{"id":106,"date":"2012-10-10T19:55:01","date_gmt":"2012-10-11T02:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/?p=106"},"modified":"2014-02-01T08:34:49","modified_gmt":"2014-02-01T16:34:49","slug":"london-olympics-oregon-connections-help-infuse-u-s-track-and-field-with-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/?p=106","title":{"rendered":"London Olympics have Oregon Influences"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ken\u00a0<\/a>By\u00a0Ken Goe, The Oregonian\u00a0<\/a><\/h5>\n

LONDON \u2014 If the enduring image left by the U.S. track and field team from the 2008 Beijing Olympics was a loose baton rolling on the track, it’s different now.
\nFor Team USA, the feeling coming out of the\u00a02012 London Olympics<\/a>\u00a0is hope.<\/p>\n

From where he sits in Track Town USA,\u00a0Vin Lananna<\/a>\u00a0took quiet satisfaction.<\/p>\n

“What started out as a flicker, turned into a flame,\u201d Lananna said. \u201cNow it’s raging.”<\/p>\n

Lananna came to the University of Oregon in 2005 with a three-fold mission. The first was to reconnect the Oregon track team to its fan base. The second was to\u00a0make Eugene relevant again as Track Town<\/a>. The third was to expand the Track Town fervor outside the Willamette Valley.<\/p>\n

He believed if Eugene returned to prominence, Team USA would follow suit.<\/p>\n

As co-chair of the Lane Country Organizing Committee, Lananna helped stage two successful\u00a0U.S. Olympic trials<\/a>, which helped the sport regain its footing.<\/p>\n

“When Hayward Field is full, and the crowd is screaming, you have a chance to gain momentum,” Lananna said.<\/p>\n

And maybe that is one reason for what happened here. USA Track & Field set a goal of 30 medals for the London Olympics. If 2008 Olympic gold medalist LaShawn Merritt hadn’t pulled his hamstring, the U.S. team would have hit 30 on the nose.<\/p>\n

That is a big step up from the 23 the U.S. brought home from Beijing. Team USA earned nine gold medals here, two more than 2008.<\/p>\n

Even better, many of the high-profile athletes took advantage of the big stage with superlative performances.<\/p>\n

World record-holder\u00a0Ashton Eaton<\/a>, the former University of Oregon star,\u00a0won gold decisively<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Allyson Felix grabbed gold in the 200<\/a>, and counting the two relays, became the first U.S. woman to go home from an Olympics with three gold medals since Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988.\u00a0Sanya Richards-Ross will bring home gold<\/a>\u00a0in the 400 after a late cramp in Beijing cost her victory there.<\/p>\n

Felix ran on the U.S. 4×100 that took down a 27-year-old world record set by the East Germans in the doping era that many believed forever unassailable. Felix and Richards-Ross were together on a 4×400 relay that won by 3 1\/2 seconds and threatened a 24-year-old record held by the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n

Aries Merritt and Jason Richardson went 1-2 in the 110-meter high hurdles. Ditto for Christian Taylor and Will Claye in the triple jump. Brittney Reese won the long jump.<\/p>\n

Maybe the biggest improvement for the U.S. came in the mid-distances and distances.<\/p>\n

Portland’s\u00a0Galen Rupp was the first U.S. man to medal in the 10,000 since Billy Mills<\/a>\u00a0in 1964 with a silver-medal performance. Leo Manzano became the first U.S. man to medal in the 1,500 since Jim Ryun in 1968 when he took silver.<\/p>\n

Former University of Oregon star\u00a0Matthew Centrowitz just missed the 1,500 medal stand<\/a>\u00a0by finishing fourth.<\/p>\n

Evan Jager of Oregon Track Club\/Portland placed sixth<\/a>\u00a0in the steeplechase final in just his seventh steeple ever. Lopez Lomong of OTC\/Portland led for a while in just his fourth 5,000 on the international level.<\/p>\n

There are Oregon connections threaded all the way through the U.S. success, and it’s no accident.<\/p>\n

Nike, the sports equipment and apparel giant, sits just outside the Portland city limits. It was founded by people who learned to compete and challenge their mental and physical limits as members of the UO track program.<\/p>\n

The company refused to let U.S. track and field wither and die.<\/p>\n

“What Nike has done,” Lananna said, “is put up.”<\/p>\n

There are three elite training groups in Oregon, all Nike funded:<\/p>\n

The Nike Oregon Project was founded by\u00a0Alberto Salazar<\/a>\u00a0in 2001 to bring U.S. distance running back to life. Eleven years later, the Oregon Project has produced Rupp, Centrowitz, 10,000 finalist Dathan Ritzenhen, and Mo Farah, the Briton who successfully completed a golden 5,000\/10,000 double in these Games.<\/p>\n

Oregon Track Club\/Portland is coached by Jerry Schumacher and founded in 2008. It includes Jager and Lomong, men’s 10,000 finalist Matt Tegenkamp, women’s 10,000 finalist Lisa Uhl, and Olympic marathoners\u00a0Shalane Flanagan<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Kara Goucher<\/a>.<\/p>\n

OTC\/Eugene, coached by British Olympian Mark Rowland, produced Eaton, 800 finalist\u00a0Nick Symmonds<\/a>, 2011 world high jump champ\u00a0Jesse Williams<\/a>,\u00a0Sally Kipyego<\/a>, who won silver for Kenya in the 10,000, and steeplechase finalist Bridget Franek.<\/p>\n

Nike not only sponsors the athletes, but also pays for coaching, training facilities and support staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important to have a professional group that trains together, works together, gets to see each other at least every other day every week for nine months a year,\u201d Kipyego said. \u201cThat is a lot of time to be around people who are motivated to be the best in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou find yourself getting motivated and wanting to be the best in the world, too. You can\u2019t help it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is part of it. So are the breakthroughs by people like Manzano and Rupp.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo see Leonel Manzano get a medal is inspiring to other people,\u201d Kipyego said. \u201cOr Shalane Flanagan getting a bronze medal in the 2008 Olympics (in the 10,000), that is obviously inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rupp\u2019s victory was the culmination of 11 years of faith, struggle and dogged determination by both Rupp and Salazar.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, what we\u2019re doing is working,\u201d Rupp said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got some really talented guys that work really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Success breeds imitation, which expands the pool, creates more competition and leads to more improvement. Who knows where this could go by the time the Summer Olympics reconvene in Rio de Janeiro four years hence?<\/p>\n

Rupp and Salazar insist they won\u2019t stand still.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we start saying what we\u2019re doing now is good enough, we\u2019re never going to get better,\u201d Rupp said.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the challenge.<\/p>\n

Team USA can\u2019t declare victory, and relax.<\/p>\n

U.S. men\u2019s coach Andrew Valmon pointed to the U.S. coming up empty in the men\u2019s 400. He suggested it is time to invest in the men\u2019s sprints the way Nike has in the three Oregon groups, which — Eaton and Williams being notable exceptions — primarily comprise mid-distance and distance runners.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve put a lot of resources into a lot of events in terms of development,\u201d Valmon said when asked about the 400. \u201cWe just can\u2019t overlook that event.\u201d<\/p>\n

Early indications are good. The future appears bright, assuming the U.S. follows through.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can\u2019t be just every four years,\u201d Lananna said. \u201cBut I\u2019m very optimistic. We have a lot of stakeholders who believe in this sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

—\u00a0Ken Goe<\/a>; follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0By\u00a0Ken Goe, The Oregonian\u00a0 LONDON \u2014 If the enduring image left by the U.S. track and field team from the 2008 Beijing Olympics was a loose baton rolling on the track, it’s different now. For Team USA, the feeling coming out of the\u00a02012 London Olympics\u00a0is hope. From where he sits in Track Town USA,\u00a0Vin Lananna\u00a0took […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Oly-Rupp.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}