All part of the reason why the US T&F and the Aussie swimmers are so successful.
Wondering what Sharmer would think if the following happened to him, happened to me 15 years ago.
Carl Lewis was coming to Aust for a GP and I was invited to coach the local club relay team as I coached all 4 members (2 national and 2 state place getters), one member pulled out to compete in the 100m hurdles (14 year old). Said her new coach told her she would get her in the national team and to leave her current coach as he had no idea what I was doing, supposedly doing hurdle drills wrong.
I’m not sure it is a reason for the strength, I think there is a distinct possibility that they might be able to get away with it because of their strength.
Don’t forget, in the past the qualifier for the US trials has been a B qualifier. This level of depth would be unaffected by the mechanism we are discussing.
The US and Australian swimming have the advantages that they could fill the spots several times over. However this necessitates certain rigidities in the selection process (read bureaucracy) to minimise the possibility of influence. As a small sport nationally, we are not subject to these same constraints, and we would benefit from having a more flexible selection process which ensures that the team that is strongest at the time of the championship is selected. There are very few events in which this could pose problematic (Men’s LJ being one) because of our lack of depth. As depth is improved we would consider looking to other selection mechanisms, but until then we should try to develop that depth.
Keith Connor made a similar comment to yours several years ago purporting that the system used in the US was “elegant”. Unfortunately elegant does not always mean that it is correct. One only has to look at economics to see a counter example.
Optimising the team for a championship is already incorporated into the US system where trials are generally six weeks before the championships, however our southern hemisphere season precludes us from doing the same.
On another note, it was great to see JS get up and achieve selection. I think he will be one of those who will be ready come the CG’s. To do what he did 12 weeks after a back op is up there with Jana making the OG finals, weeks after a knee op. Both gutsy athletes.
The way to get stronger is to make the competitions equal for all, win progress lose try again, it may keep some athletes competing for a bit longer. The hurdler I mentioned was 2nd best at the club, I asked the best 3 years ago why she left “I got abused when I fell over the last hurdle at region by my coach, said I cost her a state medal”.
CF quote "There’s an old saying: “Managers (read coaches do) while administrators (read federations) control. All federations live to drive a wedge between coaches on the outside and towards those they have control over. I experienced the same shit myself”.
I guess I was not alone in underestimating the class of Steffenson. The beef with Hollingsworth had a few of us concerned that he was underdone and expecting to bomb out at the nationals. Still can’t get over how he ran 45.7 in the final with no competitions prior to the championships. Truly remarkable.
Like KK, at times I’d like him to tone it down at times, but I guess he thrives on the controversy & drama and uses it (rightly) as a motivation to perform. He certainly makes the sport more interesting & entertaining.
Unfortunately while it may be motivating to him it leaves others not in the sport questioning not only what goes on in the sport but what his issue is. The sport needs to realise sponsors expect athletes in a sport like athletics to be seen as being positive role models…not controvesal figures. Unlike football codes which thrive on controversy individual sports like track and swimming are punished by potential sponsors when one individual publicly airs issues regardless if they are right or wrong. All the power to him if it helps with him but unfotunately he is unaware of the damage it has in the way teh general population views teh sports and teh fear of potential sponsors being involved…
Sponsors want a return on their money, the government are the only ones who can afford to give it away for free. I have sponsored AA, Ath Vic, Ath NSW, Little A’s, athletes galore. If it don’t get a return I stop giving it away.
Can remember when sponsoring ANSW one of their employees posted on another forum I spoke bullshit, I said he was to post that he was wrong.
Instead he got transferred to a job with David Culbert media (funny the KTF sign stopped getting put out), now CEO AQ.
I told a 14 year old male 400m runner to ring the development officer at ANSW for the name of a local coach, the boy was told to go to a coach in another state, that person got promoted and now is with Sport & Rec.
I tried sponsoring them again, it’s all too hard, I now help clubs and athletes, back to where I started.
Saw some of the Nats on channel 10 today, what caught my eye was Dani Samuels with a sponsors name on her tee shirt. I remember Debby Soz and other athletes of the time saying they were told not to wear a KTF hat and take it off because it was a private sponsor, me.
Wasn’t it Paul Mcarthy who sang the song “your so vain”
Olivia Tauro, she was a pleasure to train when younger, she never seemed the most talented in the group, she was just so dammn fast, did what she was asked to do with no questions. I guess her attitude changed when she got chased by every coach/organisation who needed to put a brand on her. Her mom Sarah was told by AIS she was the fastest 14 year old female in the world, a quick phonecall to Tarbotton at NSWIS put an end to that rumour (no such list).
I still have vhs vids of Katie Hall (hunter academy), Jacquie Munroe (fairy godmother) and Carra Onley (hunter academy) when they used to win their short sprints by 20+m just like Liv did, I never took a vid of her, guess I had a feeling she would follow the same course, I believe she still has what it takes and I am not interested.
You’re right Sady, from what I’ve seen she is super talented, but (not that I’ve seen her lately) the last time I saw her she did not look that fit with a touch of softness about her.
From reading the above it sounds like she might be ‘high maintenance’.
Undoubtedly has the potential to match McLellan & Breen. Hopefully we’ll see it sooner rather than later.
Have to agree she looks soft and has done for a while. I presume the first thing they did was load her with carb’s and put her in front of a sled.
At about 15 she ran her first state 400 for similar reasons Powell and others run 400, problem being she won (as if Powell doesn’t in Aust). She even won a school Zone cross country at 13, maybe she should run 1,500m.
Your right, she is a short sprinter and I just hope someone is smart enough to get her back to enjoying running and that will take a bit more than a magic program. When she does McLellan and Breen will have to improve to stay in front of her.