Olympic Trials: Day 1

This is the viewpoint I have while doing the race and report duties for the Olmypic Trials. Not bad, huh?

Day one of the Olympic Trials certainly lives up to it's billing: a well-hyped production that served as the beginning of a re-coming out party for the City of Eugene and Track Town USA.

Hayward Field was packed with 20,964 fans, setting a new attendance recrd on just day one of this eight-day event. the crowd was treated to some great performances.

• Hylesa Fountain set a new Olympic Trials and American Record in the heptathlon 100 meter hurdles. She looked incredibly fluid in running 12.65, breaking the records set by Jackee Joyner-Kersee. Fountain leads the heptathlon after day one with a score of 3,989 points.

• An incredbile race in the quarterfinals of the women's 100 meters by Torri Edwards. Her wind-aided time of 10.85 is the fourth fastest ever run by a woman, with or without the help of wind. The Hayward Field was also tied in the preliminary heats by Marshevet Hooker, but that too was a wind-aided mark (only time with a wind reading of under 2 meters per second count for record pruposes).

• Heats of the 800 meters where the locals from the Oregon Track Club and the University of Oregon did their part to keep the crowd engaged late. In the third heat, former Willamette standout Nick Symmonds charged from behind in the final 300 meters to win his heat. In the fourth and final heat, Oregon's Andrew Wheating surged in the final 100 meters, pulling into lane four to buck up and beat Texas' Jacob Hernandez.

• Former Klamath Union and Stanford standout Ian Dobson advanced to the finals of the 5,000 meters (third from the front in this picture), to be run on Monday. Dobson earned an automatic qualifying spot by finishing fifth in the second heat with a slow time of 14:01.42. Oregon's Galen Rupp, another fan favorite in Eugene, won the second heat with a time of 13:59.14.

• The first three females were named to the team in the final event, the 10,000 meters. It was a Phil Knight special as three Nike athletes, Shalane Flanagan, Kara Goucher and Amy Begley finsihed 1-2-3 and earned spots in the Olympics. After a slow race over the first six or seven laps (78-80 seconds per 400), the three Nike women broke away, adding about 15 meters to their lead against the field with each lap. Goucher made a move to try and win it with three laps to go, but Flanagan, the current American record holder, took the lead back over the final 400 and held on for the victory.

After the race, Goucher's excitement was not so much for herself as it was for her friend, Begley. The two jumped up and down (like one of them had won the race), when Goucher found out that Begley had bettered the Olympic qualifying standard by 1.7 seconds, securing her spot in Beijing.

By the way...Flanagan bettered the old Hayward Field record in the event of 31:35.3 set in 1982 by local icon Mary Decker-Slaney. Decker-Slaney set that record at, of all things, an Oregon Track Club all-comers meet. It was a world record at the time as well.

I was truly impressed by how many people stuck around to watch the 10,000 meters. The longest of all the events and, for many track fans, the most boring, at least two-thirds of the 20,964 stayed until the end. It helps that Eugene has adopted Goucher as one of their own, being that she trains in Portland with Alberto Salazar's Oregon Project. Goucher mentioned in the press conference that she felt like she was an adopted Oregonian and felt a little bad that she let up some in the final 400...referencing the great Hayward crowd.

The atmosphere around the field was exciting much of the game, and keep in mind that this was a Friday and only the first day of the event. The festival was packed for much of the day and well into the night. This picture shows how many people who were without tickets simply sat and watched the big screen in the festival area.

As for my day, it was slow in going but quickly picked up. The first three events of the heptathlon (100m hurdles, high jump and shot put) opened the day, and we didn't have any responsibilities for those. We did help Dave Williford put out some fires, such as when it was discovered that the copiers for the restults did not have staplers or when NBC insisted on having 40 copies of each results sheet. Dave even went and (almost literally) unplugged the band performing in the festival so that the adjacent press conference with the 10,000 meter women could begin.

When the real races began at 5:30, it was fun work. The station for those of us on the race and review teams was on the lowest level of press seating in the west grandstand. The picture at the top of the page is the vantage point that we have. Fun to know that, in exchange for a little work, I can sit and watch a meet that others are paying hundreds to watch. After the long evening, though, it was short after hours. For me, a trip to Track Town Pizza for a bite and a brew and off to bed.

SATURDAY HIGHLIGHTS: The semifinals and finals of the women's 100 meters are this afternoon and should make for some great drama with Edwards, Hooker and Allyson Felix. Qualifying and quarterfinal heats of the men's 100 meters are also this afternoon as Tyson Gay looks to repeat his national title. The sprinters will be dealing with some serious heats with high expected in the mid 90s, so probably not the day for record-setting performances. The women's javelin also goes today, with Oregon and Newberg HS standout Rachel Youkovich among the favorites. Television coverage tonight on NBC beginning at 8:00 p.m.(sorry...tape delayed).