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BY ELLIOTT DENMAN
Maria Paul is my clubmate. She’s the tall, always-smiling pride and joy of the Shore AC Masters team, a state champion on the track, and occasional shot putter, too. So when Maria’s smiling over the latest round of Olympic events, I’m smiling, too. Monday’s conversation went this way: Said Maria: “They’re always asking me, ‘why don’t I talk Spanish?’ “So I ask them back, ‘why should I?’ “And they say, ‘but I thought everybody from the Dominican Republic spoke Spanish.’ “And I tell them I’m from Dominica, not the Dominican Republic, and they speak English in Dominica. “And they say, ‘are you telling me they’re different places?’ “And I tell them ‘yes-yes-yes, they certainly are different places, very different.’ “And they say, ‘well I never knew.’ “ My friend Maria will have to enlighten the world a lot more from here on out. One more of the Olympic Games’ most enduring values is this: There’s nothing better than an Olympic gold medal to teach a geography lesson. And triple jumper Thea LaFond, representing Dominica, turned herself into a world-class teacher at Stade de France last Saturday night. By triple-bounding meters 15.02 meters/49 feet, 3 ½ inches, the 30- year-old LaFond, not only inscribed her name in the golden list of super Olympic achievers, but put the name of her home island-nation into those archives forever and ever, too. “Oh, I am sure there will be a big parade for her when she gets back home,” said my teammate Maria. “People on Dominica always like parades. “Any time they have a happy occasion, they have a parade.” Actually, Maria wasn’t born on Dominica. She first saw the light of day in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. She then spent many of her growing-up days in Dominica, before coming to the U.S., which doesn’t make her any less of a Dominica ambassador. Thea LaFond had some similar travels. She came to the U.S. as a kid to build a better life, too. The LaFonds settled into Maryland and she attended John F. Kennedy High School in Silver Spring, just outside Washington, DC, and then the University of Maryland in College Park. She’d been a promising young dancer until lessons became too costly. But all that classical footwork would pay off – big-big time – once she discovered track and field – and the horizontal jumping arts. Under the coaching tutelage of Aaron Goodson – who is now her husband - she improved by leaps and bounds, but incrementally. She’d been a star collegian for the Maryland Terps and made her debut on the global stage at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She didn’t make it out of the Rio qualifying rounds, but upped to 12th at the 2021 Tokyo Games. And when she hopped-stepped-jumped to the gold medal at the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, it was clear she was ready for much bigger things in Paris. She spanned 14.32/46-11 ¾ in the opening round of the finals and improved to 15.02 second time down the runway. With heavy rains in the offing, Gadson, nearby in the stands, told her, “you have to do something big now.” It went down that way exactly. The 15.02 would stand as the gold medal mark. And so there was simultaneously joy in Roseau, her home town in Dominica; College Park, home of the Terps, and Long Branch, NJ, Maria’s hometown. The U. of Maryland track program – underfunded compared to its Big 10 rivals – once had to be rescued by an alumni appeal. There coulda-woulda-shoulda have been big Olympic news for Terp track 44 years ago – until then-President Jimmy Carter’s boycott edict kept Renaldo Nehemiah, the world record-breaking 110 high hurdler, out of the Moscow Games. But Marylanders’ Olympic track ties continue. Terp head coach Andrew Valmon, perhaps the greatest 4x400 relay leadoff man in track history, collected gold medals in the 1988 Seoul and 1992 Barcelona Games. And in 2012, at London, Valmon made more history as the first gold medalist to return to the Games as head coach of the USA men’s team. Back in New Jersey, ambassador/teacher Maria was being called up for more geography lessons: “Dominica is a very small place in the Caribbean. We don’t even have an international airport. They’ve been talking about building one since I was a kid and they still haven’t done it. “I want to tell you, though, it’s a beautiful place. So they call it ‘The Nature Island.’ “After this gold medal, I think a lot more people will find out about it, and want to visit.” Dominica lacks a proper track, too. As the new Olympic champion put it, “I’m really hoping this medal lights a fire under all the government officials to get that done.” And sometime soon. Maybe, just maybe.
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By ELLIOTT DENMAN
Are these the gloriest of track and field’s glory days ? Just ask the “yes” voters. They point to: The whole sport gone truly global. Top stars earning (well, relatively, speaking) good money, on the track and off it. Huge crowds (well, Europe, anyway.) TV cameras everywhere. The whole planet wired. Results to the 100th of a second available within 100th of a second in 100s of nations. Super shoes. Super tracks. Lots more. And a cast of global celebrities. Noah Lyles, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Femke Bol, Mondo DuPlantis, Ryan Crouser, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Sifan Hassan, Faith Kipyegon, Rai Benjmin. Karsten Warholm. Grant Holloway. Gabby Thomas, Yaroslava Mahuchikh, Valarie Allman. And a wealth more. But it still goes far beyond all that. Specially so to those of a deca-bent. Not very long ago – and certainly in my earlier days – track and field’s decathletes were forever – and rightfully – saluted as “the world’s greatest athletes.” The American deca-guys most certainly so: Bob Mathias, Milton Campbell, Rafer Johnson, Bill Toomey, Bryan Clay, Ashton Eaton. They ranked above and beyond the best of the best of all those other sports out there. They had the speed and the strength and the skills that would have made them all-stars in all those other athletic activities. Now fast forward. Sad to say, these deca-greats are mostly an afterthought in 2024. Specially so despite the obvious: They’ve risen to the top 10 different ways – at an Olympic Games designed to determine the kings and queens of all athletic realms. There’s only so much NBC/Peacock time for Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky, Leon Marchand, Summer McIntosh, Novak Djokovic, Ariarne Titmus, Xander Schauffele – or track’s own Lyles, McLaughlin-Levrone, Bol, DuPlantis, and Crouser, et al, - to monopolize. Getting straight to the point, there’s not much of the media spotlight left out there to shine ona man named Markus Rooth. He’s a solid 6-2. He’s 22, he’s the first Norwegian to win the Olympic decathlon title since Helge Lovland in 1920, and he’s going to get a lot better. The 8,796 deca-points he rolled up over two days of action at Stade de France may be just the beginning. “Altius, Citius, Fortius?” Yes, for sure. In the years ahead, he’s destined to get faster, jump higher, and strong-arm his favorite implements some really prodigious distances. He opened Friday by dashing the 100 in 10.71; long jumping 25-7 ¼; putting the shot 50-0 ½; high jumping 6-6 ¼, and dashing a lap in 47.69 seconds. That still left him in seventh place, behind early leader Leo Neugebauer, the University of Texas NCAA champion and record-breaker competing for Germany. But just wait. His best was just ahead. Rooth really got into gear Saturday, leapfrogging over six men by running the 110 high hurdles in 14.25; flipping the disc 163-5; pole vaulting 17-4 ½; spearing it 219-4 and having enough zip to run 1,500 meters in 4:39.56. Give a big assist to Norwegian teammate Sander Skotheim, who’d no heighted in the PV, but came back to help Rooth get through the 1,500. Said Rooth: "I'm so lucky that I had my friend to run with me. “I was exhausted. It's mentally hard. I just ran as hard as I could. It was great." As Neugebauer began to fade (to an eventual silver medal) and Grenada’s Lindon Victor (a Texas A&M grad and ex-NCAA king, too) was snaring bronze, the applause for the Norwegian – understandably – got louder and louder, Euro-fans have no trouble expressing their emotions in this sport. They rooted home all three medalists and every one of their pursuers. Would Rooth still have climbed to the top of the podium if French super-hero, Kevin Mayer, the world record-holder for the last six years with his 9,126 total, had not bailed out beforehand with injury? Or if Canadian Pierce LePage, the 2023 world champion, hadn’t taken a similar exit? Or if Canada’s defending Oly champion Damian Warner, or Norweigan buddy Skotheim, hadn’t no-heighted in the PV? Didn’t matter. Do it on the day or don’t do it at all. And Rooth sure did it. He woke up Saturday morning “feeling great.” And the zip in his legs and oomph in his arms reached golden heights by early evening. The Oslonian –“is that the word?” – who trains with the IK Tjalve club - has some terrific athletic genes. His mom is a champion at team handball. His sister and cousins run the hurdles. Two uncles were Norwegian international runners. He ranked 8th at the Budapest World Champoinships just a year ago, so top of the world just a year after represents amazing deca-progress. Will he soon be racking ‘em up at over 9,000 points and chasing Mayer’s world record sometime soon? Will he be planning – by LA2028 - to join Mathias (1948-52), Britain’s Daley Thompson (1980-84) and Eaton (2012-16) on the very brief list of men who’ve ever been Oly deca-doublers? Yes-yes. But the parallel question remains: Will he be properly recognized as “the world’s greatest athlete?” In Norway? For sure. Elsewhere in Europe? Quite probably. In the USA? Don’t risk the rent money on it. The 50,000 World Athletics bucks he collected for these two days of heavy lifting may help him acquire improved residential quarters. Of course/of course/of course, that would be “The House That Rooth Built.” PARIS OLYMPIC RACEWALKERS DRAW BIG CROWDS TO TROCADERO AREA; THEIR SENIORITY DESEVES MORE RESPECT.8/11/2024 By ELLIOTT DENMAN
Fact: Men’s racewalking has been in the Olympic Games since 1904. That means it’s been on the Games track and field program, in one form or another, longer than the javelin throw (which joined the card in 1906), and the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, decathlon and both 4x100 and 4x400 relays (which all commenced in 1912). And, of course/of course, long before every women’s event. You’d think that form of seniority would have accumulated heaps of respect all these years, wouldn’t you? You’d think that the rest of Olympic sport would have learned to appreciate its elders. You’d think that the great champions of racewalking all those years would be occupying pedestals as high as their immortal running-jumping-throwing colleagues. You’d think that, in this day and age of Olympic “urban” inclusion, walking would be embraced as the most “urban” activity of them all. Heck, there are 'interval training devices' in every big city's downtown. You know, those signs that say "walk now" and "don't walk." Well, keep on pondering. The first two racewalking events of the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad are already in the books. The men’s 20K and the women’s 20K were staged on the first day of August over anL-shaped one-kilometer loop course in the Trocadero area of Paris, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. They were huge successes, great shows, attracting thickly-packed crowds on the sidelines, generating great TV coverage, and good racing news that was quickly dispatched to some of the far corners of the planet. But too many allegedly close followers of this sport – the one called athletics in virtually nation but our own – chose to look the other way. The first of August? Great day for them to do some sightseeing. In some other arrondisement. And Paris surely has so many sights to see. Or to catch up on their laundry. To these folks, the Olympic track and field slate began on the second of August. What a show they skipped. Listen to two-time (1992-96) USA Olympic racewalker Allen James: “Day one represented the most globally competitive event in the Olympic program….and that’s not just track and field. “Look at the men’s 20 km. walk. “All six areas (of World Athletics’ geo-categories) were represented in the top 11 finishers. “The separation between 9th to 11th was less than 1 second. “The race had constant lead changes and negative splits throughout the course of the race. “It was beautifully negotiated by Ecuador’s Brian Daniel Pintado. (1:18:55) with Brazil’s Caio Bonfim second (1:19:09.). That meant a great day for South America. “Then came Europe, 3,4 and 9 – Spain’s Alvaro Martin, Italy’s Massimo Stano, and Aurelien Quinon of France, the home team. “A North American was fifth (Canada’s Evan Dunfee, ) “An African walker was sixth (Misgana Wakuyama of Ethiopia.) “Then Asia 7-8-10 ( Japan’s Koki Ikeda and Yuta Koga; China’s Jun Zhang) “Then Oceania 11th ( Declan Tingay, Australia).” The women’s 20K immediately followed the men’s race – and get this – was even more global. Said James: “We had five areas in the top five.” It was Asia (China’s Jaiyu Yang 1:25:54), Europe (Spain’s Maria Perez 1:26:19) and Oceania (Australia’s Jemima Montag 1:26:25) on the podium, with South America (Lorena Arenas of Colombia) and North America ( Alekna Gonzalez of Mexico ) fourth and fifth. “When does that happen other than the walks?” asked James. His answer, of course, was “never.” As James saw it, “Yang was phenomenal breaking the field very early as she set off on her own. The chase pack did everything they could to pull her back, but Yang was technically flawless and executed her solo journey to perfection. “Perez and Montag made it much closer at the end, but it was all Yang. “If anyone can find another event in any Olympic sport that comes close to this sort of high quality representation from across the globe, please take up my challenge. “ They’d fall short, by eons, by kilometers, by any measure. Other observers chimed in (electronically.) Sandi Lake: “Racewalking is hard.” Jim McFadden: “We saw some great racing under tough conditions.” Milton Brents Witty: “Awesome sport.” Monica Zaragoza: “I need to learn how to do this.” And this one aimed at racewalking’s critics: Saul Richardson: “Yet people see nothing peculiar about swimming breaststroke or even swimming backwards.” Bottom lines: These global ambassadors of the racewalking game are the truest of sportsmen. Their event is underappreciated but they would never want to detract from any other’s specialty, either. They just don’t like being kicked around by some of the folks in their sport’s hierarchy. Are you listening, you moguls of the media? Are we getting through to you, Lord Coe? Et al. PARIS OLYMPIC RACEWALKERS DRAW BIG CROWDS TO TROCADERO AREA; THEIR SENIORITY DESEVES MORE RESPECT.8/7/2024 By ELLIOTT DENMAN
Fact: Men’s racewalking has been in the Olympic Games since 1904. That means it’s been on the Games track and field program, in one form or another, longer than the javelin throw (which joined the card in 1906), and the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, decathlon and both 4x100 and 4x400 relays (which all commenced in 1912). And, of course/of course, long before every women’s event. You’d think that form of seniority would have accumulated heaps of respect all these years, wouldn’t you? You’d think that the rest of Olympic sport would have learned to appreciate its elders. You’d think that the great champions of racewalking all those years would be occupying pedestals as high as their immortal running-jumping-throwing colleagues. You’d think that, in this day and age of Olympic “urban” inclusion, walking would be embraced as the most “urban” activity of them all. Heck, there are 'interval training devices' in every big city's downtown. You know, those signs that say "walk now" and "don't walk." Well, keep on pondering. The first two racewalking events of the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad are already in the books. The men’s 20K and the women’s 20K were staged on the first day of August over anL-shaped one-kilometer loop course in the Trocadero area of Paris, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. They were huge successes, great shows, attracting thickly-packed crowds on the sidelines, generating great TV coverage, and good racing news that was quickly dispatched to some of the far corners of the planet. But too many allegedly close followers of this sport – the one called athletics in virtually nation but our own – chose to look the other way. The first of August? Great day for them to do some sightseeing. In some other arrondisement. And Paris surely has so many sights to see. Or to catch up on their laundry. To these folks, the Olympic track and field slate began on the second of August. What a show they skipped. Listen to two-time (1992-96) USA Olympic racewalker Allen James: “Day one represented the most globally competitive event in the Olympic program….and that’s not just track and field. “Look at the men’s 20 km. walk. “All six areas (of World Athletics’ geo-categories) were represented in the top 11 finishers. “The separation between 9th to 11th was less than 1 second. “The race had constant lead changes and negative splits throughout the course of the race. “It was beautifully negotiated by Ecuador’s Brian Daniel Pintado. (1:18:55) with Brazil’s Caio Bonfim second (1:19:09.). That meant a great day for South America. “Then came Europe, 3,4 and 9 – Spain’s Alvaro Martin, Italy’s Massimo Stano, and Aurelien Quinon of France, the home team. “A North American was fifth (Canada’s Evan Dunfee, ) “An African walker was sixth (Misgana Wakuyama of Ethiopia.) “Then Asia 7-8-10 ( Japan’s Koki Ikeda and Yuta Koga; China’s Jun Zhang) “Then Oceania 11th ( Declan Tingay, Australia).” The women’s 20K immediately followed the men’s race – and get this – was even more global. Said James: “We had five areas in the top five.” It was Asia (China’s Jaiyu Yang 1:25:54), Europe (Spain’s Maria Perez 1:26:19) and Oceania (Australia’s Jemima Montag 1:26:25) on the podium, with South America (Lorena Arenas of Colombia) and North America ( Alekna Gonzalez of Mexico ) fourth and fifth. “When does that happen other than the walks?” asked James. His answer, of course, was “never.” As James saw it, “Yang was phenomenal breaking the field very early as she set off on her own. The chase pack did everything they could to pull her back, but Yang was technically flawless and executed her solo journey to perfection. “Perez and Montag made it much closer at the end, but it was all Yang. “If anyone can find another event in any Olympic sport that comes close to this sort of high quality representation from across the globe, please take up my challenge. “ They’d fall short, by eons, by kilometers, by any measure. Other observers chimed in (electronically.) Sandi Lake: “Racewalking is hard.” Jim McFadden: “We saw some great racing under tough conditions.” Milton Brents Witty: “Awesome sport.” Monica Zaragoza: “I need to learn how to do this.” And this one aimed at racewalking’s critics: Saul Richardson: “Yet people see nothing peculiar about swimming breaststroke or even swimming backwards.” Bottom lines: These global ambassadors of the racewalking game are the truest of sportsmen. Their event is underappreciated but they would never want to detract from any other’s specialty, either. They just don’t like being kicked around by some of the folks in their sport’s hierarchy. Are you listening, you moguls of the media? Are we getting through to you, Lord Coe? Et al. |
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