2004 Olympic Trials | Day 5 

Thursday - 15 July 2004 - Sacramento, California: We have had two days off during the break in the trials... so we drove down to Merced to spend the time with family. Now we are back in Sacramento and ready for another full day of Track & Field. Okay, so that is not the only sport we participated in today... we watched Le Tour, DT ran, DT golfed and I shopped. (DT is sure if shopping were an Olympic Sport I would win a Gold Medal... but the medal would have to be virtually emailed to me, since I usually shop on line...)  I drove DT out to Lincoln this morning for golfing at Turkey Creek Golf Course with Brother Steve. I am in the midst of a huge vacuum crisis in the RV, so stopped to see if I could find a decent vacuum. None to be found, so the crisis continues. I picked up a few things for a late-night cocktail fest tonight and came back to the RV and cooked this afternoon, then drove back out to Lincoln to fetch my duffer.

We rested up for a bit and then headed over to Cal State for an exciting night of True Sport. The Big Excitement of the Night was Marion Jones winning the long jump in an amazing 23 feet, 4 inches. Take that all you Non-Believers! Do That after having a Baby! It was a new Marion tonight. She hugged her competitors. She smiled and chatted with the press tonight. Yes, she DID require a special escort off the field after her competition, but at her post-medal interview she was really funny and then broke down and cried like a Baby. I think The Lady might be under a little stress due to the drug scandal? It is obvious she still has the crowds behind her. She is a little like Martha Stewart. Either you love her or you hate her, either you believe her or you think she is a crook.

This could possibly be the first-ever Martha-Marion comparison.

Tonight was fabulous because there were THREE 1500m races! Love it, love it, love it! Thirty men ran, and 24 advance. Obviously, your odds are pretty good. The heats were divided into 10 men in each heat, top 6 finishers automatically advance and the next 6-fastest times. The first heat was loaded with Michael Stember (Stanford)... and a little-known kid from American U, Sean O'Brien (who was coached by our old friend, Matt Centrowitz). We had someone to cheer-on! It was the fastest heat, with Stember winning in 3:41.65. The second heat was quite slow, even though the fastest American, young Alan Webb was in the race. He won in 3:47. The last heat was won by Said Ahmed of Arkansas in 3:41.81. These times worked to Sean's advantage because of his fast time he will advance to the final tomorrow.

The Strangest Race of the Day and the Blunder of Meet occurred in the women's steeple. The 3000m women's steeple is not going to be an event in Athens. For some reason, the Olympic Committee feels poorer countries do not have the facilities for women to train for the steeple (a log and a puddle, people!) so they cannot sanction it as an actual race. Still, the US held trials for the event. For what purpose, I cannot tell you, Dear Reader. The story gets even more confused when the woman winning the race was disqualified because she did not take the first water jump! We all sat in complete amazement as the women clearly ran around the track instead of jumping over the hurdle at the water hazard! The Judge threw up his Yellow Flag immediately, but the racer was completely unaware of her misdeed and continued on and actually finished in an American Record, 10 seconds under the previous record. (This event is not run often for women, truth be told.) The poor girl, Briana Shook, was in the middle of her victory lap when it was announced she was DQ-ed! Rumors immediately began to filter throughout the stadium. Was she directed by the official to continue around the track, instead of to the water hazard? Who knows? (Well, until we read the papers tomorrow!) The second-place finisher also broke the American record and she WILL NOT be representing Our Great Nation in the Women's Steeple... simply because there won't BE a 3000m women's steeple. What a mess!

The Men's 3000m steeple was very ordinary - thank goodness! Daniel Lincoln won in a Personal Best of 8:15.02, running a 64-second last-lap to complete his task. The handsome, and suddenly beardless, Anthoney Famiglietti was second.

We were joined in the stands tonight by Brother Steve, College Roommate, Bruce and Old Friend, Lower. Back at the campsite, the track-talk continued with Captain Jim and the Lovely Roxanne, and neighbors Byron. Original Buffalo Wings from Buffalo were served. Sangria was consumed. My Sangria is the tastiest on the planet.

RV Park: Cal-Expo RV Park