September 3, 2000
Brisbane
Greetings after a relaxing day here in Brisbane. I was joined for this morning's workout by thousands of local runners.
Bright and early this morning, the U.S. racewalkers and I walked over to the City Botanical Gardens for our morning workout. On our easy day of the week, usually Sunday, Coach Pena has us focus on specific technique elements of racewalking. We spend about an hour doing a variety of arm-swinging, hip-gyrating, and torso-twisting drills that help improve our racewalk efficiency and relaxation. The looser we are when we are racing, the less energy we spend and the faster we can go for a longer distance.
Halfway through our set of drills, a police motorcycle rode through the park followed by a very fast runner, and then another runner, then a pack of three or four more runners. Soon the whole path was teeming with runners who were participating in the Beat the Bridge 10K Road Race. We had to move off the main path and continue our workout out of their way.
After lunch and a siesta, most of the athletes with the US Track & Field Team competed in an international pre-Olympic track meet held at local Nudgee College. I went along for the ride. The meet was full of Australian superstars and other athletes from Jamaica, Barbados, New Zealand, and Canada. It was a fun tune-up for our athletes and great for Brisbane residents who showed up en masse to witness the event.
The highlight of the meet was when U.S. "Wonder Twins," Alvin and Calvin Harrison, won the gold and silver in the 400 meter dash. Both of them will be running in Sydney on the 4x400 relay team with Michael Johnson, and one of them will run in the open 400mt dash. According to the media press release, they have lived on their own since high school because of family problems. But they have stuck together and by working together to become the best 400 meter runners they can be, they both made the Olympic Team this year.
In the men's long jump, U.S. jumper Savante Stringfellow outleapt Australia's number one guy, Jai Tuarima, by 10 centimeters. In beating the Australian, Savante showed more showmanship than sportsmanship. After his last jump, he quickly donned a Super Man t-shirt and spent the next few minutes flexing his muscles to an appreciative crowd. Sadly, both Jai and Savante had spent the better part of last week trading insults in the local newspapers. I'm sure their rivalry, whether generated by the media or by their own high levels of testosterone, will be carried on to Sydney.
Kenny Harris won the men's high jump in 2.24 meters, about 7 feet 4 inches. Everything here is metric. Most of us Americans are unaccustomed to doing all the conversions between meters and feet or celsius and fareinheit. The first time one of our coaches was driving us to the track near Couran Cove, he kept looking at the "Speed Limit 80" sign along the highway and thinking he was driving too slow. When he finally did the math, he realized he was limited to 50 miles per hour and had to slow down!
The only U.S. woman who competed was Marla Runyan in the 1500 meter event. She made the U.S. Team by finishing 3rd at the Olympic Trials in July behind Regina Jacobs and Suzy Favor-Hamilton. The remarkable thing about Marla, besides being an incredible middle distance runner capable of running under 4:25 for the mile, is that she is legally blind. She has 20/300 and 20/400 vision and can only see shapes and general outlines. I don't think she has a license to drive. Because of her vision impairment, she had always competed in the Paralympics, winning several medals in 1996. In today's race, she ran away from a strong field in the final lap proving that she is very capable of seeing her goals and chasing after them.
I spent dinner this evening talking to USA Today's track & field reporter Dick Patrick who arrived today from D.C. He will be following the U.S. Team around during the rest of our stay here in Brisbane and then will be reporting from Sydney as well. When we arrived in Couran Cove over a week ago, a member of the Associated Press and his wife were there to do interviews with each of the athletes.
It is strange having so much attention given to a sport that usually gets little or no attention. It's nice, but unusual, to have reporters riding on the U.S. Team bus with you or kids asking for autographs or workout clothes off your back. (Yes. Really. Today a kid asked if I would give him my shirt, all sweaty and gross.) As the day of the Opening Ceremonies approaches, and when we get down to Sydney, I'm sure the intensity of the media attention will multiply. As a racewalker, I notice that my sport only seems to get noticed once every four years. Now's the time! And now's the time to make sure it gets noticed all the time.
That's all for today. I hope to have the energy to write again tomorrow. With a very tough speed workout loooming, only time will tell if I can muster up the necessary energy to type a few lines.
Cheers and good night all,
Philip
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