EUGENE, Ore. -- Notes from the Olympic Track Trials:
-- These sorts of events are often at least as much about civic boosterism as about sports, and the trials-- the first in Eugene in 28 years -- are certainly no exception.
Athletes keep getting asked how they like competing here, the local papers are making much of how knowledgeable and enthusiastic the crowds are (this is the self-proclaimed "Track Town USA," and for better or worse is the birthplace of Nike) and there's a whole lot being said and written about historic Hayward Field. It does seem pretty nice, but not being part of the cult of Pre (Steve Prefontaine, who burned comet-like through the track world before dying in an auto accident at age 24) I can't claim to fully appreciate the history behind it.
Anyway, given Eugene's track pedigree, the locals are not only thrilled to have the meet back -- they'd staged it three times before -- but still seem somewhat irked it ever went away in the first place, as illustrated in a front-page story in the local paper, the Eugene Register-Guard:
"So there, Sacramento. Take that, Indianapolis and Atlanta and New Orleans and anywhere else the Trials have been since Ronald Reagan was in the White House."
A columnist on the same page quoted a visitor from New York as saying the site was "Nicer than Sacramento."
All we need are some references to cowbells and the semi-civilized, and you'd think this was a Lakers-Kings series.
-- The weather here is distinctly un-Oregon like (this morning's Oregonian includes a teaser headline reading, simply, 96!), which is probably a far bigger deal to the locals than to the athletes. As Alyson Felix noted, when asked about the conditions following one of her heats in the 100 on Friday, "I'm from California. It's been hot down there."
But there certainly are a lot of people walking around fanning themselves, and the two longest concession lines Friday at the "festival" surrounding the meet were for the ice cream and shaved-ice stands -- though those were short compared to the queue for a tent where you could fill your cups and bottles from a purified water fountain, for free.
-- The organizers are making much of that "festival," by the way, but it's not nearly the groundbreaking event they're trying to portray. It's just a bunch of space with concession and souvenir stands, as well as booths from all the various sponsors promoting their wares. They had the same thing in Sacramento at the 2004 trials, it seems to me; if there's a difference, it's that this time you can come to the festival and mill around right next to the stadium without a ticket. Why you would want to, exactly, is beyond me; there are big-screen TVs that would allow you to watch the events you can't watch live on home TV, but it's a little hot to be sitting on artificial turf (this is on the U of O soccer field) watching TV.
The big screens flank a stage that will occasionally feature entertainment, which -- as we discovered Friday night -- turns out to be one glaring organizational flaw of the meet to date. That stage is right next to the media's interview tent, and a rock band was in action last night when a press conference was supposed to be going on for the medalists in the women's 10,000 -- making it absolutely impossible to hear a thing in the tent.
Eventually, the band had to be silenced and the press conference went on, but there was a considerable delay -- much to the displeasure of many reporters. (This is also why you had a grand total of one quote from 10,000 winner Shalane Flannigan in your Saturday papers. She started speaking at 10:22 and my story was due at 10:30, so I basically had to time to take down the first thing she said and sprint to my laptop.)
-- Oregon is known for its environmental consciousness, which probably explains why this is the first event I've ever attended with valet bicycle parking. Really.
-- Went to a press conference this morning for 400-meter standout Jeremy Wariner. As is the norm at these meets, it was put on by his shoe company.
In Sacramento, Nike held well-attended daily briefings -- the attendance in part because they used the only air-conditioned building adjacent to the track stadium, in part because they had a bottomless cooler of ice cream. The price for these bits of relief was having to listen to someone list Nike's medal count from the day before making certain key athletes available.
I'm not aware of such briefings this time around. Maybe that's because the overlord of athletic apparel doesn't feel the need, since the entire trials meet is pretty much a signed, sealed and delivered Nike production. Nike -- a major backer of USA Track and Field -- apparently has its own stands for its guests, has produced all the official souvenirs and has a lavish on-site temporary store. And the swoosh is prominent trackside.
Not too many people in the track-media world mind being here in Eugene, given its support of the sport. They do find it odd, though, that the city was awarded the 2012 trials before showing how well it could do with the 2008 edition. Or maybe they don't, since the 2012 trials were awarded in December 2007, and the CEO of USA Track and Field, Craig Masback, left USATF for Nike 29 days later.
Anyway, to get back to Wariner's press conference, it was held by his shoe company, adidas, at a frat house it has rented and turned into its corporate and athletes' lounge for the duration of the meet. In exchange for the opportunity to ask him some questions, we had to sit through some corporate propaganda about the shoes the company has designed for Wariner, who is aiming to break the world record in the 400, as well as repeat as Olympic gold medalist.
The shoe news was actually mildly interesting -- and probably a lot more if you're a track-shoe geek (apparently they do exist). Wariner will actually be wearing what are supposed to be the world's first asymmetrical running shoes, meaning the tread and spike pattern on one foot is different than the other. This, explained adidas technical guru Mic Lussier, is because studies showed Wariner used his feet differently, particularly on the curves, where he's a noted standout: "He likes to land his left foot and stabilize himself, and then his right foot comes in, and now that he's all stable, he can focus on propulsion and direction."
The shoe may have been designed with Wariner in mind, but not surprisingly, there will be a commercial version available shortly.
-- One other thing I learned at that press conference: adidas makes shoes specific to 27 of the 28 Olympic sports. The exception is the equestrian events -- since they don't make horseshoes -- but this does mean that, yes, they make shoes specifically for table tennis and badminton -- as well as a new high-tech slipper for the swimmers and divers.
Who knew?