After two days of rest and contemplation the US Olympic trials resume in Sacramento tonight. They will do so in a spirit of unprecedented optimism among the American track and field congregation. Sacramento has been wildly successful and the Americans are looking forward to talking to the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) about the possibility of hosting the World Cup event, followed perhaps by a World Championships. The indications are that a Golden League Grand Prix event might also be on offer.
Without doubt the Olympic year enthusiasm of the Americans for the sort of soap opera served up by Marion Jones, Maurice Greene and wild and crazy guy Michael Johnson is matched by the hunger of the IAAF to finally crack the US market. The 23,000 capacity Hornet stadium has been a sell-out all week, with an atmosphere of genuine enthusiasm blowing through the events. Lamine Diack, the Senegalese president of the IAAF, was quick to catch the mood on Tuesday, cartoonish dollar signs showing up where his eyes might usually be.
"I think these trials have helped tremendously. On my way here I noticed that everyone in the world is now watching the American trials. To see it on the television on my way here, in places like Nigeria and Paris, that is new. I was surprised when I got here to see so much of Marion Jones in USA Today. We will be successful in America in the coming years if we continue this kind of progress in our sport.
"We know the great prestige of American track and field around the world, but the challenge is transforming that power which America has abroad into a force at home."
Of course before the progress come the junkets, and American track and field officials, already happily dazed by the success of the Sacramento trials, were speaking yesterday first of the possibility of bringing the trials back to Sacramento in 2004 and then (eureka!) of having a bidding process involving other cities.
"There's no reason not to bring it back here," said Craig Masback, the chief executive officer of US track and field. "They met and exceeded the standard set for them. Yet I think it would be doing Sacramento a disservice if we didn't have some sort of process to select the city." Meanwhile the real work of grunting and groaning starts again in earnest down on the track at Hornet Stadium today with a number of decathlon events down for decision. The decathlon will unfold without one of the most celebrated trials casualties of recent years. Dan O'Brien lost out at the trials when at his peak in 1992, came back to win a gold medal in Atlanta in 1996, and conceded yesterday that he would be "99 per cent likely" withdrawing from this week's event due to injury. O'Brien, who is 34 now, partially tore some connective tissue in his foot last week while practising his high jumping. The injury has been reluctant to heal. "I don't see any way I can participate by 4.0 clock on Thursday," he said. "It's a heartbreak. I'm in shock."
In the absence of O'Brien, the competition organisers lose one of the marquee names of US sport, but probably not a medallist in Sydney. Plagued by knee problems, O'Brien has wound down his level of activity in the last couple of years and has not competed in a decathlon since 1998 in the Goodwill Games. In the US, Tom Pappas of Oregon has become the heir apparent.
In a night principally devoted to the decathlon, the other highlight will be the 3,000 metres steeplechase final where the leading US contenders will enjoy their last glimpse of limelight before participating in the inevitable Kenyan one-two-three in Sydney.
