Olympic Trials Day Seven:


Today was an interesting day at the trials. Most of the finals were in the field events. We only had one final on the track and that was the last race, the 3000m men's steeplechase. This is a race that isn't run very often at regular track meets so the top athletes are not household names. It is a grueling race because of the barriers that the runners have to jump over, one of which has a pool of water after it. As you watch the race it is easy to appreciate the effort that it takes to run this event well. Even though the fans aren't familiar with their names they have great appreciation for their efforts. The race had been considered too tough for women to compete in and this will be the first year that women will be awarded medals for the 3000m steeplechase at the Olympics. We crowned our first women steeplechase champions on Thursday night. The crowd was really into their race and it was a great spectacle for these women who usually race with few people watching. Today it was the men's turn and the crowd greeted the winners with the same enthusiasm as the big-name stars we read about in the papers all the time. It was great to see.

The other defining moment today was when one of those big name stars grabbed his leg as he tumbled to the track just after the beginning of his race. The gasp of the stadium could be heard for blocks. I wasn't watching at the time but I could tell something awful had happened. He was carried off the track on a cart and it didn't look good. Later they announced that is was only severe cramps and not a muscle pull or tear. We will be reading about that in the paper tomorrow. We can only hope that we get to read about the steeplechase.

Tomorrow is the final day and it seems like the trials have been going on for a long time but I'm also sorry to see them end. As you would expect, almost all the events tomorrow will be finals so there will be plenty of excitement as we crown lots of champions.


Joseph Calbreath