The outdoor season is starting with some real fast times! Asafa Powell ran a relaxed 9.72 anchor in his 4 x100 meter relay opener. Jeremy Wariner ran his 44.2 split for 400 meters in his 4 x 400 meters in his second race of the year!
A long and tough season awaits all those who dream of Beijing. Some will make it, some will not. There will be many, many surprises.
In less than four months, seven hundred athletes will vie for the 133 positions on the US Olympic Track & Field team headed for Beijing. The Olympic Trials, to be held in Eugene, Oregon will have races that will in many cases, surpass the races in Beijing. The hardest part of getting to Beijing is making the team for Beijing in the U.S. Think about it-men's 100 meter hurdles, men's 200 meters, men's 400 meters, men's shot put, women's 100 meters, women's 200 meters, ---in each of those races, there will be, left behind, athletes who could make the Olympic finals.
Watch how each athlete starts their seasons. The season is long, and Beijing will be no picnic. Hot, muggy, smoggy, the races and events will take on a different feel as much of the battle on making the finals will be about giving it one's all, heat after heat.
Since 2004, there have been either Olympic champs, World Champs, Euro, Asian Champs each and every year. That four years is longer than most elite athlete's entire careers. However, Beijing will be a real turning point. Watch the athletes who emerge this year, some who showed their stuff in Valencia, some who will show up early in the Golden League...