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| | Wednesday, October 6 | |||||
Special to ESPN.com | ||||||
| Let's get this out in the open right away: I like a lot of agents.
Unfortunately, too many of them are idiots who don't understand the first
thing about publicity.
You see, most agents think there are only two items in their job description: to get their athlete into meets for the most money possible, and to try to nail down a shoe contract. Not surprisingly, that's all that most track athletes expect of them. Public relations hardly enter into the equation, and that not only limits the "fame" potential of the athlete in question, it also hurts the sport's overall image. Case in point: Coverage in the print media is usually linked to space. That is, X amount of space is reserved for a feature about track, say. Guess who gets it? Ideally, the most deserving (or interesting) candidate. Realistically, the first one who returns the phone call. If the journalist doesn't have the athlete's phone number, then the ball falls into the agent's court. Many agents, including those for some of the sport's most prominent athletes, don't even bother to deal with such interview requests, because there is no 15 percent they can pocket. There are notable exceptions, the former mile great, Ray Flynn, being one. Perhaps the fact that he was an athlete himself has colored his perception of his role. More than likely, though, it's just because he's a good guy. After all, there are other former world-class athletes who have moved into the agenting business, and some of them are horrendous at it. At the World Championships, I had the opportunity to share my gripes on this subject with other journalists, and I was amazed that many had the same perceptions I did about the same agents. The result is that often more stories are written about athletes represented by more responsive agents. The situation is worse in the general media, where if a track athlete is a pain to get in touch with, that space goes to another sport altogether. Sometimes, though, the athletes must shoulder the blame. Like the up-and-coming sprinter who had never seen much national coverage, but simply could not bring himself to dial the phone to return a call from a journalist, despite umpteen messages left on voice mail, with wife, agent, and hotels.One horror story sticks in my mind. Several years ago, one of our biggest names went on a tirade claiming that USATF was not doing enough to promote the sport (i.e., him), and told the wire services that he was willing to do all he could to help promote the sport. I was aghast, because just a few days earlier, a journalist working on a contract for USATF told me that he had left over 20 messages with the athlete and his agent but never even got a response. I've had European journalists tell me that they have an even harder time getting agents to work with them. One told me he had been hired to write a feature about an athlete, and called one of Britain's most prominent agents to request the interview. He was told he would have to fax the request. So he did, making sure to let the agent know what his deadline demands were. The deadline came and went, and several weeks later the writer got a form letter from the agent that said, sorry, but so-and-so won't be able to give an interview at this point in time. Perhaps that would be understandable, the writer told me, if it were one of the "big" names he was trying to interview, but it wasn't. It was the sort of up-and-coming athlete, all too common, who deserves to get some attention, and ironically spends a lot of time complaining that he doesn't get that attention.Of course, these athletes blame the media. After all, they listen to their agents.
Ranking the Century Anderson led early, but Peacock started to pull away at the halfway point. Owens, still a year away from Olympic glory, charged into second. Then Metcalfe used his characteristically strong finishing drive to make things interesting. He passed Owens and just missed tagging Peacock at the line. Peacock had clocked 10.2, better than the world record, but wind-aided. It was a good day for the future Coast Guard man, who won the long jump as well, with the second longest jump in history, 26-feet, three inches. No. 69 -- Italy vs Germany, Men's 800, Milan 1939: In the late 1930s, the two finest half-milers in Europe were Mario Lanzi of Italy and Rudolf Harbig of Germany. Lanzi, who had won the silver in the 1936 Games behind American John Woodruff, regretted his passive tactics that day and transformed himself into a front-runner. Harbig defeated Lanzi at the 1938 European Championships, and a fierce rivalry commenced. It finally came to a head at the Italy-Germany dual meet of 1939, with Europe already slipping into the Second World War. Lanzi went out hard, 24.6, and Harbig content to run several meters back. At the 400, Lanzi clocked 52.5 to Harbig's 52.8. Both were well under world-record pace. Lanzi hit 600 in 1:19.8 with Harbig moving up on him, but at 700 meters, the Italian crumbled. Harbig went by him with a ferocious sprint that he carried all the way to the line. Thanks to Lanzi's maniacal front-running, he clocked 1:46.6, a world record by 1.8 seconds, and the biggest reduction of the 800-meter record ever. A defeated Lanzi jogged in at 1:49.0, still a personal best. Harbig's world record lasted 16 years. He died in action on the Russian front in 1944. No. 68 -- Olympic Men's High Jump, Rome 1960: John Thomas stood as the strongest of favorites on the eve of the 1960 Games. The first man to jump 7-feet indoors, he broke the outdoor world record an amazing five times in the weeks leading up to Rome. His best, 7-3.75, came in winning the Olympic Trials. In Rome, however, Thomas was not prepared to see a challenge. As the competition wore on, "his mood changed from over-confidence to fear," wrote historian Roberto Quercetani. He began forgetting his warm-ups, and was clearly suffering from an attack of nerves. Three Russians began applying serious pressure. Thomas needed two tries to clear the ultimate height of 7-0.25, while Robert Shavlakadze (actually a Georgian) cleared it on his first for the gold. Thomas ended up in a tie for the bronze, with the silver going (on misses) to Valeriy Brumel, who rose to much greater heights in coming years. No. 67 -- Olympic Men's 100, Los Angeles 1932: No closer call ever came in a men's Olympic dash final than the epic match between Ralph Metcalfe and Eddie Tolan. Metcalfe, the 5-foot-11 Marquette star, towered over 5-4 Michigan grad Eddie Tolan. On the track that season, Metcalfe had been equally dominant, never losing to anyone. Fastest out of the holes (blocks were not widely used at the time) was Japan's Takayoshi Yoshioka, considered one of the greatest starters ever. He was still leading at 40 meters when Tolan pulled even. By 60 meters, Tolan had a clear lead, but Metcalfe began closing fast. The two came to the finish line together, with the rest of the field a yard back. They crossed in a world record 10.3 (10.38 autotime, in one of the first meets to ever be so timed). Metcalfe's chest actually hit the line first, according to the photo. However, the rules of the time awarded the win to Tolan, because his torso cleared the finish before Metcalfe's did. Amazingly, before those results were even announced, the runners sensed how it would go. Tolan celebrated, while Metcalfe, later a U.S. congressman, "looked dejected," according to writer Wally Donovan. No. 66 -- Olympic Men's Pole Vault, Moscow 1980: Track and Field News' Cordner Nelson called it the "best competition" in pole vault history. It got serious when the bar went up to an Olympic record 18-2.5 with nine competitors left. Four made it, and three were eliminated. At the next height (18-4.5), two more cleared, including Poland's Wladyslaw Kozakiewicz, a failed favorite of the previous Olympics. The rest passed. Everyone jumped at 18-6.5, but only Kozakiewicz emerged with a perfect record. His three rivals -- Philippe Houvion, teammate Tadeusz Slusarski and Russia's Konstantin Volkov -- all needed three attempts. At 18-8.25, Houvion and Slusarski went out, while "Kozak" cleared on his first attempt. Volkov took two efforts, and passed his third. Kozak then faced 18-10.25. The partisan Russian crowd began to whistle while he stood on the runway, in an attempt to spoil his jump. The announcer pleaded for quiet, to no avail. Kozak ignored the din, and soared over the bar. When he landed, he stood and defiantly flashed the crowd an obscene gesture. When Volkov missed, the Pole had the gold, but he wasn't done. He had the bar raised to 18-11.5, a world record height. He cleared on his second try, and then put in three more attempts in the vain hope of becoming the first man to clear 19 feet (actually 19-1). No. 65 -- Olympic Women's 4 x 400, Seoul 1988: Figured to be a three-way matchup between the Soviets, East Germans and Americans, the Seoul relay turned out better than anyone had expected (except the East Germans). The U.S., keyed by Denean Howard's 49.7, got off to the early lead over the Soviets (50.1). On the second leg, Diane Dixon produced a sparkling 49.2, but was left in the wake of Olga Nazarova's 47.9. Valerie Brisco brought the U.S. back into contention with her 48.5, as the Soviets managed only a 49.3, while the East Germans faded. The Soviets had a two-meter lead at the final hand-off, which set up a titanic confrontation between 400 winner Olga Bryzgina and triple gold medalist Florence Griffith Joyner. Certainly, most Americans in the crowd expected Flojo to perform another miracle, even if she had just finished the 4 x 100 a half hour earlier. She got close, pulling to within a couple feet of the Russian. But Bryzgina had the best finish, and managed a 47.9 to hit the line in a world record 3:15.18. Flojo clocked 48.1, and brought the U.S. under the old best as well with a 3:15.51. No. 64 -- Olympic Men's 10,000, Atlanta 1996: Now we see Haile Gebrselassie as unbeatable. Back in 1996, however, many of us felt that the rest of the world had a chance. That is, until this race was over. The first half of the race was a ho-hum affair, the first five kilometers going by in 13:55.22. Then Kenyans Paul Koech and Josephat Machuka teamed up to push the field to world-record speeds. With six laps to go, Paul Tergat made his move. The lanky Kenyan was followed only by Gebrselassie, as the rest of the field burned away in the 60-second surge. With a lap to go, the Ethiopian blew past Tergat, and by the backstretch seemed to have victory assured. But when he hit the homestretch, Gebrselassie looked back and inexplicably slowed, as Tergat came up with a powerful sprint. The margin shrunk, but Geb held on for the win in an Olympic record 27:07.34, with Tergat clocking 27:08.17. The reason for the Ethiopian's fatigue became readily apparent when the realization hit that he had run the last half of the race in an astounding 13:11.4, faster than the winning time in every Olympic 5,000 but one. No. 63 -- World Championships Women's 400 Hurdles, Gothenberg 1995: Many in the media dismissed this race because of the absence of stars such as world record-holder Sally Gunnell, Sandra Farmer-Patrick and Marie-Jose Perec. The lowered expectations amused Americans Kim Batten and Tonja Buford. "I knew Tonja would be tough to beat," said Batten, "and that I'd have to run fast." Both decided to go out hard because of the windy conditions. Buford led early, but by the backstretch, Batten had command of the race. Illinois alum Buford started coming back over the last turn, then stuttered her steps at the ninth hurdle. She recovered well, and the two leaped the final hurdle together. They sprinted to the finish nearly even, but Batten had the far better lean. She clocked a world record 52.61, with Buford a mere 0.01 behind, also under the old best. Batten, who had been hampered earlier in the year by an appendectomy and a toe problem, admitted, "At the line, I didn't know if I'd beat her." No. 62 -- World Championships Women's Heptathlon, Stuttgart 1993: Now that Jackie Joyner-Kersee is retired, it's easy to remember her as an all-conquering hero. The records show her dominance, but it was the occasional close call that showed her competitive nature. A 12.89 in the hurdles put her in second. A disappointing 5-11.25 high jump dropped her to third. Her speed came out at the end of the day, when her 23.10 in the 200 put her into the lead by 14 points. Her husband/coach Bob Kersee called it "her worst day." A great 23-1.25 in the long jump gave JJK a huge lead of 161 points, but the next event, the javelin, was one that usually caused her fans to cover their eyes in dread. JJK's 143-7 put her more than 30 feet behind Germany's Sabine Braun, who took over the points lead. That meant that JJK had to run faster than Braun in the dreaded 800 meters in order to win. She took the challenge, running just ahead of the German until the final turn, when she blew her away to take the win, 6,837 points to 6,797. "I really had to put it all together," said Joyner-Kersee. No. 61 -- Boston Marathon 1982: It would be the first Boston Marathon for both Alberto Salazar and Dick Beardsley. Salazar at the time was on top of the world. He had run a personal-best 10-kilometer run of 27:30 just nine days earlier, and was attempting to see if he could handle such a tough double in the 1984 Olympics.Beardsley and Salazar had been together from the start of the race: "head-to-head from the time the gun went off," said Beardsley. By 18 miles, the rest of the field had dropped away and the Minnesota farmer started hammering the downhills in an attempt to drop Salazar. "I was worried he might break me," said Salazar, who was also having problems with the heat. With less than 800 meters left, the Oregon alum jumped into the lead. Beardsley tried to pass him back, and the two sprinted all the way to the finish, Salazar crossing in 2:08:51 to Beardsley's 2:08:53. Said Salazar, "You go all that distance, so it would be crazy to let someone break you in the last few yards." It was the first time that two men broke 2:09 in the same race. The Mailbag By the way, I'll now be going to my off-season schedule, with a column every two weeks.
Jeff Hollobaugh, former managing editor of Track and Field News,
is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached by e-mail
at michtrack@aol.com.
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