I competed at the Aviva London Grand Prix two weeks ago now and although it didn’t go as expected (16.61m for 6th place), it felt good to get back on the runway without having Criminal Procedure, Secured Transactions, Evidence, Wills or some other bar exam topic in the back of my mind. My pre-meet workout felt great but when Saturday morning rolled around and it was time to warmup to compete, I felt a bit more tired than I would have liked. During the competition itself, I felt as if I was jumping well as far as technique is concerned aside from a flat jump phase, but I wasn’t running as well as I did down in Puerto Rico. At this point speed is the name of the game and I definitely didn’t have it then. Considering the fact that we’re now starting to do more and more speed work in practice though, I know my speed won’t be a problem in Daegu. On top of that, I’ll have more than just one day to get over the time zone shift which is what I dealt with out in London.

Last week was probably the final week where I’ll be lifting heavy and doing some “serious” jumping in practice so it seems we’re finally starting to taper off; especially as we get closer to about two weeks or so out from the first day of jumping in Korea. I actually had two jumping sessions in a week for the first time in a while last week. That was in addition to the heavy weight room loads that I mentioned but I know I needed a week like that. The benefit of our competition starting so late is the fact that I’m able to get these couple extra weeks of solid training in and I’m not complaining about at all. Still, I’m definitely excited as we start to shave things off here and there in training. I’m certain that the results will speak for themselves come Spetember 2nd and 4th.

Check back later this week for the results of my last, intense short approach jump session. Here’s how things went last time -

Click here to view the embedded video.

The meet itself ran like clockwork and outside of the two World Championships that I’ve been to in the last year, this was the most spectacular meet I have gotten to experience; and in most ways it was even better than World Indoors in Doha. Despite the cool weather and drizzle, there were 50,000+ people in the stands and they seemed to be engaged for every minute of the competition. There were musical performers performing between events and the announcer was one of the best I’ve heard at a track meet as well. After the meet, they even had fireworks to go with the presentation of the Diamond League winners. I wasn’t in the mood to stay and watch those fireworks or the presentation but it looked great from the bus that I was on heading back to the hotel. All in all, the meet was top notch and I can say that in spite of the fact that I was initially disappointed in my performance. I really hope to be competing at the Memorial Van Damme meeting again in the future! I also got to walk around downtown Brussels a bit on the day after the meet and the city managed to jump right up to my top 3 of favorite foreign cities along with Paris and Berlin (I suppose the list of major foreign cities I’ve visited isn’t quite THAT long…yet).

Now that the season is done I’m still going to be working out a little bit for the next couple of weeks. I’m going to do a light jumping workout next week just to make sure there aren’t any lingering injuries before I truly shut it down for 2010. Of course, by “shut it down” I mean drop down to just a couple days of light, emphasis on light, lifting each week along with some swimming, and biking. I likely won’t have more than a week or two of doing absolutely nothing but I’ll still be sure to get my fair share of R&R in while also supporting Ayanna since she’s powering through till the Commonwealth Games all the way in October!

Meet Advertisement Featuring Jesse Owens

I had my last “workout” workout of the year yesterday afternoon in Belgium. I say “workout” workout because my coach already let me know that I’ll still be working out a bit once I get back to the States, in spite of the fact that tomorrow is my last meet for 2010. He said that he’d rather I ease into my couple weeks off by gradually doing less work than just abruptly halting my training altogether. I agree of course, but then again I guess it wasn’t really my call to make.

As I mentioned above and in previous posts, I’m out here in Brussels now for the Diamond League final. The event happens to be the last meet of the 2010 Diamond League series and also the finale for the triple jump. I managed to get a straight flight over here which was a must considering that in spite of the fact that I was in economy plus, the 5 extra of inches I was allegedly getting didn’t have the effect on my flight that I was looking for. At least I had an aisle seat though, so I was able to get up and stretch several times. Once I made it to baggage claim in Belgium I was immediately spotted by my driver and we shot over to the meet hotel, which is in the Brussels city center: no complaints here since I’m here until Sunday.

One of the toughest things to do while out here on the circuit is finding ways to pass the time when there are only one or two television channels in English. Fortunately enough, one of those channels this time around happens to be “ESPN America,” which is pretty much just regular ESPN. Also, since I’m in Belgium I get to watch some TV in French and work on my multilingual skills a bit. I don’t mind that at all. As always though, I made sure I brought enough movies and episodes of random shows that I follow to help fill any dead space that I had. That said, after filling some of that down time with Smallville, a nap and a couple meals, I got to check out Stade Roi Baudouin/Koning Boudewijnstadion…the stadium, which is sold out for the meet. That means 50,000+ spectators; which I got to experience at the World Champs last year but I’m sure the crowd and atmosphere will be no less awe inspiring.

I felt a little flat in the initial stages of my workout, which is to be expected after sitting on a plane for over 7 hours. As things got going though, I felt the explosiveness and “electricity” in my legs that I was looking for start to come back to me. I have no doubt that the massage I got following the workout probably helped out as well so I’ll be more than ready once tomorrow arrives, especially since I’m getting worked on a little bit today as well.

The forecast for tomorrow is calling for a high of 64F/17C degrees and some light rain in the morning. I don’t compete until nearly 9PM which means that it’ll at least be dry by then but I’m guessing that it’ll be a bit cooler than the high for the day. Good thing I checked the weather forecasts before hopping on the plane so I have some warmer gear with me and the temperature shouldn’t pose a problem with a good warmup before going out to the runway.

I’m ready to end the season on a high note and use this meet as momentum going into training for next year’s World Championships and beyond; first things first though…

In any case, we spent a good amount of time in the weight room last week including a couple of days where I got to go push my max up a bit in the hang clean and hang snatch. My coach and I are fully aware that I need approach/rhythm work perhaps more than anything at this point, but we always like getting some quality time in the weight room during the summer since such lifting opportunities are few and far between when I’m overseas or away at any meet for that matter. Besides, I got some good runway work and a speed session in between the days where I was pumping iron so it’s all good. After a couple of much needed rest days thanks to last week’s volume, it was back to work on the runway yesterday; still working on strength though as  I got to bring out an old friend: my weight vest.

I’ve been trying to sharpen my Windows Movie Maker skills just for the heck of it (and because it’s fun…when it’s not frustrating) and also so I could avoid posting a whole bunch of separate videos. Check out the masterpiece I came up with. The two weight room maxes are on separate days; two days apart to be exact and for those who were wondering.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I probably shouldn’t invest in a copy of Final Cut Pro yet though huh?

But, my strength continues to improve and at this point I’ve hit the lifting goals I set out for the season. At the same time, I actually think my speed has continued to improve through this point in the season as well. That said, the only thing left to do then is end the 2010 campaign with a bang and of course there’s no mystery as to what’s held me back on the runway thus far. Fortunately for me I’ve got at least one more opportunity and Brussels is as good a place as any to get it right; especially considering the fact that the 47,000 seat stadium is sold out!

In the mean and in between I’ll keep training hard although there will be a bit of a taper in the volume and intensity as the 27th approaches. I’ve also been really appreciative of the free time I’ve had in between training sessions since it means I get to let my brain rot a bit with computer games (StarCraft II), movies, television and now Madden since it came out yesterday. I’ve been knocking some things off of my leisure reading list too though so it’s not all bad. Still, I’m ready for football season to get here like everybody else.

Most of the rest of what I picked I simply absorbed by being a fly on the wall and observing and listening to other athletes, agents and meet organizer types. Some other veteran athletes were also nice enough to school me on some of the finer points of the international track and field game. I generally like to believe that I am in control of my own “achievement path” so to speak; of course within the confines of what He has in store for me. But I set goals and then set out to achieve them in the manner I see fit and typically without interference from other people who may or may not have the ability to make my path to success more difficult (never impossible of course). As a result, I am the ghost writer of my own story.

The world of professional track and field seems to be mutually exclusive with this sort of “take the reins” approach to things though. Don’t get me wrong, you always have control of your training and thus performances which no doubt gives athletes some leverage on the circuit and I love being able to have control of things in that regard since I’m always seeking to push my body and thus personal bests to new levels/distances. But even that leverage is somewhat illusory, save for the Usain Bolts out there. I say Usasin Bolt(s) because he’s not the only athlete who owns their event and is able to use their name and reputation as a weapon as a result.

I won’t make this post any longer than it has to be but a frequent criticism of team sports in the US is that the leagues and owners play with and treat players like property or pieces on a chess board. In spite of the fact that there are no true teams (although the big time sponsors do represent teams in a way) or leagues in track and field and athletes consider themselves to be self-employed, agents, meet directors and sponsors seem to know better. Sitting in the lobbies of the hotels that I stayed in, it struck me how many money-motivated athletes don’t realize that even our sport is rigged and dictated by the aforementioned triumvirate of agents, sponsors and meet directors.

Don’t get me wrong, being money-motivated is a necessity to some extent, so this isn’t a criticism of that. After all, training full time means that you have to have sponsors and supporters to allow you to do basic things like pay your rent/mortgage, eat decent enough meals to have energy to train, get to and from practice and clothe yourself and your family. But it also seems to blind you from the fact that those with the true decision-making power will attempt to serve their own interests 98 times out of 100, with the exception being those agents who work with and for their athletes rather than operating under the impression that the athletes on their roster are under their employ. To some extent the job of agents is to even the playing field to some extent so that athletes have someone on their side; that’s a large portion of the reason that athletes employ agents right? Of course, money-motivation causes plenty of other problems as well, including some for our sport as a whole as was pointed out in a recent View from the Finish Line post.

Perhaps this sort of set up of the sport is something that I should have anticipated but it’s tough to really see these things until you’re actually in and around the game for a bit. Can/will things be changed? Probably not; after all, it’s the same system that our major sports leagues operate under although they have player’s unions. It would be nice for things to be a bit more transparent since it seems like much of the business of athletics is played out in the shadows. Of course, that doesn’t sit well with me considering, as I mentioned, I’m the type of person who likes having a hand in where things are going in my career; and that goes just as much for my track career as it does for my legal career. In any case, I’m fully aware that my task as an athlete is to perform and perform better than my competitors. I have no problem with that considering my only goal in this game is to be the best in the world and to do that I’ve got to beat the best. So I’ll keep climbing slowly but surely and keep playing the game. I just figured I’d share my observations with the people.

I’m down here in Mayaguez, PR though and compete on Thursday. I can safely say that I am not a fan of bunk beds, particularly when I’m relegated to the top bunk! But hopefully I’ll be able to get up a CAC Games related post soon, especially since Haiti’s team is stronger than ever before and I’m feeling 110% ready to wreck shop when I get on that runway.

Tuesday,  June 29: Arrive in Paris, France at about 7am after an overnight flight. I was met in the airport by someone from the meet and then we were off to first pick up another athlete in the area and then we began our 2 hour drive to Reims where the meet was being held.  I competed the next day so I made it a point to get out to the track warmup and also see what I would be dealing with and to allow myself to visualize how the next day’s competition would go.

Wednesday, June 30: Competition Day. Like most meets overseas, I ended up competing in the evening. By the time competition was done and I got back to the hotel to shower and then find something to eat it was past the time when I would be able to get an adequate amount of sleep. Still, I was happy with relatively happy with my performance.

Thursday, July 1: My flight left from Paris a little before 11AM so I hopped on a train to the airport and began my trip to Stockholm. Luckily, I had a straight flight and made it to Sweden around 1:15PM. After a short trip to the airport, a quick lunch and brief nap it was time to get ready to hit the track again at the Sollentuna GP. As you may have noticed in my season up to this point and from last year’s schedule, competing in back to back weeks is not my favorite thing to do. Competing on back to back evenings though; and in two different countries no less??! Well let’s just say that I definitely won’t be doing it again…ever! I could only muster up a 16.04m jump for 4th place — not a good look.

Friday, July 2 – Sunday, July 4: I had a couple of days in Sollentuna/Stockholm to rest and recover before it was on to the next one. The way my body felt after the back to back fiasco from the two previous evenings, I really did not want to even leave my room let alone venture out into a foreign city. Fortunately, I changed my mind and took to the streets of Stockholm on Saturday for a self guided tour of the city. It only lasted a couple hours thanks to my weary legs along with the sun beating down on me but I think I saw nearly everything and it was a worthwhile excursion. Sunday morning at about 3:30 in the morning, I began my journey to the Greek island of Crete. About 10 or 11 hours later I had made it to the town of Rethymno and the beautiful beach front resort that would serve as the meet hotel. The first order of business was a pool workout to loosen up the legs after all the traveling.

Monday, July 5 – Wednesday, July 7: With a couple more days of rest, I felt as if I was able to get my legs back under me; for the most part. I spent the majority of my time reading “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” and watching episodes of Smallville (I’d heard enough about it to pique my interest so I finally gave it a try and have been hooked ever since) but got a good track workout in on Monday. Tuesday was another recovery day and I was able to take a dip in the Sea of Crete for that purpose since getting enough ice to make an ice bath would have been extremely difficult with no ice machines in the hotel. Wednesday came and went and after another lackluster 16.64m performance considering the time I had had to rest/recover it was time to get mentally prepared for then next competition.

Thursday, July 8 – Friday, July 9: Thursday brought another 3:30AM departure, which I had to make on only about an hour of sleep since after the meet (which finished up later than it should have) I had to wait a while for a massage, then grabbed some dinner and hustled to do some packing so I could take a quick nap. Thanks to an air traffic controller strike in Athens, those athletes leaving Greece on the 8th either had to wait for hours in Athens until the strike was over so that they could find a flight OR as in my case, they winded up leaving Greece extra early and sitting in Dusseldorf, Germany for nearly 6 hours. Fortunately I met an agent who was also traveling to the Gateshead meet and was nice enough to allow me to be his guest in the extra comfortable and luxurious Lufthansa airport lounge. That helped the time fly by.

By the time I made it to Newcastle I had missed the bus to the track to workout which was just fine with me considering I was in no mood or condition physically to do anything on the track after the 16 hours of travel it took make it from Greece to England. Yea, it took a bit longer than it should have considering I was only traveling within Europe! So I hopped on the bike in the fitness center and even managed to get a little treatment on Thursday night. Friday was a rest and recovery day, so I got a massage in the morning and took an ice bath before bed.

Saturday, July 10: This was the last day of my trip and my last competition on this Euro-Tour. I love the atmosphere and competition in the Diamond League meets and felt very fortunate to be competing in another one. My warmup felt really good as did my approaches. By the time I got to doing some warmup jumps though, I could tell that my legs had another idea. As expected from those warmup jumps I felt flat when it came to getting off the ground in between phases and I could only get out to 16.67m. After the meet I got to eat and catch up with the Texas contingent that was in town including my coach from while I was down there. Afterwards I packed, rather haphazardly and the next morning was my final crack of dawn trip to the airport on this journey.

— A lot of people just head over to Europe for the summer but I’m back home training and tweaking things in anticipation of the CAC Games in a couple weeks. I fully intend to go down there and secure the gold for Haiti so I’m doing what I need to do now so that I can walk the walk down in Puerto Rico. I’ll follow up this post once I get some more free time after unpacking, doing laundry and getting readjusted to EST to briefly fill you in on what I considered to be the highlights of my trip.

The Men's TJ Field During Introductions

So my Diamond League baptism came and went and it certainly wasn’t what I was looking for. Needless to say, I still genuinely enjoyed the experience, the competition and the fact that my parents, coach and friends were finally able to make it to a meet. The competition on the other hand was pretty disappointing. The track fan in me was also excited to watch the numerous world leading or near-world leading performances in other events. That said, once again I got to watch other jumpers, who I know aren’t necessarily faster or stronger than me, jump distances that I know I should be jumping. Still, as with every meet in the past (whether it goes well or not) I have to simply go back to the lab and work on what I need to work on.

In the end I finished 6th with a jump of 16.60m. The 6th place finish isn’t necessarily the worst thing that could have happened considering the fact that the 7th and 8th place jumpers only got 3 jumps as opposed to 6. Also 6th in a Diamond League competition is somewhat respectable…I just wish I had jumped farther. Oddly enough, you don’t even have to ask what it was that held me back because the easy answer is: my approach! What else is new?

Honestly, I do feel as if this weekend’s meet was  a turning point for me, although it seems that I say I’m going to nail things down after every meet. This time I realize that I am holding myself back mentally.  My mental shortcomings aren’t in the confidence department like many athletes however; and although the field on Saturday included 3 current and former World Champions and just as many Olympic medalists, it also has nothing to do with nerves. Believe it or not my stuttering problem also isn’t driven by a desire to avoid fouling! It seems that for me, my issue is that when it comes time to jump for real and I’m making my way down the runway, I get anxious at the sight of the board and concern myself with “jumping far,” “being comfortable at the board” and “making sure I can handle the first two phases.” Of course, if you’ve read any of my previous posts you would know that the only thing I want to be concerned with halfway through my approach is continuing to run.

While I think that my “problem” is one that can be worked on in practice by getting down an approach rhythm that I am comfortable with and that becomes 2nd nature; what I really need to do is simply compete. By getting on the runway more often in competition settings I’ll be able to get used to the feeling of turning off my instinct to worry about the board or my first phase during the approach and in turn I’ll get used to running allllll the way down the runway. For as long as I can remember I’ve always been concerned with actually jumping in the triple jump. Who would have thought that thinking about jumping and actually trying to jump was, for the most part, the wrong way to go about things?! Wherever I end up competing next, I am excited to try just running the whole way down the runway and not even thinking about my jump until I’m halfway through my hop phase (or even until I hit the sand, that would be ideal since most of the jump is instinct anyways). I’ve felt it before and it did feel pretty odd, not to mention I fouled all of those jumps…but fouling is the least of my concerns. At this point I think I’d rather see a bunch of Fs or Xs (for fouls) next to my name on a results sheet as opposed to sub-16.90m jumps.

As always though; on to the next one…

It’s been a few weeks since my last blog post but considering that I’ve got a bit more free time thanks to my graduating last month I’ll try and blog a bit more regularly. In any case, this weekend’s Adidas Grand Prix will only be my 3rd meet of the season but it’ll also be my Diamond League debut and I’m looking forward to it for that reason (among others of course). I also consider the meet to be a homecoming of sorts since it’s being hosted in NY which means that my family and friends there can actually come watch me compete which is a rarer occurrence than I’d like thanks to most of my meets being overseas or on the other side of the country. Needless to say, I’m anxious to get back on the runway and back in competition…a meet schedule this spread out is new to me; although I must admit that I’ve gotten some quality training sessions in as a result

Considering that I’ve gotten some really good jumping work in the last couple of weeks, including a short approach personal best of 16.41m from 12 strides (which I plan on pushing out to 16.65m+ in the coming weeks), this week and part of last week have been about speed and sprinting mechanics. We’ve also gone from 3 to 2 lifting sessions for the past couple weeks. Here’s the end of the power clean portion of my workout from Monday:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I’ve never “cleaned” that much before (301 lbs/136 kg) although my goal from the fall was to hang clean that weight so I’ll be checking that off of my list next. Before the rep above I did 5 reps @ 85%, 4 @ 90%, 3 @ 95% and 2 @ 100%. And yea I definitely need to learn how to get my elbows all the way through and catch the weight in a front squat position, but considering that I’m a triple jumper and not an olympic lifter I suppose the catch isn’t quite as important as the rest of the lift (for now). Anyways, as you can imagine, I’m feeling pretty explosive and at the meet I’ll just be focusing on my approach and speed through the board like I’ve been trying to do in just about every meet since indoors because the rest of the jump tends to take care of itself after that. Like I’ve said before, the whole running down the runway and through the board thing is much easier said than done. But I suppose I can’t expect it to come too easily since it IS the key to jumping far after all.

As far as the meet is concerned, I fly up to NY on Friday and compete Saturday evening at 5PM. I keep telling people that I would have been fine with taking the bus or train from DC straight into Midtown Manhattan as opposed to flying to Queens and then dealing with the hassle of getting from there to the hotel but hey, at least transportation is taken care of so it won’ t be as much of a hassle as usual. Besides, “beggars can’t be choosers.” If you’re in the States, the meet will be live on NBC from 4PM to 6PM and believe it or not I actually think they’ll show a good amount of triple jumping, if the coverage of other Diamond League meets to this point is any indication. There are also plenty of ways to watch the meet live on the internet if you’re outside of the U.S. In any case, regardless of how much triple jumping they do or don’t show, the meet will be worth catching if you’re a fan of track and field at all considering the start lists for all of the events have some pretty amazing fields.

Since they’re having the high jump this weekend I’m also looking to catch up with a friend of mine, fellow Longhorn jumper Andra Manson, whom I haven’t seen since World Outdoors in Berlin. Of course I can’t forget the other Longhorns I know that’ll be there on Saturday (Jacob Hernandez, Leo Manzano, Michelle Carter) or my Haitian teammate Mo Joseph who will be running the 800. Sad to say, Mo is a Gator and not a Longhorn AND I’ll be the only Crimson at the meet.

Presentation at Athlete's Reception

“Meet day” went mostly according to plan and thanks to a brief nap before hopping on the bus to the track, I was able to minimize (not eliminate) the yawning I did while warming up. That said, my warm up went pretty well considering I started off feeling a little tight; but I felt like I was ready to rock. The stadium setting and crowd were both amazing. It wasn’t quite sold out, but there were at least a good 25,000+ people thanks in no small part to Usain Bolt making his 100 meter debut. Of course the atmosphere helped us jumpers get into the competition and enjoy ourselves as well. But, about the jumping…

To sum it up: I didn’t jump as well as I should have. Don’t get me wrong, it was a very positive experience overall. I competed against a very high quality field and took 3rd. I also jumped farther than I had on all but two occasions last year (16.64m), but that point is hurt a bit by the fact that I came out the gates with that 16.92m performance in April. My speed down the runway and even at the board were also better than almost any time before. So I’m aware of the positives I should take away from this past meet. All that aside though, I am just particularly disappointed because not only did I not execute, but I made mistakes that I wouldn’t make 98 times out of 100. I can post the video here or on vimeo/youtube if enough people want me to, but for now let’s just say that it was beyond hideous for a near 55′ jump. I didn’t exactly stutter step at the board because I chopped my stride for about 12 of the 16 total strides of my approach! As a result I didn’t actually run off of the board and my hop was short and choppy in the same manner that I was running down the runway. To be honest, I’m not sure if the hop was even 18 feet which of course caused complications in the step phase and even jump phase which was the only saving grace of the jump. I couldn’t believe what I saw when I first watched the footage.

Myself and Some of the Other Guys in the Field

Fortunately enough, this should be a relatively “easy” fix! This was of course only my second time using this new approach in competition and I just have to remember to stay fluid on the runway going forward. I also have to get my hop trajectory and rhythm down which will only come with competitions and time; especially considering how well practices have been going. So on that note, I know that I’ll be competing for sure at the Diamond League meet in NY on June 12th. It would be nice to get one more meet in before then so I can get some more “practice” in a competition setting. We’ll see if that desire comes to fruition. In the mean time, my graduation is Sunday so I’m definitely looking forward to soaking that all in and aside from that I’ll be doing everything possible to make sure all systems are a go on June 12th.

For what is considered the second most popular sport worldwide (2nd to football…as in FIFA football, of course) as far as sheer numbers of participants and fans are concerned, athletics has suffered from relatively poor fan reception particularly outside of Europe.  So since 1998 the main staple of the IAAF’s World Athletics Tour/Series, the Golden League, was an attempt to generate interest and improve the sport’s following as fans kept up with certain athletes attempting to win a $1 million jackpot. It was eventually recognized that from a business standpoint,  the Golden League with all its meets in Europe, wasn’t doing enough to improve the sport’s appeal where it needed the most help. On top of that, fans began to scratch their heads as it seemed like the top athletes in each event would duck and dodge one another; which doesn’t seem to happen in tennis for example, which is the non-team sport people seem comfortable comparing athletics to. I feel that, unlike athletics, the fact that there is generally more money in tennis allows Rafael Nadal to lose to Roger Federer or vice versa, and not suffer as much monetarily as far as future appearance fees and winnings are concerned; but that is an entirely different issue. But let’s not forget the fact that the majority of athletes were unhappy with the “League” since it seemed to feature the saaaame “big money” events year in and year out. In comes the Diamond League – Year One: 2010.

Now, since I’m not a several or even single time gold medalist of a global event (yet?) or world record holder, the chance of me becoming a Diamond League Ambassador like Blanka Vlasic, Sanya Richard, Usain Bolt or Tyson Gay to name a few, is roughly…zero. It is easy to recognize that the concept of the Diamond League is several times sweeter if you’re an ambassador getting paid by the IAAF for your participation than if you’re an athlete such as myself just looking to get invitations to the meets. The 9 ambassadors even have it better than those other truly top tier-athletes a la LaShawn Merritt or Allyson Felix who will just be competing as part of the Diamond Race. Is it unfair? Perhaps; especially since as the series is organized now, a hammer thrower could never be an ambassador since the event is excluded from the Diamond League! However, for athletics as a whole, I think having our biggest athletes committed to a certain number of events AND committed to compete against one another in the case of the Men’s 100m is a step in the right direction. It is an easy way to generate interest in the sport and in those particular meets where these athletes will be competing. On the matter of compensation for non-ambassadors, as far as I know the total amount to be paid to athletes has been increased a great deal over the Golden League (which is admittedly due in part to the fact that there will be more events contested at each meet) and the points leader in each event at the end of the season will be presented with a diamond worth, who knows how much; but it’s still something right? As a whole it seems as if the possibility for compensation for each athlete is greater than it was in years prior.

Another positive of the Diamond League is the fact that it includes meets outside of Europe. If the goal of the sport is to generate as many fans as possible, then bringing quality competitions right to those fans you’re attempting to sway has got to be the most efficient way to accomplish that task. I fully recognize that the majority of people in the stands will be there to see Yelena Isinbayeva or Kenenisa Bekele attempt world records rather than the triple jump but once fans are in the stands they no doubt become viewers of everything going on in the stadium since, I would hope, people don’t plan on buying a ticket to watch a single event and leave afterwords! At some point, you’ve just got to get people to watch the sport, live or otherwise in order to allow them to fall in love with it. That’s assuming that improving television broadcasts is an ongoing goal, as it should be.

In addition to the fact that it is a shame that the hammer throw isn’t included, I really hope that those meets that existed outside of the Golden League and allowed athletes to get high level competition, and another means of compensation for their months and months of intense training efforts, don’t suffer. After all, the percentage of athletes who will be competing at Diamond League meets is no doubt still relatively low.