IAAF Statement on Drummond

[Guest]

Re: IAAF Statement on Drummond

""Sorry Gates but you're wrong.
This is an international team meet.

.....the GP circuit is for individuals; at the WC, World Cup and OG you're representing the United States and can be expected to behave as an ambassador.""

Exactly! We were embarrassed by the conduct of our sprinters in Sydney and now again. I don't care how passionate you are, or how hard you trained - you are NOT suppose to act like a jerk while wearing the red/white/blue. I wouldn't have these guys sign a "behavior contract" - I would simply say that if you act like an ass you are ineligible for the next Olympics/WC.

[gm]

Re: IAAF Statement on Drummond

Randy, every athlete and staff member already signs a "code of conduct" before the competition. Since when did signing anything make a difference?

You are obviously an old-schooler who sees nothing wrong with amateurs performing for the enrichment of a select group of hoi-polloi.

Pay athletes a wage, and then we can talk about enforcing discipline.

[Randy Treadway]

Re: IAAF Statement on Drummond

>You are obviously an old-schooler who sees
>nothing wrong with amateurs performing for the
>enrichment of a select group of hoi-polloi.

Nobody is a slave here. Everybody has choices.
Athletes can always start their own tour, like the ATP tennis tour. Or use the sheepskin that they SHOULD have gotten by taking advantage of that college t&f scholarship, and get out and get a 'real' job. In either case, good luck.
Track & field is never going to have a pension fund for athletes, so it's only a matter of time anyway until they're faced with the 'real job' reality.

By the way, if you think that any kind of professional sport is anything more than an entertainment industry, you're wrong.
The basic business model for an athlete isn't much different than 'talent' in any other entertainment vehicle- even the opera.
Producers are the middlemen and 'presentation packager'. If you're the talent and you don't like the package, you look for a different producer.
Yes, professional athletes are and always will be entertainment performers. Athletes should care less whether there's hoi-poi, ground chuck, or crunchy tacos up in the stands, as long they're buying tickets to sustain the talent pool.

[Randy Treadway]

Re: IAAF Statement on Drummond

By the way, I'm exhausted after hearing 40 years of elite athletes whining about the IAAF.
If they don't like it team up with other elite athletes and go on strike, or start their own tour. Or quit. Just stop the incessant whining and take some POSITIVE action for a change, or 'learn to live with it'.

[Guest]

Re: IAAF Statement on Drummond

""Randy, every athlete and staff member already signs a "code of conduct" before the competition. Since when did signing anything make a difference?

You are obviously an old-schooler who sees nothing wrong with amateurs performing for the enrichment of a select group of hoi-polloi.

Pay athletes a wage, and then we can talk about enforcing discipline.""

Amen gm.

Damn capitalism. Damn promoters who actually try to make money - we need for them to lose money, so more will leave our sport and invest elsewhere.

To hell with honoring your word. Your word and signiture are meaningless.

To hell with dicipline. You can do whatever you want on the track because you are not being paid. You may even have a picnic in lanes 4-5 on the backstretch if you wish.

[gm]

Re: IAAF Statement on Drummond

>Athletes should care less whether there's
>hoi-poi, ground chuck, or crunchy tacos up in
>the stands, as long they're buying tickets to
>sustain the talent pool.

Those fans in the stands really do very little to support the athletes financially. Tell me just how much every athlete in the WC gets paid to be there? $0

The only chance to make money for their "work" is to place in the final, whereas you probably get paid to show up at work every day, even if some days you produce nothing.

Fans don't do much of anything to sustain the talent pool, under the current structure.

[Randy Treadway]

Re: IAAF Statement on Drummond

If you don't like the package, go get a different producer.
If it's not sustainable, get a real job.

[Guest]

Re: IAAF Statement on Drummond

"The only chance to make money for their "work" is to place in the final, whereas you probably get paid to show up at work every day, even if some days you produce nothing."

Gee, imagine that - pay for performance. What a concept! Better we give every competitor (even the 10.6 sprinters from obscure countries) $10,000 each just for showing up.

Please....they are there because they want to be there - if they aren't good enough they don't get paid. That's the way it SHOULD be. I'm not into supporting mediocrity - you produce nothing - you get nothing.

[Guest]

Re: IAAF Statement on Drummond

Just got done watching ESPN's coverage (which was typically anemic and less than informative). Of course the new false start rule is a stupid one, as is the "reaction" rule, but those ARE the rules and Drummond knows this as well as everyone else in the race. More so than some, in fact, because he runs on the European elite circuit regularly.

I, for one, and damn sick and tired of seeing Drummond make a fool out of himself regularly, and doing it in a U.S. national uniform only makes it worse. If the USATF had any cojones at all they would suspend him immediately, not only for the immature behavior and rude idiocy he showed on the track, but also for his childish pulling out act, which has left his relay teammates in the lurch.

As for the "but they don't get paid to show up" argument, frankly that is BS. Track athletes, like athletes in most individual sports, are paid for their performance. In sports that generate gajillions of dollars in sponsorship and TV money, like golf, this means that everyone involved gets a payday. But track, as we all know, is not one of those sports. In fact, promoters everywhere are having a very tough go of it right now, and meets are disappearing off the calendar because they have little or no chance of turning a profit once the athletes are paid. So, while I don't much like the IAAF and their system either, it's not very practical to expect them to pay everyone $10,000 or so just to show up.

In any event, there is a certain standard of behavior for adults, be they amateur or professional, and money or anything else is no excuse for a 34 year-old man acting like a total jerk and embarrassing himself, his sport, and his country, as well as thoroughly inconvenieincing thousands of people. To me there is only one reasonable response to behavior like this:

SUSPEND THE FOOL!!

[gm]

Re: IAAF Statement on Drummond

>I'm not into supporting mediocrity - you produce
>nothing - you get nothing.

And what precisely do you produce at your job? Just wondering.

[Guest]

Re: IAAF Statement on Drummond

gm-

"And what precisely do you produce at your job? Just wondering"

I own a company that markets exercise equipment (treadmills, weight machines, etc.) to YMCA's, gyms, etc.. I don't get paid unless we serve our customer's well and move product. I never get paid just for showing up at work. Yesterday I earned $13700, today $450, tommorrow who knows - maybe nothing. I work my ass off to keep myself and my guys employed, so I don't much care for whiners, and don't apologize for it, either.

As for the athletes not getting anything for showing up at the WC - I'm all in favor giving them "participation ribbons" if that will make them happy

[Guest]

Re: IAAF Statement on Drummond

I have spoken to an International Technical Official about this. To activate the timing sequence, you have to apply 30kg of pressure. If you apply this amount of pressure, it is indicative that you have begun the starting motion. Not enough pressure is applied by simply adjusting your foot in the block. Sorry John.

[tandfman]

Re: IAAF Statement on Drummond

>I have spoken to an International Technical
Official about this. To activate the timing
sequence, you have to apply 30kg of pressure. If
you apply this amount of pressure, it is
indicative that you have begun the starting
motion. Not enough pressure is applied by simply
adjusting your foot in the block.<

That's nonsense.

[Guest]

Re: IAAF Statement on Drummond

>That's nonsense.<

Complete nonsense. Just look at the graphs and you can tell it BS.

[Guest]

Re: IAAF Statement on Drummond

Thereby confirming that the IAAF doesn't vet its International Technical Officials very well. Probably the same moron who had the women pole vaulters jump at an extra height in the qualifying round at the World Championships.