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"Shin Splints"
A Blog by Doug Logan

Living up to our Charter

Thursday, September 11, 2008

I have returned from my Beijing experience better educated about our sport and far more knowledgeable about the capabilities of the staff. I would make two important observations about our off-track participation at the Olympic Games. First, I believe that our team as a whole comported themselves in an exemplary manner. There was not a single hint of untoward behavior by any contestant. Coach Thornton made a point of telling me that this was the finest group of young men and women that he has ever been associated with in competition, and I echo his observation. They were a credit to their country, their families and USATF.

Secondly, the USATF staff worked unstintingly day and night to support our competitive effort. I have participated in and supervised the logistics of major international events, and our human resource infrastructure is as good as I have ever encountered. I was, and you should be, proud of their performance.

Our overall results on the track can best be described as mixed. While our overall medal count and number of gold medals won was the best of all the participant nations in the competition, I became uneasy about the performances of our athletes on an individual basis. I wondered why we appeared not to be generating peak performances for the year, whereas others, whether in our sport or other disciplines, were achieving PRs and world records. I questioned whether the areas in which we seemed to underperform were the result of a fluke and bad luck, or if they were reflective of a systemic problem. Upon my return, I did a preliminary study of performance through 2008 of our team. The results of these analyses raised important questions.

We had 66 individual performances in men's competition, exclusive of relays, and 65 individual performances by women.  I evaluated the number of performances where the contestant performed at their peak level for the year (2008).  In the instance of men, only seven performances out of 66 were their best performance for the year (10.6%) while the women had 11 out of 65 performances (16.9%) that were their best of the year.

The relays are considered our "signature events" and the expectation is that we should dominate.  They are also the activity that we, as an organization, should have the greatest control over.  We select the athletes and train and coach them.  Since 2003, in World Championship ('05 and '07) and Olympic competition ('04 and '08), we have had eight relay medal opportunities in the men's and women's 4x100.  Only four relays out of eight (50%) actually finished a Final, with the other four either dropping the baton or being disqualified.  Three out of the eight relays won gold medals (37.5%).  By contrast, in the previous four World Championships ('99, '01 and '03) and Olympics ('00), we won medals in seven of the eight 4x100m relays (87.5%) and won gold in five of the eight (62.5%).  We need to determine what has changed in the last four years.

The USATF Bylaws are very clear about our stated purposes and duties.  Article 3 Section A.1. states that our first purpose is:

Development:  Developing interest in and participation in Athletics in the United States at all levels and developing the highest possible performance level for the United States in international competition (emphasis mine).

Additionally Section A.3 states:

Performance:  Fielding the most competent United States individuals and teams for international competition in Athletics and providing support and conditions for athletes at all levels of the sport which ensure optimal performance (emphasis mine).

I have come to the conclusion that our performance, as an organization, is seriously deficient if judged by the mandate of our own charter.  Additionally, our High Performance Programs to which we contribute the greatest portion of our fiscal resources must be reassessed and examined in the light of this empirical data.  Now that we have come to the end of this quadrennial, it seems to me that this is an optimum time to conduct a top-to-bottom operating audit of these expensive programs in order to face the global competition that has emerged in our sport.

I am therefore forming an ad-hoc Operating Audit Panel to examine our High Performance Programs, methods and practices. This panel, reporting directly to me, will be composed of former Olympic athletes and coaches with no ties or affiliation with those charged with the efforts leading to the 2008 Games, several of whom I have already spoken to and who have agreed to serve. Additionally, two or three professionals yet to be named who have the expertise to add value to the assessment will join the panel. I want to commence this study within the next 30 days and have it substantially complete by the end of this calendar year.

I would anticipate that this panel will receive the highest level of cooperation from all the USATF family, professional and volunteer. Like the issue of restructuring of governance, this will probably be an uncomfortable exercise. But, this is not a "knee jerk" reaction, or a "witch hunt," or an attempt to castigate anyone. Indeed, this panel may determine that the factors leading to less-than-optimal performance were beyond anyone's control. It is only after vigorous, objective and aggressive examination that we can determine those systems and methods that require improvement. We spend sizable sums of money on these programs, and I and we should ensure that they are being spent judiciously and are producing results.

The ultimate responsibility for our performance rests with me. I am accountable to you, the public and the sport, and it is a responsibility I embrace. I expressed this tenet of my professional life in my statements when I was hired. I plan to take a more activist role than perhaps my predecessors in relation to our High Performance Programs. I will continue to take those executive actions I see fit to make the sport, our competitiveness and our compliance with our charter better than I found it.

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Doug Logan is the CEO of USA Track & Field (USATF), the national governing body for track and field, long distance running, and race walking. Headquartered in Indianapolis, the organization has more than 90,000 members throughout the country.