What Is Isn't, or Is It?

Gabrielle Grunewald
Andy Bumbalough
Bob Hersh
Emma Coburn

What do those 4 people have in common?
They have all been shafted, in one way or another, by the organization known as USATF.

Briefly, here's their tales of woe.

Gabe, as she is called by most, won the 3000 race at the INdoor version of the USATF meet in 2014.
But Alberto Salazar filed a protest, and she was handed a DQ.
After a weekend of sheer insanity, Jordan Hasay's humanity and decency ruled the day, and Gabe was reinstated, allowing her to compete in the WIC in Sopot.

Andy's story is somewhat similar.
He also was DQ'ed by a Salazar protest at that USATF meet, based on the charge that a contact he had with another runner during his 3000 race caused that runner to lose.
Except that there was no contact!
It took over 9 months--the time it takes to conceive and give birth to a baby--for USATF to rule that there had indeed been no contact!

At their Annual meeting last November, a vote was taken to determine who from USATF would represent them before the IAAF.
A vote was taken among all the members, and Mr Hersh beat Stephanie Hightower, the vote being something like 350 to 70.  (Can't remember the actual numbers, but these are close!)
But the CEO's of USATF didn't like that democratic vote's outcome.
So THEY voted, with the tally being something like 13 to 1 in Hightower's favor!

And now Emma has suffered a similar fate.
In a DL meet last summer (Glasgow), she broke Jenny Simpson's AR in the 3000SC, running 9:11.42.
But she wasn't tested for drugs after the race, as USATF rules state she must, as do all who break AR's.
This rule was installed 4 years ago.
The meet's organizers did not ask for a drug test.
No one did.
Not her agent, nor her coach.
Because she is her own agent.

And that is where---and why---my anger emerged.

Coburn had the greatest season by an American female Steepler-- EVER!
She was tested many times in 2014.
The World rules call for only the winner, and one other chosen at random, to be tested at DL meets.
Coburn finished 2nd in that race, and wasn't selected for testing.
She didn't know about USATF's rule.
So in the excitement of setting the American Record, she didn't volunteer to be tested.

And that is why--as are the cases of Grunewald, Bumbalough, and Hersh--the sport of Track and Field is so unpopular in the US of A.

The general populace just can't understand it!!

It's supposed to be so simple.
The fastest, highest, or farthest WINS!
And if you do it faster, higher, or farther than anyone ever did before, you become the Record Holder, whether it be World, Collegiate, High School, or American records in question.

I don't know all the details, but something similar happened (to Coburn's story) in 2006.
A Men's 4X400 Relay team, the USA All-Stars, ran 3:01.96 for the fastest INdoor time ever (in Fayetteville).
But they weren't tested for EPO, a necessary factor in acceptance of major records.

So when another USA team ran 3:02.13 at last year's WIC, THAT time was ruled to be the WR.
Not sure, but I think one organization (IAAF or USATF) says that one of those times is the WR, but not the AR---or vice versa!
(The 2011 edition of the TAFWA All-Time World Indoor List--a book I own--lists the 3:01.96 as the fastest time, but with an asterisk, noting the lack of the EPO tests.)

And there are other rules which add to the confusion about our sport.
And I don't disagree with these rules.
Ones involving wind-assistance, false starts, sizes of tracks, having cones on the curves when there's no curb.

But when a crowd at a meet watches someone run a super fast time in a 100, or jump far, only to find out the time or distance was ruled illegal because of excessive wind, they emit a collective GROAN!
They THOUGHT they had seen a WR or an AR, only to learn they hadn't!

Gabe THOUGHT she had won that 3000, and was heading to Sopot.
Andy THOUGHT his race wasn't the best (He finished 6th!), but that it was legit.
Bob THOUGHT he would represent USATF before the IAAF.
And Emma THOUGHT she had broken her friend Jenny's AR.

All intelligent observers of our sport THOUGHT the same!

Then USATF stepped in, covering the eternal simplicity of our sport in FOG and CONFUSION!

USATF is an acronym which stands for United States of America Track and Field.
It is the body which rules the sport of Track and Field for the United States of America.

Yet, with the four situations described above (as well as that of the Relay teams), this organization becomes nothing more than an EMBARRASSMENT to the sport of Track and Field, and to the nation it represents, the United States of America.

For shame, USATF, for shame!

If you want to read  much more eloquent and insightful essays on USATF, and other viruses affecting our beloved sport in negative ways, please seek out anything written by Lauren Fleshman.
She has become our sport's greatest spokesperson, in my opinion.
Please Google her articles.
They are EXCELLENT---a quality of which USATF is greatly lacking!


This Blog, Aaron K's Track and Field Record Book, will continue to honor and ACCEPT Emma Coburn's 9:11.42 as the American Record in the 3000 Steeplechase!
(I also honor and accept the 3:01.96 as the World and American records in the Men's 4X400 Relay INdoors!)
There are NO asterisks!