Setting
records on the track, field and in the stands, the
2000 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials will be remembered
as one of the most exciting meets ever held in the
United States.
Sellout
crowds for eight consecutive days pushed the total
attendance figure to a record-breaking 187,104, an
average daily turnout of 23,338. The previous Trials
attendance record was 151,222, set by Atlanta in 1996
– a figure Sacramento eclipsed before the final
day of competition.
The
2000 Trials featured one world record, five U.S. records
and 10 meet records. Stacy Dragila cleared 15 feet,
2_ inches in the pole vault, breaking her own world
record of 15-1_, set earlier in the season. Dragila
set her world mark on the final day of competition,
when a crowd of 24,072 packed Hornet Stadium. The
largest crowd of the Trials also saw Gail Devers,
the two-time Olympic champion in the 100-meter dash,
break her own U.S. record in the 100 hurdles, clocking
12.33 seconds.
Marion
Jones won three events – the 100 and 200 meters
and the long jump. Regina Jacobs won two, setting
an American record in the 5,000. Their much-anticipated
showdown in the men’s 200 flamed out when both
suffered leg injuries in the final, but Maurice Greene
(100) and Michael Johnson (400) won their specialties
in convincing fashion.
Adam
Nelson won one of the greatest shot put competitions
ever held. Nelson (72-7), C.J. Hunter (71-9) and Andy
Bloom (70-10_ ) all recorded their best marks in the
sixth and final round. The ground shook as the behemoths
tackled each other in joy.
In
eight events, the winning marks in Sacramento were
superior to the gold-medal marks made during the 2000
Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
But
one of the most lasting memories of Sacramento will
be the crowds. Repeatedly, athletes, coaches and media
members said the atmosphere reminded them of a European
meet – a high compliment.
“This
is the best atmosphere I’ve ever experienced
at an Olympic Trials,” said Jackie Joyner-Kersee,
the all-time great who came out of retirement to compete
in the women’s long jump. “The Sacramento
Sports Commission did a wonderful job with the meet.
I hope this is a new beginning for track and field.”
Sacramento
intends to host the Olympic Trials again in 2004 and
has submitted a bid to USA Track & Field. In the
meantime, Sacramento will hold the 2001 Junior Olympics
and the 2003 NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships.
Olympic
Trials by the numbers
187,104:
Total attendance of 2000 Olympic Trials (broke previous
Olympic Trials attendance record of 151,522, set in
Atlanta, 1996)
23,388:
Average daily attendance
$20
million: Economic impact of 2000 Trials on Sacramento
region (according to Sacramento Convention & Visitors
Bureau)
1,180:
Athlete entries
2,200:
Volunteers
88
degrees: Average daily high during eight days
of competition
57
degrees: Average daily low
16:
Luxury suites set up on south end of stadium
50:
Number of Olympic gold medals won by honorees at Xerox
Century of Champions Salute Dinner
22:
Number of countries represented among media
1:
World records set at 2000 Trials (Stacy Dragila, pole
vault)
5:
American records (Elizabeth Jackson, steeplechase;
Regina Jacobs, 5,000 meters; Lynda Blutreich, javelin;
Gail Devers, 100 hurdles; Dragila, pole vault).
10:
Olympic Trials records (Jacobs; Blutreich; Devers;
Dragila; Seilala Sua, discus; Sandra Glover, 400 hurdles;
Michelle Rohl, women’s 20k walk; Tim Seaman,
men’s 20k walk; Dawn Ellerbe, hammer; Adam Nelson,
shot put).
19,186:
Number of hotel room nights reported by Sacramento
CVB during 2000 Trials
Quotes
from athletes regarding the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials
Stacy
Dragila, world record holder and Olympic champion
in women’s pole vault
“I
was amazed at what they did and how they set up the
whole area around it for kids to come in and experience
things for free, and all the big-screen TVs and stuff
… it’s awesome. Hopefully, we’ll get
it back in 2004. I think they’ve done a great
job. The Sacramento Sports Commission has really gone
out of their way, and beyond, to do an awesome job
here. To have sellout crowds and people just on top
of you – it feels like I’m over in Europe
competing in a big, world-class event.”
Suzy
Powell, two-time Olympian in women’s discus
“This
is, by far, the best crowd I’ve ever experienced.
When people are cheering your warm-up throws when
you are a female discus thrower, I almost went into
shock right there. I almost didn’t take a second
throw, but after such a big cheer, I had to do another
one.”
Michael
Johnson, five-time Olympic gold medalist
“These
crowds have been unbelievable. I can’t say enough
about the organization of the meet. I would certainly
recommend Sacramento host the Trials again.”
Jackie
Joyner-Kersee, four-time Olympic gold medalist in
heptathlon and long jump, competing in her sixth and
final Olympic Trials
“This
is the best atmosphere I’ve ever experienced
at an Olympic Trials. The Sacramento Sports Commission
did a wonderful job with the meet. I hope this is
a new beginning for track and field.”
Al
Oerter, four-time Olympic champion in the discus and
honoree at the Xerox Century of Champions salute dinner
“I
hope Sacramento provides a springboard for our sport
for a long, long time. It was great to see the enthusiasm
returned to track and field in this country. Sacramento’s
enthusiasm was palpable. It’s something I hadn’t
experienced in a long, long time. Thank you, Sacramento.”
Ralph
Boston, Olympic champion in the long jump and Century
of Champions honoree
“The
2000 Olympic Trials were the best 10 days of my adult
life.”
Jon
Drummond, two-time Olympian in the 100 meters
“I’m
sick of hearing that track is dead. Man, track isn’t
dead. We have great athletes and great fans and fast
track here. Together, we made something beautiful.”
Regina
Jacobs, winner of the 1,500 and 5,000 meters in Sacramento,
competing in her sixth Olympic Trials
“I
was blown away when I saw the number of people and
the enthusiasm. It’s incredible. It’s better
than Europe. This is the best Trials I’ve ever
been to. And I’ve been to a lot.
Gabe
Jennings, winner of the Olympic Trials 1,500 meters
“This
is awesome. This is what every track man dreams of.”
Craig
Masback, CEO of USA Track & Field
“I
think it’s safe to say that what Sacramento has
done here has exceeded anyone’s wildest expectations.
It’s impossible to state strongly enough how
successful this is. The full stadium every night of
itself is a remarkable achievement – in any sport.
No sport in any national championships – track,
Olympics – in any country in the world in history
has achieved what Sacramento has achieved. I defy
someone to provide contrary evidence to that. That
in itself is a benchmark and an achievement.
“Sacramento
had two extraordinary things going for it. One, it
has an incredibly tight-knit community. Every aspect
of this community was behind the effort, including
the bid, the bid process, the presentation. Everything
about what this community did showed an incredible
solidarity, and resources that would be accessed,
foretelling what has actually occurred.
“Second,
they had an outstanding plan for ticket sales. It
was very sophisticated, and they had a good sense
of their target markets, and they executed an outstanding
plan.”
Lamine
Diack, president of the International Amateur Athletic
Federation (IAAF)
“Everyone
in the world now is watching these Trials. To see
it on television on my way, in Nigeria, in Paris …
I was surprised to see in the newspaper, USA Today,
Marion Jones. We will be successful in the coming
years if we have this kind of progress in our sport.”
Vin
Lananna, Stanford University track coach
“I
can’t imagine a site doing a better job than
Sacramento did. Even Eugene. I really think Sacramento
did a marvelous job.”
Media reaction to the 2000 Olympic Trials
Monte
Poole, Oakland Tribune
For
nine days, the state capital has come incredibly close
to the impossible – pleasing everybody, all the
time. Presentation has been splendid, organization
commendable. The 23,000-seat stadium has been filled,
the weather has been mostly good, the cops mostly
efficient. The corporate sponsors walk around grinning
as if they’ve found a sack full of gold.
The
city is crackling with energy and Hornet Stadium has
been positively electric.
The future stars, as well as those of yesteryear,
will vacate this valley tonight and tomorrow. And,
oddly, it’s tough to tell whether Sacramento
will miss them as much as they will miss Sacramento.
San
Francisco Chronicle
The
Olympic Trials have undergone a rather stunning facelift.
When fans arrived at Hornet Stadium, they found all
the accoutrements of major sports events like the
Super Bowl or the World Series.
Among other things, there were large, air-conditioned
luxury boxes along the first turn, an interactive
fan park, a kids playground with inflatable slides,
and a bandstand with live music. In short, we aren’t
in the ‘90s anymore.
Ann Killion, San Jose Mercury News
Apparently
the good folk of Sacramento didn’t get the memo.
You know, the one about track and field being dead.
For the third consecutive day, more than 23,000 fans
flocked to Hornet Stadium. What they learned is that
you don’t need dunks or home runs or touchdown
dances to have absolutely compelling sports drama.
Lynn
Zinser, Colorado Springs Gazette
Halfway
through the Olympic track and field trials, the surprise
star of the meet hasn’t run a race, hasn’t
jumped an inch, hasn’t won a medal.
But
the people of Sacramento have blown the doors off
the competition. They pack Cal State-Sacramento’s
track, 23,000 strong, every night. They not only understand
everything that’s going on – no easy feat
at a meet as big and complicated as this one –
they’ve smothered it all with love.
They
stood and cheered the women’s steeplechase, which
isn’t even an Olympic event, coaxing the top
three finishers into a victory lap. They stayed late
in the night to go ballistic over the end of the 10,000.
They
roared for the finish of the disabled 100 meters,
and days later, they’re still talking about the
woman who won, a double amputee who blitzed seven
challengers.
There
is hope for track. Just ask Sacramento.
Ron
Bellamy, Eugene Register-Guard
What
did I like here? I liked a lot.
I
liked the Sacramento fans. There were more than 23,000
of them. Every day. These numbers were legitimate
fannies in the stands. The fans embraced this meet,
and the athletes. There was a first-time, star-struck
quality to it. They seemed to love everything.
I
liked the “look” of the Trials. The rented
luxury boxes on the south rim of the track. The huge
fan expo area, with booths and vendors. The two video
screens – a must at Hayward Field for the national
championships next year – that showed races,
and replays and, when there was a break in the action,
showed stirring highlights set to music.
I
liked all of the above because it made a statement.
It screamed “We think this meet, and these athletes,
are a very, very big deal.” The athletes heard
that message, loud and clear. Track and field in this
country needed that support in this meet, and got
it.
Will
Sacramento get the Trials again in 2004? Perhaps so.
I’d bet on Sacramento, if I had to bet today.
Another city – listening, Eugene? – would
have to make a very strong, compelling, blow-everybody-else
away case.
Larry
Eder, publisher, American Track & Field
The
city of Sacramento should be the permanent home of
the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials. After spending
nearly two weeks in Sacramento, from the day before
the Trials to the day after, I cannot see how anyone
could argue with the setting, the facility, the support
of the fans, and the inspiring performances of the
athletes.
John
Crumpacker, San Francisco Examiner
Based
on the success of the first four days of the trials,
Sacramento wants to do it again. The single biggest
factor in its favor has been its ability to fill the
stadium every day … A smaller facility packed
with fans looks worlds better than a big old house
with a scattering of spectators.
Ray
Ratto, San Francisco Examiner
After
years of dwindling fields and dwindling crowds, Sacramento
may have the cure for what ails track: frill-free
but unconditional love.
Runner’s
World
While
athletes such as Regina Jacobs, Gail Devers and Stacy
Dragila were setting American records at July’s
U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, some of the numbers
that USA Track & Field and the Sacramento Organizing
Committee might have enjoyed the most had nothing
to do with running, jumping and throwing.
Numbers
such as 187,104, the total attendance for the 8-day
meet and all-time record since the Trials went to
a full-week format in 1968. Or the daily average of
23,388, also the best ever. Every day was virtually
a sellout, even when Marion, Maurice, and Michael
weren’t competing.
All
this has Sacramento looking like a front-runner for
the 2004 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials.
Sieg Lindstrom, Track & Field News
It’s
refreshing to have a U.S. meet above the high school
level where passions run high enough that people want
to stand up and cheer. For eight days in Sacramento
a buzzing crowd filed out babbling … about 1500s,
5000s and 10,000s, a whiz-bang blizzard of last-round
action in the men’s shot, jumpoffs in the men’s
vault and women’s high jump, and a heptathlon
where the top two finished 4 points apart. That’s
what a track meet should be like.
Gil
LeBreton, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Another
sold-out crowd of 23,000 is expected at dusty Hornet
Stadium on the campus of Cal State-Sacramento. The
nightly chorus of applause for the new Olympians has
been raising both eyebrows and questions. No less
than Lamine Diack, the new president of the International
Amateur Athletic Federation, the world governing body
for track and field, praised these trials and proclaimed
them indicative of the “tremendous strength of
athletics in America.”
