Y ask Y: (Originally posted on the Masterstf Mailing List:) Well, what a show Sydney was. And what a contrast it provided to our own experience as masters athletes. Notice how before ANY track event, Olympians ignored their competition? No handshakes. No "Good lucks!" What sportsmanship. That's why masters track has been a revelation to me these past five years of my involvement. We wish each other well BEFORE the race as well as congratulate each other afterward. We help each other, cheer each oher and sympathize with each other's failures and sufferings. That's because we've truly grown up (Maurice Greene will too, someday.) Makes you appreciate what a special thing we have in masters track -- where track nobodies and former Olympians and world-class stars meet and compete as friends. During my 10 straight nights on the Olympic shift at work (a career PR), I came across some items of interest to masters. Here are some of them: 1. Any slim chance masters have of competing in the Olympics (in exhibition events) may have been dealt a huge blow with the announcement that the IAAF is thinking of ending the traditional "rest day" in the middle of the Olympic program. This might also apply to the World Championships as well (next year they're in Edmonton, Canada). One of the plausible ideas put forth is that masters events could occupy the rest day at the Games. But without a rest day, odds are slimmer of getting a spot in the regular program, a la wheelchair races. 2. Someone in WAVA should comb through the results of Sydney and update its world age-group records to reflect such performances as Heike Drechsler's world W35 long jump record of 6.99 meters. I'm sure other W35 and perhaps M40 records were set in Sydney. And forget the friggin paperwork. (And Merlene Ottey ran W40 records before the Games.) 3. Jamaica's Ottey, age 40, sez she's still interested in continuing her elite sprint career -- despite the drug scandals she was dragged through. (Her specimen was mishandled, the IOC found, hence her reinstatement.) 4. Kip Janvrin took 21st in the deca at age 35 and broke 8,000 points earlier this year. Amazing score for a submaster, huh, Tim and Jeff? I don't share the traditional media cynicism about the Games -- that they're a circus for TV that showcases little but juiced performers. I've been to two summer Games, and I consider them some of the peak experiences of my life. I share the conviction that the Games are a salvation of mankind and call humanity to higher standards of fairness and friendship. My experience at the LA and Atlanta Games had a religious quality to them. Everyone around me shared the same feeling (even in two-hour waits to get into the stadium) -- that the event is the most special sporting event Earth provides and that being present for one is an incredible privilege. Being an athlete in the Games has to be one of the highlights of anyone's life. But every time we compete in our little masters meets, with a handful of family members cheering us on instead of 110,000 at Stadium Australia, we share the Olympic spirit -- higher, faster, stronger. We all laughed at Gateshead's T-shirts that said "Older, Slower, Lower," but we knew in our hearts that masters track is about challenging our own age limitations and our failing strength and speed. Masters track is about proving to ourselves that we are still athletes to the core. Our muscles may atrophy, our bones grow brittle -- but check out the eyes of a masters athlete struggling against pain at the end of a hard race. Those eyes are no different from Marion's, Michael's and Stacy's. Those eyes will never die. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
