when Union (EBU). It made international stars of the likes the Games returned in 1948, so did the cameras. The of , and Muhammad Ali, broadcasts of the Games were 12 months in then known as Cassius Clay. the planning. The BBC paid 1000 guineas for the right “It changed the course of sports broadcasting, it was to televise the Games. sensational,” said former BBC chief Paul Fox. “Of special interest were the television arrange- American television paid approximately $400,000 ments which were more complicated than for any for the rights although it was still not yet possible to other television outside broadcast previously attempt- broadcast the Games live across the continents. ed,” said the BBC’s annual report for 1949. That breakthrough came at the Games in The Image Orthicon, the latest state-of-the-art cam- 1964, which were relayed from one continent to era, made its debut. It produced high quality pictures another. For most the pictures were still in black and but had its drawbacks. white but although grainy, the images transmitted “It was slightly awkward following subjects,” said were memorable. cameraman Duncan Anderson. “You got an image in Mexico 1968 proved another watershed moment for colour but it was upside down and back to front so Olympic television. For the first time, colour television that when anybody stood up, their head would disap- pictures were beamed to Europe by satellite and then pear out of the bottom of the viewfinder.” converted from the American system NTSC to Euro- No technology yet existed to video tape coverage, pean formats. A consortium included the American but it could be viewed live in the home, albeit only in giant ABC, Mexican television, NHK from Japan and the south-east of England. the EBU. In 1952, American Avery Brundage became Presi- “It is a team effort in which everyone contributes dent of the International Olympic Committee and and the success depends on everyone taking part,” said conveyed the suspicion that many had about the new officials. medium when he said: “The Olympic Games have done Yet all the careful planning seemed in vain when the perfectly well without television for the last 60 years designated satellite crashed a few weeks before the and believe me we are going to manage for another 60 Games. The technicians rapidly re-routed the pictures years.” to another satellite receiver. His IOC colleague Lord Burghley had offered quali- To flash the pictures across the ocean took only a fied support for TV but also raised concerns. third of a second. In 1968, these included a sensa- “The benefits of television are actually very problem- tional world record in the long jump by American Bob atical as past experience has proved a certain falling Beamon. off at the turnstiles due to the direct effects of televi- There was also a new technique in the high jump by sion,” he said. , still so unfamiliar that it was described Brundage did grudgingly recognise the power of TV as a “Fosbury Flip” by commentator Norris McWhirt- and reflected that 50 million viewers watched a pro- er. gramme with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby in aid of the When gymnast Olga Korbut took to the floor in United States Olympic Committee. four years later, millions of youngsters were TAFWA Newsletter - Page 8 - September 2016 A television camera being used at the Berlin 1936 Olympics ©Philip Barker inspired to take up the sport because they had been American techniques and are learning very quickly. able to watch on television. Except that the Games were never shown in full in Yet the most powerful images did not always come the USA. Jimmy Carter’s White House enforced a boy- from the field of competition. In 1968, American 200 cott after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The TV metres gold medallist Tommie Smith and John Carlos company had at least taken out insurance cover. stood head bowed, fist clenched in a black power Not for the first time, many forecast the end of the salute, after receiving his medal as the Star Spangled Olympic Movement, but for the 1984 Olympics in Banner was played. , ABC paid a mind boggling $225 million. Terrorists infiltrated the Munich Olympic Village in Their coverage used sophisticated software to track the 1972. The world watched the terrible drama unfold. progress of runners in the and even moni- The broadcasters kept a vigil as negotiations took place tor their heartbeat. in the full gaze of the television cameras. “There’s no doubt that the LA Olympics will be the A hastily conceived memorial service was broadcast, biggest event in the history of television,” proclaimed and the powerful words of BBC commentator David ABC’s promotional material. Coleman spoke for many. They were heavily criticised for their chauvinistic ‘’The whole world bewildered and appalled,’’ he said, coverage which only featured American athletes. his voice breaking with emotion as he described a cer- When the organisers of the Winter Olympics in emony in which Israel Chef de Mission Schmuel Lalkin Calgary brokered a deal of $309 million for the 1988 read out the names of those who had died. Games with American television, many were aston- Politically motivated boycotts dominated the Olym- ished. pics in the 1970s, but rights fees continued to soar. In That same year in , the athletics finals were 1979, NBC Sports executive producer even switched to the morning to accommodate the wrote in optimistic terms about the upcoming Mos- demands of American television. Even so, the Korean cow Games. organisers were still unhappy with the final rights fees “I have every reason to believe that the 1980 Olym- which came in at just under $500 million. pic telecasts will be not only the biggest ever but the By this time American television coverage was best as well,” he said. “The Soviets are using many spearheaded by NBC. Theirs is a huge operation. At TAFWA Newsletter - Page 9 - September 2016 The NBC hotel near to the International Broadcast Centre at Sochi 2014 ©Philip Barker the Sochi Games in 2014, they even had a huge hotel pic Organising Committees set up special organisa- built right next to the International Broadcast Centre, tions to televise the Games. In Korea in 1988, a con- complete with burger bar and coffee shop. sortium known as SORTO - Seoul Olympic television In 1992, the problem of a defective satellite once - produced pictures seen by the world. Computerised more needed a complex remedy. Intelsat 603 was graphics were standardised and that is still the prac- intended to provide pictures from but it was tice today. The international feed is now supplied by necessary to launch a spacecraft to make vital repairs the IOC’s own television arm, the Olympic Broadcast- in outer space. ing Services (OBS). The Catalan city proved wonderfully telegenic and By now Games organisers were choosing locations the search was on to find new camera angles to exploit with television in mind. In 2000 sailing was held in it. At the Montjuich Stadium an automatic camera harbour with the Opera House and Harbour installed in the roof tracked runners in the athletics. Bridge as a spectacular backdrop. In the Pan- In the pool, underwater images were captured by a athinaiko Stadium was used for archery. In 2012, the camera powered by a hand driven pulley. Technicians sport was held in front of the pavilion at Lord’s Cricket realised that a human hand operating the wheel was Ground. Cameras on overhead wires captured pictures the best way for a camera to keep pace with human from angles unimagined in Berlin all those years ago. swimmers. The Games have in the words of Olympic broadcast- ‘’Its an adventure for me,” said Garrett Brown, the ing chief executive Yiannis Exarchos become “an accel- man who both built and operated it. “I have driven erated laboratory for exploring the new technologies this thing 19 miles, I have participated athletically.” that will shape the future of sports broadcasting”. For the 1996 Centennial Games in , NBC In Rio, camera positions beneath the weightlifters paid what was then a record $456 million to broadcast captured every grunt and groan and a head on cam- the Games. era in the velodrome offered the viewer a real sense “We are thrilled that NBC will again be home to all of what is was like to ride on the track. The Japanese the drama heroes and pageantry of the Summer Olym- broadcaster NHK worked with OBS to provide “8K pics,” said boss when the deal was struck. Super High Vision” of selected events. The dramatic vault by an injured American gymnast Virtual reality offered viewers the chance to experi- Kerri Strug to win gold for her team was one of the ence live 360 degree coverage of a key event. great highlights, precisely the drama Ebersol had in “It is not about viewing in a traditional sense,” said mind. OBS production manager Karen Mullins. “It is about Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, successive Olym- an ‘experience’ in each venue and each sport.”

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 10 - September 2016 The cabin in the Rio 2016 Olympic Park for host broadcaster Globo ©Philip Barker Since 1976, the IOC has recognised excellence in IOC President Brundage. The IOC itself now includes television with the presentation of ‘’Golden Rings’’ television executives among its membership - the for outstanding programmes. Gold, silver and bronze most notable in recent years was Alex Gilady. trophies are awarded in six categories, including best Now comes the launch of the Olympic Television digital offering, best on-air promotion and best Olym- Channel. The concept was agreed in as part of pic feature. Agenda 2020, the long term strategy planned by IOC Individual television broadcasters have even been President Thomas Bach. awarded the , amongst them the out- ‘’It will mark a major shift in how the Olympic standing British commentator David Coleman who Movement connects with young people all year covered the Games for the BBC from 1960 to 2000 and round,‘’ he said. his American counterpart Jim McKay. The Channel itself began life as the flame died in Former NBC Supremo Ebersol was similarly re- Rio. warded. As a student he had even written a thesis on

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 11 - September 2016 The Calculus Of Enjoying Almaz Ayana’s World Record By Sarah Barker | Deadspin http://fittish.deadspin.com/the-calculus-of-enjoying-almaz-ayanas-world-record-1785234388

The Olympic 10,000 meters was eyeballs out, hands down the fastest, deepest women’s 25-lap race I have ever seen. But instead of cheers, before the race was even over, half of the commentariat lit up with shouts of “Dirty!” Welcome to track—and sports—in 2016. Bombarded with an entire country doping as a matter of govern- ment-run course, an anti-doping agency that in some cases facilitates doping, a famous coach caught with a large stash of EPO at a training camp full of world-class runners, and corrupt leadership at the IOC and IAAF, track fans’ eyes are wide open. Of course, suspicion is not new—we’ve already cut our teeth on such meaty stuff as the 1980’s Eastern Bloc machine, Ma’s Army, Ben Johnson, Marion Jones. The scale, the worldwide scope (in the early 2000s, it was still believable that Kenyans living la vida rustic—hopefuls from the villages showed up at races barefoot—would not have the funds or access to PEDs), and the stark realization that WADA and the IAAF were not interested in clean sport—that’s why this feels new. That’s what’s different. But while all would agree that doping is an undeniable part of elite level track and field, few would say that all top athletes are dirty. So where do you draw the line—just certain countries? Only world record breakers? First place? What about tenth? The many hours I spent arguing with myself, trying to understand what I had just witnessed as ’s Almaz Ayana smashed the 10k world record are symptomatic of the new era of track and field. Sunday Times sportswriter David Walsh summed it up well: Almaz Ayana’s 29mins17secs for 10,000m. We can’t accuse because there’s no evidence and we can’t believe because there’s no trust.

This much is unequivocal: Almaz Ayana set a new 10,000-meter world record of 29:17.45, destroying the 23-year-mark of 29:31.78; seven other national 10k records were improved, including the American one, by Molly Huddle; 18 of the 37 runners in the field set lifetime bests; four of the five fastest 10,000-meter times ever were run in the race; four women dipped under the 30-minute mark, which has never before happened in the same race; there were no Russian runners in the field because of the IAAF’s ban of its track and field ath- letes; and Molly Huddle placed sixth in a time, 30:13, that would’ve been good enough for gold in six of the last seven Olympics. There are a few main arguments for believing that Ayana’s eye-watering performance was tainted.

Ayana Crushed What Is Widely Believed To Be A Doped Record When she set the 10,000-meter world record in 1993, the veracity of ’s performance was ques- tioned because she was among a group of Chinese women who also set the 1500-meter world record, the top six 3000-meter performances of all time, and the 5000-meter world record, all over the course of five days at the Chinese National Games. Earlier this year a letter surfaced, allegedly written by Junxia and other Chinese runners, admitting to doping. In 2000 their infamous coach, Ma Junren, and a number of his athletes were booted from the Sydney Olympics for failing drug tests.

The Pace Was Unbelievable A lead group of about six women passed halfway in 14:46; for reference, the American 5000 record is 14:42. Shortly after halfway, Ayana cut the noose and let loose, with her 14th of 25 laps accomplished in a wilting 66.67, leaving defending Olympic champion , current world champion , and everyone else gasping in her wake. Both Cheruiyot—who got the silver in a personal best time—and Dibaba—who ran a personal best to nab bronze—were nearly half a lap behind when Ayana crossed the finish line. Ayana’s second 5K was run in 14:30. Again, for reference, the current Olympic record (not world record, which is 14:11) for 5000 meters is 14:40. Ayana averaged 4:43 per mile for 6.2 miles. Of course, the thing about a world record is that the pace has never been done before, thus, it’s hard to believe.

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 12 - September 2016 Ethiopia’s Drug Testing Is Almost Non-Existent When officials from the World Anti-Doping Agency came to assess Ethiopia’s anti-doping facilities in Decem- ber 2015, they gave it a rating of zero. For unexplained reasons, they gave Ethiopia until November 2016 to shape up, and allowed all Ethiopian athletes to compete in the Olympics. Coach Jama Aden, who trains many of Ethiopia’s star runners, was arrested in a raid at a training camp in . Syringes of EPO, anabolic steroids, and other doping materials were allegedly found in his hotel room. Some of Aden’s athletes, including 10,000-meter bronze winner Tirunesh Dibaba, were also staying at the ho- tel at the time. Ayana was not among those at the hotel, and is currently coached by her husband, Tadias Addis, but she has listed Aden as her coach in the past. Though she’ll certainly be tested after this world record run, it’s unclear if and when Ayana was tested out of competition. She has never failed a drug test, and responded just after the race that training and Jesus were her drugs of choice, and that otherwise she is “crystal clear.”

Ayana Crushed The Record And It Looked Effortless Longtime observer of the sport Toni Reavis compared the performance to the housing market prior to the 2008 crash: Training harder than everybody else is one thing, but destroying a world-class field and smashing a drugged-up world record without the semblance of effort or fatigue is a mortgage rate that won’t hold.

Former Olympic runner Craig Virgin commented on Reavis’s post to concur: The most amazing and unbelievable part of her race was the apparent lack of any sign of physical strain whatsoever in her face, neck, shoulders, etc…. I was looking for some sign of growing fatigue…. but there was NOTHING! Then, she recovered like it was simply a mild interval effort just moments after the race. Check out what Molly Huddle looked like physically in her 2nd half and especially after her finish for a clear contrast and comparison… and you will realize what I am talking about. I know that winning… and getting an Olympic Gold medal & new WR… would surely be a wonderful elixir for most all of us and give us all greatly enhanced recuperative powers….. but it just looked too good to be true…

Plenty of well-respected names—The Sports Gene author David Epstein, coach and author Steve Magness, sport scientist Ross Tucker, Sports Illustrated’s Tim Layden—joined in the doubting. Notably, all of the evidence here is circumstantial, by association, based on gut feelings. Suspicions of Ayana personally are augmented by the backdrop of worldwide corruption and failures at the top levels of the IOC, the IAAF, and WADA, the banning of Russia’s entire team for doping, and a drumroll of allegations regarding Kenya, Jamaica, Ethiopia, Great Britain, and, let’s not forget, the US of A. But there are good reasons to believe nothing untoward happened—the main one being a lack of evidence to the contrary. Here are some others.

Ayana’s Progression Is Reasonable Ayana was, prior to this year, a 5000 meter specialist with a reasonable, if elite, progression, from 15:12 in 2011 to 14:12 in June 2016. Note that 14:12 is one second off the current world record. Moving up to 10,000 meters is not uncommon, and 29:17 is within reason for a 14:12 5K runner. She’s been competing at a consis- tently high level since 2011 which does not conform to one of the biggest doping red flags—an athlete appear- ing out of nowhere to post world leading times, or a mediocre athlete suddenly improving to that level.

The Magic Extended Far Beyond Ayana Seven national records and 18 personal bests were achieved. That’s rare for any race, but downright fairy dust- sprinkled for a pacemaker-free championship race. Olympic races don’t allow official pacemakers, and they’re all about the first three places, so they rarely result in even a quick time, much less a world record. Usually, Olympic 10,000s are sit-and-kick affairs, with a few stars loping along until a half-mile to go, when they turn on the jets and medal, 1-2-3. But Kenya’s announced this was going to be a different race right off the bat. Thanks to Aprot, the congregation of studs in the loaded field went through the mile in 4:46, which is quick. In fact, none of those records, including Ayana’s, would have been possible without Aprot’s aggressive running, as a de facto pacemaker. Had Aprot been Ethiopian, one might suspect she was playing the domestique for Ayana but, bearing in mind the ongoing rivalry between Kenya and Ethiopia, Aprot was clearly out for gold for herself by disrupting the usual sit-and-kick game plan. The weather was perfect—mid-60s, no wind—and the congregation TAFWA Newsletter - Page 13 - September 2016 as a whole decided to go with this rogue default pacer, and that right there is the magic. Aprot led through half- way, and, it should be noted, hung on for fourth place in the fifth fastest time ever, 29:53. Tough, tough woman, that Aprot. It’s difficult to predict when this sort of thing—insanely fit athletes deciding at the same time to get in a line, put their heads down and go for it—is going to happen, but it sure did in Rio. So how far down does one call foul? Just before American Molly Huddle? The first six women, including Molly Huddle, ran personal bests. Are all those women doping? Where does reality start then? Ayana’s world record was totally dependent on the fact that Alice Aprot Nawowuna and five other women kept her company at least halfway.

Ayana Didn’t Best The World Record By As Much As You May Think Marathon world record holder was one of the many who expressed doubts, saying, “I’m not sure that I can understand that. When I saw the world record set in 1993, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. And Ayana has absolutely blitzed that time.” But as Ross Tucker pointed out, Radcliffe’s marathon world record, set in 2003, broke her own previous record by 1.4 percent, and her 2:15 is still 2.3 percent ahead of the second fastest marathoner ever, while Ayana’s 29:17 only improved the 10,000 meter record by 0.8 percent. The only thing Radcliffe proved is that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones. It is a shame track fans can’t simply appreciate such a stellar race, and Ayana’s fantastic performance as a declaration of a new plane of achievement in women’s athletics. But it’s not vanilla ice cream. Track fans are now forced to examine their attitudes toward doping, to recognize what’s important to them about the sport, and formulate their own guidelines for trust and suspicion. Track fans have had to evolve with the sport.

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 14 - September 2016 California Senate Passes Resolution on East German Doping Kevin Gast | September 01st, 2016 | SwimSwam https://swimswam.com/california-senate-passes-resolution-east-german-doping/

The California Senate has taken a major step in recognizing the injustices of the 1976 Olympic Games by passing Senate Resolution 88, which urges the IOC, FINA, and USA Swimming to recognize the ath- letes who suffered at the hands of East German doping.

East ’s doping program, officially recognized as State Plan 14:25, began in the early 70s as a way for East Germany to secure national prestige through sporting dominance. Oral Turinabol, an developed at a secret lab in Leipzig, was given to East German girls as young as twelve without their or their par- ent’s knowledge. The Secret police force in charge of the program, the Statsi, planted nearly 3,000 moles within the sports system to monitor the coaches and athletes. All of this information has been accumulated from Bri- gitte Berendonk and her husband, biologist Werner Franke. Their controversial book, Doping Dokumente, was published after they discovered written documentation that described the doping plans.

The effects of the doping program were immediate, with the East German swim team winning eleven of a pos- sible thirteen gold medals at the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics. From 1974-1989, the East German women won 99 of a possible 105 gold medals at the European Championships, and 156 of a possible 168 medals, ac- counting for the two-swimmer rule that limited the amount of entrants at championship meets.

The Resolution has been long awaited by all of the athletes who competed at these Olympics, including Shirley Babashoff. Babashoff won four silver medals at those 1976 Montreal Olympics, as well as a gold on the 400-me- ter freestyle relay. All of Babashoff’s losses came to East German swimmers. This resolution will try and influ- ence the IOC and FINA to rescind East Germany’s Olympic medals from the period that the alleged doping took place. Moscow Court Seizes Russian Doping Whistle-Blower’s Assets http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-rodchenkov-doping-whistle-blower-assets-seized/27945067.html A court in Moscow has the seized assets of the former director of Rus- sia’s anti-doping laboratory, after he publicly detailed a vast state-spon- sored system to help Russian athletes improve their performance. The Basman District Court said on August 25 that the ruling to seize Grigory Rodchenkov’s property was issued on August 12. Rodchenkov, who has been charged with abuse of authority, fled to the United States where earlier this year he detailed a sophisticated system involving security agents to hide Grigory Rodchenkov, the former director of Russia’s anti-doping laboratory tainted urine samples during the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Rodchenkov’s testimony was used during an investigation by the World Anti-Doping Agency into state-spon- sored . After the report was released, all but one of Russia’s track-and-field team was banned from the Rio Olympics while all Russian competitors in other sports had to prove they were clean by meeting several criteria in order to be eligible to compete at Rio. The Kremlin has slammed Rodchenkov’s statements as a “turncoat’s slander.”

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 15 - September 2016 Nina Ponomareva, Soviet Olympian Who Set Off a Diplomatic Crisis, Dies at 87 By WILLIAM GRIMES | THE NEW YORK TIMES | AUG. 23, 2016 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/24/sports/olympics/nina-ponomareva-dead.html?_r=2 Nina Ponomareva, a champion discus thrower who earned the its first Olympic gold medal when she competed in the 1952 Hel- sinki Games and touched off a dip- lomatic crisis four years later when she shoplifted five hats in a London store, died on Friday in Moscow. She was 87. Dmitry Shlyakhtin, the head of the Russian Track and Field Federa- tion, announced her death, the news agency TASS reported. Ponomareva (pronounced puh-nah- mar-YOVE-uh), competing under her married name of Romashkova, led a strong women’s discus contingent when the Soviet Union made its first Olympic champion Nina Ponomareva, center, with (sil- appearance in the Olympic Games. ver), left, and of Romania (bronze) in 1960. Credit Associated Press Already a national champion in the U.S.S.R., she took the gold with a throw of 168 feet 8 inches, shattering the Olympic record of 156-2 , set by at the 1936 Games in Berlin. Her teammates won the silver and bronze medals. Her win was an enormous coup for the Soviet Olympic team, regarded as little more than a joke at the time. Less than a month later, at a track meet in Odessa, she set a world record of 175-10½. Flawless on the field, Ponomareva took a bad misstep four years later in the millinery department of a store in London, where the Soviet track and field team had traveled to compete against its British counterpart. Two store detectives at C&A Modes, a low-priced clothing store on Oxford Street, testified that Ponomareva, who had attracted their attention by her furtive behavior, had stuffed one hat in the sleeve of her overcoat and concealed four others between two paper bags that she was carrying. She was taken into custody, charged with theft of goods valued at $4.68 ($42.50 today) and ordered to appear in court the next day. Instead, she disap- peared. “The Case of the Slipped Discus,” as one British newspaper called it, dominated headlines, giving the Suez Ca- nal crisis a run for its money on the front page. The manager of the Soviet team, accusing the British of a “dirty provocation which was aimed at the blackmailing of this well-known and remarkable sportswoman,” pulled his athletes from the competition. A planned visit by the Bolshoi Ballet to Covent Garden looked to be in danger, as Galina Ulanova and other members of the troupe protested in a letter to the newspaper Izvestiya that they feared “persecution” if they made the trip. Ponomareva remained at large for more than a month, with a warrant out for her arrest. It was widely as- sumed that she was holed up in the Soviet Embassy, where an official dismissed the charges against her as absurd. “She has lots of money,” the official told reporters. “She could buy 100 hats.” She resurfaced to enter a not-guilty plea in Marlborough Street Magistrates Court. She had paid for the hats, she told the magistrate, but had not kept a receipt because such a thing did not exist in the Soviet Union. She was found guilty and, after paying a fine of three guineas ($8.80) and court costs, was set free. Her career did not suffer. “The lady of the five hats,” as The Associated Press called her, was greeted enthu- siastically by Australians when she stepped off the plane for the 1956 Olympic Games. Good-natured hecklers shouted, “Watch your hats, girls, here comes Nina.” TAFWA Newsletter - Page 16 - September 2016 Nina Ponomareva competing in a U.S.-Soviet track meet.

Credit Howard Sochurek/The LIFE Picture Collection, via Getty Images

After smiling and waving to the crowd, Ponomareva assured reporters that the three hats she carried with her were paid for. At that point, two minders in trench coats whisked her away, telling reporters that she was too tired to take questions. She managed only a bronze medal — the scandal had disrupted her training — but she roared back at the 1960 Games in Rome to reclaim the gold. By then, her name was a byword in Britain. In a House of Commons debate on the lessons of the Suez crisis, the Labour member Tony Benn attacked as “banditry” the government’s foreign policy. “If the Canal is vital to us, we take it,” he said. “This is the morality of Nina Ponomareva — ‘I like your hat, I will have it.’” Nina Apollonovna Ponomareva was born on April 27, 1929, in the village of Smychka, near Sverdlovsk (now Ekaterinburg), where she spent her early childhood in the labor camp to which her parents had been sent. Her father, Apollon, an artist, was the son of a church official, and her mother, Anna, was the daughter of a kulak, or well-to-do peasant. Both categories often earned spells in the gulag under Joseph Stalin. “I was little and I didn’t have the faintest idea that I was serving time together with my parents,” she told the Russian magazine Sport Express in 2015. “I thought they were enthusiasts who had gone voluntarily to chop trees.” After her parents were released in 1936, Nina and her family relocated to Yessentuki, in the Caucasus, where they lived under German occupation during World War II. She began competing as a runner in her late teens and, after entering the Stavropol Pedagogical Institute to study physical training, took up the discus, winning a regional championship in 1948 and taking third place in the nationals a year later. Ponomareva won her first national championship in 1951 and held onto the title for seven of the next eight years. In 1954, she was European champion. She graduated from the Moscow Pedagogical Institute in 1955. In 1957, she was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, honoring service to the state in nonmilitary fields. She competed in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo but finished 11th. She retired in 1966 and for the next three decades trained Olympic hopefuls in Kiev. She also competed internationally in senior track and field meets. She was married and divorced twice. She is survived by a son from her second marriage, Alexander Garin, and three grandchildren. When it came to the hats, Ponomareva stuck to her story. “I did not steal the hats,” she told reporters on a stopover in , en route to the Melbourne Games. “It was all a lie, a big lie.”

Correction: August 25, 2016 An obituary on Wednesday about the Soviet discus thrower Nina Ponomareva misstated the year of the Tokyo Olympics, in which she finished 11th. They were in 1964, not 1960. (As the obituary correctly noted elsewhere, the 1960 Games, in which she won a gold medal, were in Rome.) The obituary also misspelled the name of a city in Russia near the village where Ponomareva was born. It was Sverdlovsk, not Sverdlosk. TAFWA Newsletter - Page 17 - September 2016 The Sports Linchpin Posted onTuesday, August 16, 2016 | https://stratechery.com/2016/the-sports-linchpin/

In an interview over the weekend with Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated, Chairman of the NBC Sports Group Mark Lazarus declared himself very satisfied with how the Rio Olympics have gone for NBC:

“I’m obviously biased but I believe once again we have created a masterful production job, from the quality of production, the quality of storytelling, our preparedness for whatever stories developed as evidenced by what people are seeing on all of their screens,” says Lazarus. “Everyone is talking about these Olympics versus London. London was an A+ and Rio is an A. It’s been really good for us, and as media habits as evolved, we have evolved and are leading with some of the ways we are structuring our programming.”

The London comparison has been a tough one for NBC, at least in the ratings department. Even with the benefit of showing Usain Bolt live in prime time for the first time, NBC’s Sunday night telecast earned a 14.9 rating and 26.7 million viewers, down from a 17.5 rating and 31.3 million viewers for the same night four years ago, and a 16.0 rating and 27.2 million for the Olympics eight years ago. In fact, it was the lowest rated middle Sunday since 1984 (the addition of streaming and alternate channels improved the numbers somewhat, but they were still less than either of the last two Olympics); nearly every night of coverage has seen similar declines, resulting in an average of 17% fewer viewers than four years ago. And yet, Lazarus has good reason to be pleased: NBC sold $1.2 billion worth of ads before the Olympics even started, 20% over London’s pace, and while NBC may need to offer some “make-good” spots to those advertisers to make up for lower ratings, the total amount of advertising is expected to surpass London’s $1.33 billion, lead- ing Lazarus to declare on a conference call that “this will be our most economically successful Games in history.” This bifurcation between viewership and profitability is a fascinating one: how is it that NBC can sell more ads for more money for fewer viewers? The answer is very much in line with what has become a theme for Stratech- ery this summer: NBC’s advertisers have nowhere else to go.

The Symbiosis of TV and Its Advertisers In TV Advertising’s Surprising Strength — And Inevitable Fall I noted that TV’s biggest advertisers were all (unsurprisingly) predicated on scale and serving the mass market; the list was dominated by industries like consumer packaged goods, telecoms, automobiles, retailers, and credit card companies. Those same industries dominate Olympic advertising; according to Kantar Media the top ten Olympic advertisers include General Mo- tors and BMW (automobiles), P&G (CPG), AT&T (telecoms), and Visa (credit cards), and while no retailer cracks the top ten, the retailer category is the second biggest spender overall. The big takeaway from that article was not only that the traditional TV industry is intertwined with its adver- tisers, but that the forces chipping away at TV viewership, particularly amongst young people, were acting on TV’s advertisers’ as well; the next few weeks gave several examples, including Unilever’s relatively cheap acquisi- tion of Dollar Shaving Club and Walmart’s (expensive) acquisition of Jet.com. Yes, there are digital ad dollars to be had from the old guard, but maybe less than expected; probably the biggest opportunity for Facebook et al will be companies predicated on the social network’s existence. Still, the symbiosis of TV and its advertisers paradoxically meant that both would likely stay stronger longer than you might expect; it’s easy to envision a future of fully on-demand streaming and digital advertising from niche products delivered via e-commerce, but less clear is what will be the triggering event that gets us from today’s post-war landscape to that future. That’s why I’m so interested in these ratings.

The Sports Linchpin The importance of sports to TV is well known, but perhaps not fully appreciated; when I wrote three years ago that live sports were perhaps the most irreplaceable “job” done by TV the context was the sustainability of the cable bundle. Pressure on said bundle continues to grow, yet so do the affiliate fees charged by sports networks: last year ESPN had by far the highest fees and the biggest increase, followed by TNT (basketball) and the NFL Network. The story is even starker when you include regional sports networks. That said, the secular shift to a subscription model for television (whether affiliate fees or direct subscrip- TAFWA Newsletter - Page 18 - September 2016 tions) is a broad-based one; what makes sports unique is that it is also the most important category for TV’s other big revenue stream — advertising. For broadcast networks, sports accounts for 37% of ad revenue, up from 29% five years ago; this despite the fact sports only makes up between 10%-12% of programming. Sports- focused cable channels make big bucks off of advertising as well, led by ESPN with $2.4 billion (plus $360 million for ESPN2) and $407 million for the NFL Network. Basically, sports advertising is growing for everyone (from a 4% compound annual growth rate for Fox to 15% for NBC), while non-sports advertising has decreased by a 1% rate over the same five year period. The reason to point out all of these facts that you probably already know, at least in broad strokes, is this: I would argue sports are the linchpin holding the entire post-war economic order together. Because sports are consumed live, with significantly higher advertising load and viewer retention, sports are increasingly the only viable place for mass-market consumer companies to reach customers at scale and fight off niche e-commerce companies slicing off their customer base. That in turn helps preserve retailers, themselves both big advertisers and big targets for internet-based companies, particularly Amazon, and so on down the line. This effect is mag- nified by sports’ role in preserving the cable bundle, which keeps more channels — and thus more inventory — viable (not to mention that some of TV’s biggest advertisers — entertainment companies — also own the cable channels). This raises big questions about NBC’s disappointing Olympic numbers: if sports are losing their hold on the population broadly then entire industries are at risk, not just NBC.

Good and Bad News That said, it’s probably too soon to panic: the easiest explanation for these numbers is that NBC is violating the biggest precept underlying sports’ continued strength, which is being live. In 2005 14% of the top 100 pro- grams watched lived were sports; last year, thanks to the rise of first DVRs and later streaming, that percentage had risen to an incredible 93%. I certainly understand that a sport like gymnastics is difficult to show live even if it took place in primetime instead of the afternoon, but getting a push notification about the results hours before it airs can’t help but depress viewership; true, the Internet has been around for a while and NBC has used tape delay for decades, but over the last four and especially eight years it has become exponentially more difficult to avoid the results of events you didn’t even know you wanted to watch until NBC stuck them in front of you. Certainly this new reality is bad news for NBC, and calls into question Lazarus’ description of NBC’s production as “masterful”, but everyone else dependent on sports can breathe easier. Not too easy though: NBC’s numbers are far worse amongst younger viewers. That 17% ratings slump over the first 10 days is 25% when you consider only 18-49 years olds, echoing a pattern seen amongst other major sports including the most important sport of all in the U.S., American football. Yes, the NFL has record ratings, but over the last ten years the average viewer has increased in age from 43 to 47 (admittedly, that’s not nearly as bad as baseball’s increase from 46 to 53; basketball has stayed steady at 37), while streaming alternatives like Twitch (8.5 million daily users in 2015, mostly 18-49 males) are skyrocketing in popularity. In short, it’s not clear why over the long run sports should be exempt from the explosion in alternatives that have fractured markets for every other post-war institution. Young people are still following the Olympics: NBC’s streaming is up significantly, and 50 million people are watching Olympics highlights on Snapchat. The latter data point, though, indicates a deeper weakness: the demotion of sports from mass media centerpiece to just another bit of content available on an aggregator. That’s why this was the most worrisome thing Lazarus said on the aforementioned conference call: [The] NBC broadcast is not the only way people are consuming the Olympics, just as newspapers and magazines are not only consumed in print. While primetime broadcast TV viewing on NBC will remain the biggest way that people consume the Olympics, we also understand that to millenials and younger viewers, primetime is really, quote/unquote, “my time”. They want to watch on their terms, and that’s why moving forward we’ll continue to adapt to viewer behavior with our coverage on multiple platforms. Here’s a rule of thumb: anytime you compare your situation to newspapers and magazines, you have a big problem; yes, publishers of all types have a far bigger audience than ever before, but their business is no longer a canvas for advertisers but content for Facebook. One of the biggest questions in my mind — and what should be the biggest question in the mind of executives everywhere — is whether or not sports broadly is on the same path: must-see TV today, just another stream on Snapchat tomorrow. The implications of the latter for indus- tries everywhere cannot be overstated. TAFWA Newsletter - Page 19 - September 2016 NBC is Stuck in 20th Century with Olympics Coverage, Faces Uncertain Future By: Ty Duffy | August 22, 2016 http://thebiglead.com/2016/08/22/nbc-is-stuck-in-20th-century-with-olympics-coverage-faces-uncertain-future/ NBC’s Olympics extravaganza is over. The cover- Cord-cutting will be a continued problem. People age resembled an investor trying to flip a $20 million cutting the cord are casual viewers (of which the home after the market tanked. The Olympics may not Olympic audience is largely comprised) and millenni- be an event fit for television’s future, at least at the als (the key demographic for advertisers). These people steep price NBC is paying for it. aren’t fleeing to digital viewing (which they don’t have Rio 2016 had everything going for it, for television. access to as non cable subscribers). They just aren’t This was the best time zone for the Summer Games watching. Touting Snapchat engagement feels very since 1996. All the major swimming and track and “dad trying to wear skinny jeans.” field finals, with some NBC rank pulling, were live The Olympics feels like an event optimized for the in prime time. NBC had Michael Phelps and Usain last era of cable television. It was having similar prob- Bolt, perhaps the two greatest Olympians ever, each lems adjusting to modernity in 2000. That’s a prob- spearheading multiple nights of programming. Lesser lem for NBC, which is paying enormous sums for the known Americans dominated the medal count. It was Olympics now ($4.38 billion deal through 2020) and hard to ask for more. made an even greater investment on its resonance in the future, a further $7.75 billion, to extend the rights The results were not great. Standard TV ratings through 2032. were down significantly from 2012. Though closing ceremony ended on a particularly sour note. Though, Not being able to recast the Olympics for millenni- ratings still dwarfed all competition. NBC was basically als is worrisome, when NBC is committed long term to televising to an audience equivalent to one watching selling the Olympics to millennials’ children. a college football playoff game, every night. Even with NBC needs the Olympics to work. Consequently, that large audience, NBC had to give “make goods” to NBC converted to relentless shill mode across all pro- advertisers for missed ratings targets. gramming. NBC News led with the Olympics over hard Those results don’t bode well for the future. news. The Today Show and Access Hollywood essen- Tape delaying is a conundrum with no clear solu- tially merged with the event coverage. tion. NBC packaging highlights amidst narrative pack- Negative Olympic stories were soft-pedaled. The top ages can be irksome. It’s also far and away the best European Olympic official being arrested as part of a viewer experience for most people. Even for sports ticketing scam was barely mentioned, if at all. Ditto fans, watching many of these events straight through for the empty seats. NBC did go in hard on the PED in real time is monotonous. angle, except when Americans Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay were running. That’s before we get into the myriad The trouble is that concept is not really tenable in of other issues that made Rio a terrible choice to host 2016. Avoiding results beforehand is nearly impos- a major athletics tournament. sible. NBC can’t shut down other news outlets. One could not log into Facebook without having results Other outlets covered the Olympics. NBC promoted trumpeted at you, by Facebook. the bejesus out of it. NBC is not the BBC, supplemented by license fees. NBC may have paid for a lavish casual audience tent- It has to optimize revenue, which means stringing pole every couple years in a marketplace that will favor viewers along as far as possible with prime content. invested viewers willing to pay a la carte every month. While the women’s gymnastics team was one of the great American stories in Rio, people (especially chil- The Olympics are an imperfect fit now. We’re only dren) unable to stay up past 11:00pm missed almost on the precipice of a sea change. The cable model is on of all it. its last legs. It’s not clear what the future will look like This was a near ideal time zone for American audi- or whether Internet streaming will be able to replace ences. Four years ago, NBC opted not to show the the revenue generated from a traditional TV audience. men’s 100m final live in the late afternoon to save it The event feels far more like its butting against the for the prime time block. How does that decision play future, than being at the forefront of it. in 2020? TAFWA Newsletter - Page 20 - September 2016 NEIL WILSON: Only the athletes can feel proud of these Olympics THE NEIL WILSON COLUMN in RIO DE JANEIRO An exclusive, authoritative series from Sports Features Communications http://www.sportsfeatures.com/olympicsnews/story/52358/neil-wilson-only-the-athletes-can-feel-proud-of-these-olympics

(SFC) Ignore the diplomatic words of Thomas Bach when he closes the Games on Sunday. This was not the best ever Games. It was not even close to the best ever. It came close only to being the most embarrassing. Bach called it the Iconic Games. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word as meaning widely known for distinctive excellence. Perhaps he meant in the performances within the Games. As an athletic and competi- tive event it was iconic certainly. Every Games is. In every way this was the Scandal Games run on goodwill by an organizing committee that had run out of money and which in its desperation to recoup its investment priced its local citizens out of their own Games. There was the scandal of an IOC executive board member, the representative of ANOC, arrested while naked in his room at the luxurious IOC hotel, charged with scalping and conspiracy to create a cartel and imprisoned in Rio’s most notorious goal. There was the scandal of the Olympic champion chased out of the country by police who confirmed that he had manufactured a story of mugging which put Rio and its security service in the worst possible light. There was the scandal of the boxing judging, so erroneous that some judges were sent home early by AIBA, its international federation. And for the first time at any Olympics we had the scandal of Olympians pointing the finger at other Olympians with their suspicions of doping, suspicions they were willing to express while still within the pool or stadium.

Olympian it was not. The Greek gods that the Ancient Games idolized would have been crying from the top of Olympus. I felt most sorry for the Cariocas, the people of Rio, who won the Games in 2009 when the country was rising towards the top of the GDP table and staged them when they were falling so fast that the state of Rio was tech- nically bankrupt. The last thing in the world Rio needed in 2016 was a Games but it went through with it like a good host, hos- pitable and friendly and pandered to the obnoxious greed of the IOC on their massive per diem payments and chauffeured cars. I have been to 21 celebrations of Olympiads, to 12 summer and nine winter Games, and I cannot remember one that inspired so many shocking headlines since my first in Munich where athletes died. Here they were only mugged and mocked but it was still a Games that was bad news for the Olympic movement and the Olympic ideal. So in the style of an end of term school report let me judge how Rio has done.

SECURITY What can you say when a media working room and a media bus are hit with bullets, when an Olympic lobbyist had $8,000 worth of camera and computer gear stolen in a media hotel, a British official mugged yards from the athletes’ village and four ‘packages’ were blown up in controlled explosions. Rio employed twice as many secu- rity people as London and they needed every one. GRADE: C

VENUES To have the main Olympic Stadium so far from the main Olympic Park and Athletes Village was nonsensical. Athletes were getting to bed after competing in heats at 2am. The Stadium was also in a less than wholesome part of town which may have been one factor which deterred spectators. No attempt to cloak other arenas so most looked what they were: temporary. So fundamentally flawed were the working parts that lifts failed and wheelchairs could not get to their seating. And there was so little signage around the venues you could be excused for not realizing an Olympic Games was taking place. GRADE: C

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 21 - September 2016 PRICES Scandalously high and beyond the pockets of most locals. You could pay north of $500 in the Stadium, more than $120 to watch rowing. Even a field hockey match would cost $80. Possible as a package for rich tourists but beyond the means of a city where the average monthly wage is around $800. Not surprisingly the Stadium was mostly less than half full, boxing and judo preliminaries not a quarter full, and though RIOOC claimed to have sold more than 50,000 Stadium tickets on a Tuesday evening fewer than 20,000 showed up. London’s full arenas for every event shamed Rio. GRADE: D

TRANSPORT Public was fine. A combination of Metro, overground rail and bus would take you most places, air-conditioned and acceptably quickly. Athlete and media coaches, all equipped with wi-fi, worked well. There were small prob- lems. Swimmers had to have their heats re-arranged when they were directed to the wrong bus. But generally good. GRADE A-

ATMOSPHERE Not much chance of it in half-empty arenas and where Brazilians were competing it took on a nasty edge. Rivals to their own were booed. A French pole vaulter was booed on the rostrum even though a Brazilian had won gold, reducing him to tears. Michael Johnson and Michael Phelps both condemned it, as did the IOC but it continued to the end. Perhaps it was a good thing so few Brazilians turned up to watch. GRADE D

VOLUNTEERS Forever smiling and courteous, the volunteer core cut in half by financial woes and with little training were the shining face of Rio 2016. A few turned up only to pick up their uniforms and complimentary watch and were never seen again but those who remained did a wonderful job. GRADE: A

THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE They started well by creating a team for refugees but finished in hiding from controversy. Not since 1972 when president Avery Brundage let the Games continue over the dead bodies of Israeli athletes has IOC seemed so remote from public opinion, as when Bach disclaimed all responsibility for the safety of the Stepanovs, the Russian whistleblowers. The arrest and charging of an executive board members will be one defining memory of these Games. GRADE: Ungraded

OVERALL: Must do better.

** NEIL WILSON reported his first Olympic Games in Munich in 1972. He has since covered another eleven summer and nine winter Olympics for various newspapers, including The Independent and the Daily Mail with whom he has worked for the last 19 years as Athletics and Olympic correspondent. He was Britain’s Sports Journalist of the Year in 1984 and is the author of seven books.

****The views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of Sports Features Communi- cations.

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 22 - September 2016 Who Will Be On the Rio Podium in 10 Years? August 21, 2016 | by Martin Bingisser http://www.hmmrmedia.com/2016/08/who-will-be-on-the-rio-podium-in-10-years/ Over the past week new Olympic medalists were crowned in track and field. We’ve seen dramatic performances, amazing back stories, and new stars emerge. But while the competition on the field has finished, unfortunately the results have not yet been finalized. Let’s consider the current results as a first draft. Under the 2015 revisions to the WADA code, drug testers may retest samples from Rio for the next 10 years. If history tells us anything, it is guaranteed to result in some changes. Let’s look more than a decade back to 2004. Retesting first came into play at this Olympics and as the statute of limitations has now expired it gives a good case study in what is to come. Coincidentally the Athens Olympics was the first Olympics where I watched every throw. I could tell you about nearly every thrower in the field, but even I was surprised when I looked back and saw that of the 18 medals in the heavy throws, 7 had changed hands and another 4 tainted medals. That’s well over half the medals from Athens, and these are just the athletes that were doping in competition. What about those athletes only doping out of competition? What about the cor- ruption that hides positives? Just look at Sochi where lost samples and potential positives may never be found, and people like Swiss bobsledder Beat Hefti will never receive the gold he earned but was given to Russia’s Alexandr Zubkov. Of the 18 heavy throws medals from 2004 Olympics, over half have been stripped or tainted by doping. Growing up I always felt our sport was cleaner than cycling and baseball and American football. But looking back I can see I was a blind sheep. In the 12 years since then the IAAF, IOC, and WADA have done little to give me confidence that I am watching a cleaner sport. And the issue is not limited to the throws; distance and sprinting podiums have seen numer- ous changes as well. So that makes me wonder how many Rio medals will change hands over the next decade. This is unfor- tunate because of the impact is has on athletes, and on fans. Here is the complete look at the 2004 podiums in the heavy throws: Shot Put: 3 medals stripped, 1 tainted medal Already before the Olympics were over there were rumors that men’s shot put champion Yuri Bilonog of had failed his drug test. That rumor turned out to be false, but he did eventually get his gold stripped in 2012 when his sample was retested. was upgraded as a result. The women’s shot put had a similar story, but it took a much shorter time to play out. of Russia took gold and within a week of the Games her result came back positive. This was the second doping ban of her career and resulted in a lifetime ban. After Korzhanenko was stripped of gold, her teammate was upgraded to bronze. But eight years later Krivelyova was also stripped after a retest of her sample came back positive. The bronze medal was not subsequently reawarded in part because Nadzeya Ostapchuk of was in line to receive it next, but had failed drug tests at the 2005 World Championships and 2012 Olympics. : 2 medals stripped, 3 tainted medals The biggest doping story at the games was triggered when Adrian Annus of Hungary was stripped of his gold for tamper- ing with his doping samples. Tests showed that two of his samples came from two different individuals, which led to his disqualification (the rumor in online forums was that he was using a Wizzinator). He additionally refused to give another sample upon request. After Annus was stripped, Koji Murofushi received gold, and Ivan Tikhon was upgraded to silver. Tikhon was one of the most complicated doping histories in track and field. He was stripped of his 2008 silver medal after a positive test, but won it back on appeal. However he was not as lucky with his 2004 medal. After a retest in 2012 this was stripped. While those were the only medals stripped in the hammer, the story does not stop there. After Annus was banned, Esref Apak of Turkey had been upgraded to bronze. While he never tested positive in 2004, a positive drug test in 2013 landed him a two year ban. That puts some suspicion around his 2004 results too. Likely because of this, he was never upgraded to silver after Tikhon was stripped. If Apak was upgraded, then fourth place finisher Vadim Devyatovskiy also would have been upgraded to bronze. Devyatovskiy has his own backstory which includes a 2000 positive and a positive in 2008 (which, along with Tikhon’s, was overturned on appeal) and likely played into the IOC’s decision not to award the silver medal to anyone. The doping issues again were not limited to the men’s competition. The women’s champion Olga Kuzenkova of Russia was stripped of her 2005 world title after a retest came back positive. She still retains her Olympic gold, but with similar results in both competitions I don’t know anyone that thinks she only started doping in 2005. : 2 medals stripped Annus’s teammate and training partner Robert Fazekas initially won the men’s discus gold, but had that stripped too after problems with his ability and willingness to provide a sample. In the women’s discus competition Iryna Yatchenko of Belarus was stripped of her bronze medal after a retest of her sample in 2012 came back positive. TAFWA Newsletter - Page 23 - September 2016 D’Agostino and Hamblin receive Fair Play awards from CIFP https://www.iaaf.org/news/news/ ioc-fair-play-hamblin-dagostino

Distance runners Abbey D’Agostino from USA and from New Zealand received Fair Play awards from the The International Fair Play Committee (CIFP), with the support of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), on Saturday (20).

The presentation took place at Olympic Club in the Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro in recognition of their exemplary sportsmanship during the women’s 5000m heats on Tuesday.

Hamblin tripped and fell to the Nikki Hamblin and Abbey D’Agostino during the women’s 5000m ground during the race, accidentally heats in Rio 2016 Olympic Games (Getty Images) © Copyright bringing D’Agostino down behind her with around 1800 metres to go.

D’Agostino was quick to get up again but instead of carrying on with her race she stopped to help the stricken Hamblin to her feet, encouraging her to join her in attempting to finish the race.

However, during her tumble, D’Agostino suffered an ankle injury, slowing the runner down, but Hamblin sportingly hung back for some time in return offer her encouragement before the US runner urged her to carry on without her.

Speaking after the ceremony, Hamblin said: “I think it’s very special for both Abbey and myself. I don’t think either of us woke up and thought that that was going to be our day, or our race, or our Olympic Games. Both of us are strong competitors and we wanted to go out there and do our best on the track.”

“I was on the ground for too long to get back up and catch on to the pack. So then it becomes about finishing the race, and finishing the race well. I am so grateful to Abbey for picking me up, and I think many people would have returned the favour. Once you are on the track, there is a mutual understanding of what it takes to get there,” added Hamblin.

The trophies were presented by IOC Vice-President and IAAF Council Member Nawal El Moutawakel.

El Moutawakel said: “The Olympic Games Rio 2016 have reminded all of us of the power and magic of sport. In the past weeks, the athletes have amazed us with their outstanding achievements and performances.

“We have seen new world records, we have seen high-level performances, we have seen personal bests and we have also seen great emotions. We have also been inspired by great moments of sportsmanship. Athletes are inspirational role models, and it is these moments of fair play that we have come together to celebrate today,” added the 1984 Olympic Games 400m hurdles champion.

IOC for the IAAF

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 24 - September 2016 Isinbayeva quits, saying pole vault winner will not earn ‘proper gold’ By Mark Trevelyan | RIO DE JANEIRO | Fri Aug 19, 2016 http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN10U1QD

(Reuters) - Barred from competing at the Rio Games, Russia’s double Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva an- nounced her retirement on Friday and said whoever won the women’s pole vault in her absence would not have achieved a proper gold medal. At a combative news conference, Isinbayeva also said God would be the judge of whether athletics’ governing body was right to exclude almost the entire Russian track and field team, including herself, over what it said was incontrovertible evidence of state-sponsored doping.

Isinbayeva said she had been confident of winning the pole vault after clearing 4.90 metres on June 2 on her first competitive appearance for three years after giving birth to a daughter. She said she and her coach had been confident she would achieve 5.10, four centimetres higher than her own world record, and well above the season’s best of 4.93 set by American Sandi Morris.

“I really believed in my victory, because everything was heading towards that,” Isinbayeva said. “When the girls jump today without me, do you think that will be honest? “If you look at the big picture, when you compete without Isinbayeva it can’t be a proper gold medal.”

Whoever wins, she said, “I will congratulate the new pole vault champion, of course, but I’m sure she will feel it’s not entirely gold because goal number one is to beat Isinbayeva.” Russia’s Isinbayeva earns IOC spot despite opposition By Karolos Grohmann | RIO DE JANEIRO | Sun Aug 21, 2016 http://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-rio-isinbayeva-idUSKCN10W0KS

Double Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva, a fierce critic of a Russian track and field ban at the Rio Olympics, was elected an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member on Sunday but a third of the votes were against her. The 34-year-old, still the world record holder, was excluded from the Games along with over 100 of her team mates following revelations of a systematic, state-backed doping program in Russian sport.

Isinbayeva received 45 votes in favor and 23 against with two IOC members abstaining as she was confirmed a member of the Olympic body three days after earning a spot on the IOC’s athletes’ commission. With tears in her eyes, she greeted IOC President Thomas Bach following her election. She will now serve an eight-year term on the body as a member of the commission which represents athletes’ interests. The other four athletes’ commission members - Germany’s Britta Heidemann, Hungary’s Daniel Gyurta, Ryu Seung-min of South Korea and New Zealand’s Sarah Walker - were elected with overwhelming majorities each.

None received more than three votes against them.

Isinbayeva, who announced her retirement as an athlete this week, had repeatedly criticized the international athletics’ federation (IAAF), saying she would never forgive it for banning Russians from the Games. “It is a violation of human rights. I will not be quiet, I will take steps,” she had said in July. “I will go to the hu- man rights court. I will prove to the IAAF and World Anti-Doping Agency that they made the wrong decision.” Isinbayeva, who won gold at the Athens and Beijing Games, is also hoping to replace Dmitri Shlyakhtin as head of the Russian athletics’ federation (ARAF) when he steps down in November.

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 25 - September 2016 Sebastian Coe Seeks to Rebuild Trust in Track and Field On Olympics | By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY | AUG. 19, 2016 | The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/20/sports/olympics/sebastian-coe-seeks-to-rebuild-trust-in-track-and-field.html?_r=0 RIO DE JANEIRO — The door opened to the presi- Coe and the association’s council have approved dent’s box on Wednesday, and Sebastian Coe, standing major structural changes, which will be put to a vote and watching the steeplechase below, was outlined at a special congress of all national federations in against a backdrop of empty blue seats in the vast December. The plan is to rewrite the association’s Olympic Stadium. constitution and separate its powers, creating genu- This is not the color scheme that track and field inely independent oversight of doping and ethics and needs at this historically fraught stage. It is definitely significantly increasing gender balance in governance. not the look Coe was hoping for when he supported “Young people are not just looking at us as a sport; Rio (and South America) as host of the Olympic they are looking at us and asking a very fundamental Games for the first time, and enthusiastically provided question: Do we look like the world they live in?” Coe counsel to the Rio leadership. said. “And there are parts of us that don’t. We are a 50- At the last Summer Olympics in London, Coe, twice 50 sport out there in the stadium, and yet in Europe, a gold medalist runner at 1,500 meters, was in charge up until May, in 51 federations, you only had one of the Games as head of the organizing committee. female president.” That 2012 show was a hit, and so was Coe’s sport, with This was a job — for now unpaid — that Coe cov- full houses the rule. eted. And yet it has often looked like a classic case of be careful what you wish for. Four years later, Coe is back in another exposed post as president of the International Association of Ath- The I.A.A.F.’s decision in November to suspend the letics Federations, track and field’s world governing Russian federation from the sport and the upholding body. Coe has plenty of bigger concerns, including sav- of that decision in June to include the Rio Games have ing his sport and coping with internet death threats. generated criticism inside and outside the Olympic But the empty seats look too much like a metaphor for bubble. the state of the sport’s credibility. The British news media has reported that Coe re- “We do have to be clear; London was not the norm,” ceived death threats in Russian, something Coe does Coe said. “This is a stadium that is not easy to get to, not deny but refuses to discuss. and we’ve worked closely with the local organizing “It’s fine; it’s fine,” he said, looking rather ashen committee to try and do the best we can.” when the subject was broached. Brazilians have no great cultural affinity for track The subject is no joke. Yuliya Stepanova, the Russian and field, and times are tough here. Nonetheless, after whistle-blower now at an undisclosed location in the one week of competition and some of the smallest United States with her husband, Vitaly, underscored crowds in the modern history of Olympic track and the point this week when she said, “If something hap- field, it seems fair to think the sport could have done pens to us, you should know it’s not an accident.” better (selling a bunch of tickets when Usain Bolt runs The British authorities have been consulted on Coe. does not count). Security around him is tighter than usual, but he is As for the longer-term issues, Coe and his growing still getting in his morning runs on the beach in Rio. number of consultants and new hires, including the He denies persistent rumblings that he and Thomas just-appointed I.A.A.F. chief executive Olivier Gers, Bach, the International Olympic Committee president, will keep trying to rebuild a semblance of trust in their have grown more distant because of the Russian ban, sport. Doping has been far too common, oversight which Bach’s committee did not dispute but chose not far too uneven (see Kenya and Russia for holes in the to extend to all sports at the Rio Games. dragnet). Credibility was further shattered by charges of corruption against Lamine Diack, the former asso- “I don’t see it like that,” Coe said. “Thomas and I, we ciation president who is accused of demanding bribes have known each other for 35 years. I know his atti- to cover up positive drug tests. tude about performance-enhancing drugs. It’s exactly “You know when you want to clean your room or the same as mine.” your house?” the American decathlete Ashton Eaton On Tuesday, they sat side by side in the Olympic said in a recent interview. “It gets messier before it Stadium. Has the relationship between the longtime gets cleaner. I kind of feel like that’s the phase we’re allies changed? in.” “I hope not; I see no reason why it should,” Coe said. TAFWA Newsletter - Page 26 - September 2016 I.A.A.F. President Sebastian Coe, with tie, sat next to I.O.C. President Thomas Bach at Olympic Stadium in Rio this week. Credit Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images “We’ve all had to make difficult decisions here, and As for the empty seats in the Olympic Stadium, Bolt we all have made decisions that we clearly have felt won the gold medal in the 200 meters on Thursday were in the best interests of our organization, but I am night before a good-sized crowd, and next year he grateful to the I.O.C. for having respected the decision should bring back more buzz when the world champi- the I.A.A.F. made.” onships return to London. But , Qatar, the host And yet, to leave the Russian question up to indi- of the 2019 championships, with its small population vidual federations looked very much like a cop-out. base and Bolt probably retired, could be a harder sell. “I don’t see it like that,” Coe said. “I see this as a But the Olympics remain the most important shop decision that reinforced the autonomy of the indi- window for track and field, as Coe well knows; they vidual federations.” Coe pointed out that the other helped make him an enduring star at home. federations did not have as much time to act on Russia before Rio as the I.A.A.F. had. The question for Tokyo in 2020: How to avoid look- ing like yesterday’s sport when the world could actu- Still, there is considerable resentment as well as sup- ally be paying attention? port from inside the Olympic movement. And there “We will look afresh at our approach to a lot of will continue to be great resentment from Russian things,” Coe said. “We want to look at timetables. We athletes who missed the Games. Those include the star want to look at our broadcast relationships, and we pole-vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, who despite Russia’s want to make sure our sport is being shown to be what ban was elected on Thursday by her fellow athletes to it is. We’ve had three world records here, and as of the the I.O.C. Athletes Commission and thus a temporary other day, we’ve had 35 national records. This has been spot on the committee. top-drawer athletics.” But Coe said the focus would soon be to get Russia But as Coe, whose temples are grayer than they were back inside the tent. a year ago, knows too well, quality is only one part of “I certainly didn’t come into the sport to stop people the formula. The much trickier part is getting a rightly from competing,” he said. disillusioned public to believe in what it might happen Another task force, whose members are in Rio, has to see. been formed to lay out the conditions for Russia’s return. TAFWA Newsletter - Page 27 - September 2016 Chaunté Lowe advanced out of the qualifying round on Thursday. Credit Chang W. Lee/The New York Times The Olympics Are the End of a Track From Poverty By MICHAEL POWELL | AUG. 18, 2016 | The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/19/sports/olympics/high-jumper-chaunte-lowe-road-out-of-poverty.html?_r=0 RIO DE JANEIRO — As she tells it to me, the memory sounds like a home movie in a childhood rich in joy. Her mom had gone to work, and Chaunté Lowe and her sisters, little girls all, pulled the mattresses into the living room and put on the Kris Kross hit “Jump.” The girls jumped and touched the ceiling. Chaunté landed on the floor. She leapt from the hardwood and still touched the ceiling. “I thought to myself: Wow! You have a gift!”

She has just given me a magical-sounding origin tale for the best female high jumper in the world this year, a four-time Olympian and a reasonable bet to contend for a gold medal on Saturday. She is a lithe, exuberant jumper with a husband, Mario Lowe, and three little children whom she nursed in between Olympics. Her jumps consist of one, two, three, four high-bounding steps and up she goes, slithering backward over the high bar. She bounces up and does a little boogie. Or she puts out her arms and falls backward onto the cushion like a child. What has gone unspoken so far is the treacherous ocean Lowe navigated between early childhood memory and sitting here in the athletes’ village. Tell me about your childhood, I say. She smiles and shrugs. O.K., let’s go there. “Growing up, it was kind of really rough,” she said. “Our utilities would get disconnected, and my sisters and I had to get water in pails from across the street.” In sixth grade, she left for a track meet one weekend day. She returned to find an empty house. Mommy, she asked, where are my sisters? We’re losing the house, her mother explained. I’ve sent them to live with their father. “Mom saw that our ship was sinking,” Lowe recalls.

For many months, Lowe slept with her mother, who wrestled with the dragons of addiction, in rundown motels and the back seats of cars in Paso Robles, Calif. One day her mother sent Lowe to live with an aunt in Riverside. “My mother was embracing a camping lifestyle,” Lowe says. “What do they call it now? Off the grid? Well, Mom was off the grid.” Lowe thought about her life all summer long. At the end, she swallowed and called her mother. “I’m going to live with Grandma from now on.” Her father, she noted, could offer no help. He has spent most of his adult life in California prisons, trapped by his own drug addictions.

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 28 - September 2016 Hold on. I put up my hand. Hold on. You’re sitting here in the athletes’ village, a well-composed woman weav- ing an extraordinary tale. Did you really walk unscathed through this fire? She cautions that to be here and to be unscathed are not one and the same. “I read that part of the Bible where it says that God will be father to the fatherless, and I started talking to him,” she said of those years. “I’d lost my sisters and my mother, and it was like my thoughts and my heart were his voice. And he was talking back and encouraging me.” Her embrace of track, as for so many children of poverty, registered as a logical one, practically and emotion- ally. It required only sneakers and shorts. And it was a solitary obsession, which allowed her to craft and control her own world. She awoke well before dawn to practice, which she continues to do to this day.

In high school, she sought out her coach: I want to high-jump. O.K., he said, but you have to jump higher than the juniors and seniors. That, he figured, was the end of that. She outjumped everyone. She sprinted, hurdled, triple-jumped and did well enough with the books to make the national honor roll. Then she went to Georgia Tech, where she finished with a 4.0 grade point average. She was a talking-to-God force of nature. She credits teachers and pastors and coaches who recognized that this thin teenager possessed an unusual hunger to escape her life’s centrifugal forces. At Georgia Tech, the assistant coach Nat Page was a big influence. When she got married in Las Vegas, he walked her down the aisle. “He adopted me,” she says. “Not legally. But, believe me, I’m his daughter.”

Thursday morning at the Olympic Stadium, Page sat in the stands while Lowe’s husband, who helps coach her, cupped his hands, giving pointers between jumps. She stood, hands on hips, listening carefully. She left college after her junior year, although she still graduated. She got a sneaker contract, Mario got a job, and they purchased a home, her first. Her world seemed an improbable diamond.

The economic crash of 2008 fell on the couple like a tornado. They purchased a rental property one day, and Mario lost his job the next. She applied for 215 jobs without success. Foreclosure claimed both houses. She and Mario moved into a tiny, one-bedroom apartment with a baby. Lowe gave birth again, and this daughter had Asperger’s syndrome. Maybe her personal history was like a hungry cat that had waited all those years to devour her.

She refused to embrace that thought. She and Mario moved to Orlando, Fla., which has renowned schools for special-needs children. They found jobs, and she doubled down on her jumping. (She is her own coach, and de- vises her own training regimens, whose secrets she will not impart). Her Olympic performance has perhaps not yet matched her expectations in part because she was nursing children, or recovering from childbirth. She wants to be a financial planner and help track athletes — many of whom hail from impoverished back- grounds — avoid destruction. “Most of us aren’t millionaires,” she said. “Many of us aren’t even hundred-thou- sandaires. We can lose it so quickly.”

I peer at her. How do you make sense of this life? There’s that electric smile of hers. Aurora, the child with special needs, has made great strides; her youngest, nicknamed Spider Man, celebrated his third birthday while she was in Rio. Her mother is climbing out of the abyss. “I’m really hoping this story has a happy ending.” She is talking about the Olympics. The other narrative, the big one, appears to have taken care of itself.

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 29 - September 2016 GB athletes have ‘doubts’ over result of women’s 1500m Rio race Sean Ingle in Rio de Janeiro | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/17/gb-athlete-laura-muir-doubts-womens-1500m-rio-olympics The British middle-distance runners and ers: “I think you know a tree by the fruit that it bears. have questioned whether the result And if a tree bears sour fruit, then the fruit around of the women’s 1500m final at Rio Olympic Games can it are likely infected. And so I think that if the World be trusted. Their comments came after the race’s silver Anti-Doping Agency is on the case, they’ll find what medallist, the Ethiopian , said she was they need to find. I hope so.” “crystal clean from doping”and defended her contro- When Dibaba was pressed about her relationship versial coach, Jama Aden, who was arrested in June with Aden she insisted she had nothing to hide and on charges of administering and distributing doping hit out at those making allegations that she believed substances and endangering public health. had cost her the race. “The rumours roaming around Aden was released but remains under investigation the world are deeply affecting me,” Dibaba said. “I and cannot leave Spain following a raid on his hotel by have communication with Jama. It’s purely and solely, police and anti-doping officers that found the banned training and execution and competition. And these blood-boosting drug EPO and other prohibited sub- rumours adversely affected my performance, my psy- stances. chology.” The athletics world governing body, the IAAF, said Dibaba, who said she had been tested “four, five, six its investigation into Aden had begun in 2013 and times” in the buildup to Rio, was then asked why she would “use all available resources and powers to was sticking with a coach under police investigation. protect clean athletes and the integrity of our sport”. “The evaluation is undergoing,” she said. Aden denies any wrongdoing. “If he is clean, I will stay with Jama. If things are After finishing a brave seventh in the 1500m final, worse, I will stop. He is only under custody. I’m com- Muir was reminded that the equivalent race in Lon- pletely and crystal clean from doping.” don 2012 is now regarded as “really dirty” because Crystal clean are not words associated with the six finalists have either failed drug tests or are under 1500m final at London 2012. The official Olympics investigation. site lists no gold medallist for the race because the It was then put to her whether the result of her race victor that day, Turkey’s Asli Cakir Alptekin, is serving could be trusted. She hesitated before replying: “I have an eight-year ban for biological passport anomalies. my doubts, let me say that.” Her compatriot Gamze Bulut, who is still down as Muir, whose gutsy decision to follow Dibaba and the finishing second, has been under investigation by the winner of Kenya when they attacked IAAF since March. From 2011 to 2012 Bulut’s 1,500m with two laps to go cost her at the finish, was then personal best dropped from 4:18.23 to 4:01.18 but asked whether she might be bumped up the standings she has never recaptured that form. The fourth-place in the future. “Possibly” was the succinct reply. finisher, Tatyana Tomashova of Russia, had a 2008 The 23-year-old’s comments brought to mind those doping suspension and is banned by the IAAF. of another British athlete, Lisa Dobriskey, in London Weightman, who raced in the 2012 and 2016 Olym- four years ago. After finishing 10th in the 1500m she pic 1500m finals, said she believed there had been told reporters: “I’ll probably get into trouble for saying “huge steps forward” in the past four years. this, but I don’t believe I’m competing on a level play- “The final in Rio was much better than in London,” ing field.” she said. “Then I was only 21 and I didn’t really know The American Jenny Simpson, who took bronze on what was going on. My eyes have been opened a lot Tuesday after running the last 800m of the race in more in the last few years but I really believe that I 1min 58sec, said that she was satisfied with her per- have come a very long way since then. That was a much formance because “I’ve done it honestly and clean and better final – I’m delighted for the medallists there: with everything that’s just inside my own body being Faith Kipyegon and Jenny Simpson getting a bronze.” expressed out on the track”. When she was told she had not mentioned Dibaba, She was then asked directly what she thought about Weightman pursed her lips and remained silent. Dibaba. “To me, personally, it is important who I sur- The American , who finished sixth round myself with in my life,” she replied. “And who in the London 1500m final and missed out on a medal I surround myself with are people who are people I’m again in Rio after coming fourth, refused to speak to proud to be affiliated with. Who you are connected to reporters. But when asked before the race whether the says something.” 1500m final would be cleaner than London she did not Beforehand she had been more blunt, telling report- sound sure: “All I can do is pray and hope for the best.” TAFWA Newsletter - Page 30 - September 2016 Bolt says tight schedule slowed down 100-meter sprinters http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2016/08/15/bolt-says-tight-schedule-slowed-down- 100-meter-sprinters/88772216/ RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Usain Bolt rarely complains about going too fast. After the rushed road to Sunday night’s 100-meter final, he had to make an exception. Faced with a turnaround time of barely over an hour between the semifinal and final, Bolt had trouble gearing up to be at his best for the marquee event of the Olympics. He won his record-setting third straight gold medal , but his post-race comments were tinged with slams about the scheduling. “I don’t know who decided that,” Bolt said. “It was really stupid. So, that’s why the race was slow. There’s no way you can run and go back around and run fast times again.”

It was a decision made with broadcasters in mind more than runners. In the recent past, 100-meter sprinters have been given more than two hours between semifinals and finals. “It’s the first time I’ve had to jog to the warmup area to get ready for the final,” Bolt said. He said after the semifinal, he felt great. I was like ‘Yo, I probably could run a fast time,’” he said. For him, “fast” often equates to something in the world-record range of 9.58 seconds. And “slow” would qualify as the 9.81-second time he ran to win Sunday’s gold medal. It wasn’t among the 10 fastest times he’s ever put on the board. He wasn’t the only one complaining. American Justin Gatlin, the silver medalist, said the quick turnaround sapped his strength so much, he couldn’t even think about winning. “I didn’t because I was tired going into the finals and I was just like ‘let me focus on what I need to focus on,’” he said. “We really only had 30 minutes to get ready for the finals.” Track’s governing body, the IAAF, sets the schedule and the International Olympic Committee signs off on it. “If they’re happy, we’re happy,” said IOC spokesman Mark Adams.

In the most widely cited case of schedule shifting, the opening round of the women’s 200 was moved from Monday evening to the day session at the request of one of America’s best-known athletes, Allyson Felix, who wanted to try for gold medals both the 200 and the 400. The 400 final is Monday night. It was considered a win-win for the Olympics and NBC, which pays the most sizable chunk of the $4.1 billion in worldwide broadcast rights the IOC received for the 2014 and 2016 Olympics. Felix hurt her ankle in the spring and was not at full health at Olympic Trials. She made the field for the 400 but not the 200. Less publicized was the decision to push the starting time of the night sessions back to 8:30 p.m. local time, which, in turn, put Bolt and Co., on TV smack in the middle of prime time in the United States. A late start also means a compressed schedule. Asked whether NBC had a role in the scheduling, communications vice president Chris McCloskey said “the IOC and international federations make the schedule.”

Chris Turner of the IAAF said the tight schedule has been used in the past — most notably, at the Atlanta Games in 1996, when Donovan Bailey won gold and set a world record. “We’ll, of course, take the athletes’ views on board,” Turner said. “In fact, we will actively seek them at every major championship.” They didn’t have to look too hard in this case. “I wasn’t pleased,” Bolt said, in answer to the first question he was asked at the winner’s news conference. “That’s never good. You need time to recover, especially as I’m getting older. I’m not happy with the schedule, and hopefully, they’ll change it back.” Some good news for those looking for records: There’s no back-to-back racing in the 200 meters, which has its first round Tuesday, semifinals Wednesday and the final on Thursday. And Bolt says he’s feeling so good, he’s looking to lower his world record, which stands at 19.19 seconds. “If I can get good night’s rest after the semifinals, it’s a possibility I can do it,” Bolt said. “That’s something I really want.” TAFWA Newsletter - Page 31 - September 2016 Yuliya Stepanova ‘certain’ there are athletes doping at Rio Games Owen Gibson in Rio de Janeiro | Monday 15 August 2016 | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/15/yuliya-stepanova-russia-doping-olympics Yuliya Stepanova, the Russian athlete who bravely gathered undercover evidence of systemic state sponsored doping, has said she is “certain” there will be athletes competing dirty at the Rio Games and hit out at the International Olympic Committee for, in effect, gagging whistleblowers. Yuliya and her husband Vitaly, a former Russian anti-doping official, said they feared for their lives after it emerged that someone had tried to hack the middle dis- tance runner’s anti doping Yuliya Stepanova has said she and her husband Vitaly feared for their lives after file held by the World Anti disclosing details of Russia’s doping programme. Michael Kooren/Reuters Doping Agency.

“If something happens to us, you should know that it is not an accident,” said Stepanova. The pair, who provided the information for a German documentary that led to the Wada independent investi- gations that uncovered systemic Russian doping across many Olympic sports over several years, are now living in a secret location in the United States. “I am certain there are a number of athletes taking part in the Olympic Games who have in preparation used PEDs. Doping is not only a problem in Russia,” said Stepanova, who was denied the opportunity to compete in Rio by the IOC despite Wada and the IAAF wanting her to do so in recognition of her brave stand. “With the way the IOC decided to deal with systematically supported doping by the state, they showed that, if the country supports doping, the IOC will not show this zero tolerance,” she added. “They say they are zero tolerance but they are really not. With their actions it just raises more and more suspicions with the results, especially world records.”

Two longstanding world records, the women’s 10,000m and the men’s 400m, have already been broken on the track in Rio. The IOC initially tried to enforce a rule stopping those who had previously been banned from appearing at the Games. It was subsequently overturned on appeal, allowing the swimmer Yulia Efimova, for in- stance, to compete, but Stepanova said that without IOC support she would not press her case. “I do believe the fact I was denied a chance to compete does signal there is a chance they will not be supported by the IOC. If you open your mouth you will never be an Olympic athlete,” she said, speaking over video link from a secret location. Stepanov, who together with his wife gathered damning undercover evidence of state sponsored doping, said he feared little had changed. To widespread condemnation, the IOC decided to let individual federations decide whether Russian athletes should compete, leading to a team of 268 lining up in Rio.

“I do think most of the Russian athletes competing now know exactly what is happening in Russia and how they are prepared. I have said it to the IAAF taskforce and investigators,” he said. “If you are an athlete or a sports official for more than three years in any sport, you know where the cheating is happening. They follow the same system and they cover up the same system.” They both called on Efimova and other Russian athletes to tell the truth about the scale of the problem. “Ath- letes need to bear some responsibility. They need to start telling the truth. If they did there would be a different attitude towards athletes from the international community,” said Stepanova. TAFWA Newsletter - Page 32 - September 2016 Stepanov added: “She lives in America and has the opportunity to start telling the truth. But instead she calls it a Cold War moment. In my view she knows exactly what is happening, she is covering up the Russian doping system.” However, he also acknowledged the huge roadblocks to telling the truth faced by most of the officials and athletes within the Russian system.

“The problem everyone faces in Russia is that as soon as you open your mouth you will be fired from the places you are employed by – sports organisations, the FSB, even Gazprom,” he said. “There is nowhere you can go. You open your mouth and you lose all your jobs. I don’t think many people are ready to do that.” Stepanov first contacted Wada in 2010 but it had no investigatory powers until 2015 and in the meantime he was passed around the houses before finally turning to German documentary maker Hajo Seppelt. Stepanova said she was disappointed to not be at the Olympics but was still in training and hoped to return to competition. She also hit out at the IOC president, Thomas Bach.

“Thomas Bach doesn’t know anything about our situation. He never made any attempt to sort anything out. Nobody contacted us, nobody tried to find out anything about our situation. There was one contact and it was very brief. They never tried to understand our situation,” she said. “They simply say what is going to serve them. I admitted I was part of that system but I decided I no longer wanted to be part of that system and I told the truth. “The IOC or Thomas Bach do not try to understand our situation clearly. They simply take a position that is going to be to their greatest benefit.”

Stepanov said the pair, who have been helped by a crowdfunding campaign and are waiting for US work per- mits, had barely had any contact from the IOC. “Besides the one fact when I felt the IOC tried to bribe us by inviting us to Rio as VIP guests, I haven’t seen any support from the IOC.”

Bach has since argued that Stepanova was part of the system. “Had I not been part of that system, I wouldn’t be in a position to talk about it. I wouldn’t know what I knew and wouldn’t have anything to share,” responded Stepanova, who has been praised by the IAAF and Wada for her actions. “I have apologised for my past many times, there is nothing I can do to change it. I can apologise one more time, I can say that I’m sorry, but I have changed and I’m a completely different person now. Right now, I’m tell- ing the truth.”

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 33 - September 2016 The Height of Achievement Two decades after overcame pain and personal crisis to win Olympic gold, athletes in Rio will continue to chase his high jump record By Jerry Briggs | San Antonio Magazine http://www.sanantoniomag.com/August-2016/The-Height-of-Achievement/ A carnival atmosphere prevails on a sun-splashed April day at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin. Several thousand fans gather for the meet’s final session, not an uncommon turnout during an Olympic year at the annual outdoor track and field festival, an early season opportunity for elite athletes to gauge their progress toward the Rio Olympics, which open Aug. 5. Not all the action is on the track. Standing under a blue sky on the field at Myers Stadium, one of the state’s legendary track stars speaks to the gathering during a break in the action. Now a 48-year-old San Marcos businessman, Charles Austin retains a baby face and slender build from his days as a world-class athlete. When he steps to the microphone, the topic is a subject that never gets old for him—the day he won a gold medal in high jump for the United States at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. His leap of 7 feet, 10 inches remains the Olympic best heading into Rio. The exact words of the last American to win the Olympic high jump didn’t make any evening newscasts. But perhaps they should have. After all, the story of how Austin triumphed in the wake of economic hardship, physi- cal pain and personal crisis should ring true with almost every Texan. With every American, in fact. And the way he did it stands in stark contrast to an Olympics already tarred by a ban on Russia’s track and field team for widespread doping. “One thing I really pride myself on, is that I honestly did it the right way,” Austin says. “There were no perfor- mance-enhancers. I didn’t have a big contract. I didn’t have a big medical staff at my disposal. It was me, coach- ing myself, getting out there and working hard, believing in myself.” Austin learned independence early in life. He grew up in Van Vleck, in rural East Texas, the youngest of 10 children to a mother who toiled as a housekeeper. Proud of his mother, Austin nevertheless had to hustle for his own dirty jobs such as mowing yards, stacking mats of grass and picking berries. “I hated that work, but I knew I needed to embrace it, to build on it,” he says. Austin first started high jumping in junior high, immediately showing promise by clearing 5 feet, 10 inches in eighth grade. But he gave the sport up until he was a senior in high school, when friends urged him to try again. The hiatus seemed only to help: He cleared 6 feet, 11 inches and earned a partial college track scholarship. Austin butted heads with his coach at Southwest Texas State (now Texas State University), arguing over the level of aid he received for athlet- ics. Sometimes, he skipped practice, admitting later that he was only hurting himself. Through it all, he won the 1990 NCAA title for the Bobcats as a senior. After college, Austin finally got serious about his sport. By the summer of 1991, competing in his second year as a professional, Austin set the American outdoor record in the high jump (7 feet, 10 nches) at a meet in Switzerland. He then won the World Outdoor title in Japan, his first major championship. On a roll, Austin qualified for the first of three straight appearances in the Olympics in 1992 at Barcelona. But after an eighth-place finish, it Photo By Josh Huskin TAFWA Newsletter - Page 34 - September 2016 was evident that a lingering knee issue from college had started to affect his performance. A year later, doctors told him that his career might be over because of the severe knee injury. “I had won the world championship (in 1991) so I knew I could be the best,” he says. “I was very upset, very disappointed.” San Antonio–based orthopedic surgeon Jesse DeLee, meanwhile, emerged as one physician who wouldn’t rule out Austin’s return to form. DeLee operated on Austin in July 1993, taking out a half of the patellar tendon in the athlete’s left knee. Giv- en that Austin used the left leg to explode into his jumps, his career clearly was in jeopardy. “It took tremendous rehab on his part (to come back),” says DeLee, who still sees patients at Nix Hospital downtown. “But that’s why Charles is who he is. He is driven, and he works harder than anybody else. He pays attention to detail.” In the year leading into the Atlanta Olympics, Austin started to regain athletic form, but his personal life had plunged him into despair. Time spent rehabbing his knee and missing potential paydays at meets caused him to fall several months behind on his home mortgage in San Marcos. He also split from his wife, moving out of the family house in January of 1996, and on the eve of the Olympic Trials, she left for Hawaii, taking both of their children with her. “It was hard,” he says. “But I knew what I had to do. I knew what I was up against. I was struggling financially. You know, not being able to compete (all those years) took its toll. It’s not like I had all these sponsors and made all of this crazy money. It was a struggle. It was a serious struggle.” But these were problems he had to block out. Summoning all his focus, Austin won the title at the U.S. trials in Atlanta. A month later, he returned to the same stadium and out-dueled a world-class field, including Polish star Artur Partyka, to claim the ’96 Olympic title, becoming the first American to win the event in 28 years. But for Austin, the first and only Olympic gold of his career did not come easily, nor did it happen without more distractions. Two days before opening ceremonies, the specter of terrorism surfaced when a TWA jet crashed off Long Island, killing all 230 people aboard. With reports of an explosion on the aircraft, the news left fans in Atlanta fidgety and concerned with security. Then a little more than a week into the Games, terror and heartbreak hit home at the Olympics with the late-night bomb blast during an outdoor concert at Centennial Olympic Park, resulting in two fatalities and more than 100 injuries.

Austin was asleep in his suite at the Athletes Village and awoke when he heard his roommate shouting about a bomb. He remembers replying bluntly from his pillow: “Man, if you don’t stop playing … Stop playing, man, I’m tired. I have to compete.” Eventually, he realized nobody was playing, and so he climbed out of bed to watch the news. He tried to keep up with all the developments. But with the finals of the high jump looming in only 39 hours, he was forced to refocus. Quickly. Rumors of bomb threats were rampant, but Austin refused to let them affect him. Healthy at last after three down years post-knee surgery, his best chance to win an Olympic medal was at hand. “I just had a lot going on (personally),” he said. “This (turmoil from the explosion) was just another thing. It was life. I had to keep myself focused on the big picture.”

On the day of the finals, with temperatures soaring to 113 degrees on the field at Olympic Stadium, Austin was ready. He caught a break when world record holder of Cuba, battling an injury, exited the competition early. At the end of what he estimated was a four-hour ordeal, Austin found himself in a two-man duel for the gold medal with Partyka. In what he called “one of the best jumps I have ever seen,” Austin watched as the graceful, 6-foot-6 Polish star cleared 7 feet, 9 nches with ease. Having already missed twice at that height, the 6-footer from San Marcos was down to his last attempt, when he brazenly asked officials to move the bar up 7 feet, 10 inches. He cleared it, with the pro-USA crowd of 81,203 roaring its approval. “It was so loud, it woke me up out of a dream,” Austin said. “That’s how I can best describe it. As soon as I hit the mat it was like somebody turned the radio on full blast.” Watching from the side, Partyka wasn’t beaten yet. He moved the bar higher in an attempt to win but failed to clear the 7 feet, 10 inches pole, which clinched the championship for Austin. In that instant, not only had Austin resurrected his own sagging career, but the timing of his unlikely triumph seemed to also lift the spirits of American fans all over a city still shaken by the act of terror. “When Charles won, I think it got everybody back in the spirit,” says San Antonio swimmer Josh Davis, who won three gold medals at the Atlanta Games. TAFWA Newsletter - Page 35 - September 2016 Two decades after an official draped a gold medal around his neck in Atlanta and he heard the national anthem play, Austin sits in his office as another Olympics approaches and reflects on the ways his life and the sport have changed since then. After the Olympics in Atlanta, Austin continued to compete, though he also began to inch toward a new chapter in life. After the 2000 games in Sydney, Austin began training other athletes. Having largely coached himself as a professional, it was a natural choice. Among his first clients were Spurs legend David Robinson and New York Knicks guard John Starks. A few years after his retirement, Austin opened the 12,000-square-foot So High Sports and Fitness Performance Center in south San Marcos and began pri- marily training local amateur athletes.

Austin guided JaCorian Duffield, who attended Randolph High School in Schertz and went on to win indoor and outdoor NCAA high jump championships at Texas Tech. Austin’s mastery of high jump technique was no doubt helpful to Duffield, but it was his dedication and work ethic that really made an impression on the budding high jumper. “One thing that stood out was the discipline,” says Duffield. “He’s not necessarily a mean guy. But he doesn’t take mediocre work from anybody.” Austin continues to train Duffield and other athletes, including his son, Allex, who won two state high jump championships and attended Baylor University on an athletic scholarship. Though injuries kept both Duffield and Allex out of the Rio games, both hope to eventually emulate their mentor’s success. “Shoot, he can be way better than me,” Austin says about his son, who, at 6 feet 7 inches is over half a foot taller than his dad. “He’s 6-7, and he’s got my athleticism and jumping ability.”

The unhappiness that dominated his personal life heading into Atlanta is a distant memory. A few years after his painful divorce, a friend introduced Austin to the woman who would become his wife in 2002. Though she works as a hospital lab manager, Nathalie has also been an important confidant for Aus- tin’s business ventures. “If I come up with an idea she likes, she’ll tell me, ‘That’s good.’ If it’s one that she doesn’t like, she’ll let me know about that, too,” he says. The two have a son, and Austin’s sons from his previous marriage also now live in Texas. These days, Austin spends six days a week at his performance center, half of his time devoted to train- ing athletes. The other half he devotes to marketing new fitness equipment that he has designed and pat- ented, originally built from parts he bought at Lowe’s. Austin’s “Total Body Board” is a platform that lays flat on the floor with resistance bands attached to it, allowing for various fitness uses. Sales of Austin’s “Total Body Board” have been highlighted in the past year by a deal with the 2016 NBA Champion Cleveland Cavaliers. A team official says the Cavaliers own three of the boards, with one of them traveling along with LeBron James and his teammates to all road games.

Much has changed since Austin stood atop an Olympic podium in Atlanta, most all of it for the bet- ter. If anything, life is even better now than it was as a gold medalist. But there is one thing that hasn’t changed: Austin still holds the Olympic high jump record. He’ll be watching the Rio games to see what will happen to that record, as he does during every Summer Olympics. “Somebody had it before I did, and one day it will probably be broken,” he says. “But it is rewarding to see something I accomplished stand the test of time. And if they never break it, I’ll be happy about that.”

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 36 - September 2016 Empty seats detracted from full quality athletics in Olympic Stadium By Mike Rowbottom | Inside The Games http://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1040565/empty-seats-detract-from-full-quality-athletics-in-olympic-stadium An extraordinary opening morning session of ath- The high point of the athletics programme from the letics here which included a huge world 10,000 metres point of view of home supporters has long been antici- record by Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana and the best high- pated to arrive next Friday (August 19) with the final jumping ever seen within a heptathlon competition of the women’s pole vault, where 35-year-old home took place in a 60,000-capacity Olympic Stadium that vaulter Fabiana Murer, world champion in 2011 and appeared less than half full. world silver medallist last year, is seeking to close her Despite the excellence of the action on a rainswept career in glorious circumstances. morning, the images going out to the wider world of large sections of unused seats were far from being The good news - Murer increased her South Ameri- what the Rio 2016 would have hoped for. can record to 4.87 metres last month. Even though London 2012 did not sell out all its The bad news -she then picked up a cervical herni- morning sessions for athletics, the huge levels of inter- ated disc at the IAAF meeting in est generated by the sport four years ago contrasted Monaco and has since been receiving intensive physio. starkly with the evidence presented on Day 1. “My doctor reassured me and told that I had time to recover to the Olympics,” she said last week. “I am “We understand about 60 per cent of tickets were in intense treatment with physiotherapy and train- sold for this morning’s session,” a spokesman for the ing very well. I’m progressing fast and I am dedicating International Association of Athletics Federations myself a lot to reach the Olympics 100%.” (IAAF) told insidethegames. “Obviously we like to see a full stadium but the Andrada has repeatedly said that the problem in atmosphere here this morning has been great helped Rio is a result of ticket-holders only wanting see one along by Ayana’s world record.” particular contest in a long session and VIPs not tak- ing up their ticket allocations, perhaps because of long The official estimate from Rio 2016 organisers for queues to get past security and for refreshments. tonight’s second session was that 65 per cent of tickets Part of the solution, he has claimed, is to invite had been sold. children from local schools to fill the venues but he has Asked at a press briefing on Wednesday (August 10) been unable to give any details of when this has actu- if he was confident there would be full houses for the ally happened. athletics programme, IAAF President Sebastian Coe said: “No, I’m not confident we are going to have full Rio 2016 has denied high ticket prices have put Bra- houses. zilian fans off, as the majority of tickets cost BRL95 “But the sales have been good.” (£23/$30/€26) and could be paid for in four interest- Coe added: “Tickets are still available and I would free instalments. encourage local communities to come, given the feast But there has been criticism that the prices offered of athletics we’re going to have here. to overseas fans were too high, a claim the Interna- “But I understand that some of the scheduling has tional Olympic Committee denies. been challenging.” “We obviously want to see full stadiums,” said IOC Rio 2016 spokesman Mario Andrada said: “We are Presidential spokesman Mark Adams. “ not disappointed with the athletics ticket sales. “We knew the fact there are not many local heroes Could we do more? would make a difference...without heroes and local athletes the public take longer to fall in love with track “You can always do more. and field. “The level of sales is pretty good and I think there “But one of the legacies of the Games will be to show are tickets for lots of pockets. Brazilians how spectacular these other sports can be “Of course, it’s expensive to come here if you’re com- and there will be no problem when Usain Bolt com- ing from Europe, the United States or Asia, but I’ve petes on Sunday.” seen fans from all those places too.” TAFWA Newsletter - Page 37 - September 2016 The Soviet Doping Plan: Document Reveals Illicit Approach to ’84 Olympics By REBECCA R. RUIZ | AUG. 13, 2016 | The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/14/sports/olympics/soviet-doping-plan-russia-rio-games.html

Dr. Grigory Vorobiev, a former chief medical doctor for Soviet track and field, in Chicago, his home for five years. Credit Alyssa Schukar for The New York Times RIO DE JANEIRO — Late in 1983, months before they announced a boycott of the Los Angeles Olympics, sports officials of the Soviet Union sent detailed instructions to the head of the nation’s track and field team. Oral steroid tablets were not enough, they said, to ensure dominance at the Games. The team should also inject its top athletes with three other kinds of anabolic steroids. Providing precise measurements and timetables for the doping regimens, the officials said they had a suf- ficient supply of the banned substances on hand at the Research Institute of Physical Culture and Sports in Moscow, a division of the government’s sports committee. The potent drugs were critical to keeping up with the competition, they wrote in the instructions. The document — obtained by The New York Times from a former chief medical doctor for Soviet track and field — was signed by Dr. Sergei Portugalov, a Soviet sports doctor who went on to capitalize on a growing inter- est in new methods of doping.

The document, marked confidential, referenced a Nov. 24, 1983, meeting of the Soviet Union sports committee, at which “individual profiles of special pharmacological preparation” had been approved for track and field athletes of all disciplines.

But without “injection forms of anabolic steroids,” the officials wrote, a dramatic improvement in Soviet athlete performance at the Summer Olympics was not guaranteed.

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 38 - September 2016 Now, more than 30 years later, Dr. Portugalov is a central figure in Russia’s current doping scandal. Last fall, the World Anti-Doping Agency named him as a key broker of performance-enhancing drugs in Russia, someone who in recent years injected athletes personally and made a business of covering up drug violations in exchange for money. Revelations of the recent schemes, which antidoping authorities said dated back at least a decade, compelled the international governing body for track and field to bar Russia’s team from the Rio Games, the most severe doping penalty in Olympic history. At the track and field events here this week, no one will represent Russia, a nation that is usually a fixture on the medals podium. The 1983 document and the account of Dr. Grigory Vorobiev, the former chief medical doctor, who spent more than three decades with the Soviet track team, provide new evidence of how far back Russia’s state-spon- sored doping stretches.

There was only one reason not to inject athletes with anabolic steroids, the officials wrote: the lack of definite information about how long they could be detected in drug tests.

That question was to be answered by the Soviet antidoping lab director. Winning at Any Cost At 86 years old, Dr. Vorobiev still stands more than six feet tall. Before finishing medical school in St. Peters- burg, then known as Leningrad, he played for the Soviet Development Basketball Team in the 1950s, choosing not to pursue a professional athletic career because he thought it unstable. He was coached, he noted proudly, by the man who later led the Soviet Union to an upset victory over the United States at the 1972 Olympics. His career in Russian sports medicine lasted through the 1990s. In deteriorating health, Dr. Vorobiev left Moscow five years ago for Chicago, where his son and grandchildren live. Over two days of interviews there, in an assisted-living complex with Russian-language newspapers lying around the lobby, Dr. Vorobiev wore a blue Soviet tracksuit with “CCCP” on the back as he recounted his career. He spoke at the encouragement of his son, who had accompanied him to the hospital in recent weeks and said he wanted his father’s life documented in light of the recent doping revelations. Dr. Vorobiev, speaking Russian that was translated by his son, recalled some details more vividly than oth- ers, relying on journals, documents and black-and-white photographs of athletes in motion to trigger memories dating to 1959, when he was hired as one of the Soviet Union’s first full-time sports doctors. He specialized in improving coordination, strength and flexibility among elite athletes, with expertise in foot injuries. With little emotion, he described a system in which winning at any cost without getting caught was para- mount. He projected loyalty to his country while plainly wrestling with contradictions: As a member of the medical commission of track and field’s global governing body, he policed doping at international competitions while knowing that many of Russia’s top athletes were using banned substances. Russia’s sports ministry and sports science institute did not respond to telephone and email requests for com- ment. Dr. Vorobiev said he was not sure whether the doping scheme detailed in the 1983 document was carried out. Regardless, the communication captures the results-oriented mentality of the nation’s sports committee, which he said intensified over time as athletes became preoccupied with drugs. By the 1970s, he said, most of the several hundred athletes with whom he worked were asking about perfor- mance-enhancing drugs, particularly after traveling to international competitions. When athletes sought advice in individual consultations, he said, he told them to take “as low a dose as pos- sible,” cautioning them to watch for cramps or changes in voice as signs that they had overdone it. Most of all, he stressed that drugs were not a substitute for rigorous training. Not everyone chose to use illicit substances, he said, defending Soviet sports as not uniformly tainted. He was unable to estimate how many athletes had used drugs, adding that some who had shown drastic physical changes had denied doping during private consultations with him. TAFWA Newsletter - Page 39 - September 2016 The officials outlined a plan for administering the steroid injections to candidates for Olympic medals who had performed well in the past while taking low doses of oral steroids.

They suggested administering the injections during the first two weeks of March and last week of February 1984, end- ing the regimen 145 to 157 days before competition began and ensuring that athletes were engaged in “maximum or sub-maximum” training.

(The names of athletes of a lanky body type, identified as possible candidates for injections, have been redacted.) My dad always said, “Cheaters never win”. What I believe he meant is that if those that cheat take a race, a tournament, a game, or an event... But low doses of oral steroids were common among top track athletes, Dr. Vorobiev said, asserting that if he had dissuaded them from taking drugs, he would have been blamed for poor results and summarily fired. East Germany, later found to have run an aggressive doping program, was a particular motivator after the 1976 Olympics, in which the country won nearly as many gold medals as the Soviet Union. The antidoping movement was in its infancy at that time; the World Anti-Doping Agency, the regulator of drugs in sport, was not created until more than 20 years later. Still, sports officials were conscious of the need to combat drugs at major competitions. Anabolic steroids had been banned by the International Olympic Committee, and testing for them debuted at the 1976 Games, mak- ing the regimen that Soviet officials proposed for Los Angeles unambiguously prohibited. Dr. Vorobiev said he had consistently opposed steroid injections — typically administered with a shot in the thigh or buttocks. He considered that method too concentrated and too dangerous, he said. The 1983 letter — addressed to Dr. Vorobiev’s boss, the head of Soviet track and field — cited competition as a main motivation for adding injections to the “special pharmacological profiles” already developed for national athletes following a meeting of the country’s sports committee on Nov. 24, 1983. (The letter was translated independently from the original Russian by The New York Times.) The three additional drugs were Retabolil, Stromba and Stromba-jet, forms of the steroids nandrolone dec- anoate and stanozolol. The officials had enough Retabolil in their possession, they said. “A range of data,” the letter said, “proves that the main opponents of Soviet athletes will use the aforemen- tioned injection form of anabolic steroids at the upcoming Olympic Games.” The letter — signed and archived by Dr. Portugalov, and bearing the signature of a colleague at the Institute for Physical Culture, Roshen D. Seyfulla — said that top athletes with chances of winning medals were prime candidates for injections. It suggested paying particular attention to those who had performed well while taking oral steroids.

The sports research institute said it had sufficient quantities of injectable steroids in its lab, the letter said. It was signed by two officials of the institute: R.D. Seyfulla and S.N. Portugalov.

Dr. Portugalov — a key figure in the more recent Rus- sian doping scandal — prepared the letter, archived it and destroyed all drafts, according to the document. TAFWA Newsletter - Page 40 - September 2016 Three to five vials of 50 milligrams each should be injected into those athletes, the officials instructed, with the final doses administered 145 to 157 days before the Olympics. Drawn into the plot, according to the document, was the Soviet antidoping lab, which the officials — mind- ful of Olympic drug-testing — had recruited to determine how long the steroids in question would linger in the system. “There is only one basic reason to reject the injection form — the lack of definite data about how much time it takes to clear the body,” the letter said. “We will have the official recommendation and conclusion no later than Dec. 15, 1983,” it continued, suggest- ing that national sports officials and antidoping authorities were colluding to cover up doping. Such collusion happened in Russia as recently as last year, antidoping investigators said in a report last month, detailing how the national drug-testing lab helped formulate special drug cocktails for Russian athletes and covered up drug violations on orders from the country’s sports ministry.

In May 1984, about five months after the document outlining a doping plan was circulated, the Soviet Union withdrew from the Los Angeles Games, citing the “anti-Olympian actions of the U.S. authorities and organizers of the Games” in a statement. “Chauvinistic sentiments and an anti-Soviet hysteria are being whipped up in the country,” it said. But the fixation on beating the competition by using banned substances did not end, Dr. Vorobiev said. He described an atmosphere in which winning was supremely important, in which drugs displaced training as the primary method of preparation, and in which Dr. Portugalov’s profile continued to rise.

Divergent Philosophies For decades, Dr. Portugalov was a little-known figure outside Russia. Inside the country, however, he was a “fairly authoritative and very knowledgeable” figure who was not shy about advertising access to the best performance-enhancing substances, according to Dr. Vorobiev. Dr. Vorobiev said that his own philosophy on developing elite athletes was not aligned with that of Dr. Por- tugalov’s, and that he preserved the document over several decades because he considered it proof of how Dr. Portugalov was masterminding the Soviet sports-science program. Dr. Portugalov came to global prominence in 2014 when two Russian whistle-blowers identified him as a linchpin distributor in Russia’s state-run doping scheme. Yuliya Stepanova and Vitaly Stepanov, a married couple — she a middle-distance runner and he a former employee of Russia’s antidoping agency — told the German public broadcaster ARD that Dr. Portugalov had provided Ms. Stepanova with performance-enhancing drugs and outlined a tiered payment system whereby he received a sliding-scale percentage of winnings, depending on whether an athlete won gold, silver or bronze medals. “He bragged to Yuliya that over the past few decades, he had made so many Olympic champions,” Mr. Stepa- nov said in an interview this summer, describing Dr. Portugalov as “arrogant” and more interested in turning a profit than seeing athletes succeed. An investigation commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency confirmed Ms. Stepanova’s account and concluded that Dr. Portugalov’s enterprise stretched much wider. In the wake of a damning report published by the antidoping agency last fall, Dr. Portugalov was suspended from Russian track and field and from his post at Russia’s sports research institute. Dr. Portugalov could not be reached directly by The New York Times. Neither the track organization nor the government institute responded to emailed requests for information about his employment status or ways to reach him. His name is no longer listed on the website of either organization. A spokesman for WADA said the Russian ministry of sport had told the agency that Dr. Portugalov no longer worked for the government. Investigations into his work, meanwhile, are continuing; last month, the global governing body for swimming appointed a lawyer to look into claims that Dr. Portugalov provided drugs to Rus- sian swimmers. Richard W. Pound, the former president of the antidoping agency who led last year’s investigation into doping in track and field, called the 1983 document an unsurprising indication of the long history of Russia’s doping program. “It shows the foundation on which a lot of this has been built,” he said. “The system we encountered is not new. It’s a continuation of the Soviet days.” TAFWA Newsletter - Page 41 - September 2016 Russia has responded to the charges of systematic, state-run doping with a mix of defiance and contrition. President Vladimir V. Putin has criticized scrutiny of the country as being politically motivated, but he has also suspended implicated officials and announced broad efforts to change Russian attitudes toward doping in sport. “It’s a problem of culture and education,” Russia’s sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, said in an interview this summer, noting that he had told Mr. Putin in 2009 that doping was a “black spot” on the country. “Our aim is to have a healthy nation,” Mr. Mutko said. “We’re moving away from the old Soviet legacy.”

Still Rooting for Russia Dr. Vorobiev’s career with the national team ended after he was blamed for an athlete’s drug violation in the mid-1990s. The violation in question, he said, involved the drug Phenotropil, which was used by Russian astro- nauts and military members to combat fatigue. He is characteristically pragmatic about the terms on which his 37-year tenure ended. “That’s life,” he said, expressing a steady loyalty to the ministry while criticizing people like Dr. Portugalov who, he said, corrupted sports and shifted focus away from skillful coaching. “Am I happy now that the problems have surfaced 20 years later?” he said, referring to his 1996 departure. “It was inevitable.” Well into his retirement, Dr. Vorobiev remains intensely interested in discussing physical preparations for competition, asking a reporter for her exercise routine. “Do you agree that training is more important than steroids?” he said after four hours of discussing doping, during which he often pounded his fist and foot for emphasis. Dr. Vorobiev is blind in one eye and has weak vision in the other. He rarely turns on the television, which sits atop a small piece of furniture that holds balled-up athletic socks. He did, however, plan to watch the track and field events in Rio this week, and he neither condemned nor con- doned the recent doping scandals that had precipitated the ban on Russia’s team. He expressed a statesmanlike support of “the Olympic movement” and of decisions about who could compete. “Obviously, it would be better with Russia,” he said, shrugging matter-of-factly in his Soviet team uniform. “I hope this will be a lesson to train harder, and maybe there will be less steroids as a result.”

Cross country: Kennedy coach celebrates 65th birthday with 65 laps By Phil Hawkins | Woodburn Independent | http://www.pamplinmedia.com/wbi/155-sports/320749-200510-cross- country-kennedy-coach-celebrates-65th-birthday-with-65-laps- Last week, the Kennedy High School track was unusually busy for a Wednesday night in August. Dozens of community members turned out to support Kennedy coach Steve Ritchie, who celebrated his 65th birthday by running 65 laps on the signature maroon track at the Mount Angel high school. The coach of the Trojans’ cross country and track and field teams, Ritchie took to the track as a sort of one- man fundraising effort, soliciting donations and pledges from community members to support the programs in exchange for his 16.25-mile show of endurance in support of the team. He was joined throughout the run, which began at 6:30 p.m. and ended around 10 p.m., by current and for- mer members of his athletic programs, including 2015 graduate Lauren Stokley. “Whether he was running or walking, there was always probably about five people around him at least,” Stok- ley said. Stokley was a member of both teams from 2011-15, winning two district cross country championships and five state track and field medals under Ritchie. She said the fundraiser idea was one that Ritchie had brought up while she was still a student at Kennedy. “I think he brought it up to me maybe my sophomore year of high school,” Stokley said. “He just mentioned that on his 65th birthday, he’s going to get on the track and run 65 laps.” As the Aug. 23 birthday date neared this year, word began to spread that Ritchie was going to follow through on his promise and pledges began pouring in. Ritchie estimates that the fundraiser has brought in nearly $5,000 so far, with donations still coming to the high school. The program is still accepting donations. Checks can be made out to JFK Cross Country and mailed to John F. Kennedy High School, 890 E. Marquam St., Mount Angel, OR 97381. TAFWA Newsletter - Page 42 - September 2016 What Are The ‘Worst’ Olympic Sports? By Walt Hickey | FiveThirtyEight http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/best-worst-olympic-sports-survey-ranked/?ex_cid=538fb The Olympic Games are finally here. The modern Then of course you have rugby, an addition this year incarnation began back in 1896, but the Olympic but the closest we’re ever going to get to actual Ameri- tradition harkens back to the ancient Greek festival can football in the games. (The IOC simply refers to where a massive municipal infrastructure boondoggle the sport as “rugby,” but it’s the seven-man version, was offered unto the gods as a tribute. not the 15-man one, and that’s what we’re talking Many of the sports appearing at the Summer Games about here.) And apparently there’s a sleeper audience have storied and truly ancient histories, and not just out there for water polo, the blood sport, which some- the obvious ones like the discus and javelin events. how comes out on top of basketball. The race Herodotus presumably called “BμX” is now On the other hand, the people have no patience honored with the Olympic event of bicycle motocross for equestrian sports, sailing, golf or any other one- racing. Who could forget the ancient story of Achilles percenter hobbies the IOC is presumably taking under gaining victory over the Trojan Prince Hector in a par- consideration for inclusion, like fox hunting or fleecing ticularly devastating table tennis bout. And most of the middle class or getting thrown out of Choate. all, while Pheidippides’ run following the Greek victory Respondents also have low opinions of synchro- at the battle of Marathon gets all the glory, today we nized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics, because also commemorate in the Olympic Games the tena- apparently there’s just too much goddamn beauty in cious if less celebrated efforts of an unnamed Achaean the world and all of y’all would just hate to see a little soldier after the Battle of 50 Kilometer Race Walk. more art on this Earth, you ingrates. Alright, I’ll just say it: Some Olympic events are bet- Still, this allows us to get solid determinations of ter than others. Some are way better than others. And sport vs.sport rankings: In terms of moving some- I wanted to figure out which are really the best. where with alacrity in a body of water, swimming As we’ve done before, I set up head-to-head match- beats out rowing which beats canoeing which beats the ups and put out a call through FiveThirtyEight social crap out of sailing in terms of Olympic integrity. Fun media channels — so, you know, just Americans fact: This is also the opposite of the real world rank- taking a brief respite from making Harambe jokes ing of “If you dropped me in the Guanabara Bay how during a lunch hour, not exactly the paragon of triple would I like to leave there.” blind scientific research but better than say letting an In keeping with the “Great Teenage Girl theory of octopus pick ’em, probably — for people to pick the Olympic history,” the individual all-around artistic superior Summer Olympic event.1 More than 55,000 gymnastics competition is the most prized of all the matchups later, including at least 900 for each event, gymnastics events, followed by the uneven bars, the we have our win percentages: balance beam and parallel bars. The worst event in Of the big three groupings — track and field events, gymnastics, we can all agree, is the horizontal bar. swimming and gymnastics — swimming comes out on In terms of combat, Greco-Roman wrestling beats top when the win percentages of its events are con- boxing, which beats freestyle wrestling, which beats solidated into an average, but track and field has the judo, which beats fencing, which beats taekwondo, all most beloved events of all. A few interesting things are of which are considered inferior to competitive diving. going on here: People usually valued team relays more Consider that the next time someone wants to take it highly than individual events in both swimming and out back to the parking lot. track. Track would have a higher overall win percent- As a rule, with rowing, the more people you have in age than swimming (64 percent vs. 62 percent), if you your boat the better the event. dropped out the two very low scoring events of 20 In track and swimming, shorter distances are vastly kilometer race walk and 50 kilometer race walk, but we preferable to longer ones. On the field side, the long are not going to do that because the IOC must be held jump and high jump are better than the pole vault and to account for its crimes. triple jump. If you’re going to throw something, make Outside of the big three, there are a several sports it a javelin. A discus will suffice in the absence of a that come off looking very, very good. Volleyball comes javelin; a shot and hammer are right out. out on top, which is hugely unexpected, particularly And if you really must be caught on a horse, it had because indoor volleyball event somehow scored high- better be jumping, and you had better be doing it er than the beach volleyball event. Soccer rolls in at alone. But in general, leave the horses out of it. The second place overall; it’s no World Cup but, hey, we’ll Olympics are for people stuff. take what we can get. The triathlon comes in between swimming and track, which makes perfect sense when Charts follow on the next two pages ... you think about it for a couple seconds. TAFWA Newsletter - Page 43 - September 2016 TAFWA Newsletter - Page 44 - September 2016 RANKINGS 61 3m springboard diving Diving 51% 62 Rowing (four set) Rowing 50% EVENT - SPORT WIN PERCENTAGE 63 Canoe slalom Canoe 50% 1 100m Track and field 84% 64 Rowing (pair) Rowing 50% 2 4x100m relay Track and field 80% 65 Horizontal bar Gymnastics 50% 3 4x400m relay Track and field 78% 66 Team track cycling Cycling 49% 4 100m/110m hurdles Track and field 74% 67 Greco-Roman wrestling Wrestling 49% 5 400m Track and field 73% 68 Shot put Track and field 48% 6 4x100m freestyle relay Swimming 73% 69 Road cycling Cycling 48% 7 4x100 medley relay Swimming 72% 70 Hammer throw Track and field 47% 8 Decathlon Track and field 71% 71 Rowing (single sculls) Rowing 47% 9 100m freestyle Swimming 71% 72 Tennis (doubles) Tennis 46% 10 200m Track and field 71% 73 Canoe sprint Canoe 44% 11 Volleyball Volleyball 70% 74 Sabre individual Fencing 44% 12 400m individual medley Swimming 68% 75 Boxing Boxing 43% 13 Long jump Track and field 68% 76 Table tennis (singles) Table tennis 43% 14 50m freestyle Swimming 68% 77 Table tennis (team) Table tennis 43% 15 200m individual medley Swimming 68% 78 Sabre team Fencing 42% 16 4x200m freestyle relay Swimming 67% 79 Field hockey Field hockey 42% 17 Beach volleyball Volleyball 66% 80 Wrestling freestyle Wrestling 42% 18 400m hurdles Track and field 66% 81 Marathon 10K Swimming 42% 19 200m freestyle Swimming 66% 82 Foil team Fencing 41% 20 Heptathlon Track and field 66% 83 Judo Judo 41% 21 High jump Track and field 66% 84 Épée individual Fencing 41% 22 Soccer Soccer 64% 85 Badminton doubles Badminton 41% 23 800m Track and field 63% 86 Individual archery Archery 40% 24 Pole vault Track and field 63% 87 Mountain bike cycling Cycling 40% 25 100m butterfly Swimming 62% 88 Synchronized diving Diving 40% 26 Individual all-around Gymnastics 61% 89 Weightlifting Weightlifting 39% 27 Triathlon Triathlon 61% 90 Foil individual Fencing 39% 28 100m breaststroke Swimming 60% 91 Badminton singles Badminton 39% 29 400m freestyle Swimming 60% 92 Épée team Fencing 38% 30 200m butterfly Swimming 60% 93 Trampoline Trampoline 37% 31 Uneven bars Gymnastics 59% 94 Taekwondo Taekwondo 37% 32 Triple jump Track and field 58% 95 Team archery Archery 34% 33 1,500m Track and field 58% 96 Sailing Sailing 32% 34 Rugby Rugby 58% 97 Cycling BMX Cycling 31% 35 Water polo Water polo 58% 98 Individual all-around rhythmic gymnastics 36 Basketball Basketball 57% Rhythmic gymnastics 28% 37 Balance beam Gymnastics 57% 99 Shooting Shooting 26% 38 100m backstroke Swimming 56% 100 Individual equestrian jumping 39 800m freestyle Swimming 56% Equestrian 24% 40 Marathon Track and field 56% 101 Golf Golf 23% 41 200m breaststroke Swimming 56% 102 Synchronized swimming (team) 42 Tennis (singles) Tennis 56% Synchronized swimming 22% 43 Javelin Track and field 56% 103 Individual equestrian eventing 44 Parallel bars Gymnastics 56% Equestrian 21% 45 Handball Handball 55% 104 Team equestrian jumping Equestrian 20% 46 Rings Gymnastics 55% 105 Synchronized swimming (dual) 47 Team competition Gymnastics 55% Synchronized swimming 19% 48 200m backstroke Swimming 55% 106 Group rhythmic gymnastics 49 5,000m Track and field 54% Rhythmic gymnastics 19% 50 1,500m freestyle Swimming 54% 107 50K race walk Track and field 18% 51 10,000m Track and field 54% 108 20K race walk Track and field 17% 52 Vault Gymnastics 54% 109 Team equestrian eventing 53 3,000m steeplechase Track and field 53% Equestrian 15% 54 10m platform diving Diving 53% 110 Individual equestrian dressage 55 Rowing (eight set) Rowing 53% Equestrian 12% 56 Discus Track and field 52% 111 Team equestrian dressage 57 Floor exercises Gymnastics 52% Equestrian 10% 58 Modern pentathlon Modern pentathlon 52% 59 Individual track cycling Cycling 52% 60 Pommel horse Gymnastics 51%

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 45 - September 2016 By ‘packaging’ the Olympics, NBC insults viewers, and the athletes themselves By Sally Jenkins | The Washington Post |https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/by-packaging-the-olympics- nbc-insults-viewers-and-the-athletes-themselves/2016/08/06/a8eda1fe-5b3f-11e6-9aee-8075993d73a2_story.html RIO DE JANEIRO — I would tell you what happened on to cover female Olympians as the real athletes they are. the opening day of the Olympics, but as a woman, I’m not But there’s no question the current setup treats them as really into results; I’m more about the journey. I would give diminutives, even while celebrating their “stories.” And this you the latest on French vaulter Samir Ait Said’s horrifically may very well turn off traditional sports viewers. broken leg, or tell you about the craziest bike race finish Even if you buy NBC’s argument that the majority of you’ve ever seen, but those aren’t things a woman particu- the viewing public prefers edited, packaged programming larly wants to know, according to NBC executives. So you over the vagaries of live sports competition, then ask can blame me for hijacking your viewing experience. yourself this question: Why aren’t NFL football telecasts Women don’t watch the Olympics for the live results; tape delayed and packaged? Why don’t the networks delay they watch it for the narrative. Or that’s the reasoning of and collapse the games in favor of sugary features show- NBC, anyway. As the network’s chief marketing officer John ing childhood films of the Manning brothers on a swing set Miller explained: instead of wasting viewers’ time with a penalty-filled second “The people who watch the Olympics are not particularly quarter? sports fans,” he told Philly.com recently. “More women The fact is, no network would do that. Why? Because the watch the games than men, and for the women, they’re less networks assign a dignity and an import to a live NFL game interested in the result and more interested in the journey. that they don’t to women’s gymnastics. It’s sort of like the ultimate reality show and miniseries The suspicion here is that something else may be at work, wrapped into one.” also. NBC has sold $1.2 billion in advertising. At least some NBC has been advancing this paperback romance novel of the “story” packaging is calculated to serve up time slots approach for many years now, tape-delaying and heavily to those advertisers. packaging the Olympics with soft-focus stories, often very You know what all Americans dislike? So many commer- successfully. To be fair, there are some very nice, smart cials it ruins the story. That hacks any viewer off, whether execs at the network, and many of the packaged pieces are they’re watching a playoff game or a miniseries. And NBC terrific, as is the live coverage, when it happens. And it’s not hit its viewers with a barrage of eight commercials in the inherently sexist for them to say that women have some first 65 minutes. That’s one every eight minutes. different viewing habits and interests than men. Women The danger for NBC is that if its ratings continue to behave very differently as consumers: They read more than plunge, it might have to return some of the ad money, men, for example, and are more likely to buy fiction. which is contingent on delivering a certain size of audience. But the overnight rating for NBC’s hour-delayed telecast But there is a larger danger, too, in not growing its audience of the Opening Ceremonies in Rio was a 16.5, the lowest over the long term. for a Summer Games since 1992. The reasons for this aren’t Former world class tennis player Pam Shriver tried to entirely clear yet, but it’s a good guess that the network pa- watch the Opening Ceremonies from her home on the tronized and frustrated a huge segment of its audience, men West Coast with her three kids. It’s not Shriver herself NBC and women alike, and that begs for closer examination. should be concerned about, but her offspring. She tweeted If we’re lucky, the Rio Games finally will persuade NBC her frustration: “Stinks in this day & age to be in Los Ange- execs their Harlequin strategy is outdated. One major les & not be able to watch LIVE the Opening Ceremony of problem with the NBC approach is that it’s based on viewer the 31st Olympiad with most of world.” “studies,” and it’s more than a little self-selecting: If you Later she tweeted, “Ok so one by one my 3 kids are falling produce a variety show, you’re going to attract variety show asleep in LA.. Even before #TeamUSA walks into stadium. viewers. If you produce a sports telecast, you’ll attract Tough to inspire next generation when so late.” sports viewers. NBC is living in the past with its heavy packaging and This is where NBC’s real offense lies. It’s not so much that commercial interruptions. Viewer patience is short, and the it insults the audience — but it sure does insult Olympic more passionate sports audiences who want the women’s athletes, especially female athletes. The Olympics is the soccer or cycling or gymnastics have live-streaming options most prominent competition in the world and 53 percent of that don’t require headachy authentication. Less devoted Team USA is female, which means American women likely viewers have a world of alternate uninterrupted entertain- will bring in more medals than American men. Yet they will ment at their disposal: social gaming, YouTube, Vevo, movie be presented in packaging aimed at a Ladies’ Home Journal websites. crowd. Exactly how does that grow a hardcore audience for If NBC wants to attract and retain Olympic viewers, it women’s sports, or a year-in, year-out base for other Olym- better up its game and stop making people so frustrated and pic sports, for that matter? impatient. NBC doesn’t necessarily have a social responsibility TAFWA Newsletter - Page 46 - September 2016 San Jose State University Reinstating Men’s Track and Field Program

Rendering of new track and field facility at San Jose State University (August 1, 2016). Photo credit: San Jose State University By Brendan Weber and Scott Budman | NBC Bay Area http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/San-Jose-State-University-Reinstating-Mens-Track-and-Field-Pro- gram-388848892.html Two renowned San Jose State University student-athletes raised their arms in a symbolic move for racial equality at the 1968 Olympic Games. Nearly 50 years later, those two men, along with hundreds of others, gath- ered Monday to relaunch the men’s track and field program at San Jose State. Four days ahead of the in Rio, the university announced that the men’s track and field program will be reinstated in 2018 in an attempt to resurrect an athletic legacy of Olympic accomplish- ments by scores of track-and-field stars over the years, according to the university. “In bringing back a once-storied athletics program known the world over and building a new track and field venue, we are welcoming home and reuniting with a group of Spartan legends who have left their mark in sports and society as well as providing needed support for our current and future student athletes,” San Jose State University President Mary Papazian said in a statement. Joined by fellow Spartan Olympians, alumnus and faculty, Tommie Smith, 72, and John Carlos, 71, two sprinters that put the university on the map after their infamous 1968 Olympic fist-raising gesture, were on hand to celebrate the announcement in front of a statue marking that landmark moment. “Look at the face of that young man up there,” Smith said of the statue Monday. “That’s a cry for freedom.” Smith and Carlos talked about thei experience and offered some advice to today’s Olympic athletes. “If you’re going to Rio to compete, that’s what you go to Rio to do, not to think about the dangers of health,” Smith said. Said Carlos: “You have to take into account that, yes, you have the spotlight on you, the microphone in your face, and you have the opportunity to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.” The university hopes to bring a tradition of athletic prestige back to its campus, and the 50th anniversary of the black power salute presents an ideal time to do so, Athletics Director Gene Bleymaier said in a statement. A new stadium, aptly named Bud Winter Field, in honor of the former Spartans coach that led SJSU from 1941 to 1970, will be the new home for both the men’s and women’s programs upon its completion in 2018, the university said. During Winter’s 29-year tenure, the San Jose State program became known as “Speed City” after placing 91 student-athletes in top 10 international rankings, sending 27 athletes to the Olympic games and capturing the NCAA crown in 1969, according to the university. The reinstatement process will cost roughly $5 million and will be funded with the help of the SJSU Student Union along with private gifts from donors, according to the university. The men’s program was terminated in 1988 because of a reallocation of university resources, the university said.

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 47 - September 2016 Attention Boys and Girls of America: Let’s do the Hop, Skip and Jump By Elliott Denman | [email protected] Kids of America, we sure hope you were watching. Boys and girls, we sure hope you got to check out Christian Taylor, Will Claye and Keturah Orji in action at Estadio Olimpico. They were agile, athletic, astounding. Sensational and sizzling. They not only doubled the fun for all of us at the Games, they tripled it. They did it playing the old-older-oldest of children’s street games - the hop, skip and jump. And making all of us proud along the way. Taylor and Claye placed 1-2 in the men’s version of “El Triplo” for a second straight Games. Taylor’s winning jump came in round one; he and Claye would far outclass the rest of the world the rest of the way. And Orji showed us that this wasn’t just a boys game. For eons, it seems, American women have never been able to catch on to the knack of getting this thing done right. It took a bright young lady out of New Jersey and now Georgia (the University of, to be precise), Keturah Orji, to show us that a U.S. female athlete selecting the triple as her sporting specialty wasn’t embarking on a mission Impossible. Keturah - biblically named, for the third wife of Abraham - not only smashed her own American record but came within a silly three centimeters of actually placing third and medaling, which would have translated in any language - which they do routinely here at the Games - into a big slice of American athletic history. The best any American woman had ever finished in the triple, which has been on the Olympic program for women since 1984, was 10th. Taylor’s ties over the years have been to New York, Georgia and Florida (the University of, where he and Claye were teammates.) Now, global notable that he is, those ties go Trans-Atlantic, to England and The Netherlands, as he follows the workaday assignments of his renowned coach, Rana Rieder. Double Dutch? No, Taylor triples it. Will Claye’s ties over the years have been to Arizona, Florida (with Taylor) and Oklahoma. He’s more than OK, too. While he couldn’t match Taylor for a second straight Games - the margin between them was just ten centimeters - he’s not giving up the chase, either. Both frown on the mere thought of giving this thing up without at least one more Olympic Games in their resumes. Both have already vowed to be in Tokyo in 2020 - and what a perfect vision that would be. Speaking of vows, Claye traveled in that direction here, too. At some point in his personal road to Rio, he’d packed an engagement ring in his luggage. And he then presented it to his beloved, the hurdler Queen Harrison, after his podium ap- pearance for the silver. Obvious moral of this story-within-a-story: Where there’s a Will, there’s a way. For the two-time silver medalist, this will be no short-term relationship. It’s the real thing. She will not be his Queen for a day. Many American track and field fans of more recent vintage can tell you of the exploits of such as Al Joyner, Mike Conley, and Kenny Harrison. Just in case not, we’ll remind you that Al Joyner (brother of the great Jackie; widower of the late-great Flo-Jo) struck gold at Los Angeles in 1984; Mike Conley won at Barcelona in 1992, and Kenny Harrison set the still-standing Olympic record with his win at Atlanta in 1996. “Sure, I’m aware of all of them, and how great they were; they were role models for me,” said Taylor. But, Mr. T, have you ever heard of Meyer Prinstein? “Well, errrr, no,” he had to admit. Told that Prinstein, a New Yorker and a Syracuse University guy, had tripled to Olympic golds in both 1900 () and 1904 (St. Louis), along with snaring a gold and a silver in his long jumps, Taylor’s response was “oh, wow...” So that did not make him the first American to double the triple after all. Moving right along, another check of the five-ringed archives will tell you that just one man has ever tripled the triple, and that was Victor Saneyev of the Soviet Union at Mexico City in 1968, Munich in 1972, and Monteal in 1976. Two others have done the Paso Doble, you might say: Brazil’s immortal Adhemar Ferreira da Silva at in 1952 and Melbourne 1956, who was followed by Poland’s Jozef Schmidt atop the podium at Rome in 1960 and Tokyo in 1964. When all had quieted down, Taylor said “This is what I live for, this is what pushes me. I will continue to push, the season is not over and I’m healthy. I take everything into consideration, I have a phenomenal coach and I trust the program.” He also had a phenomenal but foul leap - maybe world record-long - in the final round to fuel his desire to keep on tri- pling for years to come. With role models like these, along with the sheer fun of it all, maybe a great promoter-person - certainly there is some such individual out there somewhere - can elevate El Triplo into the next great national fad. Maybe even in the class of the hula hoop, and needing no such equipment, either. As the Nostalgia Central website tells us about the hula hoop: “The Hula Hoop is the standard by which all fads are mea- sured. Somewhere inside that plastic ring lay the key to the hearts of a generation, and the Hula Hoop won those hearts like no toy before or since.” That so, fad fans of the world, would you please unite; you have nothing to lose but your hoops. Go take a hop, a skip and a jump; keep smiling through each phase, and dream big, Olympic big. Big enough to discover new talent in some interesting locations. Tripoli, for instance. TAFWA Newsletter - Page 48 - September 2016 Van Niekerk’s 43.03 Ranks Highest on Games’ Top 25 List By Elliott Denman | [email protected] Despite all the well-publicized dismay over everything from A (Androgen Excesss) to Z (Zita), with an unfor- tunate layer of Lochte-lashing added to the mix, the Games of the XXXI Olympiad will go down in the books as a success. OK, not as successful as once expected and widely-wished, but not the utter disaster others were continuing to predict just a few days before Opening Ceremonies. Despite all this, too: (A) No Russians at Estadio Olimpico. Not to worry, the big show went right on. (B) NBC’s continuing relegation of the athletics (track and field) phase of the Rio Games to something less than the absolute, no-questions-about-it flagship status of the whole five-ringed show, that track and field has enjoyed seemingly forever. (C) Too many mornings and too many nights where too many swaths of unoccupied seats were to be seen at Estadio Olimpico. The only man who could (well almost) fill the house was the triply triply-dipping Mr. Usain Bolt. The idea of planting at least one final or two finals on the morning slate (in the attempt to build A.M. session attendance) never did seem to work and further diluted evening session contents, too. But it was what it was and an array of highlights from either session will nevertheless put Rio high on the “most memorable” list of this inveterate Games-goer. This was my 12th Summer Games as a journalist and my 13th all told. I actually competed in the 1956 Mel- bourne Games and all the good things that have taken place as a result of that one episode of good fortune, all the doors that have since opened by virtue of that long-ago acquired Olympian status, have kept me going....and going....and going....to the Games ever since. Now that I’m back home it’s time to review the events of Rio, work up a personal ranking list, and let you know just how high I put them on the old thrillometer.

Here are my top XXV from the XXXI Games: 1. Wayde van Niekerk, 43.03 out of lane eight, can you believe it? Michael Johnson may have been trapped into thinking his 1999 43.18 would endure forever. Sorry, Michael. Nothing in this sport is forever. And you had the job of explaining 43.03 to your BBC audience. Can 42.76 or thereabouts be next, sometime quite soon perhaps? Well, why not? 2. Ashton Eaton, 8893 points, second consecutive deca-gold. You’re up there with deca-doublers and now, with a cool, calm, controlled 10-event series. No one has ever taken three straight Olympic decs. Why not you? Sorry, though, my lad, that dear wife Brianne was forced to settle for bronze. Now wouldn’t that have been utterly astounding/amazing/incredible - double gold out of the same household? Maybe next time. Stay tuned. 3. Matthew Centrowitz, first first for USA at 1500 meters in 108 years, all with the slowest winning time since Luigi Becalli in 1932. Three-fifty flat? Didn’t matter. They jogged two laps, then floored it. And you were clever enough to hug the rail, steer clear, and quick enough to get home in a 50.5 final lap. Mel Sheppard (the 1908 king) would have been proud. And prouder yet was Dad/ two-time Olympian Matt, whose own second Olympic trip was erased by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. 4. Usain Bolt. Sure, my man, your are the face of the sport these days. But face it, too, you’re not getting any faster. You have not been close to your own world records, set in 2009, for a long time. Then again, 9.81, 19.78, 37.27, were far out of the reach of all other mere Rio mortals. Sure wish you’d give the 400 meters a serious try before you hang ‘em up in late 2017. 5. . No ‘mo cynicism about your winning times. Your 13:41.66 at London wouldn’t have beaten Vladimir Kuts’ 13:39.6 in 1956. But your 13:03.30 and 27:05.17 this time were the real deals. And you had to get off the deck (as Lasse Viren did in 1972) to win the 10. Now, you’ve matched the fantastic Finn’s 5-10 double double. What’s next? The 42.2K at London? 6. Elaine Thompson. Just as Bolt did it, you dashed to double glory, too. 10.71 and 21.76. Move over, Fanny Blankers-Koen (1948), Marjorie Jackson (1952), (1956), Wilma Rudolph (1960), Renata Stecher (1972), Flo-Jo Griffith (1988.) 7. Brianna Rollins-Nia Ali-Kristi Castlin, 1-2-3 100 hurdles, the clean sweep. Never done before. And even as world record-breaker Kendra Harrison watched it all from the distant sidelines. 8. Anita Wlodarczyk, with the world record, your 82.29 that hammered your own 81.08 of 2015 into itsy- bitsy pieces. 9. Almaz Ayana, 25 world-record laps in 29:17.45. A whole lot better than Junxia Wang’s still-debated 29:31.78 of 1993. Don’t you remember? On a diet of worms. TAFWA Newsletter - Page 49 - September 2016 10. Michele Carter’s last-chance, last-gasp 20.63 world record shot put, stifling ’ bid for an historic threepeat. After Earlene Brown’s 1960 bronze, Team USA had gone medal-less through 13 frustrating Games. Dad Michael (of SMU and 49ers renown) had taken the men’s silver in 1984. Now she’s one up in the family sweepstakes. 11. Thiago Braz da Silva’s 6.03 upset pole vault win over Renaud Lavillenie. The lone track and field gold for the home team. It came on a rainy night and drove all the Cariocas wild. “Incredible,” said da Silva.”This was my first time over six meters; my hometown wanted me to win.” 12. Christian Taylor and Will Claye going 1-2 in the triple jump for a second straight Games. London 2012, Rio 2016, why not Tokyo 2016? And while at it, why not some overdue improvement on Jonathan Edwards’ 1995 world record? 13. Matej Toth. The 50K racewalk, let me remind you, is the longest, toughest event in the Games. After 31.1 miles in the steamy beach town of Pontal, Slovakia’s Toth led the way, but three others - after all that - were within 40 seconds, right behind him. 14. What a Games for Tianna Bartoletta - long jump gold, 4x100 gold, 100 semis. 15. The Consensus Kipruto (8:03.28)- Evan Jager (8:04.28) steeplechase. Drama to the very end, in the Hor- ace Ashefelter-Vladimir Kazantsev (1952) tradition. 16. Sandra Perkovic’s second discus gold for Croatia - 69.11 London 2012, 69.21 Rio 2016. Call her Ms. Con- sistency. 17. Shaunae Miller (Bahamas) - was it an intentional dive over the 400-meterfinish line - or sheer desperation - that carried her past Allyson Felix, 49.44 to 49.51? 18. All in the family department. Christoph Harting (68.37) succeeds brother Robert (68.24 London) as king of the discus ring. 19. (2.38) takes Canada’s first high jump gold since Duncan McNaughton at L.A. in 1932. And the Indianan’s innovative slow-down, then explosive approach promises to get all the event’s technicians into a period of deep thinking. 20. Collegian Ryan Crouser’s Olympic-record 22.52 upset shot put win over teammate Joe Kovacs (21.76) with two-time defender Tomasz Majewski just sixth. It’s the first 1-2 U.S. SP claim since Randy Barnes and John Godina at Atlanta in 1996. 21. Jeff Henderson’s 8.38 long jump win - by a single silly centimeter - over South Africa’s Luvo Manyonga. And Jumpin’ Jeff did it on his last jaunt down the runway, too. 22. Dilshod Nazarov’s hammer 78.68 win. Let’s hear it for Tajikstan - a newcomer nation to Olympic gold. 23. Nafissatou Thiam’s heptathlon win - by just 26 points - over Jessica Ennis-Hill. Futher proof that Team Belgium is a lot more than the Borlee Family. 24. Marathon titles a week apart by Eliud Kipchoge (2:08:44) and Jemima Sumgong (2:24.04), thus an his- toric sweep by Kenya. No nation’s 42.2K runners had ever claimed both golds at the same Games. 25. First Zhen Wang (1:19:14) and Zelin Cai (1:19.26) go 1-2 in the men’s race, then one week later, Hong Liu (1:26:35) and Xiuzhi Lu (1:28:42) go 1-3 in women’s event, giving four of six possible 20K racewalk med- als. Total haul by all the rest of the China athletics team, however - one silver, one bronze.

Obrigado, folks, for all these magical moments.

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 50 - September 2016 Partial Fixtures List

2016 Oct. 26-Nov. 6 World Masters Athletics Championships, Perth, Nov. 6 Marathon Nov. 19 NCAA Division I Cross Country, Terre Haute, Indiana NCAA Division II Cross Country, St. Leo, Florida NCAA Division III Cross Country, Louisville, Kentucky NAIA Cross Country, Charlotte, North Carolina

2017 Feb. 3-4 Armory Track Invitational, NYC Feb. 9 TAFWA Winter Awards Dinner, Coogan’s Restaurant, NYC, 6 PM Feb. 11 Millrose Games, Armory, NYC March 2-4 NAIA Indoor Championships, Johnson City, Tennessee March 3-5 USATF Indoor Championships, Albuquerque, New Mexico March 10-11 NCAA Division I Indoor Championships, College Station, Texas NCAA Division II Indoor Championships, , Alabama NCAA Division III Indoor Championships, Naperville, Illinois March 26 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, Kampala, Uganda April 22-23 IAAF World Relays, Nassau, Bahamas May 25-27 NCAA Division I East Preliminary Rounds, Lexington, Kentucky May 25-27 NCAA Division I West Preliminary Rounds, Austin, Texas NCAA Division II Championships, Bradenton, Florida NCAA Division III Championships, Geneva, Ohio NAIA Championships, Gulf Shores, Alabama June 7-10 NCAA Division I Championships, Eugene, Oregon June 23-25 USATF Outdoor Championships, Sacramento, California July 12-16 IAAF World U18 Championships, , Kenya Aug. 4-13 IAAF World Championships, London Nov. 18 NCAA Division I Cross Country, Louisville, Kentucky NCAA Division II Cross Country, Evansville, Indiana NCAA Division III Cross Country, Elsah, Illinois

2018 March 2-4 IAAF World Indoor Championships, Birmingham, England March 9-10 NCAA Division I Indoor Championships, College Station, Texas April 4-15 , Gold Coast, Australia May 24-26 NCAA Division I East Preliminary Rounds, Tampa, Florida May 24-26 NCAA Division I West Preliminary Rounds, Sacramento, Calif. June 6-9 NCAA Division I Championships, Eugene, Oregon TBA IAAF World U20 Championships, Tampere, Finland August 7-12 European Championships, Berlin, Germany Sept. 8-9 IAAF Continental Cup, Ostrava, Czech Republic

TAFWA Newsletter - Page 51 - September 2016