2 Olympic Trials?!?!
Directly from the US speedskating fall board meeting, here is a mildly important piece of breaking news-
There will be 2 Olympic trials to represent the USA at Vancouver. The first, and most important one, will likely be in Milwaukee in late October 2009, and the second in late December 2009.
Here is the nutshell explanation as to why-
In the past, a country knew how many “slots” it would have at the Olympics from performances the previous year. Therefore during an Olympic year, the world cup seemed not as important, and often skaters & whole teams would skip parts of it, or train through it, building for the games.
The ISU did not like this. So for the Vancouver games, they decided that each country will earn their start spots for the Olympics through performances in the 5 world cup events immediately before Vancouver.
This makes the world cup leading up to the Olympics dreadfully important.
But this launches the following problem; If US speedskating picked our Olympic team the way it has always been done, it’s very likely that a world cup team, picked in October, will undertake a grueling traveling & competition schedule (where they will try and put in peak performances), earning spots for the USA.
Then they will come back in December, and with no time for rest & regeneration, at trials will face athletes who have been training and peaking for just one race. These athletes could take spots away from the people who directly earned them..
What then would the motivation be, for athletes to perform in the world cup? When we desperately need them to perform to earn start positions in the games?
Also, the sports physiologists who work for US speedskating said that so many weeks of intense competition in a row would lead to emotionally and physically fried athletes, just a few weeks before the start of the games.
The solution that was voted in, during the US speedskating fall board meeting, is that there will be 2 Olympic trials.
At the first one in October, the world cup team will be picked. For example, in the men’s 500m, 5 skaters will earn world cup starts. Through their performances, they could earn the USA up to 4, 500m starting spots in the Olympics.
What US speedskating has decided, is all but one of these spots will be given to the skaters who earned them at the world cups. The last spot will be awarded at the “second Olympic trials” in December, the traditional US speedskating national champs.
This is the same for all the Olympic distances, all spots but one will go to the world cup team picked in October.
Having 2 trials also gives everyone else something to skate for, so the season is not “over” in October, and also gives skaters who might make small mistakes in October, or skater who never skate well that early in the season, a way to come back & still make the team.
However, there is the “Needham clause” added to the selection process. (Chris, if you have a better name for it, please dub it otherwise). Basically it states, that if the person who earned that final spot consistently places very highly in world cup racing, and does not finish worse than 6th, (or 4th in long distance races) at US trials, then they get that spot anyway, and there is no spot available at the 2nd Olympic trials.
There is some moral logic in that, but I think the rule is written in a way that left many quite confused.
So it is possible that the 2nd Olympic trials will be meaningless, depending on how individual performances at the world cup shake out.
Or it could be incredibly exciting, nail biting racing. I am hoping for option 2.
Other notes worth mentioning is that for the October trials, you can skate your qualification time in the previous season.
This is an excellent addition to the rules, and has profound implications for those outside the national team womb who are trying to qualify for the once in a lifetime experience of skating Olympic trials.
It means that this year is really important for a lot of people, as you can earn your spot at trials by skating qualifying times this year!
For the December Olympic trials race #2, you do need to skate the time in that season. But the way it’s shaping up, the October race is vastly more important.
Also worth noting, the times to qualify have gotten faster, noticeably faster for the 1500m. Here they are-
But again, to skate these times, to qualify for Olympic trials, it really means something. This is not just a weekend time trial, it’s vastly more intense, nerve-wracking, and amazing.
For a lucky few, it’s a stepping-stone to other things, but for the majority of us who race this event, it’s a singular moment that will echo in our hearts for as long as we live.
It’s crazy that such long & dry meetings can product such important changes. This is my old skating buddy/current US speedskating employee, Chris Weaver at the podium, flanked by board president Brad Goskowicz, Executive Director Bob Crowley, and board member Beth Bedford.
There were other important things discussed at the meeting including something that might have a huge impact on what I do here. The banning of video cameras (possibly including mine) from all events that US speedskating webcasts is one of them. They also are banning picture taking/videos at practice.
I think it’s great that they are webcasting events! But where is an archive of past events?
They called this policy “culling the herd to make it stronger”. I did make a few comments on this policy at the meeting, and I hope something will be worked out, not just for what I do here, but for parents who want to video or take pictures of their kid racing.
But I will say this: in the 21st century; trying to control & limit media is a terrible idea for a small sport trying to grow. The way to make the “Digital Herd” stronger to benefit speedskating is to HELP IT GROW BIGGER.
Yes, it’s a sometimes messy & disorganized herd, there will be dissenting voices in the herd too, that’s called democracy, a good thing on multiple levels. Overall speedskating will THRIVE if access is as open as possible.
I am optimistic that working with the good people I have come to know on staff at US Speedskating, some kind of compromise can be reached.
Ugh… too much thinking…
However there is a perfect antidote for endless meetings- A long mountain bike ride, & seeing the sunset from the trails at the ridgeline of the Wasatch, overlooking downtown Salt Lake where I started.
Nothing can clear the mind like a long, painful climb, and nothing can focus it like dancing on ragged edge of destruction & “more fun” during the fast descent off the mountain.
I could almost feel my soul exhaling the crust of too many hours in a meeting room chair, and right at the edges of my imagination, I can almost feel the approach of Olympic trials in October, 2009.
Only 13 months from now—
Filed under: from home
It just amazes me that USS would actually make a ban on video and photographing practices or anytime in the oval. I understand their motive in that, which is to keep the US’s training secrets a secret, but they also have to realize that this oval was and is not meant for just the elite national team. The whole idea of the oval after the games (one thing that Salt Lake had to prove to the IOC) is that everything built from the time of the Olympics was made to be enjoyed by the community after the games end.
In writing this, I debated hard on if I should include this final bit, but digital rights are a larger issue that is being played out in numerous ways right now, including the courts. So this must be viewed in a larger context.
1. The “training secrets” thing was certainly something that was talked about, but that is easy to fix, honestly I think the bigger issues were:
2. The licensing agreement they had to sign to make the webcasting possible (media companies fight tooth & nail to protect their rights).
3. Sometimes fans take embarrassing photos, or sponsors get mad when they see photos of National team skaters training in skinsuits without the right logos on it.
4. Youtube is a very controversial company that has become amazingly powerful in a short time. Organizations, companies, and laws are playing catch-up with a reality that threatens to leave them behind.
5. This is why I am publicly urging US Speedskating to embrace this reality to their advantage, instead of fighting it. There are people on the board who do understand this.
6. One comment I made at the meeting was that both Democratic & Republican national conventions had whole areas devoted to Bloggers & other new media journalists. They even gave open access to ones critical to their own political spin. There is a good reason to look closely at that decision.
Looks like USS is missing the boat on the wave of the future. I don’t see what benefits it will have to them. Yes ban them at meets where you have to but whatever. They did the webcast last year and there were some cameras there? It was on a pay site on the web. How a video on youtube will effect that I don’t get but?? I was thinking that you Andrew are the living breathing connection for what is going on in US Speedskating world for most who do not have time to get to the rink or the meetings.
It’s sad that you didn’t get the USS webjob. Instead they gave it to somebody or some company or do they even have someone doing that? Most of the links on their website say “Coming Soon” and there has been one update since 3/18/08. It’s sad that the USS site is so static and really pathetic. I believe you have helped bring the sport to more masses and this ban just seems like they will be shooting themselves in the foot with this. IMHO.
The Fittest skaters will be able to do the “Workload” of 2 Trials as well as World Cup, and their coaches will build this into their Training Plan.
You know if you have beed doing your training homework, you will have the best shot…….Talent ALONE is not enough, and should not be enough.
This system IMO will help send the STRONGEST Team to the Games.
Get Super Fit.
I think I still have to work the 2 Olympic Trials into my head cause although I am fascinated by the change, it’s weird to me.
Anyway, I think USS needs to get on the media bandwagon and embrace all that the internet offers (the benefits anyway) even though I am unsurprised by their stance. I think they’d be able to get some control on the negative exposure, but I think most of the exposure in general could do wonders. I hardly know anyone in the “Real World” that know anything about speedskating - which isn’t unusual, I guess - but it is a shame.
I think you are doing an amazing job, Andrew! It’s sites like these that keep fans like me addicted. Thank you! ;]
GO TEAM USA! :]
Andrew, I’m gonna talk to Jim C about making an “eyeball cam” for you. …how cool would that be?
Hey Andrew,
I don’t believe that I can take responsibility for the “Needham Clause”. The selection process for the games was fine tuned by a very smart and well respected team, comprised of the LT Committee and High Performance staff, with input from everyone who lasted to the end of the LT meeting.
I am really joking about the name… there are many athletes who that affects, not just you… I am kidding you because you are strong enough & fast enough to grin along with me….
I was there for the last hour of the LT meeting, wow… skating a 10k would have been less exausting that that whole thing…
If they make some special rule about new media outlets, then you are happily encouraged to call it the “love clause”.
Holding the rights and broadcasting an entire event are very different things compared with documenting and reporting an event in a way that no one else (including USS) is capable of. The two can coexist and would no doubt compliment each other.
Trying to control what people film implies that USS has something to hide, when really what they have is the greatest sport in the greatest country in the world.
Let the cameras roll! It’s 2008. Or inform people that they can’t and they’ll do it anyway.
code orange?
this is very interesting andrew. Not even a week ago i read an interview with Sven Kramer - season is starting ooh yeah - & he is looking forward and planning for Vancouver, too. Here are his goals: he wants to become the best skater ever and feels very sorry that he cannot score more gold medals than Eric Heiden in one Olympic go. But 4 x gold will do too. 10 and 5 K, and 1500 m - a world record on this last distance, that’s what he will get too. Teampursuit will be the 4th couple ounces of gold. I guess Hedrick and Davis have heard about Sven’s wild (?) targets. They know what to do. And hopefully we will see the two of them in one pursuit team.
Of course the american team wants to keep its secrets secret. The dutch teams have always being doing this - for summertraining as well as for their ice-stuff. Actually every serious professional sport has its athletes train behind closed doors. The dutch skating teams control their public image very effective - and what again is the policy of our canadian superskaters? Our sports-channel is given some nice looking bits and pieces and you can’t really figure out what exactly they are doing in springtime, summertime on a day to day, or week to week base… The ice training is not at all open for plain recreational skaters. Excuse: too many people, poor ice quality. True of course, but also a perfect excuse to lock unwanted eyes out. The tvm website is a perfect example of professional image- and impressions management: show the kitchendoor and the nice looks & suits but never the furnace or thermostat values.
I guess it would make more sense in your situation to have the american team train behind closed doors and have them control filming etc. as they want too.
Besides these separate trainingsessions there will be plenty chances for fun, fan and family clips, i’d say. If the USS wants to make skating more known or even popular they need the media and plenty of clips anyway.
Of course you know that there are thousands of dutch skatefans wanting the latest news of american skating team - especially some Hedrick and some Davis. (you are doing a good job not telling anything at all about them…)
Ennnywayz: how is your skating lately and will you go for Olympic Trials…
And above all Andrew: please give us your skate-clips. (just do it - don’t sweat on it if i may say so)
go andrew go
enjoy
Well Andrew! You sure know how to get everyone’s attention in the off season! LOL
Not only are the comments a-buzz here after your most recent entry, but there are 4 pages of comments (unhappy ones!) within ONE day over at GotApolo on the state of ‘contraband’ pics and videos!
….we the fans are NOT amused….
And what on earth would we do without your generosity of videos? Your “yeah, I was there!” first hand accounts?
(…and I know EXACTLY where we’d be! - S. O. L. )
From ‘my’ perspective, it is good that the ISU makes the world cups more important. The world cups during Olympic years were always a bit less interesting.
Now every country has do do their best, and have to face the ‘problem’ of keeping sharp, just as we in Holland are used to: a main critique here always was that Dutch skaters had to qualify very often (because of the fierce competition here) during the whole season, while other countries with less skaters could take it easy and completely focus on the Olympics.
The whole media thing is indeed very bad for the publicity of the sports. I can understand that during real competition USS want to keep their webcast exlusive (they are paying for it?) It’s the same for the NOS (national broadcasting in Holland): they pay (a lot) for the television rights , and they always demand that webcams during a world cup (or other big ISU races they record) are turned off.
But demanding that nobody can film with their own equipment for his own collection or youtube, that they don’t do (ok: yet… but for how long?)
And as for keeping things ’secret’: last year, a Local Position Measurement system was tested, developed by the national technical organisation with the KNSB (the Dutch USS) and who were there to benefit from the system: Chad Hedrick and Enrico Fabris (which are Sven Kramer’s biggest opponents). This made Sven very angry (which is understandable). But for the whole sport, (and speedskating IS a small sport in the world) it is better…
Argh, how will I survive without your skate clips? They are exhiliarating to watch and instructional to boot. I’d go for the JDC super secret “eye cam”- c’mon Jim, engineer us up something!
as scary talented as Jim is, we don’t need his level of optics wizardry…
I have looked hard into getting a some kind of hands-free device I could skate fast with, and I know exactly what kind of equipment would give the best results.
You actually get a fairly cheap, small camcorder with a “line in” and then get a very expensive wide angle lens, on a cord. They are sometimes called “lipstick cams” due to their size & shape. They come in a lot of different quality levels, for skating you would need the best..
Camera goes in a butt pack, the lens is taped to your helmet. whole thing would cost about $500-$600.. You could really fly wearing one..
It would be STUNNING footage, of a kind I have never seen.
But frankly, I have never had that kind of money to spend.. the bandwidth of this site alone costs me $400-500 a year… serving up this image rich content & quicktime quality stuff to a half-million page views a year ain’t cheap..
Unreal the governing body is upset about a few YouTube videos this sport needs all the help it can get.
you would think with the banking system on its way down the toilet and the costs of keeping ovals up and running with more expensive energy costs growing they would be a little more willing to grow the sport
well I guess you just don’t miss anything till its gone ???
the x games are going to be the future of sport I hope speedskating will find its way in this new world..
No one is going to discount the value of You Tube and viral videos. What you need to understand is that USS has sold the rights to broadcast USS events, this is a good thing. If we allow people to video World Cups and US Championships and they put it online this will put USS in a very bad spot, all because they are trying to get us more exposure and a bigger audience. The rules that are in place are no different from any other sport that you see on TV, try taking a video camera into any other sporting event and a security guard will approach you and ask you to turn it off, that’s if you can even get in the door with it. This includes the X-Games which is owned by the copyright nazi’s over at Disney (I’ll probably get in trouble for using their name here). This will give us better opportunities to get our events on TV, along with live webcasts. Would you rather watch a full competition on TVor the web, that lots of people will see, or would you prefer to search out obscure skating clips on YouTube that the general population will never seek out.
Now as this relates to the wonderful blog that I read and enjoy daily. As I read it you can video all the practice you want, just don’t video the national team (without permission). I think you should approach USS and petition for a media credential, I’ll support you(whatever that is worth). You are the only member of the media that reports on us. I along with many other athletes love being mentioned on this blog. Remember the post from a while ago where two athletes tell you how much they love your blog and want a mention http://andrewlove.org/blog/?p=325#comments the same goes for most of us.
Just the way I see it, I can imagine I will get torn apart for this comment.
So I wonder how the US would feel if I was a volunteer at their World Cup team selections and made a post like this– http://timdemerjian.blogspot.com/
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hwMSLTe6Q8ELjGBGDScBM0OmNqAw
http://www.metronews.ca/vancouver/local/article/113492
http://www.bclocalnews.com/sports/28556604.html
Sorry for hijacking your post, but the masses would appreciate the news.
That is a good question, I can’t imagine they will have a problem with still photos. The issue involves broadcast rights, not still photos. I could be wrong though, wouldn’t be the first time.
That is exciting news you posted!!!
Chris,
D@mn straight we fans would rather watch a ST competition on a BEAUTIFUL, HI DEF, WIDESCREEN TV! (as opposed to blurry, underexposed, jumpy videos on the internet ! And I’m talking MINE Andrew, not YOURS! LOL) And to be perfectly honest, I really would prefer NOT to take videos, (I gave up on the pictures…) I would much prefer to just be sitting there enjoying the event, cheering myself hoarse….
So why do I do it? Because unlike USS, I KNOW there is a whole legion of ‘Starved - For - Anything - At - All- ST - fans’, desperate for even the blurriest of pictures. - All hanging out on the fansites waiting with baited breath for something, ANYTHING at all to be posted on their particular little addiction.
The problem is the events never ARE broadcast! USS (or ISU) sells the rights to the events, and then the peeps who bought them just hold ‘em hostage. The only tidbits of Short Track we ever SEE are usually fan based, home grown or YouTube. Without them, USS leaves fans with ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Zip, Zero, Nada!
And therein lies the rub for fans. USS doesn’t really seem to care. Fans just don’t matter, and more often than not , treated like an unwelcome nuisance by all concerned,- whether it’s the posting of blurry videos and pics on a fansite, or you actually show up for the events.
The ONE event that WAS broadcast , was on NBC Universal, and wouldn’t ya know- it’s not availabe in my area. - Shut out AGAIN! (and if you’re telling me I have to move back to LA before I can ever watch a ST competition other than every 4 years during the Olympics - well, let’s just say- “it won’t be happenin’.)
It was conjectured by one individual, that USS is taking an all or nothing stance. Either all the fans show up for the events, or fuhgedaboudit. Apparently we are all to quit our jobs and turn into the sports equivalent of Greatful Dead ‘groupies’, following the team around the planet from competition to competition… (Complete with begging for ’spare change’ outside the venues, no doubt. We no longer have jobs -remember? Although let’s face it, we’re still going to have a HELL of a time getting a phsychedelic 1968 VW bus with bald tires all the way to China…) :- /
And speaking of China, let’s not forget what we fans had to go through to actually ’see’ any of the events for which Team USA won the World Team title. ISU has the rights to these, and everyone on the face of the planet was allowed to watch them, except for -
…wait for it….
…anyone living on the North American continent.
If it wasn’t for us Yanks and Canooks BEGGING and PLEADING our British fan brethren for a download, we NEVER would have seen them.
I truly DO understand the concept of broadcast rights, but USS is putting the cart before the horse in this instance. While they may get the ’short term’ gain of money in their coffers for selling the rights, the long term fallout only hurts the sport. By being hell bent on destroying what few avenues of media a fan of this already underexposed sport has, and therefor, the fan base itself, there will never be anyone to broadcast an event TO! The entities who bought the rights will NEVER have a reason to bother to broadcast them, as there won’t be any fans left to WATCH them!
I say let the peeps who have bought the broadcast rights and are squeeling about this, actually follow through and start BROADCASTING them before they ban the fan videos! 10 bucks says our ‘contraband’ media disappears faster than you can say “I’ve got something MUCH BETTER to watch!”
This year is really going to tell the tale. With fan based media banned, and I’ll bet my bottom dollar, the ‘Official’ media outlets will continue to refuse to air anything, I think we fans are just going to finally ‘throw in the towel’ and start following- and being fans of - figure skating instead.
(Note- I can actually WATCH one of these competitions! - on ANY given weekend…on that BEAUTIFUL, HI DEF, WIDESCREEN, TV!…)
…Ok, off of soap box now…Rant Over…
(for now! *grins evil-y*)
(MTNME) thats what Im talking about put out or get out that the idea..
you ask most young people what they think of speedskating . (its not that great of a response most people dont want to dress in a spandex body suit.
you ask young people about snowboarding you get a
better responce.
this will be more important in 20 years when those same young people now grown are cutting the checks for team and individual sponsorship..
snowboarding will be king!!
It’s a mistake in any niche sport to cut off crowd-sourced media. It isn’t an issue of YouTube OR broadcast, it can be both.
I’ve been involved with a few niche outdoor activities, and we’ve always been starved for content for one reason or another. Rock climbing, trialsin, track racing, it’s hard to get the fix without the crowd, and it’s no different for speedskating.
More importantly than just feeding the herd is the marketing collateral going to waste without the input of the crowd. A slick broadcast presentation is nice to look at, but lacks the voice of Authenticity that Andrew & others give us. With flickr, youtube, twitter, vimeo for hi-def, facebook, etc, the sport can talk straight to the fans rather than getting an official angle on it.
Yes, sponsors and advertisers lose control, but in exchange they get many more eyeballs on the official coverage.
I do social media marketing for a living, and the reality of the situation is that the crowd will get their content fix somehow. If you sanction that fix, support it, nurture it, and take part in it, everyone wins.
The days of control are over. RIAA learned this the hard way, but for some reason we seemed doomed to repeat that fight again and again.