In Memory of Ryan Shay

Pictured: Brian Sell, who qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team during Saturday's marathon trials in New York City, reacts to confirmation of the death of fellow marathoner, Ryan Shay, during the same event.

Like many of you, I was shocked to hear the news Saturday that Ryan Shay -- a 5-time USATF national champion, including 2003 in the marathon and 2003-2004 in the half-marathon -- had died during the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in New York City's Central Park.

I read an article written by Sports Illustrated's Tim Layden right after the Saturday afternoon press conference with the winners of the race (Ryan Hall, Dathan Ritzenhein, and Brian Sell). In it, Layden observed that "It is not possible to overstate the surreality of the post-race moment. Olympic-sport athletes in the United States are given a tiny quadrennial window in which to make good on endless hours of training and boundless dreams. On this day, Hall, Ritzenhein and Sell had slipped through the opening. For Hall and Sell it is their first Olympic team; for Ritzenhein his first in the marathon. They had seized a very potent reality, only to be confronted by a much larger one."

I cannot imagine.

One of the unfortunate side notes of this tragedy is that the winner, Ryan Hall, is married to Sara Hall. Ryan Hall and Sara Hall both ran at Stanford with Alicia Shay, who was married to Ryan Shay in July and who is now his widow. Sara was a bridesmaid at the Shay wedding.

I ran the Marine Corps Marathon last week, and was reminded again of how incredibly emotional an event the marathon is. I cannot comprehend what Saturday's aftermath must have been like.

Be praying for Alicia Shay and the Shay family. And remember to enjoy the heck out of your training and racing. Why? Because you can, and that is a crucial thing in our lives for as long as we have them to live. Viewed through the prism of sudden death, we can be reminded what a gift even a "bad" run can be. Keep being thankful for the breaths we each draw and the hearts that God allows to continue beating in our chests. It all passes too fast.

Finish strong,
Stan

Psalm 103 (NIV)
... 15 As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children-
18 with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.
19 The LORD has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.

Ironman Arizona Outreach

Once more (third year in a row) I was fortunate to be a part of the ministry and outreach in Tempe for the 2007 Ironman Arizona, April 12th through April 15th. Hats off to my homestay buddy, Jason Ford, for helping make the trip a success and for shuttling me all over the place. Staying with Jason and being in Tempe for the race was a real kick-start for my flagging athletic motivation. Basically, I had been largely dormant (emphasis on "largely") since I crossed the finish line at the 2nd edition of Ironman Arizona on April 9, 2006. In particular, Jason took me out 3 days in a row for some slammin' runs, including 2 trail runs up to one of the mesas above Fountain Hills, where he lives. Just making it to the top proved that: (1) yes, that I was completely and woefully out of shape, but also (2) I could still get out there and do it. Since I've been home, things have come around and there has been a real improvement in the frequency and enjoyment of my workouts. That, in turn, has helped me get into a better place mentally for keeping up with my responsibilities at home and at work. (Thanks, Jason.)

We had a great outreach in Arizona, and if you want to read more about it, you can check out the ministry report online.

Finish strong,

Stan

FINA vs. Thorpe (and what it means for Michael Phelps)

Wow. I didn’t see that coming.

Right alongside the latest reports of another incredible evening of swimming at the 12th FINA World Championships in Melbourne, Australia (Michael Phelps edged world record holder Ian Crocker by .05 in the 100-meter butterfly final to win his 5th gold medal of the event), came the news last night that FINA (the world governing body for swimming) is pursuing sanctions against former world and Olympic champion Ian Thorpe (aka “The Thorpedo”). Supposedly, the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency had received an “adverse analytical finding” as the result of an out-of-competition drug test administered against Thorpe last May. Subsequently – in an apparently unrelated development -- Thorpe retired from the sport last November. What is unusual here is that if a test was not clearly positive (as evidenced by positive results from both “A” and “B” samples), then no other administrative entity or agency should have ever been aware of this. So, a lot of Australians are up in arms about a “leak” of this news. They feel that Thorpe’s reputation has now been unfairly maligned, and that his privacy invaded without cause.

One thing is for sure, however. Michael Phelps had better sit down with his PR folks, because his next gold medal press conference is going to be a shooting gallery of questions from the media about Thorpe, doping in swimming, and his own status as a “clean” swimmer. I think he is clean, and he is a pretty polished 21-year old when it comes to interacting with the media. But he is going to have to earn a gold medal in media relations in order to survive what is sure to be an onslaught of inquiry on the doping subject.

It is ironic, because I just got an email earlier this week from an old swimming friend about whether Phelps was clean. There had been an article in The Washington Post earlier this week about Phelps’ new strength training regime, and the discussion we had was around whether or not the Post piece was intimating a darker reason for his breakthrough swimming in Melbourne. I responded that I didn’t’ think the article was suggesting anything illegal or unethical on Phelps’ part, and I also said I didn’t think Phelps was a doper. But it is true that swimming has had its problems with doping.

A lot of folks will recall the machine that was the East German women’s swimming team from the late 1970’s through early 1980’s. What many were suspicious of at the time – that the East German women were rampant steroid users – actually was proven true later. There had been a Government-sponsored program of doping from the age group level all the way up to the national team level. In fact, the doping was so pervasive – most of it unknown to the athletes themselves, who had a blind allegiance to their state-appointed, Communist party coaches – that many of these women subsequently developed horrible health problems like cancer and birth defects in their children. The reunified German government eventually paid reparations to some of these women as the result of the chemical atrocities committed against these girls by the East German government. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, the Chinese apparently imitated the East German formula, and a number of their national team swimmers tested positive for steroids at regional and international competitions. In 1996, Irish swimmer Michelle Smith came from out of nowhere to win 3 gold medals and a bronze in the swimming events at the Atlanta Olympics. However, 2 years later she was suspended for tampering with a urine sample from an out-of-competition drug test, and she lost a lot of her popularity. It never helped her situation that her husband and “coach” was a Dutch shot-putter with no swimming background who had served a 2-year doping suspension as the result of testing positive for steroids in competition. Even Americans like Jess’ca Foschi have been forced to serve drug-related suspensions.

There can be no question anymore that virtually any stellar sports performance is going to be suspected by some as being the result of doping. However, in the case of Michael Phelps, I think it is unlikely for a couple of reasons. First, the guy has been a prodigious talent since Day 1; he made the Olympic team at age 15 and set his first world record at age 15, nine months. So, it is less likely that he has need of performance-enhancing than some others. Plus, he is from the United States, and the sorts of drugs which would most enhance a swimmer’s performance (likely to be steroids, testosterone, and/or HGH [human growth hormone] and, possibly, EPO [erythropoietin]) are currently the subject of some pretty rigorous investigation at the Federal level; the FBI has a task force that is trying to track down bogus home labs, “aging labs,” and illegal shipments from pharmacies in Mexico. So, unlike some other jurisdictions, he is more likely to be found out, I think, than if he lived in, say, Russia.

On top of all that, I have my own doubts about the ability of the average swimmer/coach partnership in the U.S. to secure the extra time, financial resources, connections, and ability to focus on a program of doping. I’ve been around competitive swimming in one form or another for over 35 years, and this just doesn’t fit with what I've seen and experienced. In order to work, a doping program almost has to be systemic; you need to acquire the drugs, you need medical advice on how/when to use them, you need a coach or trainer who will advise you on when to use them to maximum benefit and when to not use them so as to avoid detection in or out of competition, and you need to keep the secret form other people who might have an incentive to reveal your secret (like competitors). On the other hand, the more haphazard (or solitary) a program of doping is, it seems even more unlikely that it could succeed, especially if you account for out-of-competition testing, which just about all prominent athletes like Phelps are subject to these days.

I doubt either of these scenarios applies in the case of Phelps. And when it comes to keeping secrets, keep in mind that Phelps is not training in isolation. Although he turned pro and therefore cannot swim competitively in an NCAA program, he is a student at the University of Michigan where he lives and trains with Bob Bowman (his old coach from North Baltimore Aquatic Club, and head coach of the Michigan men’s swim team). I doubt very seriously there is a systematic program of doping at Michigan (all NCAA swimmers are likewise subject to testing for performance enhancing drugs), or that Phelps could keep any solitary, personal program of doping a secret from the men he lives and trains with.

An athlete like Phelps who knows he is one of the best in the world seems to me to be less likely (at least psychologically) to feel the need to dope than, say, someone struggling to reach that level. A champion, in this view, doesn’t feel the needs to use performance enhancing drugs. In fact, to use them might be, for such an athlete, an admission that he is not as good as he thinks he is. While some might say the endorsements ratchet up the temptation level, the converse is as likely to be true, if not more so. Why take performance enhancing drugs and risk a set of multi-million dollar guaranteed promotional contracts?

But, yeah, he is going to get asked the question. A lot.

Finish strong.

Best Day of Swimming Ever?

I had to get up at the crack of dawn this morning to get some work done for our 1st quarter/2007 closing at work. I’m talking really early, like 5:00 a.m. ET. However, when I got my work done, I was able to get on the Internet and check out near-live postings of the results from the evening session of Day 3 of the 12th FINA World Swimming Championships in Melbourne, Australia. What I read just blew me away. Event after event, there were amazing swims, including no less than 4 individual gold medal performances by U.S. swimmers out of 5 finals (in the 5th race, the U.S. picked up a silver medal). There was also an additional world record set in the semifinal heats of the women’s 200-meter freestyle. Out of a total of 8 events in the evening session, there were 4 world records set. In 3 of the 5 finals (vs. semifinals), a world record was set. In the other 2 races, an American just missed breaking the oldest women's world record on the books, and another American woman set a new U.S. record. I’m not a statistician, but I can’t remember such a concentration of amazing performances in one 2-hour session of swimming. Here is how it went down.

Of course, you won’t be surprised that Michael Phelps got the ball rolling. Phelps is a huge talent and won 8 medals at each of the 2004 Olympics in Athens and the 2005 FINA World Championships in Montreal. So, you would expect him to dominate, especially in his “main” events, which include three events in which he entered this meet holding the world record: 200-meter butterfly; 200-meter individual medley; and, 400-meter individual medley. To be sure, he has posted some huge results in the men’s 200-meter freestyle and is the American record holder in that event. (Sarah and I saw him set a U.S. record in that event in 2003 at the Philips 66 U.S. Swimming Nationals in College Park.) But he had “only” managed a bronze in that race at the 2004 Olympics, and had faced stiff competition from former world record holder Ian Thorpe and the Netherlands’ Pieter van den Hoogenband. So, it may not have been a big upset, but it was not entirely expected either what happened today: Phelps, seeded second after semifinals to the Dutch star, became the first man to go under 1:44, snatching the gold medal and posting a new world record time of 1:43.86. He beat Thorpe’s former world record by .20.

Australia is the one place in the world where swimming is truly appreciated on a major league level. Just as an example, Ian Thorpe has for several years now (even in retirement) been one of the top sports personalities in the country. So, with these championships being staged in Melbourne before a crowd of almost 20,000 rabid swimming fans, Phelps’ swim probably caused this crowd to get really primed for some amazing swimming. When there is that much energy in a building, it is a sure bet the swimmers are going to feed off of it. No doubt, Phelps’ swim probably set the stage for what followed:

Thirteen minutes later, in the very next event, American Natalie Coughlin lowered her own world record in the 100-meter backstroke, taking the gold medal. She went 59.44, shaving .14 off her old mark of 59.58. Coughlin held off a strong challenge from France’s Laure Manaudou who had already won the gold medal in the women’s 400-meter freestyle.

26 minutes later, after 50-meter breastroke heats, American Kate Ziegler (from Arlington and Bishop O’Connell High School/George Mason University) won the gold in the grueling 1500-meter freestyle in 15:53.05, and coming within 1 second of Janet Evans’ 19-year old world record of 15:52.10.

Another 30 minutes later, Americans Aaron Piersol and Ryan Lochte went 1-2 in the men’s 100-meter backstroke, with Piersol becoming the first man in history under 53 seconds, breaking in 52:98, breaking his own world record of 53:17.

Eight minutes later, Federica Pelligrini of Italy broke a the world record in the women’s 200-meter freestyle semifinals, swimming 1:55.47, to take out the old mark of 1:55.64 set by Franziska van Almsick of Germany in 2002. American Katie Hoff and Dana Vollmer both made the finals of the 200-meter freestyle, which is shaping up to be one of the fastest women’s 200-meter events in history. Hoff's time of 1:57.29 broke the American record held by Olympic gold medalist Lindsay Benko.

There are still 5 full days of swimming left. It could be an historic week for swimming in Australia. Check out the results at the official FINA website (http://www.fina.org/events/WC/Melbourne_2007/results/swimming.php) and online at US Swimming’s web site (http://www.usswim.org/). You can also read the headlines (and pay a nominal fee to watch online video, if you like) at the WCSN web site: http://www.wcsn.com/sport/index.jsp?id=34001.

Finish strong,
Stan