Leaving Rio...

Thanks for the medals and the memories!

Closing Ceremonies Weather Concerns

After days of hacking away with the cough that has plagued our tour the past week, I woke up this morning with the full-fledged chest cold that has been its inevitable destination.

I had planned on visiting the Christ the Redeemer statue early this Sunday morning, but it was pouring, I didn't feel well, and most of all, the men's marathon was up - event #47 of 47. I saw a few brief minutes of it out on the course and returned to my hotel to watch the finish. Galen Rupp earned himself a worldwide audience for the medal ceremony during Closing Ceremonies tonight with his third-place bronze.

Later in the afternoon, after a restorative nap, I decided to give the trip to the statue another try, and this time they did everything but tell me they had closed down the gondola. A windstorm had come up, and my guess is that gusts in my neighborhood exceeded 40 mph. As I was walking back to the hotel, I heard corrugated metal ripping from a roof. Just across the street, a palm tree shed its fruit with a small but startling explosion all its own. The television in my room has gone on and off of its own accord twice, and a neighboring back door light gave its own show.

Now we are minutes from the start of Closing Ceremonies. I can only hope they will not be disrupted by the storm outside. Maracana Stadium is open in the center and so the performers likely will be affected, but I fear those in attendance will have stood in the usual long lines to get in, and this time in the rain and wind.

As for me, I'm going to head for the same place I watched Opening Ceremonies, the Catete Grill, and see how the neighbors view the end of their big event.

With some luck we'll get the real deal this time: Hela Pinto, the true inspiration for "The Girl from Ipanema," and not that same imposter we had during Opening Ceremonies.

Day 10: Men's Marathon Fearless Picks and Predictions

Sunday, August 21

UPDATE: It's pouring rain 15 minutes before the start of the race at 09:30 Rio time.

M Marathon

A World champion at 5,000m as a 19-year-old in 2003, 32-year old Eliud Kipchoge has been running at the highest levels for 13 years. He has made the transition from track to the roads far more successfully than some of his more famous counterparts, and now his fame rivals theirs.

Starting with wins at the Rotterdam and Chicago Marathons in 2014, Kipchoge won marathon majors London and Berlin in 2015, and added the London title in 2016 in 2:03:05, just 8 seconds off Dennis Kimetto’s (Ken) world record. Kipchoge is everyone’s favorite, including mine.

I had thought that two-time (’13 and ’15) Boston winner Lelisa Desisa would be on Ethiopia’s team, but instead it’s this year’s Boston winner, Lemi Berhanu (Eth) who will run in Rio. He was called a surprise winner in Boston, just as he was 15 months earlier when he really was an unknown when he won the Dubai Marathon. A medal for him will not be a surprise.

Tesfaye Abere Dibaba caught the attention of many when the then-unknown ran away from the field and won the Dubai marathon on a hot early morning this January in a fast-for-the conditions 2:04:24. There may well be very similar conditions here in Rio.

When it comes to looking for medalists who might not win, Kenya’s Stanley Biwott, 2^nd at London this year in 2:03:51, has a remarkable record in the last four years (including half-marathons): 4 -1sts, 3 - 2nds, and a 4^th and a 5^th. His London race is especially impressive, to hang on so well when 1^st is long lost.

It’s hard to know what to make of the top three in last year’s World Championship race, held in a sauna in Beijing. The only one I think is likely to make an impact here is the winner, Ghirmay Ghebreslassie of Eritrea, who showed himself to be a master (and confident) tactician under some of the most challenging conditions ever encountered in a major championship.

Galen Rupp of the United States is intriguing; the slower the pace the better his chances, and he ran a particularly impressive marathon debut in winning the US Trials with relative ease – and on a hot day. He has not helped himself by running the 10,000m first.

Speaking of London, Uganda’s Stephen Kiprotich was the unexpected winner of London ’12 Olympic gold. But that is usually how it turns out in these marathons – the favorites aren’t as favorite as we thought, magic takes place on the roads, and someone’s life is changed forever.

As for Kipchoge, the fact that during the dip in his career between track and roads he followed me on twitter without any prompting from me only adds to his luster.

Well, for some of us. OK, for one, but I’m doing the picking here.

1. Eliud Kipchoge, Ken

2. Tesfaye Abere Dibaba, Eth

3. Stanley Biwott, Ken

Of Horses and Swansongs

Good Morning, Campers.

Well, 46/47 previews and predictions are posted. I'll post the men's marathon before its early start tomorrow. It has been a new and different experience writing the previews for a much broader audience on RunBlogRun. With more explanation of references and the need to establish context for that wider audience, the individual previews bloomed from 250-350 words to an average of 460 each this time.

Day 8 - Olympic Track+Field

Fearless Picks and Predictions

for events beginning on

Day 8 – Friday, August 19

M 50k Walk

There is always a risk in being repetitive when evaluating the walks, as so many racewalkers cross over and do both the 50k and 20k. There is little action on the 50k front so far this year, as racewalking 31.1 miles is a little like running a marathon, only farther. You don’t want to do it too often, and you want to save yourself for the year’s biggest race.

Day 7 Olympic T+F Events Previews and Picks

for events beginning on

Day 7 – Thursday, August 18

M Shot Put

Until the US Olympic Trials, this seemed like an easy call. Joe Kovacs (US) moved up through the ranks in a predictable path to greatness – predictable because it’s a path pupils of his coach, Art Venegas, tend to follow. His culminating achievement was a win at the World Championships last summer and he seemed well on his way to Olympic glory. He may well be… but then the Olympic Trials happened. Ryan Crouser (US, OR) blew his PR out of the water with his 22.11/72-6 ½, just two centimeters short of Kovacs’ 22.13/72-7 ¼ /world leader.

The Late Olympics

The scheduling of the events of these games is heavily dependent on television broadcast schedules - not that that is anything new. Rio is 4 hrs ahead of Pacific time, 1 crucial hour ahead of Eastern, 3 hours behind GMT, and 5 hours behind Amsterdam. The Eastern time difference makes the 'packaging' of the events much easier for NBC and played a substantial role in their decision not to broadcast the evening events live.

Day 6 - T+F Events Previews and Picks

for events beginning on

Wednesday, August 17

Decathlon (M)

1. Yo, Ashton!

2. See #1.

Ashton Eaton (US) is as prohibitive a favorite as there is in these Games. The world record setter, World Champion, and Olympic Champion is truly in a class of his own, as he usually wins by margins of 300 points or more.

Day 5 - T+F Event Previews and Picks

for events beginning on

Day 5 – Tuesday, August 16

W 5,000m

The ’15 World Championship 5,000m was an Ethiopian sweep, but not nearly in the order anyone might have predicted. Genzebe Dibaba was a prohibitive favorite to win, but her 1500/5000 double was not to be; gold and bronze is never a bad meet, unless you’re the queen and you don’t want to give up your crown.

World Records All Over the Place!

Who knew that a lithe 400m runner from South Africa could steal the spotlight from Usain Bolt?

Wayde van Niekerk accomplished that unlikely feat last night in Estadio Olimpico when he set the 400m world record of 43.03.

Van Niekerk broke Michael Johnson's 43.18 set 17 years ago in the World Championships final in Seville; I have the rare privilege of having seen the last two M 400m world records.

This morning Poland's Anita Wlodarczyk shattered her own world record in the hammer throw by 1.21 meters with a remarkable 82.29/269-11.

In a series for the ages, she had three of the top 5 longest throws in history; three times she moved her own previous bests down the lists! It is not overstating it to say that she is competing with herself, as she won by 18-2/5.54.

With that margin, she could win the pole vault.

While the hammer dramatics were taking place, Brunei's Ruth Jebet scared the steeplechase world record when she won in 8:59.75, missing the current world record by less than a second.

Jebet had 70 seconds to complete the last lap - well within her reach - and set the new record, but she slowed dramatically as she approached the finish line, seemingly more from joy than fatigue. After all, she was about to become Olympic champion, and no one else was close.

About that Bolt guy... the atmosphere in the stadium last night was electric, and the anticipation of the men's 100m final so high that the volunteers who brought out the blocks got a wild ovation from the crowd! And with all the anticipation of the 100m, van Niekerk stepped in to show there's more to the world of track and field than Mr. Bolt... and then Mr. Bolt stepped up to remind us that our sport truly can't live without him.

One of my favorite nights in 45 years of track and field.

If you didn't see it last night, you might enjoy my twitter feed of the evening, which includes several photos: @trackerati.

In a rather humorous moment, late in the evening just before the men's 100m started, I got a text message.

"Oh, great," I thought, "someone's responding to my tweets!"

It was our friends at AT+T saying, "Dude, you're blowing your data plan out of the water!"

On a personal note, I am now up to five event coverage assignments for Track and Field News. Two of them are - get this - the women's hammer and the women's steeplechase. Today I covered my first world record and came within a second of covering two at the same time.

Not sure if someone's going to wake me up and tell me that actually I'm at the Oregon Twilight Meet. More like the Twilight Zone, perhaps, but I do know this. I am #livin'thedream.

Day 4 - Previews and Picks

for events beginning on

Monday, August 15

M Triple Jump

Olympic and two-time World champion Christian Taylor was ranked second in the world among all athletes behind only Ashton Eaton in 2015. He won the World title in Beijing and scared the world record; his winning 59-9/18.21 jump set the American record and just missed the 60’ barrier.  He has won 18 Diamond League meets in the last 4 years. ‘Nuff said, he’s the favorite.

Last Throws

Michelle Carter (US) won the Olympic shot put title on Friday evening at Rio's Estadio Olimpico. In what has become her signature, she won on her last throw, just as she did in Portland in March to win the World Indoor title, and just as she did in Eugene in July to win the US Olympic Trials.

Three major championships, three last throw wins.

Here is a link to the article I wrote about Carter for the IAAF website in April:
https://www.iaaf.org/news/feature/michelle-carter-shot-diva

Carter sure has been waving to crowds a lot this year.

Meanwhile, in the men's discus, Germany's Christoph Harting won on - guess what? - his last throw to upset World champion Piotr Malachowski (Pol). Harting is likely already sick of being referred to as discus king Robert Harting's little brother (CH is 6' 8 3/4", RH is three-time World and 2012 Olympic champion).

Research mavens are hard at work trying to find out if siblings have ever succeeded each other as Olympic champions in the same event; none found so far.

Meanwhile, this morning the women's Olympic marathon passed about 10 minutes from my hotel. Why it started at 9:30 instead of 7:30 is beyond me. It was hot just standing there and watching.

Meanwhile, I believe there's a little gathering of sprinters tonight. If I see any, I'll be sure to let you know.

Day 3 - Previews and Picks: W Marathon + M High Jump

for events beginning on
Sunday, August 14

W Marathon
Mare Dibaba (Eth) had a pretty nifty 1-2 last year: 1st at Worlds and 2nd at Boston. And her fastest race of ’15? A scintillating 2:19:52 at Xiamen. As she showed at the World Championships, she has the unnerving ability to run fast over the last 9 km as well as the ability to run fast over the last 100m.

Day 2 - Event Previews - Fearless Picks + Predictions

2016 Olympic Track and Field / Day 2 – Saturday, August 13

M 100m

Funny, I think there’s not a lot to say about the men’s 100m. Or maybe it’s all been said so many times that it seems repetitive. So I’m going to stay away from the good guy/bad guy storyline and just stick with the facts.

Small Bits of Insanity

Ethiopia's Almaz Ayana ran into history in Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro this morning with her historic 29:17.45 decimation of the 10,000m world record.

The previous world record of 29:31.78 was held by China's Wang Junxia, set 23 years ago in 1993.

In the greatest 10k of its era and certainly one of the two or three greatest in history - women's or men's - the all-time lists were completely rewritten as four runners broke 30:00 minutes.

There are small bits of insanity in these results.

Eight national records were set, including that of the United States by Molly Huddle in 30:13.17 in 6th place.

The first 13 runners set personal bests and 18/35 finishers did so.

Former US citizen Alexi Pappas, now running for Greece, set the Greek national record of 31:36.16 - and finished seventeenth.

Most striking is simply this:

1. 29:17.45
2. 29:32.53
3. 29:42.56
4. 29:53.51

Kenya's Vivian Cheruiyot was second, Ethiopian legend Tirunesh Dibaba 3rd, and Kenya's Alice Nawowuma finished 4th after having done much to set up the race for Ayana in the first 5 kilometers.

If anything, it appeared Nawowuna was headed for bronze until Tirunesh Dibaba and she traded places twice between 7 and 8 kilometers, with the Ethiopian veteran pulling away to win the battle for 3rd.

Imagine running 29:53.51 and finishing 4th.

In my preview of this race I suggested that it was time for the 22-year-old Nawowuna to run an open 5,000m race to break her prodigious 15:16.74 - run when she was 16 years old.

Today she did just that.

She led the race at 5,000m in 14:46.81.

Day 1 - Event Previews

2016 Olympic Track and Field

Fearless Picks and Predictions

Day 1 – Friday, August 12

Circle the Wagons!

I've been kind of quiet here the last few days as I've pulled together my quadrennial 'fearless picks and predictions' of the track and field events of these Olympic Games.

This tome is over forty pages now and tomorrow's previews are queued up and ready to go. The men's discus will get these Games underway at 9:30am local time.

It is done in spite of the exasperation of my hotel having lost internet connectivity at the height of my work on the preview - for 36 hours. Yowza! My blood pressure is fine now - no, really.

You can see my tweets even if you don't subscribe to twitter. Just go to their website and plug in @trackerati and you can see my communications there.

Some of you may have seen my 'Grim Reaper' tweet a couple of days ago. There is more in that pic than meets the eye.

Notice the badge hanging around my neck? After an application process that lasted four months - and a week into my stay here - I was issued a pass to the Rio Media Center. This gets me into a great place to work, a place where numerous press conferences are held, and best of all, a place where I mingle with journalists from around the world.

To be clear, this is neither an all-access (royal blood required) nor single-sport pass, both of which are quite hard to come by (Track and Field News, the publication of record in international track, gets one sport specific pass per Olympics).

But it is certainly enriching my experience here, to wit:

One of the great hangout places on the planet.
Food trucks and picnic area outside the Rio Media Center.

Word went out that the media centers were under supplied - little liquid and less food. Circle the wagons! Enterprising food truck operators flocked to the two media centers and no one has gone hungry since.

Tonight a gracious couple, Patricia and Sidney, who are Cariocas - Rio residents - made room for me at their table and we hung out for a good - no, a great - half hour. She works in insurance security and he with a prominent energy company. They could not have been more welcoming - or funnier! We truly did have the best time. Thank you, Patricia and Sidney, for such a gezellig evening! Yes, we discussed language, among many other things.

Oddly, finishing the previews frees me up to do a greater variety of writing, even though track starts on Friday. I am eager to get a post up about the beach volleyball I attended, as I lucked into a historic match on the women's side when the Egyptian women's team played. I'll get that posted this weekend.

The press pass came about, in the end, in a rather funny way. After months of the most picayune picking apart of my application, I knew we had it down to the last possible detail. One last submission and... I waited. And waited. Again. For two more days.

In the meantime, I had met Heloisa Pinto.

The light went on.

I wrote them a rather cheeky message and said, "While awaiting your reply, I wrote a story about meeting the "Girl from Ipanema" - thought you might enjoy it." And sent them the link.

I had the pass 2 hrs, 44 minutes, and 42 seconds later.

Three years and two days after I started this blog.

Happy Birthday, indeed.

Chorus of Squeals

Then... Now... Women's Gymnastics

Montreal '76 and Rio '16

Montreal

I had two tickets to women’s gymnastics on the first day of competition of the ’76 Montreal Olympic Games, the day after Opening Ceremonies.

The tickets indicated the sport, gender, place, time, location, and seat, but not the teams, and teams are all in women’s gymnastics.

My first seat was in the rafters of Montreal’s Forum – a partially obstructed view of the four teams that marched in. We did not know which teams would appear until that moment; these turned out to be among the lowest seeded teams in the tournament, including the United States and its one individual star, Cathy Rigby.

At last the Forum was emptied, and I could only hope that my second ticket would produce a higher level of competition. This time I drew a once-in-a-lifetime gymnastics seat; I was at eye level with and directly in front of the uneven parallel bars.

Seated next to me was a young woman who was as passionate about gymnastics as I am about track and field. She was eager to share her knowledge and I was a more than receptive audience.

The crowd buzzed with anticipation, and then burst into applause as Romania, Hungary, East Germany, and the USSR marched in – the four best teams in the world.

First-round tickets were never so good.

Ever, as it turned out, as we were about to witness history.

Over the previous winter, Omega Timing staffers had approached the International Olympic Committee to make sure they had the score display design correct – three digits or four? Three, they were told, as a 10.00 is impossible.

Romania’s Nadia Comaneci - all of 14 - put the experts in their collective place when she completed her historic uneven parallel bars routine that earned the first 10.00 in Olympic history. We knew we had witnessed something special, and after her breathtaking routine the rousing applause continued… and continued.

There was a lengthy delay in the posting of her score. Finally, I leaned over to my seatmate and  said, “Maybe the scoring system can’t handle a 10.00?”

You’ll win many a bar bet with the answer to this question: What did the scoreboard display?

1.0

That’s right, a 1.0, 9 full points short of the score she had earned.

The British newspaper The Guardian has Comaneci’s perfect 10 as the #5 greatest moment in Olympic history (of course, this must be viewed with some skepticism as they have Jesse Owens at #6).

Rio

I did my best to replicate my Montreal tickets, and ended up with ducats to the 1^st and 3^rd preliminary round sessions of women’s gymnastics. In ‘the more things change the more they remain the same’ category, these first rounds took place exactly one day later in the Olympic schedule than in 1976.

In the first session, this Geography teacher got schooled by geography, as well as by the entire transportation and spectator entry process. Suffice it to say that I could have entered Olympic Arena with 2 minutes left before the finish of this ‘subdivision,’ and decided instead to learn the layout of the Olympic campus and get a head start on my second session, scheduled to begin at 2:30.

The first group teams had been similar to those in Montreal, and the quality was much higher for Rio’s 2:30 round, which included Germany, Russia, Belgium, China, and a “mixed group of 8” individuals, the individual stars of countries/territories like Sweden and Guam whose team had not qualified - the notion of Guam not having a national gymnastics team had not occurred to me.

And one more country:

Brasil!!!

I shoulda brought earplugs.

It was just me and 15,000 screaming, shrieking, and – to coin a possibly new term – shrilling Brazilian teenage girls.

They did not wait until a routine was complete to voice their approval. Rather, when one of theirs completed an individual move, they went crazy.  A pirouette, backflip, cartwheel, side aerial, straddle backward roll (do not attempt this if you’re over 18), a front walkover – the result was the same.

A chorus of squeals.

Under this relentless pressure from the crowd, not to mention the television cameras in their faces as they left each apparatus, the Brazilian team did admirably well – and what I saw Sunday afternoon is on the front pages of newspapers here today.

Brazil’s first two athletes were a bit wobbly on the balance beam but they hung in there – on there, actually – and stuck their landings.

Bedlam.

I was impressed at the variety of cheers, and looked forward to the ‘BRA-SIL clap!clap!clap!’ every time it came around. I became quite convinced that there’s a special cheer of encouragement reserved for those climbing back onto the balance beam.

Flavia Saraiva had one of the best performances of the day – a 15.133 on balance beam; neither perfect scores nor 14 year-olds are allowed at the Olympics anymore. But as she nailed each element of her program the roar grew and then she, too, stuck her landing.

Crocodiles in the Amazon dove under water.

I will say that at times all this seemed a bit much. Pity poor Amy Tinkler of Great Britain. She waited a lifetime to perform her floor exercise and got off to an inspired start. Then the crowd erupted over a Brazilian’s move and quite truly, Tinkler’s music could no longer be heard.

As this crowd represents a nation in crisis, I find myself torn between the hokiness of it all and the visceral response of a nation desperate for something to cheer for. I’ll err on the side of the latter every time, in spite of the challenges presented all the athletes in this rotation who competed in the same subdivision as the host nation.

There was lamentable in-house commentary.

“You’re great,” said an announcer to a Brazilian who had fallen short. “You’re awesome.”

Funny, he never said anything like this to anyone else.

As one of the Brazilian gymnasts made the shape of a heart with her hands, we were implored by the announcer’s female counterpart to “… send some love back…” to her.

Adults should know better.

India’s Dipa Karmakar made Olympics history by being the first from her country to qualify for an individual event final. She performed magnificently on vault to etch her name in the history books, not quite the same way Comaneci did in ’76, but a magnificent moment of its own, nonetheless.

Flavia Saravaia won this subdivision of qualifying, and Brazil was only .067 of a point behind Germany going into the final rotation, the uneven parallel bars. Could Brazil actually win against one of the traditional European powers?

Here, I’m afraid, the storybook ending fails. The last of Brazil’s uneven bars competitors stuck the landing prematurely when she fell off, and Brazil’s team score plummeted to 4^th.

This did not faze the two women who sat next to me, both from Brazil, and both beaming at the end of this competition, regardless.

As for the engaging woman next to me in Montreal, the one who so generously gave me an insider’s view of the greatest moment in gymnastics history?  To this day I wish we had stayed in touch, but in those times asking for someone’s contact information was asking for home address and telephone number.

I am quite sure she has been to as many gymnastics meets as I have been to track and field, and to this day I am grateful that as tour guide to my first gymnastics meet, she was a perfect 10.00.

Opening Ceremonies at the Catete Grill

The Catete district is a middle class neighborhood southeast of downtown Rio de Janeiro and north of the famous beach areas of Copacabana and Ipanema. It will be my home for the next two weeks. It seems a much more realistic view of Brazilian life than the one I had near the beach during my first week here – or is it?

I had attended Opening Ceremonies in Montreal in '76, and as much as I would have liked to be in Maracana Stadium on Friday night, I found myself with a question I could begin to answer only outside the stadium.

How deeply do these Olympic Games reach into the lives of everyday Brazilians?

During Opening Ceremonies, I visited five local restaurants/cafes/bars/hangouts in Catete, most of them a combination of all four. I wondered: with room for 80,000 in the stadium, what was this experience like for the 7,000,000 Cariocas (natives of Rio) who did not get to attend?

Opening Ceremonies began at 8:00 pm local time. I started at the Deca Bar and Cafe at 7:55, and already the place was crowded. This is not a challenge for a space perhaps 7m across and 30m long, but everyone was frozen in the position of the evening: seated, facing in one direction, and looking up.

I moved along to a neighborhood landmark, the Catete Grill. It’s opposite of the Deca - a vast space with the buffet of a lifetime (pay-by-weight buffets are very common in Brazil), seating for well over a hundred, and numerous huge flat screen TVs.

As the ceremonies began with an airplane flying towards the stadium, everyone turned and toasted each other. 

This night, people were dining and staying.

One woman in particular caught my attention. She (right, with her daughter) sat riveted and unmoving - but clearly not unmoved - for four hours. 

As I contemplated her age and her rapt attention, I wondered what her life has been like, lived under a military dictatorship for 21 of her years.

A poignant scene, too, as a young man staffing the buffet line stopped in front of a screen to watch the proceedings. That he had to work during Opening Ceremonies broke my heart and likely his. He kept one eye on the food and the other on the screen.

I saw him repeat this move numerous times during the evening, the events on the screen clearly so much more compelling than yet another night working the line. What does his future offer him? I estimate that he is 21, which means he’s been anticipating this event for 1/3 of his life. Numerous young staffers lingered whenever they could to catch a glimpse of their moment of untold pride.

Three times, young adult men came in with their mothers on their arms. The treat was Opening Ceremonies at the Catete Grill and each mother was beaming. (Those were their mothers, weren’t they?!)

I left at 10:00 to visit other gathering places and found much the same: people glued, a younger crowd, perhaps, at the watering holes a block or two north, but the same rapt we’re-not-leaving-this-until-it’s-over attention.

I’d become attached to the scene at the Catete Grill and returned at 10:30. Countries beginning with S were marching in; anticipation was building to the proverbial fever pitch.

Zambia was announced, and a woman clapped and shouted what everyone knew: “Braaaaziiiiilll!!!!!” was up soon.

A glimpse of the flag at the head of the Brazilian team.

The Catate Grill crowd erupted.

And did so again when the flame was lighted, though there was palpable disappointment that it was not Pele.

I may not understand Portuguese, but I understand ‘It’s not Pele.’

There was one particularly memorable moment at the Catete Grill, one which will bring a rueful smile every time I think of it and of the place of the US in the world.

During the environmental segment, the issue of rising seawaters was raised, and a number of places were shown with projected levels of future inundation. Each location got a murmur of knowing commentary from the patrons of the Catete Grill.

Then Florida appeared, half submerged.

Apart from the entry of Brazil and the lighting of the flame, I’ve never heard such clapping and cheering.

This Catete crowd was deeply connected - to all the events on the screen.

The Summer Winter Games

It's been 7 years since the Olympic Games were awarded to Rio de Janeiro. Tonight at long last the games will indeed begin, and tomorrow the world's athletes will put politics aside and get on with the business of competition.

40 years have elapsed (or lapsed, depending on your point of view) since I attended the Summer Olympics in Montreal. Those were, from a geographer's perspective, noteworthy for having been held in summer, unlike these games, which are being held in Rio's winter. Good thing, too, as today was the first day in a week that could reasonably have been called hot.

'16 feels very much like a major case of second verse same as the first: in '76 the state of the unfinished facilities was bemoaned, the worst traffic in world history was expected, the East Germans were accused of using performance-enhancing drugs - and were later found to have run a state-sponsored doping system... does all of this sound familiar?

The cast of characters has changed, but the drive to excel and the desire to be the best haven't - thankfully - changed a bit.

Sooner or later, someone will touch the wall first. Someone will lean at the finish and win by a hundredth, and we will adjudge one performance as better and more significant, no matter the path. Someone will rip the entry. Someone will score a penalty kick, rip off her jersey, and change sporting life for a generation of girls. Someone will stick the landing.

We'll never forget it.

Today my tour group went to Sugarloaf, one of Rio's vertical promontories, and we had much excitement when the return gondola was closed in anticipation of the arrival of the Olympic torch. There we were, stranded at the intermediate station, but with views like this, that's some kinda stranded.

The torch didn't arrive while we were there, but it was interesting to see how the possibility of it turned us into giddy children.

There is magic left in all of this after all.

"The Girl from Ipanema"

Heloisa Pinto, inspiration for
"The Girl from Ipanema"

Heloisa Pinto with some guy.

Today I walked from Copacabana to Ipanema and I was on a mission. My destination was the bar where the song "The Girl from Ipanema" originated in 1962. This bossa nova classic - the second most recorded song in history behind "Yesterday" - was part and parcel of my childhood as it was played repeatedly at home. 

I found the bar and knew that Heloisa Pinto, the inspiration for the song, had a boutique nearby; turns out it's next door. I had seen her picture online and was startled to see her inside. As I started to enter her boutique, she was joined by a man and they left right in front of me. Squandered opportunity of a lifetime, I thought.

But no, this one was meant to be. 

They went into the bar next door, were joined by another man, and began to sit down. The server asked me where I'd like to sit; instead I gestured towards Pinto with my phone and he said, knowingly, "Ahhhhhh."

Apparently they've been down this road a few times before.

He arranged for her to join me, and her friend took the photos. Helo - her nickname, one which I'm free to use now that we're such good buds - was nothing but gracious and welcoming, asked me where I'm from, and what sports I will see in the Olympics.

All this on a day when I was given a senior discount without anyone asking my age! I assure you, I'll gladly balance that with the rest of what the universe offered me today.

"Tall and tan and young and lovely..."

Yes, she is.

trackerati in Rio!

Greetings from Rio de Janeiro - the River of January. I arrived several days ago and am busy at work on my quadrennial preview and predictions tome - a preview of each of the 47 track and field events of the 31st Olympiad, complete with fearless picks and predictions.

For the first few nights I am staying at a hotel across the street from Copacana Beach. It's beautiful here, and interestingly, it hasn't been hot yet. "It's our winter," the locals keep saying. Also, I haven't encountered a single mosquito - nada, not one.

Tomorrow I will join the Track and Field News Tour as it arrives in Rio, and I'll be staying at one of their four hotels. While it's closer to the most of the Games sites, it's still a good hour from the stadium, with much yet to be resolved about logistics here.

I'm active on twitter: @trackerati.

More - much more - to come.

Friday, 10/16/15, is the 47^th anniversary of the famous black power protest by Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the 200m victory stand at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. This is my story of the 2014 dedication of the 1968 training camp at Echo Summit, CA, as a California Historical Landmark - a story of that day, and of their times.

I’ve included an addendum to reflect recent scholarship on the role of the ‘third man on the podium,’ Australia’s fast-closing silver medalist, Peter Norman.

photo credit: www.usatoday.community
Peter Norman (silver), Tommie Smith (gold, world record), John Carlos (bronze)

Men’s 200m victory ceremony, 1968 Olympics, Mexico City

Echoes of Silence

by Mark Cullen

June 27, 2014

The 1968 US Men’s Olympic track and field team, arguably the greatest ever assembled, was honored today with the recognition of the Echo Summit, CA, US Men’s Track and Field Olympic Trials and high-altitude training site as a California Historical Landmark.

A crowd of several hundred gathered to celebrate the track and field legends who put their stamp on US social, cultural, and athletic history.

Members of the ’68 team in attendance were Tommie Smith, John Carlos, Ed Caruthers, Norm Tate, Reynaldo Brown, Larry Young, Tracy Smith, Mel Pender, Ed Burke, Geoff Vanderstock, and Bill Toomey. Smith and Carlos were the featured speakers.

Four world records were set during the Olympic Trials at the 7382’ elevation of the Echo Summit site, chosen for its nearly identical elevation to that of Olympic host Mexico City.

The ceremony was at the same time touching and moving, high-spirited and celebratory. It had the look and feel of a family reunion. The eloquent remarks of the speakers were greeted with repeated and sustained standing ovations by the knowledgeable and enthusiastic crowd.

Bob Burns, former Sacramento Bee reporter and the force behind the recognition of Echo Summit, said, “Few teams mirrored the social climate of their times as much as the ’68 Olympic track team did the 1960s.”

Jill Geer, USATF Chief Public Affairs Officer, cited “the importance of these people not only to sport but to society.” Geer pointed out that while the team is rightly noted for its 12 Olympic gold medalists, 20 of its team members have been inducted into the USATF Hall of Fame. “This team was so good that you didn’t have to win a gold medal to make it to the Hall of Fame.”

California state historian William Burg said that of over 1,000 California historic sites, Echo Summit is “the only one associated with both sports and civil rights history.”

South Lake Tahoe Mayor Pro-Tem Brooke Laine paid tribute to Walt Little, South Lake Tahoe’s Recreation Director in the 1950s and ‘60s, who was instrumental in convincing Bill Bowerman, Director of the US Olympic High Altitude Training Program, to accept the Echo Summit bid.

Little’s sons, Walt Jr. and Bill, in a stirring memorial, revealed that their family had lost their house as their father had used mortgage funds to help pay for athletes’ food.

Walt Little, Jr., said that their father was motivated “because of the Olympians and what they stood for. Dad carved his dream of a track and field arena out of the ice, the snow, and the trees. Echo Summit became the most beautiful track and field arena the world has ever seen.”

John Carlos lauded Little as “an icon in the world of athletics.”

“We are proud to have been a small part of your success,” Little, Jr., said to the assembled athletes. “Welcome home.”

My youth was marked by political violence: the assassination of the President when I was 11 and of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy when I was 16. Shortly before the 1968 Olympic Trials began, there were riots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Upon the opening of the Olympics in Mexico City, protests there were brutally suppressed. The 1963 March on Washington was peaceful, but by 1968 there was a growing divide in both the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements over what kinds of action to take.

That discussion was reflected in the choices made by athletes at Echo Summit. To boycott the Olympics or not? African-American athletes were under heavy pressure to do so. But all made the same choice: to represent their country in Mexico City.

When Tommie Smith and John Carlos, gold and bronze medal winners in the Mexico City 200m, took the victory stand and raised their glove-covered fists in silent protest, I was awestruck at the peaceful eloquence of their statement.

They spoke to the whole world without uttering a single word.

The next day, the US Olympic Committee, under threat by the IOC of having the entire US team disqualified from the Olympics, dismissed Smith and Carlos from the team and they were forced to leave Mexico City immediately.

Tommie Smith and John Carlos have been united for life by their singular act as young men. They have traversed the territory from outcasts to heroes. Their “protest on the victory stand in Mexico City is one of the iconic images of the 1960s and the civil rights movement,” said Burns.

After their peaceful protest, Smith and Carlos paid a heavy personal price, and it was common to find them denounced in the US media for what were characterized as unpatriotic acts.

“Mr. Smith and I, in particular,” said Carlos, “we were vilified.”

Carlos noted the irony of the fact that he and Smith are now regarded as patriots and said, “All the individuals on this team are patriots… In many ways they tried to divide our team: these guys are civil rights activists, these guys are athletes. These guys are for a boycott, these guys are not for a boycott.”

“I’m just here to let you know now that we are one. We have been one all along.”

Smith and Carlos reflected on their days at Echo Summit. Both expressed gratitude and appreciation to the US Forest Service for their support of the ‘100 Days at Tahoe’ in 1968 as well as Friday’s ceremony.

“Look around and you see the goodness,” Smith said to the many youth foresters who staffed this event. “My heart is so full now.”

Smith remembered what it was like to take the turn from Highway 50 to the track at Echo Summit. “I hated to see that turn because that meant I had to train against him, and to train against John Carlos is no fun at all! You would have to run a world best just to stay in his shadow,” said Smith.

Smith noted the humor that came with practicing at a site that was carved out of a forest. When Bob Seagren came down from a 17’ pole vault clearance, Smith recalled, “I thought he had fallen out of a tree!”

To say that they raised the bar for each other is to put it mildly. “Tommie and John had to run awfully fast to put themselves in a position to mount a protest that will outlast any record,” said Burns.

Carlos paid tribute to the US athletes who watched the Olympics from home.

'I have to remember those individuals who did not make the team… It’s just unfortunate that God put so many of us in a cluster and we could only pick three. But it didn’t stop us in terms of who we were as human beings... as civil libertarians... as people that were concerned about humanity.'

Smith reflected on his remaining time on this earth. “I hope that it’s longer than I feel sometimes… Sometimes you get up in the morning, you head for the door - and it never gets to you!”

Carlos concluded by noting that “the only downfall that we had here is the fact that we didn’t have a co-ed team. It was a shame that the women that represented this nation did not have a chance to experience the beauty, the love, the understanding, and bonding that we had.”

In 1968, their silent act of courage echoed around the world; it reverberates still.

Today, it echoed among these trees, one last time.

photo credit: pausatf.org

Peter Norman Update

Peter Norman, Australian silver medalist, also paid dearly for his courage. On the Mexico City podium, he wore a badge of the Olympic Project for Human Rights in support of Smith and Carlos, and for this he, too, was vilified in his home country. In spite of the fact that he met the 1972 100m and 200m qualifying marks repeatedly, was the 200m defending silver medalist and the Australian 200m record holder (and still is to this day), he was not named to Australia’s 1972 Olympic team. 

To Australia’s eternal shame, Norman was not invited to the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

It was in 2012 that the Australian Parliament finally apologized to Norman.

Too little too late; he had died in 2006.

Smith and Carlos, lifelong friends of Norman’s, served as pallbearers at his funeral.

Research credit for information about Peter Norman: Riccardo Gazzaniga.

Track and Field Autographs of a Lifetime

Program signed at the dedication of the Echo Summit, CA, site of the

1968 US Olympic High Altitude Training Center and Olympic Trials

June 27, 2014

Photo copyright 2014 Mark Cullen, All Rights Reserved

One for the Ages

52.82

Thoughts and reflections on the 9^th day of the US Olympic Trials

*It’s a given that the Hayward Field crowd response to an Oregon athlete is amplified by the athlete’s Duckness. I had already made a note to write about the crowd’s roar in Devon Allen’s win in the third semi-final of the men’s 110m high hurdles. Then he won the entire event.

Heard anything like that recently? Well, yes – it was much the same with Ducks Jenna Prandini, Ariana Washington, Deajah Stevens, and Galen Rupp all  Saturday afternoon.

Then 41-year-old Bernard Lagat won the men’s 5,000m.

In defiance of aging, Lagat finished off his astonishing 5,000m victory with a 52.82 final lap. Saturday’s roar joins legendary Hayward Field crowd responses to the men’s 2008 800m - when three runners training in Oregon made the Olympic team - and Alan Webb’s 3:53.3 national high school record in the mile in the 2001 Prefontaine Classic.

Oh, yes - there was quite a response several decades ago. Also the men’s 5,000m.

It may well have been 1972 when we last heard an Olympic Trials roar like this.

Lagat, who did not want to end his Hayward Field career on a down-note, was worried after dropping out of both the Olympic Trials 10,000m and this year’s Prefontaine Classic 5,000m. But he kept perspective about the meaning of Saturday’s win to himself and his family.

He wanted “… to win in front of my kids, who had been telling me we had to go. My daughter tells me, ‘Daddy, I want to go back to the Olympics so I can watch gymnastics.’”

*So much rides on so little:

-         Omar Craddock finished 4^th in the triple jump, 2”/5cm behind Chris Bernard.

-         Eric Jenkins missed the Olympic team by .06 in the men’s 5,000m. Try timing six one-hundredths by hand on a stopwatch.

-         Aries Merritt and possibly the greatest story of the Olympics: he missed the team by an agonizing 1/100^th in the men’s hurdles. The kidney transplant patient - who won bronze at the 2015 Beijing World Championships 4 days before his transplant - was the picture of grace in post-race interviews.

*Chris Lotsbom of Race Results Weekly asked this trenchant question in a twitter post several nights ago: why do Hayward Field fans clap and cheer for athletes who have failed drug tests? Granted, they have served their time in suspensions, but this does not absolve them of their role in cheating. When a LaShawn Merritt or Justin Gatlin wins, my small protest is that I just don’t clap. Sound ineffective? What if we all didn’t clap and cheer? The silence would be deafening – and eloquent.

*Meanwhile, speaking of clapping, I have a peeve of my own: please, no rhythmic clapping or victory cheers when athletes are in their blocks. Do the best fans in the world really need to be told this?

*Galen Rupp showed up bedecked in aerodynamic tape for Saturday’s 5,000m race. If it does, as he claims, reduce air drag by up to 2%, it begs the question of when the line is crossed between using technology for an ethical advantage and when technology helps too much. Swimming had to address this question when full-body suits (based in more buoyant polyurethane material) were banned in 2010 after a wholesale rewriting of the record book once these suits were introduced.

*Special note to Olympic Trials hurdles champion Devon Allen: 

Dude, it’s time to stop playing football. 

The universe has been telling you this for some time now.  You’re the Olympic Trials champion and in the thick of a worldwide discussion of who the Olympic hurdle medalists will be.

This or 9 catches for 94 yards? 

An Olympic Trials 4th of July

The 4^th of July began early at the US Olympic Track and Field Trials.         

Or actually it began late.

Which was early.

It began the night of the 3^rd with a fireworks display at Autzen Stadium, one the entire city heard at 10:30 – no one could escape it.

Including athletes trying to sleep the night before their events.

So, not a great start to a great 4^th of July in Eugene.

The day itself dawned cool, sunny, spectacular – truly not a cloud in the sky.

Matthew Knight Arena on the 4th of July

One option visitors have is to stay in the dormitories at the University of Oregon. Deal of a lifetime. $99.00 a day - including three meals - when motels across the street are going for $300-500 a night.

This is a throwback for me as I lived in these same dormitories in the early ‘70s when I was an undergraduate here. I lived in Dyment – rhymes with cement – and how many people can claim they lived in a dorm so aptly named for undergraduate life? 

It’s no coincidence that Animal House was filmed on this campus several years later. I’ll move on so as to protect the guilty. 

An interesting aspect of dormitory life this time is that one of the entry gates to Hayward Field is half a block away. I rise every morning to the sight of growing lines of fans waiting to go through security, and with protective fences, concrete blocks, federal marshals, and bomb-sniffing dogs, we are reminded at every turn that track and field heaven is part of the real world.

Security Force with Dog

I look forward to breakfast every morning, a place where new friends are made and old are renewed. We discuss upcoming events and rehash yesterday’s controversies. On this holiday morning I sit with newer friends, ones I’ve gotten to know since returning to writing and starting my blog three years ago. We have an animated discussion about the men’s long jump and the qualifying process for the Olympics; we leave having clarified what we don’t know.

One of the characteristics of an event such as the Trials is what goes on beyond the track. A writer’s life can be pretty constrained during an event like this. In my first three days here, my life took place in a three-block radius: from my dorm to Hayward Field in one direction and to the dining hall in the other. Not a bad radius when you think of it.

The late holiday start times at the track make possible a number of options for visitors, and the Track and Field Writers of America (TAFWA) hosts a morning social at the self-styled unofficial social center of the Trials, the Wild Duck restaurant. First I speak with several of the eminent LetsRun.com crew and finally I meet Steve Soprano, their mysterious “employee 1.1,” who has been so good to me with linking to my articles on their heavily trafficked front page. I sit with Cheryl Treworgy, who as Cheryl Bridges set the world marathon record of 2:49:40 in the 1971 Culver City marathon and became the first woman ever under 2:50.

Treworgy has a very successful photography business called PrettySporty; she is a familiar face at sporting events around the country, including many beyond track and field. She is immensely proud of her two daughters and we speak for some time about daughter Maggie’s service work in Africa. Cheryl and I are teachers, and we have much to discuss about service, purpose, and the magic of reaching a child. We also speak about her daughter, Shalane, who, like her mother, runs a fair marathon, and will in Rio.

Next stop is the Caspian restaurant for lunch with friends. The Caspian is a couple of storefronts down from the Duck Bookstore on the west side of campus. It’s my favorite restaurant in Eugene; there is something for everyone. While it focuses on Mediterranean food, it has an expansive menu that will keep even the most enthusiastic carnivores satisfied. Best of all for writing late, it’s open until 2:25am on weekends and 11:45pm on weeknights. 

It’s here I met Curtis Beach’s parents the night he waved Ashton Eaton home to a world record in 2012. I told them it’s one of the greatest acts of sportsmanship I’ve ever seen.

To the stadium after lunch and a meeting with my longtime friend, Carol Coram, who sits on the Jury of Appeals. I always wish Carol an uneventful day… and then there was the women’s 800m. I tried.

Enough for One Day

John Nunn won the Olympic Trials 20k race in Salem last Thursday; I interviewed him there twice, once one-on-one and the other as part of the group interview after the awards ceremony on the Capitol steps. Later that evening in Eugene, I was at the campus alumni center to pick up my accreditation and was directed to sit in a specific chair.

I look at the man next to me: “Hi, John.”

At the appeals tent today, two men sit down to discuss the appeals process; one is an athlete liaison and advocate.

“Hi, John,” I say once more. “We can’t go on meeting like this.”

We walk out together and agree it’s time for me to do an article about him, the universe having spoken rather clearly on this matter.

Olympian John Nunn with that stalkerish trackerati guy. No, no - Nunn's on the right!

The women’s steeplechase rounds are first up on the track, followed by the men’s. Next are the men’s 5k heats, and this sequence causes me some confusion. After 5 steeplechase heats I keep expecting the 5,000m runners to jump over something.

I have an idea about how to approach the 4^th of July interviews with the athletes; it’s time to have some fun. I ask athletes who have advanced to the next round or who have just made the Olympic team, “So, how’s your 4^th of July going so far?”

Bridget Franek, who had just won her steeplechase heat: “Going pretty well so far, I’d say! Came with my nice 4^th of July glasses and hat so I was ready to go and then that happened (winning her heat), so it’s a good one!”

Shalaya Kipp, who advanced to the steeplechase finals: “You know, it’s really great! It’s a really good 4^th of July.”

Clayton Murphy, who won the 800m with a Wottle-esque kick: “I told Boris: I’d love to be on a boat right now and having hamburgers and grilling out with the family, but running the Olympic Trials on the 4^th of July is cool. So I’d say the 4^th of July is going pretty well. A boat does sound nice and floating down the river on the 4^th of July - but I think this is pretty good, this is better.”

800m Olympian Clayton Murphy

Boris Berian, who made the Olympic team in 2^nd behind Murphy: “I’ll save the boat – that is definitely a fun thing to do – I’ll save that for later. I’m just proud to be an Olympian now.”

More smilin' Olympians! Murphy - Berian - Jock

Charles Jock, third member of the 800m squad, turns to Berian and says, “Well, I think you’ve still got some time to go floating down the river!”

800m Olympian Charles Jock

Chrishuna Williams: When I ask the question, the 800m third-placer grabs the microphone and says, “I’ll answer that!”

Williams and Coach Chris Johnson

“As soon as I crossed the line I saw that my name, Chrishuna Williams, had the 3^rd position, and just to represent the red, white, and blue and have USA across my chest on the 4^th of July – I’m very ecstatic!”

Kate Grace, Ajee Wilson, Chrishuna Williams - US 800m Olympic Team

The fun in this question is that it was unexpected.  When I asked it in both 800m press conferences, the athletes cracked up laughing each time. They are so used to similar questions, race after race, year after year. The grace of Allyson Felix, for example, is how she makes it appear she’s answering each question for the first time.

No one has as much grace as Kate.

I return to the stadium and bid farewell to my press row neighbor, Caitlyn Pilkington, a rising star who is now with Women's Running Magazine. She has covered the first half of the Trials and her publisher will be here for the second. We've made a nice connection and I know this is the first time we'll say farewell but by no means the last. 

Sun sets on a dazzling 4th of July at Hayward Field

I remain in the stadium and write until 9:30 or so. The remarkable facilities crew is raising the hammer throw cage. It’s not hyperbole to say their work is never done. 

Raising of the Hammer Barn

It’s time for dinner and I head for the Wild Duck. Note that I started and ended my day at the Wild Duck. Can the term ‘ubiquitous’ apply to a single business? It seems as if the Wild Duck is everywhere, even though it’s in one place.

I sit with my RunBlogRun editor and publisher, Larry Eder, who is a connector if ever there was one. I have told his son that my goal is to find a single person in track and field Larry does not know. To my left is the gifted writer, Dave Hunter, from whom I learn more about our craft every time I read his work.

I am introduced to the man across from me and in the enthusiastic noise of the late evening I misunderstand his name. He looks very familiar, but the name I hear does not match my memory. I spend a considerable amount of time thinking I’m speaking with a famous writer. It takes a while, but finally I ask him to repeat his last name.

“Ahhhhhh,” I say. “Virgin. You are Craig Virgin.”

The two-time World cross country champion nods.

We’re joined by Bobby Hodge, he of the epic Greater Boston Track Club team of the late ‘70s. Across the street in a motel meeting room I encountered his voluble coach, Billy Squires, the day before the men’s Olympic Trials marathon trials race in 1976. Squires and I hit it off and he coached me by mail; we stayed in touch for a good 15 years. I sought him out in Massachusetts a couple of summers ago, wanting to complete our story.

As I started running in Bill Bowerman’s beginning running class in the fall of ’71, I have long wondered if anyone else has been coached by both.

Virgin peels off, then Hodge - it’s time to bring this 4^th to a close. I realize I didn’t see any fireworks this year, but then I remember the women’s 800m.

I did see fireworks after all.

Good Night, Coach.

Thanks for teaching me how to run.