Friday, June 3, 2011

Eugene Diary: Part 2, Press Conference

Press Pass
The last time I was in Portland, it rained for a week straight and was about 40 degrees. This was in late March. Today as I drove from Portland to Eugene, It was 75 degrees and sunny. Beautiful weather for a track meet. It took about 2 hours down the I-5 and I got to the Valley River Inn just as the questions with the individual athletes were starting. I don't really know the etiquette on how to interview an athlete, so I mostly just held out my recorder and took a few photos.

I did hear some interesting information from the athletes and will post mp3's up here when I chop it up later tonight or tomorrow morning. Here are some nuggets that I got.

Bernard Lagat: Going for American Record in the 2-Mile tomorrow. Aiming for 8:06, with a 4:04 first mile and a 4:02 second mile. Running the 5000 in New York, then the 2000 at Hicham El-Guerrouj's meet before taking aim at a very fast 5000 in Monaco.

Andrew Wheating: May double in the 800 and 1500 at the US Championships in a few weeks.

David Oliver: Not worried about Shanghai. Every race is a new one and he's ready to bring it against Liu Xiang tomorrow

And here are some photos I took:
10k start list
Press back drop
Oscar Pistorius (aka Blade Runner) 
Entrance to Press Conference
Bernard Lagat chatting with Lewis Johnson
Liu Xiang and the Chinese press
Nike gear for the athletes
David Oliver and the British press 
Andrew Wheating and a local TV station
Amy Yoder-Begley stopped by as well
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1 comment:

  1. Probably the best 10K field ever assembled on US Soil!

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