Oregon Public Broadcasting

The U.S. has finished selecting members for its 2008 Olympic teams in two popular sports: swimming and track & field.

Only a handful of Northwesterners made the cut at the swimming trials in Omaha, Nebraska.  But the story is much happier from the track and field trials.  They were held in Eugene.

Correspondent Tom Banse reports local athletes came through in a big way.

You’ve heard of home-court advantage.  The roaring crowds at Eugene’s historic Hayward Field proved there’s such a thing as home-track advantage.  It propelled a disproportionate number of Northwest athletes onto the Olympic team.

Nick Symmonds qualified for Beijing in the 800 meter run. The Boise native who now calls Eugene home said it was so loud he couldn’t hear himself think on the homestretch.

Distance runner Kara Goucher of Portland qualified twice, in the 10,000 and 5000 meters.  She echoed the compliments of athletes from near and far.

Kara Goucher: “The crowd just makes you feel so good here. I don’t ever want to race anywhere but here.  After this, like, it’ll be such a letdown anywhere else I go”

Goucher will race elsewhere – at the Beijing Games next month.  And she’ll have company on the U.S. team from 16 other athletes with ties to Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.

Idaho native and ex-WSU Cougar Ian Waltz won the top spot on the U.S. Olympic discus team.

On the final day of competition, Ian Waltz made the team by flinging the discus 216 feet. 

This will be the second Olympics for the graduate of Post Falls High School and Washington State University.  The tattooed and barrel-chested Idahoan is stoked to improve on his 22nd place finish in Athens.

Ian Waltz: “You know, in years past, you just try to make the team. This year, I was pretty confident I would make it.  So my planning was for this to just be part of the road and then to peak in August.”

Former Cougar teammate Bernard Lagat qualified for the U.S. team a short time later in the 1500 meters.

This will be Lagat’s third Olympics.  He became a U.S. citizen a few years after graduating from W.S.U.  His first two times at the Games he represented his native Kenya.

The pack enters the final lap of the men’s 1500 meters at the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials.

Bernard Lagat: “You know, I’m used to wearing the red, black and white.  Now it is red, white, and blue.  So really good.  It feels good actually to be part of the American running community.  I’m proud to be a miler in America, proud to be a distance runner in America. I think we are heading into a good direction.”

Chinese dragon dancers followed Lagat around the track after his victory lap.  They signal the shift in focus to preparing for Beijing.

Some of the qualifiers depart almost immediately to test themselves on the lucrative European track circuit.

Looking to August, track & field insiders say the Northwest has supplied some legitimate medal contenders.  Most frequently mentioned are Bernard Lagat, Kara Goucher, and ex-Washington Husky pole vaulter Brad Walker.

Runner’s World correspondent Josh Cox says naturalized citizens such as Lagat strengthen the U.S. team’s prospects.

Josh Cox: “Our sprinters are always strong.  But top to bottom our distance crew this time is going to be the best, most well-represented U.S. team we’ve ever had going to the Games.”

Cox, a Californian, says that the trials should be in Eugene every year.  That’s the kind of remark that warms hearts in Eugene. 

Host committee co-chair Greg Erwin says the well-executed event succeeded in renewing Eugene’s brand as “Track Town USA.”

Greg Erwin: “This week proves that we deserve that moniker.  It isn’t just an assumed name for the area.  I really do think it’s deserved at this point.”

Erwin says the Trials went off with few tribulations.  No doping scandals cropped up. 

Spectators sweated under oppressive heat for the first couple of days and shuttle buses were short at the beginning.   But Hayward Field sold out for all eight days of competition. 

The Olympic track and field trials return to Eugene in 2012.

Online:

U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials – Eugene, Ore.