'Athlete of the Year' Fails to Make The World Championships

Not sure how I missed this one... hmm, might have something to do with Track and Field being buried daily in the Sports press... yeah, that might be it!

Sanya Richards was the 2006 International Association of Athletics Federation's Athlete of the Year and is the reigning 400m World Champion. But she WILL NOT be going to the World Champs this year because she got her ass beaten by three lesser runners in the U.S. Finals. Apparently Richards was "dogged by a flulike illness" (for flulike illness read: She had a Cold) which is why she failed to qualify for the Worlds.

There are two big issues here. One, this now leaves the title wide open for the up and coming star of Athletics, Great Britain's Nicola Sanders. Sanders has been out for a couple of weeks with a strain of some sort and returned slowly last night in Lausanne Switzerland, but she is a class-act of an Athlete; Strong, gritty, hardworking and determined (and also hot by the way...), and this title is now well within her reach.

And two, it highlights the stupidity of the U.S. selection system for Track and Field. Time after time a dominating World Athlete will not make the team because they have an injury or illness that prevents them from finishing in the top three at the U.S. champs. Back in 2004 before the Sydney olympics Michael Johnson pulled up with a calf strain in the 200m final at the Nationals. As a result the World Record Holder and general unbeatable machine that Johnson was, would not be allowed to compete in the 200m and had to settle for the 400m sprint alone. How ridiculous is that?

A better system for the U.S. to adopt is the European model where the first two past the line in the nationals automatically make the team but the third spot is left open to the discretion of the coaches in case a world class athlete is sick or injured. This would make far better sense no?

[SI.com]