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Don’t forget to register for the Virtual Associations Workshop if you are someone who is involved with your local Association!

While meeting in-person is always way more fun, I am very excited to see the Associations Workshop return to being held on a different weekend than the Annual Meeting.

Olympic Trials potentially eligible list.

Apparently the final details are taking forever to percolate through USATF legal and USOPC legal, which is why they are not on the website yet, but I have on good authority that the qualifying window for the Trials is going to start 1/1/19 and run through NCAAs and the qualifying standards are not going to change.

So with that in mind, here is where I believe we are currently at with who is potentially eligible for Olympic Trials qualifying.

Let me know if any athletes on here have announced they are retiring and I missed it, or if I missed a mark that is eligible for qualifying.

Women’s Pole Vault

Olympic Trials Qualifying Period 1/1/19-6/13/21
Olympic Trials Automatic Standard: 4.60m
Target Field Size: 24
(1) 4.92 Katie Nageotte 8/1/20
(2) 4.91 Jenn Suhr 5/30/19
(3) 4.90 Sandi Morris 9/29/19
(4) 4.73 Olivia Gruver 5/29/19
(5) 4.70 Emily Grove 8/1/19
(5) 4.70i Morgann LeLeux 2/21/20
– 4.68i Lexi Jacobus 2/23/19 (retired)
(7) 4.65 Annie Rhodes-Johnigan 4/20/19
(8)4.63i Kortney Oates 2/9/19
(9) 4.61i Bridget Guy 2/22/20
– 4.60i Tori Hoggard 2/23/19 (retired)
(10) 4.60 Daylis Caballero Vega 6/28/19
(10) 4.60i Megan Clark 2/15/20
(12) 4.56i Kristen Leland 2/24/19
(12) 4.56i Bonnie Draxler 3/9/19
(12) 4.56 Kristen Brown 6/15/19
(15) 4.53i Rachel Baxter 2/1/20
(16) 4.52i Sophie Gutermuth 2/8/20
(16) 4.52 Alina McDonald 8/8/20
(18) 4.50i Chloe Cunliffe 3/16/19
(18) 4.50i Tuesdi Tidwell 1/25/20
(18) 4.50i Kaylee Bizzell 2/15/20
(18) 4.50i Sydney Walter 2/15/20
(22) 4.47 Maddie Gardner 4/20/19
(23) 4.46i Desiree Freier 3/9/19
(23) 4.46i Julia Fixsen 2/29/20
(23) 4.46i Bailee McCorkle 2/29/20
(26) 4.45i Lauren Chorny 12/6/19
(27) 4.42 Katherine Pitman 6/25/19
(28) 4.41 Paige Sommers 2/22/20
(29) 4.40 Megan Zimlich 6/22/19
(29) 4.40 Jill Marois 6/29/19
(29) 4.40i Gabriela Leon 2/29/20

Men’s Pole Vault
Olympic Trials Qualifying Period 1/1/19-6/13/21
Olympic Trials Automatic Standard: 5.75m
Target Field Size: 24
(1) 6.06 Sam Kendricks 6/27/19
(2) 5.95 Chris Nilsen 6/5/19
(2) 5.95i KC Lightfoot 1/30/21
(4) 5.90 Matt Ludwig 2/22/20
(5) 5.90 Jacob Wooten 2/22/20
(6) 5.88i Andrew Irwin 2/8/19
(7) 5.83i Cole Walsh 8/29/19
(8) 5.82i Kyle Pater 1/18/20
(8) 5.82 Audie Wyatt 2/22/20
(10) 5.80i Zach Bradford 2/14/20
(10) 5.80i Branson Ellis 2/14/20
(12) 5.75 Clayton Fritsch 6/5/19
(12) 5.75i Nate Richartz 1/2/21
(12) 5.75i Scott Houston 1/23/21
(15) 5.73 Austin Miller 7/21/20
(16) 5.72 Devin King 3/30/19
(17) 5.70 Brandon Bray 6/5/19
(17) 5.70 Michael Carr 6/5/19
(17) 5.70 Tray Oates 8/8/20
(20) 5.65i Adam Coulon 2/14/20
(20) 5.65i Carson Waters 2/14/20
(20) 5.65i Reese Watson 2/14/20
(23) 5.62 Deakin Volz 5/10/19
(23) 5.62 Scott Marshall 6/14/19
(23) 5.62 Garrett Starkey 2/22/20
(26) 5.61i Zach McWhorter 1/25/20
(26) 5.61i Dylan Bell 2/21/20
(28) 5.60i Jake Albright 2/15/19
(28) 5.60 Drew McMichael 6/5/19

USATF’s Board of Directors has elected Mike Conley as their chair. The vote was 16-5 Mike over Vin Lananna.

They allowed each candidate to give a statement, then all discussion happened in executive session, which took over an hour.

Willie Banks questioned holding the discussion in executive session, he was told that “all of the lawyers in the room” feel the board can go into executive session any time they want for whatever reason they want.

For anyone who has been a USATF member in the past, or is one now, but has not yet used the new USATF Connect membership system… please start by clicking on this guy with arrows that people are somehow supposed to know stands for “recover account” which is a thing most people do not realize they need to do.

I cannot promise things will go smoothly after that, but start here and things should be easier.

Even if you are up to date on everything and have no need to log in, it is a good idea to get this taken care of and get familiar with the new system so that you are prepared when the time comes to deal with something that is expiring.

It doesn’t hurt anyone for USATF to offer this, I’m not trying to bash them for making the effort, but I am confused who the target market is?

https://www.usatf.org/home-normal/top-utility-nav-content/membership/vip-membership-1

In the 2020 letter to USATF from the USOPC, they included some older letters from 2008, but this one was left out.

I want to point out a few things here:

1. As you can see, the USOPC has a long history of making unreasonable requests, and later backtracking on them. For example, in this 2008 letter, they ask that we remove ALL constituent based representatives from the board, and they wanted a “soft” mandate that all board members donate financially to the NGB.

We did add independent board members and dramatically reduce the number of constituent based members, but we did not fully comply with every request and not only were we not decertified, they backed down from those requests.

In 2018 Rick Adams told us that our independent board members were going to have to come from a list provided by the USOPC. He later backed down from that stance.

2. The USOPC was fully aware that the changes ultimately had to be approved by the membership and they DID NOT OBJECT TO THAT. “[…] significant governance reform will be drafted and submitted for approval at the 2008 USA Track & Field Annual Convention […]”

3. The reason I asked Bill for this letter is because I was putting together information about the USOPC’s history of making threats to NGBs in order for them to make changes.

IMAGINE MY HORROR when a few years ago the USOPC tried to claim that it had no leverage over NGBs and that it had been powerless to stop sexual abuse!!!!!

The USOPC ALWAYS had the ability to make the NGBs change. It could have mandated that all lists of banned coaches be public. It could have mandated background checks. Etc. They could have prevented some athlete abuse.

It wasn’t that they could not do it. It was that they did not care. They CHOSE not to take action. Athletes are disposable commodities to them and it did not matter to the USOPC if the athletes were abused. USATF’s governance was an issue they chose to engage with, but athlete sexual abuse did not rise to that level of importance.

The staff at the USOPC have hardly changed. A few of the top people were let go, but Rick Adams was the person overseeing NGBs during much of the relevant period, and he got a promotion. For all their push for NGBs to have nominating and governance panels to foster diversity, the USOPC continues to have a very white Board and executive staff, and has made no commitment to change that.

I want to see real change at the USOPC. They think that putting a female CEO in place and slapping a SafeSport bumper sticker on the movement is going to be enough to convince everyone that things have changed. I disagree.

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This is a repost of an article originally published November 30, 2020 by Track and Field News. Original link.

Becca Peter is the founder of Pole Vault Power.

On December 6th, 2020, USATF Membership Should Vote Against Giving Up Our Voice in Governance

The closing session of the 2020 USA Track & Field Annual Meeting will be held virtually where roughly 1,000 voting delegates will be faced with the decision to give up our voice in governance or risk decertification from the USOPC.

The USOPC has ordered USATF to eliminate the power our delegates currently have to make changes to our governance manual, or face decertification. I am urging our delegates to vote no on this legislation; our membership needs to retain its voice in governance.

To our credit, USATF’s governance structure has a strong system of checks and balances that keeps any one person from taking control of the organization. We are fairly unique among NGBs in this regard.

One of the many benefits our governance model provides is athlete empowerment. We all know it isn’t perfect, but our athletes have always been more empowered than their peers in other NGBs, and, while still not fully realized, the athlete’s voice has continued to strengthen over time.

Unfortunately, the USOPC does not like this model; it has actively been trying to dismantle this governance for years now. Why? Empowered athletes have a seat at the table, and they are harder to financially exploit.

In early 2020, the USOPC’s informal requests turned into demands and threats. It is now ordering USATF to eliminate the delegates’ ability to make changes to USATF’s governance manual.

While it is important for us to be working in partnership with the USOPC, this demand of theirs has crossed the line. This is not what is in the best interest of our athletes and our sport.

The USOPC’s demand comes with a threat of “decertification.” In the past, decertification was only threatened when the NGB committed a serious infraction of the Ted Stevens Amateur Sports Act. Now the USOPC says they are prepared to begin proceedings to decertify USATF as an NGB if the delegates do not approve their demands to relinquish our voice.

We cannot vote for legislation that creates an imbalance of power that hurts our sport. It may be terrifying to stand up to a bully… especially when that bully has the ability to inflict serious harm. But if we work collaboratively, we will prevail.

After consulting with several experts, I do not think that the threat is real. Congress just enacted the “Empowering Olympians, Paralympians and Amateur Sports Act of 2020” specifically to prevent a small group of people from hijacking an NGB for their own purposes, and to run away with the money.

The choice of the words “Empowering Olympians” is not accidental, the statute is designed to shift power to athletes and give them a voice in governance. But here comes the USOPC trying to take away ours. Congress is watching the Olympic Movement and how it is treating athletes, in issues big and small; everything from health insurance, athlete mental health, Rule 50 and the ability to protest, Rule 40 and the ability for athletes to use the marks to generate revenue, to pregnancy discrimination. Congress will see this effort for what it is, a power grab away from athletes.

The time has come for the delegates to take a stand this Sunday. If we give in to the USOPC’s bullying now, it will make it difficult to undo this power grab at a later date.

The USOPC is not in a good political position to attempt to decertify us in 2021, and it would be morally wrong for us to give in to their demand that we hand over all power to the board.

1. The Backstory: The USOPC Has Been Trying to Control Our NGB for Decades.

The USOPC has a long history of trying to control USATF through threats of decertification.

In the early 2000s, the USOPC felt that USATF’s Board of Directors was too large. USATF did not contract their board quickly enough for the USOPC’s liking and they threatened to decertify us in order to speed up the process.

Again in 2014, the USOPC tried to require USATF to separate the position of the Board Chair from the President. USATF elects its President by a direct vote of all delegates, and this person generally serves as the Board Chair. The USOPC did not like USATF’s direct-election; it gave the delegates a measure of power, making it much harder for the USOPC to control the NGB. USATF did make changes to their bylaws in response to the USOPC’s concerns, but the President can still serve as the Board Chair and the USOPC remains unhappy with this attempt to compromise.

Now in 2020, the USOPC has told USATF, for the very first time, that USATF must eliminate the delegates having the final approval over changes to the organization’s bylaws, and that the USOPC will decertify USATF if they do not immediately make this change.

2. USATF Is Not Out of Compliance With Any Aspect of the Sports Act or the USOPC Bylaws.

In correspondence with the USOPC, they have asserted to USATF that removing delegate-power is required and mandatory.

But a prohibition on delegate voting power is not included in the new statute, the 1978 Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, anywhere on the USOPC’s website, USOPC bylaws or the USOPC NGB Audit Standards. Just the opposite; the new Empowering Olympians Act requires athletes to have more voting power, not less.

You can download USATF’s most recent compliance checklist here.

The USOPC’s 2019 review of USATF says we were fully compliant, and there was no mention of concern about our legislative process. In fact, our governance is in compliance with every standard the USOPC has published.

Instead of compliance, think of “power grab.” The USOPC is creating more “solutions” in order to exert more power over us as an NGB. Given that USATF is one of the more athlete-centric NGBs, with athletes already having power to influence our NGB’s policy decisions, these demands seem to contradict the USOPC’s mission to become service-driven and athlete-first. Removing the power of our delegates to vote would give athletes less power, not more.

3. The USOPC Is About to Be Overseen by Congress and a New Comptroller Position.

In October, President Trump signed the “Empowering Olympic, Paralympic, and Amateur Athletes Act of 2020” into law.

As its name suggests, the new federal law is designed to shift power to athletes, with more independent oversight by Congress and by a Comptroller. The statute also creates a 16-person Commission to re-evaluate the Olympic Movement, including the Sports Act.

The USOPC is desperately trying to get us “properly” under their thumb before Congress steps in and starts cleaning house.

Congress does not have issues with USA Track and Field, the organization that, while not perfect, nonetheless has a long history of empowering and protecting athletes. Congress has issues with the USOPC because of their failures to protect athletes, failures that lead to preventable athlete abuse.

4. The Term “Good Governance” Is Meaningless Coming from the USOPC.

The USOPC keeps repeating the phrase “good governance” when it wants us to change something we are doing.

You will likely be hearing soon about the Daniels Report that USATF commissioned to improve our SafeSport efforts. One of the recommendations made by Deborah Daniels is that the board have the ultimate authority over our sport’s bylaws.

I spoke with lawyer Nancy Hogshead-Makar of Champion Women, who helped author the Empowering Olympians Act as Co-Chair of Team Integrity and USOPU, the largest group of Olympic Movement members ever assembled, and she strongly disagreed with this concept. While the recommendation of “100% Board Control” may be appropriate for issues like NGBs prohibiting coaches from having sexual relationships with the athletes they coach, “100% Board Control” is not appropriate as a blanket rule. Indeed, concentrated board control is how Scott Blackmun was able to twist the USOPC into a “money and medals” machine, leaving athletes poor, voiceless and compliant.

Nancy is the co-Chair of Team Integrity, their goal is to have 50% of board seats represent athlete-interests. She explained that athlete-interests should be formally represented in governance. The power within an NGB should be balanced instead of being entirely controlled and concentrated by sales and marketing employees at the NGB or the USOPC. You can read about their recommendations here.

Other people point to best practices for non-profits. But we are not just any non-profit. We are the only path for an athlete to the Olympics, giving our NGB and the USOPC monopoly-power over the fate of athletes. It is this power over athletes that makes them powerless and necessarily obedient; a dangerous position for athletes to be in. All proposed governance models should recognize this reality and should ward against athlete abuse. https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/573edb75-6173-4bec-8d91-9972c89dc2cd/downloads/USOC%20Financial%20Reforms%20Report.%20Committee%20to%20Re.pdf

USATF does not just raise money and post videos of athletes’ performances on social media. We govern the entire sport, including athletes; we make decisions that impact their destiny. Those who are governed deserve to have meaningful input as to how they are governed.

5. A Weakened Athlete Voice in Governance Runs Contrary to Every Recommendation Coming Out of the Nassar Investigations.

All four major reports coming out of the Nassar debacle concluded that intentional athlete-powerlessness within the governance systems of the Olympic Movement made athletes unreasonably vulnerable to abuse. Athletes currently have a right to 20% of the votes at USATF’s closing session, which works out to roughly 200 athlete votes through the allotment to AAC, and with the new statute that passed we will have to raise this to 33%.

As our power structure currently stands, athletes have the ability to have even more votes than this, because each Association’s delegation is supposed to include athletes (with a broader definition of the word “athlete”).

If the USOPC forces USATF to eliminate the direct vote of our delegates at closing session, this means the athletes will be entirely dependent on their representatives at the board level for meaningful representation. We’ve seen how easy it is for the USOPC to co-opt this small number of athletes.

Athletes are far easier to “manage” if the USOPC only has to deal with a handful of athletes on USATF’s board, and not the hundreds of rank and file athletes who are active within our AAC. In other words, athletes have the most power when their power is not limited to the handful of athletes on the board, but also includes the hundreds of athletes with the ability to vote on meaningful issues.

Membership power also takes the pressure off the small number of athletes that sit on the board. We know that the USOPC and NGBs can reward athletes who support what the sales and marketing staffers want, and they can retaliate if the athletes stand up for the interests of their constituents. Athlete board members must know that they can have the support of the membership supporting their athlete-centric stands.

6. The USOPC Is Afraid of Healthy Conflict That Is Inherent in Our Membership Governances.

USATF’s system of checks and balances leads to a lot of discourse, which the USOPC considers a bad thing. But having passionate arguments within an NGB about issues such as the best ways to direct resources, the best places to have your national championships and the best ways to adapt governance to a rapidly changing world, is HEALTHY for an NGB.

When the power in a sport is concentrated in the hands of the few at the top, and any dissent is removed, the athletes are ultimately who suffers the most, whether it is due to being abused by a coach or financially exploited by the Olympic movement. It is the athletes who keep their sports alive, but in many sports, they are treated as a disposable commodity and kicked to the curb if they speak up.

The USOPC wants to slap a SafeSport bumper sticker on the Olympic movement and move on with life. But even if SafeSport was working (it isn’t), it does not address the financial exploitation of the athletes.

7. On Sunday at 10am, I Urge You To Vote Against Giving Up the Athlete Voice In USATF Governance.

This change to USATF’s bylaws is a solution in search of a problem.

All voting delegates need to attend the closing session of the USATF Annual Meeting on Sunday, December 6, at 10am ET.

This issue will be brought to the floor. Each side will have 15 minutes to present their case, then a vote will be taken.

I urge all voting delegates to vote “no” on the legislation that gives the board of directors the ultimate authority over USATF’s bylaws.

Pole Vault Power recently celebrated its 18th birthday, and I wanted to share a few thoughts about where I have been and where I am going.

I started PVP when I was 20. I had just transferred schools and was finally getting to experience being on a college track team.

I had experience on other message boards, and wished there was one for pole vaulting, so I made one. Word spread by word of mouth, and it grew quickly and organically.

I never had an agenda or a goal. I just loved pole vaulting and loved bringing people together to talk about pole vaulting. And we did that! For so many years we had so many wonderful discussions and I have so many fond memories of our times together.

Being young and mobile, I was able to travel all over the country. I met so many of you in person, and had such a blast in the process. Transferred schools again and ended up living in six states over about a six year timespan.

Over time, my interests evolved. I attended my first USATF Annual Meeting while I was still a college student. I kept talking to people and learning new things.

After college I moved back home to western Washington and got involved with my local USATF Association and local track club. I’ve competed. I’ve coached. I’ve officiated. I’ve been a meet director for everything from beach vaults to tiny local track meets to modest USATF National Championships.

I got burned out on my message board. Years and years of moderating increasingly aggressive discussions about pole vaulting technique grew old. Social media picked up steam and the _need_ that once existed for my message board faded.

My focus gradually shifted to other platforms, like Twitter and Facebook, and while I continue to report on the happenings in the pole vault world, my scope has greatly expanded. When USATF’s CEO decided in 2016 that suing volunteers was how he was going to resolve their differences, I abruptly quit the roles I held in my Association in order to focus on the journalism side of the sport.

But being a traditional journalist doesn’t suit me, because I am not content to sit back and report dispassionately on what is happening. If I see something that can be _done_ to make a difference, I am going to make an attempt to _do_ it. Sometimes that means making a Facebook post or tweet. Sometimes that means submitting a rule change or bylaw change to USATF. Usually it means a lot of phone calls. A reporter suggested that activist is probably the best word to describe me.

I read Little Girls in Pretty Boxes in high school. Athletes started telling their stories of abuse before blogs and social media were a “thing,” but no one listened. For decades they tried and it never mattered, unless the stars aligned and criminal charges happened, and even then, that didn’t always stop predatory coaches.

I watched USATF gradually move toward recognizing the imbalance of power between athletes and coaches, and shift toward adopting policies that prohibited the abuse of athletes.

I learned that you can have amazing experiences with someone who turns out to be a predator. I came to recognize that just because I have had wonderful experiences with someone, it can also be true that they have done something terrible to someone else.

I learned that predators groom the adults around them, not just the victims. I learned that some people had been kind to me because they wanted something from me, not because our friendship was genuine.

I did the right thing when no one was watching, no matter the cost to myself. While I never reached the point of wanting to harm myself, the pain and trauma that the Center for SafeSport put me through made me understand why someone would cut themselves, why causing yourself physical pain might seem like a better alternative than not being able to escape the pain deep in your soul.

Very few people know what I have spent most of my energy on the past few years. A major media outlet wanted to write about it, and I turned them down. That story will come out someday, but that time has not come yet.

I have made Facebook posts that have cost me longstanding friendships. I would post them again in a heartbeat because it was the right thing to do.

For every Facebook post I make that costs me friendships, I get multiple private messages from people telling me their secrets. Some of them tell me things they have never told anyone before. Abuse from coaches and officials. Eating disorders. The sport exploiting them.

My “why” these days is to help move our sport, and all Olympic sports, toward being an environment where athletes are not abused and harassed and where they are not financially exploited by the powers that be.

I am 38 years old now. I am married and have two kids. I am amused by allegations that I am unhappy, that I am attention seeking and that I am jealous.

My life has purpose. I am where God wants me to be.

I have been blessed to come from a privileged background, which made it easier for me to land in a privileged place today, and I try not to squander or waste my position, but to use it to make our sport a better place for the marginalized and disenfranchised.

I am happy and I am not jealous of anyone. Some will read this post as attention seeking, but I have so many friends here that I have known for so long, I wanted to give you all an update on my life.

I am a little sad that some have chosen to spread lies about me, and disappointed that there are some of you who are reading this who have chosen to believe the lies of others over your own personal experiences with me.

But my happiness and self-worth are not tied to others’ opinions of me. I know the difference that I have made, and I am continuing to make. Many of my peers in this sport are still twice my age. I am still often the youngest person (excluding AAC members) in many of the meetings I attend. I am in this for the long haul.

So cheers to the first 18 years of Pole Vault Power, which has grown to be about so much more than pole vaulting. I am looking forward to many productive decades to come.

Let’s talk about national records!

If you have been around youth track and field very long, you are probably figuring out that there are a variety of “national records” out there.

The criteria for each record depends on who is keeping that record.

At the high school level, we have two sets of “high school records”, plus USATF U20 (junior) records.

The first set of high school records is the more obscure set, from the NFHS.

These only include marks set at HS-only meets of at least three teams during that athlete’s actual high school season, ending at their state championships.

They appear to only have official records for outdoor marks.
NFHS Boys PV Records: https://www.nfhs.org/RecordBook/Record-book-result.aspx?CategoryId=1388
NFHS Girls PV Records: https://www.nfhs.org/RecordBook/Record-book-result.aspx?CategoryId=1714

The next set of high school records are from Track & Field News.

These tend to be the records that people are referring to when they talk about _the_ high school record. These include any marks set during a high school athlete’s career, in any legitimate meet, through August 31st of their senior year.

T&FN follows the lead of World Athletics and has one set of “absolute” records (indoors and outdoors combined) and then a separate list of indoor records.

T&FN Records: https://trackandfieldnews.com/records/

And then there are the USA Track & Field U20 (aka junior) records.

These are based on what age you turn that year, so athletes who are 19 but turn 20 at the end of that year are not eligible.

USATF U20 records have to be made in an event that is either sanctioned by USATF, or by one of their member organizations (so for example, NCAA meets are ok). Drug testing is not required, but you need three USATF certified officials, short pegs, runway survey, etc.

USATF U20 Records: https://www.flipsnack.com/USATF/american-u20-records/full-view.html

Clear as mud?

I have a lot of things I want to say, and in an attempt to avoid writing a novel, I have numbered them…

1. You should watch Athlete A on Netflix.

2. The US Olympic Committee has not changed, they just stuck a SafeSport bumper sticker on and are pretending things are better. The underlying issues that fostered an NGB like USAG have not changed. Most of their key personnel are the same.

3. The USOC loved Steve Penny and USAG.

4. The USOPC wants cookie cutter NGBs that operate the way USAG did. Remember we have that SafeSport bumper sticker on, so everything is OK now.

5. The USOPC hates USA Track & Field. They hate our system.

6. USATF’s governance includes a President/Board Chair who is directly elected by the hundreds of delegates who represent the entire membership.

7. These delegates include at least 25% representation from our Athletes Advisory Committee, and within the delegations from all 56 Associations, each is supposed to include at least 20% athletes.

8. Our AAC has always been one of the best among the NGBs at meaningfully empowering our athletes.

9. The USOPC does not want empowered athletes.

10. Empowered athletes want to get paid.

11. The people at the highest levels of the Olympic movement are making a lot of money.

12. USATF’s governance has a system of governance that provides a certain amount of checks and balances. The USOPC does not want this.

13. The USOPC wants cookie cutter NGBs where power in concentrated in the Board Chair and CEO of each NGB.

14. The USOPC has been threatening to decertify USATF off and on for decades. We go through cycles where we make changes, they are quiet for awhile, then they demand more changes.

15. I personally witnessed Rick Adams from the USOC at an L&L meeting threaten to sell the training center in Chula Vista if we did not make the changes they wanted. We did not make all of the changes they wanted and they did sell Chula Vista. No one made a stink about it because we managed to retain access for the athletes.

16. Imagine my horror when USAG’s malfeasance was exposed and the USOC repeatedly claimed that they have no leverage over the NGBs! They have leverage when they want to have leverage. They just.did.not.care. that athletes were being physically, emotionally, verbally and sexually abused by their coaches.

17. While many, oh so many, track and field athletes have been sexually abused, I have not been able to find any evidence that USATF, as an NGB, was _complicit_ in their abuse the way other NGBs were.

18. There are many reasons for this, but one of the reasons is our system does not allow one individual to have the kind of power and control that Steve Penny or Chuck Wielgus did.

19. The USOPC wants the power to be concentrated at the top, because that makes us easier to control.

20. The USOPC gives lip service to empowering athletes, while forcing USATF to make changes that weaken the power of our athletes.

21. In February 2020, the USOPC sent USATF another letter telling us that they would decertify us if we did not make governance changes by the end of the year.

22. The four areas that they want us to change are:

a. Currently the L&L committee makes recommendations to the delegates who ratify them at closing session. The USOPC wants the recommendations to go to the Board and the Board will have the final say (note that with USA Diving, the USOPC also forced them to do this with competition rules). They also want term limits for L&L committee members and all committees to submit multiple recommendations to the diversity committee who would then decide who will sit on L&L.

b. The President to not automatically be the Board Chair. They also want to move all committee appointments from the President to the Chair. These things would effectively strip the President of all power.

c. Add more independent members to the Board.

d. Move all power for national championship site selection to the national office and effectively cut the committees out of the process. Because that worked so well at the 2016 Marathon Trials.

23. The USATF Board of Directors voted several weeks ago on these and approved something in each of these categories.

24. I do not know the language of what passed, because the powers that be have not deemed us lowly volunteers worthy of being notified that our bylaws have changed.

25. The athletes have been asked to support these changes, despite being given minimal information about what was passed. You are supposed to just trust them that USATF was previously engaging in “bad” governance and that the USOPC is proposing “good” governance.

26. Not all changes are bad. Not everything the USOPC is proposing is bad.

27. At the end of the day, the goal is to concentrate power within USATF so that the USOPC can “manage” us better, which will allow them to better exploit the labor of our athletes and make more money off of them.

28. Who knows what good governance is? Let’s look at the fruit of these systems…

29. How many lawsuits is the USOPC named in because they failed to protect athletes from sexual abuse? A lot. How many is USATF named in? Zero. We didn’t wait for a lawsuit to start protecting athletes, we looked around at what was happening at USAG and USAS a dozen or so years ago, and we started taking our own steps to protect athletes.

30. How is diversity going for our organizations? Take a look at the USOPC’s executive staff and board of directors, and then look at USATFs.

31. Which organization is more financially stable? Who has laid off more staff at this point? Who is going to be financially healthier if Tokyo never happens?

32. We have “drama” within USATF because we are an incredibly large and diverse sport filled with volunteers who are passionate about doing what is best for the athletes. There will always be some level of “drama” as the sport evolves and we try to figure out the best way to allocate resources. Not all drama is bad.

33. An NGB where the Board and the CEO make all decisions, and the volunteers have no power is exactly the type of NGB that fosters the abuse and exploitation of athletes. If you think SafeSport has fixed things, well, bless your heart, but even if SafeSport was working, it does not address the financial exploitation of athletes that has occurred since day one of the modern Olympic movement.

34. The USOPC’s models of “good governance” are based on what is best for corporations to make a lot of money, not what is best for athlete safety and well-being.

35. While we should always work with the USOPC, we must make sure that athlete safety and well-being is what drives what we do, and a system that removes the checks and balances within our governance leaves our athletes more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, not just from their coaches, but from the Olympic movement itself.