America's fastest man Tyson Gay who just ran a blistering ('wind aided') 9.68 in the 100 meters is out of the Olympics in the 200 Meters because of a f'ing cramp. Tyson was far and away our best hope to win gold in the 200 -- he has been the fastest in the world this year, but now is out of the games because of a minor injury -- a cramp. He is still in the Olympics in the 100 meters, but there should be some exemption to get him in the 200 because of his dominance. Yet again the US leaves a top athlete out of an event because of one error in one event at the trials -- never mind the past 4 years. Can you imagine if Michael Johnson would have cramped during a preliminary race at the trials in 1996? <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_jMX-4hcNXk&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_jMX-4hcNXk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Tyson's unreal 9.68 -- too much wind or not he was still running about 27 MPH and is the fastest ever across 100 meters.
Ya we really should send the people that ran the fastest times over the course of the year. Having the first 2 or 3 people in a single race on a single day in track and swimming is MORONIC. What if somebody catches a cold that day.. or what if it happens to be that time of the month for women.. tough luck.. see you in 4 years?
what if somebody catches a cold the day of their olympic race? all the olympics are is being the best on a single day once every 4 years anyway. quit viewing them as an event that's actually indicative of who's the best at each event. seems like the olympic trials process is a fittingly arbitrary way to determine who competes in the olympics.
I agree, it's stupid they do it this way. Do all countries have to qualify the same format for qualifying, or can they send whoever they want?
Can you imagine Liu Xiang world record holder in the 110 hurdles and one of the major faces of the Chinese Olympic team being kicked off weeks before the games because of a minor injury ? The US system needs a major revamp.
I can sympathize with the argument that we should revamp our system but I don't think it is fair for a competitor who might not be the best but comes up big in the trials to be pushed out in favor of the guy with the best record. I think of it this way. In 1996 the Rockets only had the sixth best record in the West but they beat the Spurs with the best. Now Dream and the rest of the Rockets during that playoff run played phenomenal but would it have been fair if the league stepped in and said, "well David Robinson had a bad series but really he's the MVP on the team with the best record so the Spurs should play the Magic in the finals"? To me a champion is one that is going to get it done in the trials and in the Olympics just like in any other sport the team with the best record isn't guarenteed the finals if they can't do it in the playoffs. Also just to add a frequent criticism of the Soviets and Warsaw pact was that they did exactly what people are saying in this thread and would tweak the results of their trials to get in who they thought was the best or even tweak their team during the Olympics.
It's different for each sport. Gymnast Paul Hamm broke his hand at the Visa Championships here in Houston and couldn't even compete at the trials in June yet he was picked to be on the Olympic team.
There should be a point system during the season with bonuses for wins at the major events/ world championship -- something so that a cramp doesn't hold our best athlete out of a huge event. Watch the youtube 9.68 run again and notice how Tyson is still accelerating at the end of the 100 -- he has a legitimate shot to break Michael Johnson's world record in the 200 in the next year. I can't believe we're not going to get to see him run it at the Olympics -- very disappointing.
Please read the first post -- beyond that I understand that other Olympic sports have different qualifying criteria -- track needs a major revamp.
At that point why have trials at all? Injuries are part of sports and so is the idea of "win or go home" playoffs. A champion is the player that can bring out his best when it matters and while his record might indicate he is the best US athlete that's like saying that the Packers should've represented the NFC in the superbowl this year than the Giants because they had a better record. So yes it sucks that sometimes great athletes lose and don't make it to the penultimate of their sports but as the saying goes if we just handed out trophies based on past performance there would be no reason to play the game.
Using your basketball example (Rockets 95) -- imagine if the US B-ball dream team had a final one-time trial and back in 92' Jordan had a cramp and couldn't compete and was left on the team? Fast forward to the 2008 games -- imagine if Lebron and Kobe grabbed some burgers - got food poisoning and couldn't compete in the final trial and ended up having to stay home? That's a ridiculous scenario right?
If our chances in the 200m ride on the legs of one dude, we're already screwed. Are you willing to tell the guy who qualified last that his spot has to go to somebody else? I love the Olympics as much as anyone else, but seriously, I don't feel sorry that one runner can't compete for gold in TWO events because of a cramp. That sort of thinking pretty much goes against the entire spirit of the games, in my book.
No one is saying trials is a bad idea, but they to consider other factors. They should have "seeds" for those that are consistently winning events and then the trials for everyone else. A better bball analogy: It's like if the Rockets lost the final game of the season, that means they don't qualify for the playoffs since only the last game mattered.
It's not like he tore his hamstring -- it's just a cramp and now he is out of a once in four year event. Shawn Crawford is our only big man over there for the 200 M (assuming he qualifies) -- he can win it, but he isn't our best guy in 2008 (he did win gold in 2004).
It makes for good drama and intrigue that one little slip up can cost someone a chance of a lifetime. But I'm in favor of granting at least one inclusion for a participant, for an event thats every FOUR years. (But then skiers can have the same argument and so forth...) Can see if it was an annual meet but especially for something like sprints you have to have the body almost perfectly tuned to compete. Margin for error is very small. Just like giving the 2 top NFL conference seeds a playoff bye, give the track WINNER a qualification bye. The winner, not the 2nd and third place guy but the winner. Reebok agrees with me. Ex: Dan and Dave
This is a real shame for Tyson -- two missed Olympic events because of a cramp in the US trials. ________ Gay, family say he'll still run in Beijing Olympics Tyson Gay went down Saturday and the question is when he will be able to get back up. One week after setting the American record in the 100 meters and also running that distance faster than anyone else ever has, Gay's quest to double up at the Olympics in the 200 ended prematurely and painfully during a quarterfinal heat when he collapsed due to what was described as a "severe cramp" in his left hamstring. Gay pulled up about a dozen strides into the race, after perhaps 40 meters. He collapsed to the ground and lay there as his competitors raced ahead and a stunned Hayward Field crowd went silent. Officials quickly brought a modified stretcher onto the track and wheeled him to the medical tent for examination. "Before I went out on the track I felt a little tightness in my hamstring. So I had kind of a bad feeling," Gay said through his promotional agency. "When I came off the curve the first two steps were fine, and then I felt it, sort of a pull, about 40 meters in. Once I was on the ground it didn't hurt as much as when it happened." Gays's personal physiotherapist , Benny Vaughn, said they would observe the hamstring for 48 hours, but that it was likely Gay could run the 100 in Beijing. Gay said he felt the cramp in the same place as when he cramped during the 2004 Olympic trials which cost him a chance in the Athens Games. Gay has already qualified for the 100 meters and 400 relay team. But the defending world champion is ineligible to run the 200 -- his best event -- in the Olympics because he did not finish in the top three here. Such is the nature of the Trials. "It's tough," said Wallace Spearmon, who qualified for the 200 final. "You can be the best athlete coming in but wind up spending the Olympics home on the couch. But I don't know any way else you can do it." Gay's collapse opened a door for someone else to make the Olympic team but it also cast a shadow of vulnerability over the remaining heats. Spearmon noted that times were a little slower than they might otherwise be the rest of the day. "Anytime you see that, that's a red flag," Spearmon said. "You say to yourself, 'Be careful. Make sure you stretch.' That's nothing you want to see. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. Hopefully it's just a cramp but I'm not a doctor." There was some speculation that Gay's blistering runs in the 100 last weekend -- in addition to breaking the American record last Saturday, his wind-aided run last Sunday surpassed Obadele Thompson's mark for the fastest in history -- might have taken a toll on his body. Spearmon said that running the 100 takes more out of him than the 200. "My toes were sore, my neck was sore my ears were sore, my whole body was sore. That's a tough event," he said. "And then to double up with the 200? Man. When Obadele ran a (wind-aided) 9.69, he said his body was never the same. I hope that's not the case with Tyson." link
Call the press, Call the press, Tyson is out of the 200 meters due to cramp!!! Call your senators and congressman, gather all the children and grandmothers, there is no more hope in humanity...
