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What went wrong: The U.S. track and field team is on the decline

The tailwind during Tyson Gay's trials run meant that the result was "disallowed" only in terms of a record, it was not "illegal."

There's nothing wrong with our athletes (and I don't know why you omit Meb's silver--he is an American). The fact that they can compete internationally when track and field gets so little attention at home is amazing. The only valid point here is that further steps need to be taken to work on the 4x100 relay.

Be it known that it was the same woman who botched the handoff this Olympics and last Olmpics...

The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling!

OMG--Are you serious, Mr. Robinson? Should we raise taxes and build a sports power? Let's not go over-the-top and lead with a ridiculous story.

As far as I am concerned this is as much a media problem as anything else. Look at the newspapers from last fall. How many column inches are given to cross country running, how much to football, and how much to basketball. If you really want to make running events more popular, give people a chance to read about them a little more.

How often do you hear about track & field accomplishments? You hear about NBA, NFL or MLB accomplishments and glorify the athletes, but don't pay any attention to the people engaged in events that most of us could do to stay fit. I can run and maintain a healthy lifestyle, but it's pretty impractical to play football. So why the emphasis on a thug-filled sport ahead of something that has health benefits?

I think one of the big mistakes was the pre olympic training camp for the US Track athletes. I gather it was some posh resort and spa. I don't think that put our track Olympians in the right frame of mind. Second was the injury to Tyson Gay. That really hurt our chances to get a few more medals and give the US team a lift. I don't think he would have beaten Bolt when healthy but I don't think Bolt would have been beating his chest and easing across the line if he was there. I also think the athletes were beaten up after the Olympic trials while the Jamacans were fresh. I think you need to raise the bar on requirements so you don't have to run as many rounds to get to the finals. Something USA track and field really need to look at.

I am so tired of your pathetic attempts to rally your readers to be sickened and hateful towards our athletes. If your desire is to be a shock jock, please go find a nice radio station that only crazed individuals listen to, get a high paying job, thus leaving us alone! From saying Phelps accomplishment was not that significant last week and your "informed" rant that the olympics were a disgrace to the world citizenship, how do you think you have any standing to critique these athlete's performances? They MADE the olympic team. They won more GOLD medals than any other country present in the track and field events. What more exactly do you want? If you want to see only Americans medal, request that football be added to the olympic resume. The request is insane and ridiculous, but then, so are all of your articles.

To say it is amazing that they even compete is to throw tradition to the wind. The US has a healthy Track and Field tradition. Don't let the Xenophobic talk and print reporters (?), journalist (?), or hosts bulley you into believing no one cares. Americans know the track heroes...Bruce Jenner is still making a living off a medal he won a couple of decades ago. I was completely disappointed by the Americans performance. Some were tragic (LoLo Jones) the rest just left you shaking your head and asking what has happened?

Slow news day huh?

The result of more sophisticated and regular drug testing. No more Marion Jones or Carl Lewis.

I think we should give serious consideration to admitting Jamaica as the 51st state--or at least annexing it as a territory. That should do the trick.

Remember the title of World's Greatest Athlete is give to the decathlon gold medalist, and he is an American.
BTW: How many of those so-called heroes of the past have had their medals stripped because of doping?
This was a pretty lame article as To Doug points out.

While I don't much like your egotistical evaluations of our athletes' performance, I agree the U.S. track and field performance was weak, as was the rowing events and others. We can and should do more to foster better development of our athletes. However, we also need to encourage those who have attitudes that represent America well--not like the Men's 4X400 relay team. They may have won the race, but were disgusting in their attitudes! They should take a lesson from our women, who were the epitome of humility in their win. I for one would rather lose than watch egotistical tracksters that resemble so many of our professional thugs we call football or basketball players. (This is not to demean this year's exceptional Olympic basketball team, which finally played like a team and didn't let their egos get the better of them--thanks in large measure to their excellent coach.)

U.S. Track & Field receives more publicity than U.S. Swimming, and the swimmers did quite well.

And, unlike swimming, track athletes can actually make a pretty decent living competing in track in Europe.

I don't think there's anything "wrong" with U.S. Track; just an unfortunate series of injuries and mishaps that cost the U.S. team several opportunities to win medals.

More work should obviously be devoted to practicing passing the baton.

A greater emphasis on mid- to long-distance races is difficult. We can blame Title IX for the demise of many, many college track teams that has seriously eroded the depth of talent that the U.S. used to have in track & field.

Can anyone explain why the track team doesn't put their hand over their heart for the National Anthem? As far as I could tell, they were the only group of American athletes that did not. Not that they had that many chances but it appeared to be a conscientious and agreed choice. Maybe their luck would change if they stopped "dissing" the flag.

I was really disappointed at the coverage of the track and field events during the Olympics. We did not see very much of the jumps and throws, if at all. I'm sorry, but I did not really want to see so many games of batminton...

Track and field in Jamaica is a national epedemic. The success of our atheletes was caused by programmes that have been instituded in schools from kindergarden, everybody in Jamaica runs so it is no surprise that we are now reaping the benefit of those programmes, one only has to visit our school championships to realise the extent of talent that exist

Now that the playingfield is level (US drug taking athletes were always just a step ahead of the field)athletes are performing to their true potential. It was tough luck (gay's injury, dropped baton, disqualifications). What needs to happen is for the media to emphasize track and field as they do for football and basketball to draw more interest in the sports. Do not take a few days highlight the sports (track and field)then put all the negativity in those few days too.
Go to boys and girls champs (Jamaica), Carifta and Penn Relays (your backyard)and see Jamiaca's interest. Cover all sports equally that's how you generate interest which in turn creates consistent performers.

Anything that puts Track and Field in the news is good. Good press, bad press, it doesn't matter, as long as it's mentioned.

By the way "Woman 100 handoff", if you watched the event, although Lauren Williams was involved in the dropped hand-off again, she was not at fault-- it was the one passing the baton to her. Running at those speeds, mistakes happen, I'm sure she feels bad enough, no need to pile on.

Lastly, if any of you watched Bekele dominate the mens 5k and 10k events, or Wansiru dominate the mens marathon (in 85 degree,high humidity conditions no less), you will realize that you can train as hard as you want, but at the highest level, genetics will trump all else.

Last point-- do you think that possibly Title IX could have something to do with this? These athletes were never reimbursed well, and now a young boy can't even dream of getting his college paid for if he's a track athlete, hence, continued dwindling interest in track and field. Sad.

One thing that I find interesting is that many of our limited college track resources are used to train and support these "foreign" athletes. We see that in other sports, but it seems to be universal in the track events. So, maybe the answer lies in altering the eligibility rules for who can compete at the college level. I was also upset that there was a lack of respect for the flag in the award ceremonies. What is that all about? I do think that many of these athletes get caught up with themselves and so their training may suffer. There is also the issue that many of the really talented athletes in college are opting for the money sports. There is nothing that can be done about that so on balance the USA might have to get used to being among the "others" in track and field.