Posted: October 15, 2005

Athletics: U.S. 2008 Olympic Trials To Eugene

From David Monti

© 2005 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

USA Track & Field announced late yesterday that they had awarded the 2008 Olympic Trials to the city of Eugene, Ore., in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It will be the fourth time that the Trials will be held in Eugene; the meet was held there in 1972, 1976 and 1980.

"Eugene's bid proposes an unprecedented focus on athletes, and plans for celebrating the sport that will make it a great fan experience," said USATF CEO Craig Masback in a press release. "Hayward Field is hallowed ground in our sport and Eugene's vision for what they can do to connect track's past, present and future won the day."

The Trials were held in 2004 in Sacramento, Calif., which also bid for the 2008 meet but were beaten out by Eugene. Masback called the Sacramento bid "tremendous" and said that it had been a "very difficult task" to choose between the two cities.

Hayward Field is the athletics stadium at the University of Oregon, a long-time collegiate track powerhouse which recently hired legendary coach Vin Lananna as their Associate Athletic Director/Director of Track and Field and Cross Country. Hayward Field is also the home of the Prefontaine Classic grand prix meet, the top commercial track meet in the U.S. The Oregon Track Club submitted the bid, not the university.

"We are ecstatic, yet humbled by this tremendous opportunity," said Oregon Track Club President Greg Erwin." We will do everything in our power to make this the most unforgettable experience for the athletes, the spectators and the people of Oregon."

The Olympic Trials is, by far, the most exciting athletics competition held in the United States. USATF policy requires all athletes who wish to make the Olympic team must compete in the Trials (there is no selection process which bypasses the Trials). Assuming athletes have the requisite qualifying standards, the top-3 finishers in each discipline qualify for the Olympic Games.

The history of the Trials is as much about failure as triumph. Many great athletes, despite being at the top of their disciplines, have cracked in the Trials. Decathlete Dan O'Brien famously no-heighted in the pole vault at the 1992 Trials and did not make the Olympic team. Jeff Hartwig, despite being the American record holder in the pole vault both indoors and out, no-heighted at both the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Trials after making the Olympic final in 1996.

Before the 2008 Trials, the 2006 and 2007 U.S. Athletics Championships will be held in Indianapolis, In., in the nation's Midwest.