Eugene Lauded As Host Of U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials
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Eugene Receives Praise For Its Hosting
Of U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials |
The U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials, held the past two weeks at the Univ. of Oregon's Hayward Field in Eugene, was "part pilgrimage, part family reunion, part house party," according to Rachel Bachman of the Portland OREGONIAN. Years of "preparation to return the sport to one of its most legendary sites, including 3,000 volunteers and millions of dollars in renovations, seem to have hit their mark." Eugene's trials "did not conquer track and field's challenges, which include a lack of household names, odd-hour TV coverage and a public that wonders if its athletes truly are drug-free." But the event "gave the sport's stewards a huge dose of oxygen." It "reinstalled Eugene as 'Track Town USA.'" Eugene 08 Organizing Committee officials said that the event, held in the city for the first time in 28 years, "positioned the city to host the biggest events in the world -- including the 2012 Olympic trials, which it has already won." Organizers will "not know for several weeks whether the trials broke even or turned a profit." But observers said that organizers succeeded in "reconnecting the sport with some of its deepest roots." Still, organizers "plan to change a few things for 2012." Eugene 08 co-Chair Greg Erwin said, "Ideally, I'd love to see another 300- or 400-room hotel built before 2012. I think the community has reasons to invest in that now." Meanwhile, when asked if organizers would consider bidding to make Eugene the permanent site of the trials, Erwin said, "We would consider it. We have not, to this point. I think it would be safe to say that we will probably bid on just about every major championship that we're capable of hosting in the years to come, every year" (Portland OREGONIAN, 7/8). In Chicago, Philip Hersh writes Eugene's organizing committee "turned the trials into a must-attend event, and that probably will carry over to the next running in 2012." The event had "sellout crowds, a fan festival, bands, big screens next to Hayward Field, and an atmosphere better than any track meet -- including the Olympics -- I have attended in the" U.S. However, the committee inflated attendance "beyond the capacity by counting everyone who wandered into the vicinity." Hersh: "Why exaggerate the truth when it was so impressive anyway?" USATF also "kowtow[ed] again to NBC schedulers and creat[ed] a competition program that allowed what should be a six-day meet to drag over eight (plus two rest days), making some days painfully bereft of action" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 7/8).
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Number Of New World Records
Dampening Swimming's Luster? |
TRACKING AHEAD? In Philadelphia, Frank Fitzpatrick writes the American track and field community departed Eugene "with a runner's high." U.S. men's coach Bubba Thornton: "Eugene has raised the bar." However, while the event may have been "a huge success in this track-mad corner" of Oregon, it "was, to a large degree, overshadowed by the swimming and diving trials in Omaha" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 7/8). However, in Miami, Linda Robertson wrote the "beleaguered sport of track and field regained some of its luster and credibility at its trials while swimming, healthy and popular thanks to Michael Phelps, lost some." In selecting teams for the Beijing Olympics with "pressure-packed formats, the two sports dueled for attention over the past nine days." Robertson noted "track and field won," and "new stars emerged." The problem with swimming is the "flood of world records -- 52 and counting in 2008." What other sport could "go on that kind of binge and not face scrutiny?" (MIAMI HERALD, 7/7).
BROTHERLY LOVE: The city of Philadelphia hosted the U.S. Table Tennis Trials at Drexel Univ. in January, a boxing exhibition between the U.S. Olympic team and Puerto Rico at Temple Univ.'s Liacouras Center in April and the U.S. Gymnastics Olympic Trials June 19-22 at the Wachovia Center. Philadelphia Sports Congress Exec Dir Larry Needle said, "We feel very good about the kind of Olympic year we're having in Philadelphia and we think that's just going to translate ultimately into even more opportunity within the Olympic family." USA Gymnastics President Steve Penny: "I'd say feedback has been universally positive from USA Gymnastics and the [USOC]. ... It really, I think, became the home run we hoped it would be" (PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 7/8).
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