GO SHA
Something happened this week-end when I watched the USA T&F national championships on TV.
I was fast-forwarding through Stacy Dragilla like I always do (my husband thinks the pole vault should be classified as a gymnastics event: bars, vault, beam, floor ex., and pole vault), eating pretzels and cream cheese, ignoring Larry Rawson’s commentary (because he actually mentioned one woman’s “bronze California tan�), when I saw this amazing animal streak across my television screen. No, I hadn’t switched channels to horse-racing … but I did think of Secretariat, the once-in-a-century thoroughbred who destroyed his competition when he won the Triple Crown back in 1973.
It was Shalane Flanagan. Beautiful, powerful, willful, possessed. Everyone remembers Steve Prefontaine for his gutsy front-running and his self-proclaimed artistic expression; well, I think Shalane is a female version of Pre. I watched her do some 400’s last month at Carolina’s track (at the end of a hard tempo run, her coach [Mike Whittelsy] informed me) and what I perceived as a relaxed, effortless 5:00 pace … she was way too smooth to be running any faster … turned out to be 66’s, not 75’s … when I checked my watch. And she was running alone. No one to push or pull her along, just like she did at Nationals, just like – I suspect – she has always done. How I pray that the drugs in our sport will be cleaned up in time for Shalane to wear her rightful crown on the world stage.
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I completely share your admiration for Shalane Flanagan’s aggressive front-running, but I was amused (bemused?) by your chasitising Larry Rawson (not Rossem)for noting someone’s “bronze California tan” considering the first adjective you used to describe Flanagan was “beautiful”. (Yes, she is, but that’s not the point.)
Comment by Geoff Pietsch — 6/30/2005 @ 11:25 am
AH, well, I meant blue-heron-at-full-wingspan beautiful … or the flash-of-white-when-a-deer-leaps-a-fence beautiful … not attractive/beautiful (though Shalane is a cover girl). I will be more careful with my word choice in the future. Thanks, joan
Comment by Joan — 6/30/2005 @ 12:59 pm
Joan, I love your “beautiful” response. It rings totally true since I’ve had the same reaction to other beautiful runners, both female and male - regardless of their physical attractiveness/beauty. But you say it so poetically. Geoff
Comment by Geoff Pietsch — 7/2/2005 @ 9:48 pm
Dibaba appears to be the premiere 5k runner right now on the world scene, with several other Africans behind her. Do you think they’re dirty as you seem to suggest?
Comment by Erin Brightwell — 7/6/2005 @ 6:00 pm
In response to Erin’s question, I will tell a little story from the World Cross-country championships in Morocco. While at UNC, I coached a runner who made the junior world team the same year I made the senior team. Since his mother was French Canadian, he spoke excellent French and was able to chat with the Moroccan junior runners. Casually, he asked a Moroccan about his training schedule and [in French] the Moroccan answered something like this, “On Monday we train in the morning and evening, Tuesdays we are on the track, Wednesday is for long running … Saturdays we get our injections.” “Excusez moi? Injections?” Yes, injections.
It was no big deal to this athlete .. and I can only surmise it is standard operating procedure for many national federations to supply their top athletes what is necessary to compete at the highest level. I realized a long time ago that it is a luxury to remain a true amatuer. To be a “player” on the world running stage, you must do what is required on the current playing field. Unfortunately, “injections” are what is required. Of course, I have no proof. I only have my instincts and the stories I hear. One US runner once said to me he wished he was good enough to warrant doing drugs. You see, it would be silly (and dangerous) for a male, 4:10 miler to take EPO … but what about a 4:00 miler? Where is the line you cross?
Some athletes don’t even know they are taking drugs. Didn’t Kim Gallagher’s coach tell her she was taking “vitamins” before he was banned for life for steroid distribution? What about the Etheopian runner who recently died of a heart-attack at age 21? Did she know? Did her federation make her take “injections?” It’s all very murky and no one wants to talk about it for fear of being accused of “sour grapes.” As I said in an earlier post, I’ve eaten plenty of sweet, juicy grapes in my career … so I have no personal complaints. I do feel sad for the likes of Shalane and Blake Russell and my current favorite high schooler, Jack Bolas. And countless others who WILL NOT take “injections.” What does their international racing future hold?
Comment by Joan — 7/6/2005 @ 8:21 pm