Relief!

We have been sparing our blog readers from the drama and stress of our last week. But now that it has been resolved, we'll fill you in on the chaos!

Remember when I said Joe had the A standard and he was FOR SURE going to the Trials? Well, we were in for a surprise.

When Joe's decathlon was done, he had to submit his score to USATF (USA Track and Field) and it was entered on a list of other scores. Once USATF receives a score, they go through and verify that it was a sanctioned meet, etc, and then the listing goes from "open" or "provisional" to "qualified." A few days after Joe entered his meet info, I went to USATF to look at the list. There was Joe's name, with the 7907 beside it, with a big fat "NOT QUALIFIED" listed next to it.

Hmmm, we thought. What's this about? We investigated more closely, and saw a little rule that we had never noticed before. Under the qualifying standards, it said that no wind-aided marks would be accepted....and then specified that for multi-events, a wind-reading above 4.0 meters/s would not be allowed. We looked back at Joe's scores, and in the decathlon at Texas, the wind-reading for the 100 meters was 4.3!

In the past, wind-aided rules for the multi-events have only ever mattered for RECORD purposes, but not for QUALIFYING purposes. So Joe's score wouldn't qualify for a record, but it could for qualifying for US Nationals or other big meets. We went back through the scores from the last several years, and each year there has been more than one "wind-aided" decathlon that got in to US Championships (which are basically the same thing as the Trials, just during non-Olympic years). Apparently this year, the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federation) made a new rule that for qualifying for the Olympic Games, wind-aided marks in the multi-events would not be accepted. Somebody at USATF (we have yet to get any real answers from USATF on anything) decided that the rule would apply for the US and our qualifying, too.

Had this new rule been communicated properly by USATF, Joe would have quit his decathlon in Texas after the first event. They (athletes, officials, meet director) would have looked at the wind reading, known it was too high, and he would have packed up and headed to another last-chance meet in Oregon. Obviously this wasn't the case. And in the last week, Joe has talked to dozens of people in the track and field and decathlon world, from athletes to coaches to officials, and NO ONE was aware of this rule. Everyone was very encouraging that wind should not matter for qualifying, only for records...and assured Joe that they couldn't keep him out of the Trials for this.

Problem was, nobody at USATF was telling us that. One person told us sorry, the rule was the rule. We couldn't get straight answers...one guy even told Joe that he was over-reacting and "looking too deep" by calling in to inquire about his "NOT QUALIFIED" (how exactly can you be over-reacting when the very thing you've worked so hard for is in question and you might not get to compete at the Trials?) Then they said he had to file an appeal...but no-one could tell him what the appeals process was, who was on the appeals committee, or when they would be meeting. He finally talked to a lady who "took down his information" (that felt satisfying, yeah right!), and said the appeals committee might be meeting sometime NEXT WEEK (just days before the Trials).

As you can imagine, we've been living within the reality that Joe might not be competing at the Trials. Joe has been on the phone a lot, missing practice a few days, trying to get to the right people and do everything he could to get into the meet. While it may be true that the new rule exists (although even on that, we couldn't get a straight answer from USATF....like who instituted the rule, at what meeting was it approved, etc....nothing), it still seemed unfair that Joe should be kept out when the rule was never communicated to the decathlon community. Not to mention there was another wind-aided decathlon score already listed as qualified (wonder if the fact that it was the #2 score this year had anything to do with it?) That wasn't fair. Either they should both be in, or both be out. Not to mention the rule itself is ridiculous for the decathlon....if you convert what Joe would have run without the wind-aiding, it would have dropped his score by under 20 points....he'd still have a top score in the nation. Wind-aiding can really help in the open, individual events....but when spread out over 10 events, wind-aiding in 3 (100, long jump, and hurdles) is questionably helpful at best. For example, the wind that gave him a boost in the 100 gave him a horrible wind for the discus. That's why it has never mattered for qualifying purposes.

As you can tell, we have been knee-deep in all of this since last Thursday. Of course one of the things Joe is supposed to be doing right now is managing cortisol levels....ha. I think he's been doing a good job of that...but I've been super stressed. I guess that's why he's the one competing, not me!

The end of this story is that we have an angel, and his name is Kip Janvrin, and when I see him at the Trials he is going to get a big hug and I'll have to restrain myself from kissing him. Kip is a former decathlete (went to the Olympics in 2000) who competed for many years...had an amazing, consistent, highly respected career....and is known for his ability to always finish a meet, no matter what. He also holds the world-record for the double decathlon (click here if you want to know more...it's an unreal event) Anyways, Kip is an "athlete liaison" for USATF, and took that job partly because, in his words, he "wanted to prevent things like this from happening to people like Joe." So Kip has been on the war-path this week, making all kinds of calls, pleading Joe's case to USATF, finding out about the appeals committee (which he was apparently on!), and finally, today, getting Joe into the meet! Praise the Lord! I literally cried when Joe called to tell me. It was that much relief. The thought of having come this far....and then not getting to go to the Trials...was almost too much to bear. Kip put in a lot of hours and effort to make sure Joe got in...this wouldn't have happened without him. We are grateful.

Now...Joe has a week and a half to live within this new reality that he is FOR SURE going to compete at the Trials....get a few more good training days in, keep his body healthy and injury-free, and then give it all he has! We can't wait!

Now aren't you glad to have just read the whole story with the happy ending, rather than the stress of the unknown?