[USMA:30934] I can't believe that the USA Olympians do not train in Metric...

[Brenton Conway]

I found this on http://www.usoc.org/11611_25034.htm  Quote: (Lister blamed his problems on trackside officials' refusal to allow him to use his measuring tape, which measures distances in feet and inches and serves as a guidepost for him.  He said he was told the tape "might hurt somebody" because of a spiked attachment and was told to use a metric tape, but he didn't have one and couldn't work with the metric tape organizers supplied.  "Nobody told me I needed one," he said. "Coming down, I need my running speed and to trust in my approach.") Considering that the Olympics are always in metric, you would think that some one at some stage would have told him so back in the states…  I found it strange, if not interesting, that US Olympians not only do not train in metric, but they are also so incredibly unfamiliar with it.  It could possible be loosing them a gold, silver or bronze metal.   I can understand the general American public not understanding metric, as any American I have dealt with here in Australia expects me (in my own country) to convert whatever I am talking about into FFU for them.   My American mate who is living here in Australia, frequently apologises to me that he is a dumb American, (in his words, not mine) and does not understand metric.  I have never been taught FFU, but for some reason, I am able to understand it well enough to at the least give him the equivalents he desires…   I asked him, why you think the US is the only country that has not gone metric.  His answer was that it is too expensive.  I then asked him, do you consider, that invading IRAC may have been too expensive…  If the answer is yes, which one should the US done first…   That stumped him, as said it is really that it not too expensive. In the long run it may work out too expensive if you don’t’.