Irene and Anselm could meet again at IAAF Gala in Monaco.
USATF leadership has chosen world-record setters and Lyon champions
Irene Obera and
Anselm LeBourne as nominees for the year’s top award — IAAF Best Masters, I’ve learned. But it’s up to WMA regional brass, led by
Sandy Pashkin, on whether the Americans are in the final hunt. (Canadians, Mexicans and Central Americans are in the region, too.) But it’s hard to top Irene and Anselm in the
North-Central American-Caribbean region — one of
six worldwide. “Only athletes who competed at worlds, had achieved a gold medal, had broken a world record or hold the current world record, [have] never had a doping conviction and are a model of good sportsmanship” are eligible under WMA rules,
Mary Trotto says.So that means sub-3:55 masters miler
Bernard Lagat has no chance. WMA leaders (read: Australia’s
Stan Perkins) will make the final decision on who gets tickets to the IAAF Gala in November. Best of luck to Irene and Anselm.
5 Responses
I have learned that Anselm was NOT chosen as NCCWMA regional nominee. I’m looking to confirm these picks:
Women
Irene Obera, USA
Date of Birth 07, 12, 1933
sighted for 80m hurdles, 200m, indoor Pentathlon
Man
Jose Luis Lopez Camarena, Mexico
Date of Birth
24, 09, 1949
Sighted for 10k RW, 20k RW, 5000m RW
Of course, “sighted” should be “cited.” But I’m very angry at what appears to be political correctness — choosing a Mexican athlete for the sake of diversity in nominees.
Anselm had a FAR better year.
I’ll share more details as I learn them.
I would like to call for some transparency in the selection process for U.S. Athlete of the YEAR .With all due respect to Irene Obera and her many accomplishments , I have to wonder how Kathy Bergen was ignored in this process .Kathy set six world records and one American record this year and certainly fulfills all the requirements Mary Trotto lists . Oddly enough with all she accomplished this year , I don’t believe she ever won athlete of the week .I would be very interested in the specifics of how this process is completed . Obviously I am not a neutral party but I believe my question is a fair one .
I think Irene is deserving of the honor of being nominated. That being said – I also agree that transparency is needed in the process of nomination as well as how other regional nominees are selected. Who is doing the selection? Who makes the final determination of the Best Masters Athletes of the year. Does the President of WMA make the selection?
As for transparency in the selection of the USATF Athlete of the Week – there is NO transparency as far as I can tell. Is it a “medal count”? Is it a world record? Is it an American record? Or is it that all those who had significant achievements in a week (a record, a gold medal, a bunch of medals, first place in a very competitive race, etc) are names are put in a pot and someone draws out a name? Just curious now that the subject has been raised.
In support of Mary’s comment about the USATF Athlete of the Week…very strange that the USATF named NO Athlete of the Week after Lyon when there was such a wealth of candidates. Not just no Master named…NOBODY named as Athlete of the Week. Zero. Zip.
So many great performances at Lyon, but I guess everyone’s attention was already focused on Beijing, so Lyon was forgotten by the USATF the minute it was over.
It is indeed unfortunate that the AOY selection process requires the great efforts of so many talented athletes to go unrecognized. Irene would be the first to acknowledge the outstanding year that Kathy had in 2015, and she was so grateful for the opportunity to compete with Kathy in Pasadena over the 200 meters.
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