View Full Version : Olympic Marathon- American Medalist???
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/mike_fish/05/14/straight.shooting/
Down to a science Medals rare for U.S. marathoners, steamy
Athens could be different Posted: Friday May 14, 2004
3:22PM; Updated: Tuesday May 18, 2004
10:11AM
U.S. Olympic Marathon Team
Men Women Alan Culpepper Colleen DeReuck Meb Keflezighi
Deena Kastor Dan Browne Jen Rhines
Try as we might, it's at first hard to fathom an American
marathoner leaving Athens with a medal this summer. Olympic
glory in the sprints and a smattering of field events,
especially the big boys in the shot put, perhaps. But Uncle
Sam's distance runners just aren't up to world standards.
So why even suggest it might be different come August? Well,
the answer may be found in what scientists describe as
climatic heat stress. This is a nasty bagful of stuff cooked
up by an Athens summer, like steaming temperatures,
humidity, glaring sunshine and thickly polluted air.
Think Southern California in August, with the mercury
touching the mid-80s when the race starts in the late
afternoon. Then, imagine a
11.2-mile trek into the heart of Los Angeles over a
course with steeper hills than runners climb at the
Boston Marathon.
We're talking about great equalizers bound to slow the pace.
And no country has sunk more sharp minds, money and science
into calculating the fastest way to get its runners from the
sleepy village of Marathon into bustling Athens. Some of
this insight was shared during a marathon team summit last
weekend in Chula Vista, Calif.
"The Athens marathon is different because it is not just how
fast you can run,'' said Dr. David Martin, one of the
country's leading sports physiologists and author of The
Olympic Marathon. "It is how well you can manage the
environment. And to my knowledge there is not a country in
the world that is doing what we're doing in terms of
preparing its athletes. We're essentially running a national
training camp. Bringing in the best minds in the country, in
terms of humidity, hills, altitude, nutrition, energy, pace
-- all together in one place, having spent hundreds of hours
working together as a team in how to cope with the
environment and conditions.
"We've seen the course. We've done our homework. The
athletes also have done their homework. For both men and
women, the three major players who ought to be on the team
are on the team. It is not a fluke. And it is athletes who
want to run the marathon. It's not athletes who are saying,
'Well, I'll go if I don't make the 10,000 meters at the
Olympic Trials.' These people are focused on the marathon.''
But what they've qualified for sounds like pure hell -- a
tough course and brutal conditions. So taxing that at the
last international race over the Athens course, the 1997
World Championships, not a single runner among the top 30
finishers in either the men's or women's field clocked a personal-
best, and the dropout rate was nearly 33 percent.
But if you're going to be geeked for a marathon, this is the
one. The long-distance footrace debuted at the first modern
Olympic Games in 1896. Fast forward to this summer, and
runners will again pound the historic route in what figures
to be a showpiece event of the Athens Games.
Can you think of a more historic sports setting?
The marathon course is likened to Boston, which, to no one's
surprise, was conceived by athletes returning from the 1896
Athens Olympics. Only the original is an even tougher, net
uphill trek. Athens brings a series of rolling hills, much
like Boston, with the equivalent of a five-story climb every
mile from the 16.2 to 19.8 mile mark, followed by a long,
steady, downhill run to the finish that has the potential to
tear up the quads.
"They said it's a fairly polluted place, but I think the
temperature is going to be more of the issue than the air
quality,'' said Alan Culpepper, who captured the marathon
trials in 28 degree weather last February in Birmingham,
Ala. "If it were a race where we were going to set the world
record, then obviously that would be a factor. But under
conditions that are going to exist [a record] will be the
last of everyone's concerns.''
For Americans, the goal is simply to have someone on the
medal stand. Frank Shorter won the last men's medal at the
1976 Montreal Games, while Joan Benoit Samuelson ran to gold
in the inaugural women's race 20 years ago in Los Angeles.
The Greeks want only for the races to come off without a
hitch -- the women run Sunday, August 22, with the men a
week later in what will be the closing event of the Games.
Until then, there'll be no off-days as workers go about
widening from two to four lanes the route Pheidippides
covered 2,500 years ago to bring Athens news of great
victory against the Persian Army.
Dr. Martin drove the course for six hours in late October
and left Athens confident that the highway project would
be completed by the Games. The IOC inspectors declared
plans for the Athens Games on schedule this week, and
the roadwork is likely to be finished by mid-June. What
ought be remembered is construction in the main Atlanta
stadium delayed official marking of the 1996 marathon
course until a month before the Games.
"It is the marathon -- it must be ready,'' Martin said
matter-of-factly.
And the same might be said of the American charges, if they
can master the elements.
Mike Fish is a senior writer for SI.com.
On 2004-06-10, Red Dot <red0dot@NOSPAMhotmail.com> wrote:
> http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/mike_fish/0-
> 5/14/straight.shooting/
>
>
> Down to a science Medals rare for U.S. marathoners, steamy
> Athens could be different Posted: Friday May 14, 2004
> 3:22PM; Updated: Tuesday May 18, 2004
> 10:11AM
>
> U.S. Olympic Marathon Team
>
> Men Women Alan Culpepper Colleen DeReuck Meb Keflezighi
> Deena Kastor Dan Browne Jen Rhines
>
>
>
> Try as we might, it's at first hard to fathom an American
> marathoner leaving Athens with a medal this summer.
> Olympic glory in the sprints and a smattering of field
> events, especially the big boys in the shot put, perhaps.
> But Uncle Sam's distance runners just aren't up to world
> standards.
>
> So why even suggest it might be different come August?
> Well, the answer may be found in what scientists describe
> as climatic heat stress. This is a nasty bagful of stuff
> cooked up by an Athens summer, like steaming temperatures,
> humidity, glaring sunshine and thickly polluted air.
These conditions play to the strengths of the lighter,
smaller athletes. Usually, you'd think this would work
against the Americans, but Meb is one of the shorter
runners, and Culpepper is freakishly thin.
Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/
Maybe on the women's side, but not the men. Chances are good
that one of the men will not even start. Which might be a
good thing for Trent Briney (an acquaintance so I am biased
although I know Meb a bit better). I am betting Dan Browne
starts but DNFs. He chases the money in small American road
races way too much. He skipped a meeting of the marathon
team and coaches in San Diego to go run a race a pick up a
check (not even that big of a check). The meeting gave
excellent information on heat, humidity and a video preview
of the course.
"Red Dot" <red0dot@NOSPAMhotmail.com> wrote in message
news:qnkhc01u8usp01r09k2vtrj6cmihuagphu@4ax.com...
>
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/mike_fish/05/-
14/straight.shooting/
>
>
> Down to a science Medals rare for U.S. marathoners, steamy
> Athens could be different Posted: Friday May 14, 2004
> 3:22PM; Updated: Tuesday May 18, 2004
> 10:11AM
>
> U.S. Olympic Marathon Team
>
> Men Women Alan Culpepper Colleen DeReuck Meb Keflezighi
> Deena Kastor Dan Browne Jen Rhines
>
>
>
> Try as we might, it's at first hard to fathom an American
> marathoner leaving Athens with a medal this summer.
> Olympic glory in the sprints and a smattering of field
> events, especially the big boys in the shot put, perhaps.
> But Uncle Sam's distance runners just aren't up to world
> standards.
>
> So why even suggest it might be different come August?
> Well, the answer may be found in what scientists describe
> as climatic heat stress. This is a nasty bagful of stuff
> cooked up by an Athens summer, like steaming temperatures,
> humidity, glaring sunshine and thickly polluted air.
>
> Think Southern California in August, with the mercury
> touching the mid-80s when the race starts in the late
> afternoon. Then, imagine a
> 26.2-mile trek into the heart of Los Angeles over a course
> with steeper hills than runners climb at the Boston
> Marathon.
>
> We're talking about great equalizers bound to slow the
> pace. And no country has sunk more sharp minds, money and
> science into calculating the fastest way to get its
> runners from the sleepy village of Marathon into bustling
> Athens. Some of this insight was shared during a marathon
> team summit last weekend in Chula Vista, Calif.
>
> "The Athens marathon is different because it is not just
> how fast you can run,'' said Dr. David Martin, one of the
> country's leading sports physiologists and author of The
> Olympic Marathon. "It is how well you can manage the
> environment. And to my knowledge there is not a country in
> the world that is doing what we're doing in terms of
> preparing its athletes. We're essentially running a
> national training camp. Bringing in the best minds in the
> country, in terms of humidity, hills, altitude, nutrition,
> energy, pace -- all together in one place, having spent
> hundreds of hours working together as a team in how to
> cope with the environment and conditions.
>
> "We've seen the course. We've done our homework. The
> athletes also have done their homework. For both men and
> women, the three major players who ought to be on the team
> are on the team. It is not a fluke. And it is athletes who
> want to run the marathon. It's not athletes who are
> saying, 'Well, I'll go if I don't make the 10,000 meters
> at the Olympic Trials.' These people are focused on the
> marathon.''
>
> But what they've qualified for sounds like pure hell -- a
> tough course and brutal conditions. So taxing that at the
> last international race over the Athens course, the 1997
> World Championships, not a single runner among the top 30
> finishers in either the men's or women's field clocked a
> personal-best, and the dropout rate was nearly 33 percent.
>
>
> But if you're going to be geeked for a marathon, this is
> the one. The long-distance footrace debuted at the first
> modern Olympic Games in 1896. Fast forward to this summer,
> and runners will again pound the historic route in what
> figures to be a showpiece event of the Athens Games.
>
> Can you think of a more historic sports setting?
>
> The marathon course is likened to Boston, which, to no
> one's surprise, was conceived by athletes returning from
> the 1896 Athens Olympics. Only the original is an even
> tougher, net uphill trek. Athens brings a series of
> rolling hills, much like Boston, with the equivalent of a
> five-story climb every mile from the 16.2 to 19.8 mile
> mark, followed by a long, steady, downhill run to the
> finish that has the potential to tear up the quads.
>
> "They said it's a fairly polluted place, but I think the
> temperature is going to be more of the issue than the air
> quality,'' said Alan Culpepper, who captured the marathon
> trials in 28 degree weather last February in Birmingham,
> Ala. "If it were a race where we were going to set the
> world record, then obviously that would be a factor. But
> under conditions that are going to exist [a record] will
> be the last of everyone's concerns.''
>
> For Americans, the goal is simply to have someone on the
> medal stand. Frank Shorter won the last men's medal at the
> 1976 Montreal Games, while Joan Benoit Samuelson ran to
> gold in the inaugural women's race 20 years ago in Los
> Angeles.
>
> The Greeks want only for the races to come off without a
> hitch -- the women run Sunday, August 22, with the men a
> week later in what will be the closing event of the Games.
> Until then, there'll be no off-days as workers go about
> widening from two to four lanes the route Pheidippides
> covered 2,500 years ago to bring Athens news of great
> victory against the Persian Army.
>
> Dr. Martin drove the course for six hours in late October
> and left Athens confident that the highway project
> would be completed by the Games. The IOC inspectors
> declared plans for the Athens Games on schedule this
> week, and the roadwork is likely to be finished by mid-
> June. What ought be remembered is construction in the
> main Atlanta stadium delayed official marking of the
> 1996 marathon course until a month before the Games.
>
> "It is the marathon -- it must be ready,'' Martin said
> matter-of-factly.
>
> And the same might be said of the American charges, if
> they can master the elements.
>
>
> Mike Fish is a senior writer for SI.com.
On 2004-06-11, Sam <marathonman@mindspring.com> wrote:
> He chases the money in small American road races way too
> much. He skipped a meeting of the marathon team and
> coaches in San Diego to go run a race a pick up a check
> (not even that big of a check). The meeting gave
> excellent information on heat, humidity and a video
> preview of the course.
BK described road racing as "a B or a C circuit". While that
might make him sound like a snob (despite the fact that he's
right), IMO it's the right attitude -- not caring about
beating the little fish, and staying focused on making it on
the international stage.
Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/
Donovan Rebbechi wrote:
>These conditions play to the strengths of the lighter,
>smaller athletes. Usually, you'd think this would work
>against the Americans, but Meb is one of the shorter
>runners, and Culpepper is freakishly thin.
>
Alan Culpepper, the top American, is the 67th fastest male
marathoner in the world this year. What do you think? Deena
might have a better chance. But if you really want a medal
chance, it comes down to Webb and Krummenacker.
Lyndon "Speed Kills...It kills those that don't have it!"
--US Olympic Track Coach Brooks Johnson
On 2004-06-10, Lyndon <airlyndon@aol.comnospam> wrote:
> Donovan Rebbechi wrote:
>
>>These conditions play to the strengths of the lighter,
>>smaller athletes. Usually, you'd think this would work
>>against the Americans, but Meb is one of the shorter
>>runners, and Culpepper is freakishly thin.
>
> Alan Culpepper, the top American, is the 67th fastest male
> marathoner in the world this year. What do you think?
Those two (Culpepper, Meb) are good, good enough to be in
the same race as the worlds best -- but I agree that they're
both darkhorse contenders at best.
If I were a betting man, I'd look at 10k times, and pick the
smaller contenders with the best 10k performances. Again, on
that measure, both of these guys are respectable, but not
the worlds best.
Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/
"Lyndon" <airlyndon@aol.comnospam> wrote in message
news:20040610193203.12038.00000642@mb-m19.aol.com...
> Donovan Rebbechi wrote:
>
> >These conditions play to the strengths of the lighter,
> >smaller athletes. Usually, you'd think this would work
> >against the Americans, but Meb is
one of
> >the shorter runners, and Culpepper is freakishly thin.
> >
>
> Alan Culpepper, the top American, is the 67th fastest male
> marathoner in
the
> world this year. What do you think? Deena might have a
> better chance.
But if
> you really want a medal chance, it comes down to Webb and
> Krummenacker.
>
> Lyndon "Speed Kills...It kills those that don't have it!"
> --US Olympic Track
Coach
> Brooks Johnson
>
Krum maybe; Webb doubtful.
airlyndon@aol.comnospam (Lyndon) wrote in message news:<20040610193203.12038.00000642@mb-m19.aol.com>...
> Alan Culpepper, the top American, is the 67th fastest male
> marathoner in the world this year. What do you think?
I don´t know squat about Culpepper, but:
1. I wonder how much higher he would be if he´d ran one of
those marathons which each year produce the vast majority
of the top finishing times.
2. I wonder whether his training could have been geared
towards being "only as good as is required" in the
Olympic qualifer and whether there´s "more where that
came from".
3. I ponder the fact that IIRC quite a few of last year´s
championship marathons (Olympics, Worlds, Euros) have
produced a bit unexpected and a little unknown medalists.
4. I try to reminisce about those races; they would seem to
have been somewhat odd affairs pace- or startegywise.
5. I think especially of Janne Holmén who probably ranked
below 67th in the rankings before the 2002 Euros - and
about 34rd after winning it.
6. I admit that the Olympics probably attract a greater
number of absolute top marathoners, that the Kenyans,
for instance, can as a team make it a perfectly paced
race for their top two runners, and that it could well
be Culpepper and the other Americans already peaked for
the quals.
7. I wish the best of luck to them, anyway - I won´t root
for them, but I´ll stay tuned from start to finish:-)
Anders
wadn't khalid khannouchi supposed to be in the olympic team?
i thought he was a us citizen?
--
_____________
marko www.42-195.org "Red Dot" <red0dot@NOSPAMhotmail.com> a
écrit dans le message de
news:qnkhc01u8usp01r09k2vtrj6cmihuagphu@4ax.com...
>
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/mike_fish/05/-
14/straight.shooting/
>
>
> Down to a science Medals rare for U.S. marathoners, steamy
> Athens could be different Posted: Friday May 14, 2004
> 3:22PM; Updated: Tuesday May 18, 2004
> 10:11AM
>
> U.S. Olympic Marathon Team
>
> Men Women Alan Culpepper Colleen DeReuck Meb Keflezighi
> Deena Kastor Dan Browne Jen Rhines
>
>
>
> Try as we might, it's at first hard to fathom an American
> marathoner leaving Athens with a medal this summer.
> Olympic glory in the sprints and a smattering of field
> events, especially the big boys in the shot put, perhaps.
> But Uncle Sam's distance runners just aren't up to world
> standards.
>
> So why even suggest it might be different come August?
> Well, the answer may be found in what scientists describe
> as climatic heat stress. This is a nasty bagful of stuff
> cooked up by an Athens summer, like steaming temperatures,
> humidity, glaring sunshine and thickly polluted air.
>
> Think Southern California in August, with the mercury
> touching the mid-80s when the race starts in the late
> afternoon. Then, imagine a
> 26.2-mile trek into the heart of Los Angeles over a course
> with steeper hills than runners climb at the Boston
> Marathon.
>
> We're talking about great equalizers bound to slow the
> pace. And no country has sunk more sharp minds, money and
> science into calculating the fastest way to get its
> runners from the sleepy village of Marathon into bustling
> Athens. Some of this insight was shared during a marathon
> team summit last weekend in Chula Vista, Calif.
>
> "The Athens marathon is different because it is not just
> how fast you can run,'' said Dr. David Martin, one of the
> country's leading sports physiologists and author of The
> Olympic Marathon. "It is how well you can manage the
> environment. And to my knowledge there is not a country in
> the world that is doing what we're doing in terms of
> preparing its athletes. We're essentially running a
> national training camp. Bringing in the best minds in the
> country, in terms of humidity, hills, altitude, nutrition,
> energy, pace -- all together in one place, having spent
> hundreds of hours working together as a team in how to
> cope with the environment and conditions.
>
> "We've seen the course. We've done our homework. The
> athletes also have done their homework. For both men and
> women, the three major players who ought to be on the team
> are on the team. It is not a fluke. And it is athletes who
> want to run the marathon. It's not athletes who are
> saying, 'Well, I'll go if I don't make the 10,000 meters
> at the Olympic Trials.' These people are focused on the
> marathon.''
>
> But what they've qualified for sounds like pure hell -- a
> tough course and brutal conditions. So taxing that at the
> last international race over the Athens course, the 1997
> World Championships, not a single runner among the top 30
> finishers in either the men's or women's field clocked a
> personal-best, and the dropout rate was nearly 33 percent.
>
>
> But if you're going to be geeked for a marathon, this is
> the one. The long-distance footrace debuted at the first
> modern Olympic Games in 1896. Fast forward to this summer,
> and runners will again pound the historic route in what
> figures to be a showpiece event of the Athens Games.
>
> Can you think of a more historic sports setting?
>
> The marathon course is likened to Boston, which, to no
> one's surprise, was conceived by athletes returning from
> the 1896 Athens Olympics. Only the original is an even
> tougher, net uphill trek. Athens brings a series of
> rolling hills, much like Boston, with the equivalent of a
> five-story climb every mile from the 16.2 to 19.8 mile
> mark, followed by a long, steady, downhill run to the
> finish that has the potential to tear up the quads.
>
> "They said it's a fairly polluted place, but I think the
> temperature is going to be more of the issue than the air
> quality,'' said Alan Culpepper, who captured the marathon
> trials in 28 degree weather last February in Birmingham,
> Ala. "If it were a race where we were going to set the
> world record, then obviously that would be a factor. But
> under conditions that are going to exist [a record] will
> be the last of everyone's concerns.''
>
> For Americans, the goal is simply to have someone on the
> medal stand. Frank Shorter won the last men's medal at the
> 1976 Montreal Games, while Joan Benoit Samuelson ran to
> gold in the inaugural women's race 20 years ago in Los
> Angeles.
>
> The Greeks want only for the races to come off without a
> hitch -- the women run Sunday, August 22, with the men a
> week later in what will be the closing event of the Games.
> Until then, there'll be no off-days as workers go about
> widening from two to four lanes the route Pheidippides
> covered 2,500 years ago to bring Athens news of great
> victory against the Persian Army.
>
> Dr. Martin drove the course for six hours in late October
> and left Athens confident that the highway project
> would be completed by the Games. The IOC inspectors
> declared plans for the Athens Games on schedule this
> week, and the roadwork is likely to be finished by mid-
> June. What ought be remembered is construction in the
> main Atlanta stadium delayed official marking of the
> 1996 marathon course until a month before the Games.
>
> "It is the marathon -- it must be ready,'' Martin said
> matter-of-factly.
>
> And the same might be said of the American charges, if
> they can master the elements.
>
>
> Mike Fish is a senior writer for SI.com.
"marko" <personne@nullepart.net> wrote in news:40ccb5e6$0$22717
$626a14ce@news.free.fr:
> wadn't khalid khannouchi supposed to be in the olympic
> team? i thought he was a us citizen?
Check this out:
http://www.mensracing.com/news/2003/khannouchiout.html
Phil M.
--
"I gotta go. You're killin' me."
In article <40ccb5e6$0$22717$626a14ce@news.free.fr>,
"marko" <personne@nullepart.net> wrote:
> wadn't khalid khannouchi supposed to be in the olympic
> team? i thought he was a us citizen?
Injured at the time of the Trials.
--Harold Buck
"I used to rock and roll all night, and party every day. Th-
en it was every other day. . . ."
- Homer J. Simpson
"Phil M." <pmarg@charter.net> a écrit dans le message de
news:Xns9507ABBDC78D0seilogramp@216.77.188.18...
> "marko" <personne@nullepart.net> wrote in
> news:40ccb5e6$0$22717 $626a14ce@news.free.fr:
>
> > wadn't khalid khannouchi supposed to be in the olympic
> > team? i thought he was a us citizen?
>
> Check this out:
> http://www.mensracing.com/news/2003/khannouchiout.html
ok, I see. I'm impressed that even a former world-record
holder has to go through the trials in order to go to the
olympics. I know that one of the best marathoner in
france, benoit Zwierzchlewski, has been accepted among the
olympic team without having to run the trials, only based
on a very good performance (sub 2h07') marathon almost 1
year before the trials, while other marathoners, less
fast, had to make them.
I think that this is a good option for very good runners, as
running a diffficult marathon trial a few months before the
olympics might not always be the best thing to do. It would
also be better for less talented ones to be drafted based on
good performances during the year or so before the olympics,
but not during just one specific race. It seems to me that
the best marathoners in the world are known of running only
one very good M per year?
marko
> Phil M.
>
> --
> "I gotta go. You're killin' me."
it is my personal opinion that the american women have an outside shot at a
medal. however the american men have no shot what so ever.
as someone who was running marathons in the early 70's i have always been
impressed by the approach of the japanese runners towards the marathon and
in particular toshihiko seko. i remember seko saying in the book running
with legends "that the marathon is my only girlfriend. i give her
everything i have" well maybe if the american runners took this kind of
approach where they basically give up everything for an extended period of
time (lets say 6 to 9 months) and just train for the marathon then maybe
they might rise from a third world nation to once again a force in marathon
running. unfortunately i do not see this country once again becoming a
player in marathon running any time soon.
"Red Dot" <red0dot@NOSPAMhotmail.com> wrote in message
news:qnkhc01u8usp01r09k2vtrj6cmihuagphu@4ax.com...
>
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/mike_fish/05/-
14/straight.shooting/
>
>
> Down to a science Medals rare for U.S. marathoners, steamy
> Athens could be different Posted: Friday May 14, 2004
> 3:22PM; Updated: Tuesday May 18, 2004
> 10:11AM
>
> U.S. Olympic Marathon Team
>
> Men Women Alan Culpepper Colleen DeReuck Meb Keflezighi
> Deena Kastor Dan Browne Jen Rhines
>
>
>
> Try as we might, it's at first hard to fathom an American
> marathoner leaving Athens with a medal this summer.
> Olympic glory in the sprints and a smattering of field
> events, especially the big boys in the shot put, perhaps.
> But Uncle Sam's distance runners just aren't up to world
> standards.
>
> So why even suggest it might be different come August?
> Well, the answer may be found in what scientists describe
> as climatic heat stress. This is a nasty bagful of stuff
> cooked up by an Athens summer, like steaming temperatures,
> humidity, glaring sunshine and thickly polluted air.
>
> Think Southern California in August, with the mercury
> touching the mid-80s when the race starts in the late
> afternoon. Then, imagine a
> 26.2-mile trek into the heart of Los Angeles over a course
> with steeper hills than runners climb at the Boston
> Marathon.
>
> We're talking about great equalizers bound to slow the
> pace. And no country has sunk more sharp minds, money and
> science into calculating the fastest way to get its
> runners from the sleepy village of Marathon into bustling
> Athens. Some of this insight was shared during a marathon
> team summit last weekend in Chula Vista, Calif.
>
> "The Athens marathon is different because it is not just
> how fast you can run,'' said Dr. David Martin, one of the
> country's leading sports physiologists and author of The
> Olympic Marathon. "It is how well you can manage the
> environment. And to my knowledge there is not a country in
> the world that is doing what we're doing in terms of
> preparing its athletes. We're essentially running a
> national training camp. Bringing in the best minds in the
> country, in terms of humidity, hills, altitude, nutrition,
> energy, pace -- all together in one place, having spent
> hundreds of hours working together as a team in how to
> cope with the environment and conditions.
>
> "We've seen the course. We've done our homework. The
> athletes also have done their homework. For both men and
> women, the three major players who ought to be on the team
> are on the team. It is not a fluke. And it is athletes who
> want to run the marathon. It's not athletes who are
> saying, 'Well, I'll go if I don't make the 10,000 meters
> at the Olympic Trials.' These people are focused on the
> marathon.''
>
> But what they've qualified for sounds like pure hell -- a
> tough course and brutal conditions. So taxing that at the
> last international race over the Athens course, the 1997
> World Championships, not a single runner among the top 30
> finishers in either the men's or women's field clocked a
> personal-best, and the dropout rate was nearly 33 percent.
>
>
> But if you're going to be geeked for a marathon, this is
> the one. The long-distance footrace debuted at the first
> modern Olympic Games in 1896. Fast forward to this summer,
> and runners will again pound the historic route in what
> figures to be a showpiece event of the Athens Games.
>
> Can you think of a more historic sports setting?
>
> The marathon course is likened to Boston, which, to no
> one's surprise, was conceived by athletes returning from
> the 1896 Athens Olympics. Only the original is an even
> tougher, net uphill trek. Athens brings a series of
> rolling hills, much like Boston, with the equivalent of a
> five-story climb every mile from the 16.2 to 19.8 mile
> mark, followed by a long, steady, downhill run to the
> finish that has the potential to tear up the quads.
>
> "They said it's a fairly polluted place, but I think the
> temperature is going to be more of the issue than the air
> quality,'' said Alan Culpepper, who captured the marathon
> trials in 28 degree weather last February in Birmingham,
> Ala. "If it were a race where we were going to set the
> world record, then obviously that would be a factor. But
> under conditions that are going to exist [a record] will
> be the last of everyone's concerns.''
>
> For Americans, the goal is simply to have someone on the
> medal stand. Frank Shorter won the last men's medal at the
> 1976 Montreal Games, while Joan Benoit Samuelson ran to
> gold in the inaugural women's race 20 years ago in Los
> Angeles.
>
> The Greeks want only for the races to come off without a
> hitch -- the women run Sunday, August 22, with the men a
> week later in what will be the closing event of the Games.
> Until then, there'll be no off-days as workers go about
> widening from two to four lanes the route Pheidippides
> covered 2,500 years ago to bring Athens news of great
> victory against the Persian Army.
>
> Dr. Martin drove the course for six hours in late October
> and left Athens confident that the highway project
> would be completed by the Games. The IOC inspectors
> declared plans for the Athens Games on schedule this
> week, and the roadwork is likely to be finished by mid-
> June. What ought be remembered is construction in the
> main Atlanta stadium delayed official marking of the
> 1996 marathon course until a month before the Games.
>
> "It is the marathon -- it must be ready,'' Martin said
> matter-of-factly.
>
> And the same might be said of the American charges, if
> they can master the elements.
>
>
> Mike Fish is a senior writer for SI.com.
The US system is fine. It takes the subjectivity out of it. The Trials
were in February. Gives a person plenty of time to recover and peak again
for August. I would have had the Trials in Honolulu myself (triathlon had
one of its selection events there) since the conditions would be closer to
Athens (minus the horrendous air quality).
"marko" <personne@nullepart.net> wrote in message
news:40cd74af$0$16829$626a14ce@news.free.fr...
> "Phil M." <pmarg@charter.net> a écrit dans le message de
> news:Xns9507ABBDC78D0seilogramp@216.77.188.18...
> > "marko" <personne@nullepart.net> wrote in
> > news:40ccb5e6$0$22717 $626a14ce@news.free.fr:
> >
> > > wadn't khalid khannouchi supposed to be in the olympic
> > > team? i thought he was a us citizen?
> >
> > Check this out:
> > http://www.mensracing.com/news/2003/khannouchiout.html
>
> ok, I see. I'm impressed that even a former world-record
> holder has to go through the trials in order to go to the
> olympics. I know that one of the best marathoner in
> france, benoit Zwierzchlewski,
has
> been accepted among the olympic team without having to run
> the trials,
only
> based on a very good performance (sub 2h07') marathon
> almost 1 year before the trials, while other marathoners,
> less fast, had to make them.
>
> I think that this is a good option for very good runners,
> as running a diffficult marathon trial a few months before
> the olympics might not
always
> be the best thing to do. It would also be better for less
> talented ones to be drafted based on good performances
> during the year or so before the olympics, but not during
just
> one specific race. It seems to me that the best
> marathoners in the world are known of running only one
> very good M per year?
>
> marko
>
> > Phil M.
> >
> > --
> > "I gotta go. You're killin' me."
how could the US system be fine when it does not produce any results?
"Sam" <marathonman@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:s%Bzc.5472$Wr.423@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> The US system is fine. It takes the subjectivity out of
> it. The Trials were in February. Gives a person plenty of
> time to recover and peak again for August. I would have
> had the Trials in Honolulu myself (triathlon had one of
> its selection events there) since the conditions would be
> closer to Athens (minus the horrendous air quality).
> "marko" <personne@nullepart.net> wrote in message
> news:40cd74af$0$16829$626a14ce@news.free.fr...
> > "Phil M." <pmarg@charter.net> a écrit dans le message de
> > news:Xns9507ABBDC78D0seilogramp@216.77.188.18...
> > > "marko" <personne@nullepart.net> wrote in
> > > news:40ccb5e6$0$22717 $626a14ce@news.free.fr:
> > >
> > > > wadn't khalid khannouchi supposed to be in the
> > > > olympic team? i thought he was a us citizen?
> > >
> > > Check this out: http://www.mensracing.com/news/2003/k-
> > > hannouchiout.html
> >
> > ok, I see. I'm impressed that even a former world-record
> > holder has to go through
the
> > trials in order to go to the olympics. I know that one
> > of the best marathoner in france, benoit Zwierzchlewski,
> has
> > been accepted among the olympic team without having to
> > run the trials,
> only
> > based on a very good performance (sub 2h07') marathon
> > almost 1 year
before
> > the trials, while other marathoners, less fast, had to
> > make them.
> >
> > I think that this is a good option for very good
> > runners, as running a diffficult marathon trial a few
> > months before the olympics might not
> always
> > be the best thing to do. It would also be better for
> > less talented ones to be drafted based on
good
> > performances during the year or so before the olympics,
> > but not during
> just
> > one specific race. It seems to me that the best
> > marathoners in the world are known of
running
> > only one very good M per year?
> >
> > marko
> >
> > > Phil M.
> > >
> > > --
> > > "I gotta go. You're killin' me."
> >
>
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