Chaplin Frets Over Trials And Errors

Yes, he still has to make the call on who runs the relays.

It is, in fact, the only decision made by the U.S. Olympic track and field coach that anyone remotely cares about.

But John Chaplin is not sweating that detail, or this year’s potential medal haul, or anything else, really, about the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

He’s sweating 2004. And 2008. And beyond.

It’s not in his job description. The former Washington State coach gets but this one crack at marshaling our Olympic team. In four years, it’s somebody else’s honor, and headache.

Chaplin would just like to do his part to see that it continues to be mostly an honor.

So he has, in not untypical fashion, gone bluntly on the record with his laments about how we do track in this country - and, more specifically, how we do the Olympic Trials. And he’s concluded that a number of issues - small, large and in between - will in time conspire to ensure that we don’t do track and field very well at all.

In the meantime, he’s managed to irritate the people at USA Track and Field who administer the sport in this country.

“They’re not happy with me,” he said. “They’re taking it personally and it’s not personal at all.”

The latest point would seem to be minor. The schedule for next month’s trials in Sacramento has been abbreviated by one round in each event except the 5,000 meters. That means three rounds will be run instead of four in races up through 800 meters, and two rounds in everything else except the 10,000 - in which there will be only a final.

A final of, potentially, 43 runners who have qualified.

“And that’s just absurd,” said Chaplin. “What we’re saying in the 10,000 is that it doesn’t matter who we send because we don’t think they’re going to do anything anyway.”

Which, of course, is exactly the message USATF sent in its hamhanded staging of the marathon trials for men and women. By mandating the winners of those races would advance whether they had met the Olympic qualifying standards or not - thereby protecting the “integrity” of a corporate sponsor’s investment in a “championship” event - USATF wound up robbing four runners who had reached those standards for trips to Sydney. Seemingly hellbent on limiting our marathon entries for the Games to one man and one woman, USATF also ran its trials on overly challenging courses at sites and times vulnerable to unfavorable weather.

Someone forget to remind our Olympic stewards that the Games are supposed to be about taking part.

As for the issue of reducing rounds, it is Chaplin’s contention that it will only serve to eventually discourage developing talent.

“The 10.20 kid in the 100 meters who spends $1,000 of his money to get to the Trials and gets knocked out in the first round probably won’t come back four years later,” he said. “He’s not yet at the elite level where he can make money at it and he moves on. He doesn’t come back in four years as a 10-flat sprinter who might win you a medal. Instead, there’s another young 10.20 guy in his place.

“But if he gets through one round, maybe that’s a spark for him to keep competing and developing. And on the top end, we need to learn how to run rounds. Guys are going to have to do it at the Games, and doing it at the Trials makes sure they can do it the right way.”

Chaplin insists the rounds were reduced to save money - the per diem subsidies USATF will pay to the eight finalists in each event. The organization claims it was listening to the wishes of its athletes, who fear extra rounds will increase the risk of injury.

“I can appreciate the wants of the athletes,” said Chaplin. “And they have an advisory committee. But it’s not a veto committee.

“Let’s be realistic, running more rounds in the Trials might inhibit their means of making money in meets overseas between then and the Olympics. I’m not saying they shouldn’t be able to go and make money, but in picking an Olympic team it’s not our function to make sure they can. They have to make some choices in life. It’s a natural thing for an athlete to say the hell with tomorrow, what’s important is today.

“Well, somebody is supposed to be an adult and say next time we have to have a team, too.”

And Chaplin does concede: It’s a small point. But the small points are adding up to, he believes, further erosion in a sport which can’t take much more.

NCAA scholarship limits in track - 12.6 for the men, more than five rides less than women are allowed - continue to impede development. So do gender participation proportions that have prompted some athletic directors to put a ceiling on the number of male walk-on athletes who can compete without athletic aid.

Chaplin sees it going down to the high school level, where more and more coaches come from outside the teaching staff with no technical certification.

“Our great talent pool is the secret to our past success,” Chaplin said. “We have this great pyramid system, and anything that cuts away at the bottom of that pyramid is going to have an destructive effect on our sport. That includes cutting down on the number of athletes whose way you pay to the Trials, the number of rounds you run, the number of scholarships you give.”

It is an old fight, this one about money, and as a former college coach, Chaplin knows the one about scholarships is destined never to be won. But if he wins a few of these other skirmishes, maybe the scholarship limits won’t be quite so debilitating.

In the meantime, he’ll oversee a U.S. that will probably have three 70-foot shot putters, four sub-10 100-meter runners and Michael Johnson. The relays will be fast, and favored. The U.S. will win its share.

“Are we going to die of all this now?” he said. “No, probably not. But if we don’t turn some of it around, we’ll pay a price for it.”