by Larry EderSure, I am posting it six days after the IAAF amended the standards. I think that this was a very good thing, opening up the events to have robust fields in all Olympic athletic events. The key is, one must make the top three in the US, or one can not play in Rio.
The US quickly responded (more on that later today) with their amendments. ” The US follows the IAAF in such situations.” noted one key observer of USATF responses. Not so for British athletics, which amended some track events and did not lower their standards for the 50k, 20k, marathon, I believe.
I am all about getting the young athletes a chance to rub elbows with the stars of today. That is how we build our future. Nice job, IAAF.
AMENDMENTS TO ENTRY STANDARDS FOR RIO 2016 OLYMPIC GAMES |
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| © Getty Images |
At the IAAF Council Meeting on 26 November, changes to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games entry standards in 17 events were approved. The International Olympic Committee have since been notified. In April 2015, the IAAF Council approved the entry standards but allowed for a review following the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015 where a similar system of qualification and similar standards were used. Resulting from the experience of these championships, the Technical Delegates proposed some amendments to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games entry standards, which have been accepted by all parties. The aim is to have more athletes achieving the standard and therefore, to get closer to the target number of participants. Details of the qualification system (rio-2016-olympics-qualification-system.pdf) and revised standards can be found here. |
