Track Stars Promoting Their Sport More Exposure, Meets Would Go A Long Way Toward Creating Popularity

In just a matter of months, track and field has gone from being hugely popular in the United States to being barely a blip on sports’ radar screen.

Track and field enjoyed sellout crowds and record television ratings during the Atlanta Olympics last summer. But once the Olympic flame was snuffed out, so was interest in the sport.

“After the Olympics, someone asked me, ‘Well, what are you going to do now?”’ said Gail Devers, winner of three gold medals in the last two Olympics. “They think we have a 9-to-5 job. They don’t understand that this ‘is’ our job.”

That’s why Devers came to the Penn Relays on Saturday, along with Chryste Gaines and Inger Miller, three-fourths of the gold medal-winning 4x100-meter relay team in 1996. It also brought out Jason Rouser and Alvin Harrison, a pair of men’s Olympic gold medalists in Atlanta.

“What we’re trying to do is promote the sport,” said Gaines, who ran in the Franklin Field carnival while an undergraduate at Stanford. “Between us and the guys here, we’re all the top sprinters in the country, and we’re at this meet. We’d much rather come here than go overseas.”

Sadly, overseas is where the nation’s great track and field athletes have to go for competition.

Only two major indoor meets - the Millrose Games and Mobil Invitational at George Mason - were held nationally last winter before the U.S. championships.

The docket looks similarly empty for the outdoor season. The U.S. nationals and Prefontaine meet are the only two domestic events scheduled. After that, athletes will have to travel to Europe to pursue their love of competition.

The athletes don’t understand why they can’t get the sponsors and television coverage of other sports.

“Television can run 2 or 3 hours of golf every week,” Miller said. “Why can’t they find the sponsors for track? You have football and basketball, and those sports have all the elements of track - running, jumping and throwing. We should be able to attract the sponsors.”

Rouser, who won Olympic gold as part of the 4x400-meter relay team, said USA Track and Field, the sport’s national governing body, asked some athletes for advice on how to increase its popularity. Rouser said they are still waiting for the organization to implement their recommendations.

“I suggested they go to the NFL, the NBA, baseball or even the NHL, to their marketing and promotions departments,” he said. “I’m not saying to get their best guy, but someone who knows how to promote the sport. We need more meets like the Penn Relays. We’d much rather run at home than go overseas.”

“You have to go to Europe to appreciate track and field,” Devers said. “If you want to appreciate it in the United States, you come to the Penn Relays.”

Devers, who runs the hurdles as well as the sprints, wants kids to be able to watch her sport and then decide track and field is the career to pursue.

“I want them to have a sport to go to,” she said. “Young people grow up seeing a sport on TV, but if there’s no sport on TV, then hope for that sport is gone. Track and field helps kids later in life. It helps them set goals, helps their self-esteem and gives them a never-give-up attitude.”

“In 50 years, I want to be able to come and see people running in great competitions.”