LASHAWN MERRITT HANDILY DEFEATS
OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST JEREMY WARINER
IN THE 400-METER DASH
ELEPHANTS ON THE TRACK
At the Trials, large questions go unanswered
E
lephants were freely roaming
Hayward Field during the Olympic
Trials circus, eating the grass,
knocking over hurdles, drinking
from the steeplechase water trap
and generally making the athletes’ lives a
living hell. The thing was: Nobody noticed
these huge, lingering beasts, which was
probably a good thing. Why focus on
elephants when there are so many top-notch
Americans running around doing amazing
things? The athletes deserved recognition for
their feats, and were rightly lauded.
But every now and then a circus
elephant turns on its trainer and tramples
him, storming out of the tent on a rampage
before the police shoot it dead. The Beijing
Olympics in August could turn out to be
ESSAY BY CHUCK ADAMS • PHOTOS BY TODD COOPER
one of those elephants. If it did, it would
be an elephant run amok in a country gone
wild on massively unsustainable growth,
environmental devastation and human rights
violations; a country that’s the manufacturer
of assault rifl es and athletic shoes to the
world. It would embody everything that
makes 2008 a banner year for rage and
redemption. And the veil of the supposedly
apolitical Olympics would be stripped away.
Inside and out of Hayward Field, fans
spoke of clobbering Team China in Beijing.
So I wonder if the 2008 Olympics will be
set up as a miniature Cold War, only the
prize of victory will not be in the triumph
of democracy but in determining the status
of the superpowers — though when it
comes to deciding which side the athletes
are fi ghting for, even in Beijing the line
will be blurred.
When LaShawn Merritt beat Jeremy
Wariner in the 400-meter dash at the Trials,
the elephant was Nike claiming victory over
adidas (check their singlets, pictured above).
Once they graduate from the collegiate level,
America’s best athletes no longer represent
the U.S. — they represent their sponsor. Since
corporations are borderless, this is true in other
countries as well. If China’s Liu Xiang lines up
against the U.S.’s David Oliver in the men’s
110-meter hurdles fi nal, it will be a Nike vs.
Nike coup d’état. Former UO student Galen
Rupp skipped school to spend a year training
for the Olympic Trials at Nike’s Beaverton
campus using state-of-the-art technology. But
somehow the rules still allowed him to wear
his Oregon singlet, and could the green and
yellow not be considered a performance-
enhancing drug at these Trials?
After Tyson Gay’s record-setting sprint,
the elephant was suspicions of banned
substances. (Olympians are now guilty until
proven innocent by their excrement, and Gay
has been clean as a whistle thus far.) Much
has been said of the spectators’ mighty roar
from inside Hayward, but just as much can
be said about their silence and, by extension,
the media’s complacency. As Americans,
we are usually outspoken folk, but while
attending this internationally televised event,
somehow we felt obligated to exercise our
right to remain silent. But there is madness
in this world that cannot simply be shushed
for the start of the men’s 100-meter dash. If
there is a Eugene legacy at the 2008 Olympic
Trials, it may be: The elephant was in our
room and we went hiking.
While covering the Trials for EW, I kept
asking myself these large, loaded questions.
Do I praise the victors or question their
training methods? Is it OK to ask Tyson Gay
whether he’s noble enough to succeed at the
Olympics without the aid of performance-
enhancing drugs? (Is it even Gay’s decision?)
Since the U.S. is now dependent on China
for its continued economic stability, is it
hypocritical of us to want to clobber China
in sporting events but still buy up massive
amounts of its exports? Can we be both
proud and critical of the U.S. with a straight
face? This is the liminal space we inhabit in
2008, and it’s damn diffi cult to deal with. So
I understand the silence, for now.
Despite these unanswered questions, the
Olympic Trials was a positive experience for
athlete and spectator alike. It was, in essence,
a celebration of the best track-and-fi eld
athletes who call the States home, a fabulous
party held at the sport’s Mecca. (And yes,
despite their shortcomings, the corporate
sponsors should get props for funding this
gigantic spectacle.) In an era where nearly
everything once great about the U.S. is
tarnished in oil, splashed with blood and
covered with hoods, cheering the nation’s
fastest, strongest or most talented athlete
is something that still stirs the imagination,
stokes our national pride and fi lls us with a
glimmer of hope. We carry this sentiment
onward to Beijing — with bated breath. ew
For a recap of the Olympic Trials, see
blogs.eugeneweekly.com/trials
KARA GOUCHER TRIUMPHS IN THE 5K FINAL
GALEN RUPP
WEARS THE UO
SINGLET
REBECCA CHRISTENSEN JUMPS
FOR HARVARD
BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
EUGENE WEEKLY JULY 10, 2008 13