W80 Flo Meiler (left) and W80 Irene Obera (center) both added WRs from North Carolina nationals.
were updated Friday, but the insanity continues. M85
Earl Fee and M75
Guido MĂĽeller get recognition for 2014 marks. So do M45
Brad Barton and M55
Wolfgang Knabe. But M35s
Kim Collins (100) and
Chris Brown (400) do not. The historic M90 4Ă—100 team of Ross, Rogers, Englert and Goldy is listed, but not the M90 4Ă—400 and 4Ă—800 teams of Ross, Rogers, Englert and Boyle at the same meet. In other words,
Charles Boyle didn’t make it through the record-grinder. (Yet he had to submit proof of age at nationals, right?) On the women’s side, eight WRs from N.C. nationals made the cut (including four by W80
Irene Obera). And W70 Aussie
Lavinia Petrie gets credit for three WRs — 3000 in 13:07.79, 5000 in 21:34.08 and 10K in 44:43.27. And finally, justice is served! As a friend noted:
“Jeanne Daprano gets her W75 world mark in the mile of 6:58.44 that she ran way back in 2012. A look at the
American records, however, shows that this mark never even made “pending” status. Thus, Jeanne’s mark of 7:13.31 for W75 remains unchallenged as the American standard for women 75-79.” Don’t try to explain it. System
went off the rails many years ago.
8 Responses
Well, congratulations to Jeanne Daprano for being recognized as really running 6:58.44 in the mile a couple of years ago. As I recall, she did this at Western Regionals in Pasadena, even though she lives in Georgia. Quite a trip, and I’m glad it was finally rewarded.
As far as American records, is the current system suitable for today’s fast-paced, high-tech world? For example, 1 year and almost 1 month ago, Gwen Wentland appeared to set an American record in the high jump for W40 at a little meet we had in Kansas called USATF Masters Outdoor Nationals. Even today that record has only “pending” status.
If all goes well, Gwen’s record will be accepted at the Anaheim Hilton in December at the annual meeting of the USATF. If not, too bad. Maybe Jeanne Daprano’s world record of 6:58.44 will be accepted there as an American record; I do not know. But couldn’t the process move a little more quickly?
Always bringing up good points, Peter!
4 x 800 relay would not show as a World Record because they do not keep official World records in that event. Most of the 4 x 800 relays are run in the US. They list them as World bests, not World records.
Peter, when a record is missed in a given year it has to wait until the next convention to be ratified because all records submissions are voted on at the convention. Unless the structure is changed for future years this will always be the case.
Mark:
On post no. 3, I’m a little confused. We had various world records set in the 4 x 800 in Winston-Salem, and I’m sure the athletes all thought they were going for a world record, not a “world best.”
I can’t find anything on the USATF website to indicate that the 4 x 800 world records are not real records. Among the men, 4 x 800 records are held by the United States, Australia, Holland, and Germany. Among the women, such records are held by the US, Australia, and Germany.
One of the records shown as a world mark involves four women you know: Grace Padilla, Lisa Ryan, Jennifer Burke, and Sonja Friend-Uhl (9:18.33 at Olathe for 40-49). I could have sworn that this was presented as a true world record.
Regarding post no. 4, I know we have to wait until convention, but why is that necessary? To take just one example:
Gwen Wentland high jumped an American record for W40 last year at Olathe. She presented good proof-of-age verification to get into the meet, then broke the record.
In this day and age of identity theft, Gwen’s date of birth is actually in too many places. I just confirmed her date of birth (it was presented on the USATF website); she’s 42, and anyone interested in track and field can readily confirm that. She was twice the US open indoor champion, competed in three Olympic trials, etc. She’s a public figure.
Gwen came out of retirement to compete at Olathe nationals, broke the American record, and 13 months later she does not have the record. I can’t see the benefit of waiting until December to give her the record, as nothing will change in the interim.
The issue was date of birth, and, as noted, she’s 42. What else is there to know?
Maybe the 4 x 800 relay does have World Record status now. I know a few years ago they were only posted as World bests-because most of the rest of the world does not contest that event. As far as why wait until convention to pick up missed records, well that’s because that’s the way the system is currently structured. A vote is required by the body of voters at the convention to ratify records. If you want that changed it would need to be voted on at the convention.
European records can be ratified at any date, the committee decides, not a convention. Our national records the same. Why wait?
Thank you, Terry (no. 2) and Weia (no. 7). I keep a computer file named “Records not ratified” and will now be adding some to my list.
For example, although Irene Obera went “4 for 4” (broke 4 world records at Winston-Salem, and all 4 are now the OFFICIAL world marks for W80), both the 50-59 and 60-69 4 x 800 world records for women set at Winston-Salem were not accepted.
I will be watching these marks and others over the next several years, as I find that some records are eventually accepted after a very long period of nonacceptance. Others never make it.
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