>Brian McEwen queried on 4/11 if anyone knew of any US males
who qualified for a US Olympic Trails in the 5k, 10k and marathon. <
In 1968 George Young MADE the U.S. Olympic team in the steeplechase
and marathon (winning the marathon trials in 2:30+ at
altitude/Alamosa, CO), so I wouldn't be surprised if he also had
Trials qualifing marks in the 5k and 10k. In 1972 He also made the US
team in the 5k, so I wouldn't be surprised if he had a a 10k Q mark
that year, but don't know if he ran any marathons (or if there even
was a qualifying standard at that time). 1968 was the first year that
one final race was used to determine the Olympic marathon team.
Before that it was based on several designated marathons, so there
was probably no qualifying standard to enter the trails.
A quick review of 5k/10k/Mar results in my copy of Scott Davis's 1984
"Media Guide to the 1984 US FOT," indicates a plethora of runners who
likely would meet Brian's criterion. The following individuals placed
in the top 8 in at least two of the races or likely had Q marks in
both and/or marathon:
1964: Gerry Lindgren (1st10k); Billy Mills (2nd 10k); Doug Brown (3rd 10k)
1968: Lindgren (4th 5k/5th 10k); Mills (4th 10k); Kenny Moore (7th
10k/2nd Mar)
1972: Frank Shorter (1st 10k/1st Mar); Jack Bacheler (2nd Mar/2nd 5k in '68);
Don Kardong (6th 10k/6th Mar); Jeff Galloway (2nd 10k/4th Mar)
1976: Shorter; Craig Virgin, Gary Bjorklund, Bill Rodgers,
Ed Mendoza (5th 10k/definitely had Q marks in Mar & 5k),
Kardong, et. al
1980: Virgin, Alberto Slazar, Jeff Wells, Tony Sandoval, Dick
Buerkle, Steve Ortiz, Doug Padilla
I get the impression that a whole lot of athletes from the "Golden
Age of U.S. Distance Running" (mid '60s to mid '80s) easily qualified
for the USOT in all three events.
BTW, does anyone out there have a listing of Olympic Trials
qualifying standards for each year? Also, what was the first year
that standards were established for entry into the USOTs? I don't
seem to remember much mention of them back in the '50s, as everybody
paid their own way.
JON ALQUIST
Original Message -
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2001 12:26:07 -0400
From: "Mcewen, Brian T" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: t-and-f: Olympic Trials distance question
Does anyone know of any males in the US who qualified for the 5k/10k/and
Mar. for one Olympic Trials?
I had a friend who did so in 1984. We all thought it was good, but not
earth-shaking, because he went about 13:40/28:40/2:17:16 that year, and
there were plenty of sub-28:00/sub-2:10 guys at the time.
The qualifying standards in 1984 were about 13:42/28:46/2:19:50 ... they
have relaxed somewhat since then.
Clearly many guys had the ability to score this "hat-trick" (Shorter,
Bjorklund, Virgin, Salazar, Meyer, Eyestone, on and on) ...
But do you know any who have actually qualified for these three races within
the qualifying window allowed for a single Olympic Trials?
- -Brian McEwen
P.S. What is the time window allowed for qualifying for these races at the
Trials?
