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Hi Everyone,

It has been a while since my last post but I have been training and studying extremely hard. I am actually in the middle of transitioning into technical training. Last week was my first full week with my hurdle coach. JO had some workouts, with and without hurdles; that I did that gave her a sense of my fitness level. It was a TOUGH and ROUGH week, but I am happy to say I got through it!! Hopefully this week will not be as ROUGH, but I know it will be TOUGH!! During my time away from bloging, I was also thinking of my next post, and how I want to set it up.

This post was prompted by the new “bye” rule being introduced to Track in Field at the 2011 World Championships. It was announced by IAAF February 15 in an article called 100m Sprinters To Receive 1st Round Bye In 2012 London Olympics. They have chosen to allow the top sprinters to have a bye through the 1st round of the 100m at the next two major Championships. As you might imagine there are some questions and concerns about this new rule. After reading the article and reading concerns raised by many past and present athletes on twitter I decided to do some RESEARCH!!!

I started asking questions and looking at how other sports conduct their championships. During my quest I found some interesting things, I learned that several other sports have some form of a “bye”; however, the teams must EARN them throughout their seasons. For instance the NFL, they have a wild card team that is selected to be in the playoffs based on their season record. They have to be at least 2nd in their conference and have a wining season. While the wild card is playing, for a chance to advance, the number one ranked team in their division receives a “bye”. In the NBA, they set the brackets up to favor the HIGHEST ranked team. The top RANKED teams play against the lower tier teams, in theory giving the top teams a greater chance to advance. In both of these cases the teams that are being “aided” on their road to the championships have earned it.

The question is can the same thing be done in TRACK & FIELD!!! This is tricky because Track and Field competition is set up differently than most sports. In basketball and football teams play against other teams in their conference at least twice in a season. In Track and Field, the top sprinters may not race until the FINALS of the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS! So it is more difficult to determine the best athlete or who deserves the bye! Although it can be argued that they will determine who deserve the bye, by who has the fastest time. However, that may not be fair because a person’s time can be affected by who else is in the race. In addition, some people just have one GREAT race followed by a series of average performances. In Track it takes a lot to advance from the 1st round to the finals! So much can happen that can affect the out come of a race, a false start, a stumble out of the blocks, pressure, and/or a lost of focus are some of the things that can make a difference. Part of what a great athlete, is consistency, patience, and focus. In other sports these qualities are displayed over a season. In Track and Field they are measured one race at a time, round by round. Eliminating a round for “selected” athletes undermines the balance of the competition and in a real way diminishes what it means to be a Track and Field Champion.

xoxo MacKenzie

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