Douglas G. Logan .Chief Executive Officer of USA Trac

[Skeng DX]

Many factors tied into this. Better nutrition, health and coaching certainly being exploited in the region. Competition for fast athletes from other sports in US also a factor (two fastest kids at University of Florida are football recruits). The money in the sport of track is still enough to attract Caribbean kids but not enough to compete with football, for example, for US kids.

Statistics reflect current crop Jamaican male sprinters and US female sprinters hitting their prime while Jamaican women and US men have to “reload”.

--> http://speedendurance.com/2012/08/15...on-project-30/

[Stonigut]

Very nice thanks. Was interesting that he commented on the 100 meters hurdles issue. I was very surprised at the intensity of emotion expressed by the two American medalists, very poor behavior.

The comment on the amount of money available was a rather weak argument, I suspect the level of self motivation necessary for track as well as the Lower probability of success are the main reasons why football might attract more athletes than track in the USA.

[Assasin]

weak argument. So many big cities in the US and not even local track meets. Rarely you see a track meet on TV, only sports fans like us can find it.

My 5 year old son said to me "Daddy I want to go and live in London". I said why and he said because I want go and be part of the OLympics". He enjoyed watching it so much. Now there is only amateur meets I can find in GA for him to go and maybe won't see another in years. It is not so much about the money, there are other factors.

[Skeng DX]

eg...Calvin Johnson

sign a seven-year extension worth nearly $130 million

10.23 second 100-meter sprint at 18 years old

Height: 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Weight: 236 lb (107 kg)

[Skeng DX]

jeff demps

Track reality hit Jeff. Bests deal he could pull from shoe company was just shy of 6 figures a year with lots of bonus money for making teams as an individual.

Spoke with NFL agent this afternoon who said Demps will get more in his signing bonus alone than he would ever get in a full track career and more than most any track athlete will ever get this side of Bolt.

While I love seeing talented guys try their hand in track who can blame him for this. Its the choice I predicted months back and by handling this way he got chance to run Olympics and get a medal and then by making sure he didn't get drafted with his all-in announcement for track he comes into league as a free agent and negotiated with over a half dozen teams and thus got best deal. Teams always looking for a speedster, especially one with experience on a major college team.

[Stonigut]

How much are these guys getting with each diamond league appearance, not to mention what they get when they win. I would imagine a relatively mid level guy like churandy Martina is making a minimum 250g per year. Am I way off?

[Don1]

The argument about competing sports causing a US "sprint drain" is generally valid...but

1. It is irrelevant to women's sprinting as there is no women's sport draining speedsters significantly

2. As far as this particular cohort of Jamaican men is concerned...there is nothing the US could do to stop Bolt & Blake even if every US prospect stuck to sprinting

Bolt and to a lesser extent Blake are that good

[Don1]

By today's standards 10.23 at 18 is good ... not great

[Skeng DX]

jeff demps equaled the world junior record at that age [ 10.01 seconds]


i was just giving an example

[Skeng DX]

what was asafas pb at 18?

[Don1]

Irrelevant

[Skeng DX]

[Irrelevant] lol

you remember Darrel brown from tt?

some people are just late bloomers

[Gamma]

what is "the 100m hurdle issue"?

[Gamma]

does coaching matter?

[Bricktop]

How much does Bolt make a year?