Selection Procedures - 50 km Race Walk

The U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team will be selected as follows:

Individual Event Selections

An athlete's rank order of finish at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Men's 50 km Race Walk and the number of athletes who have achieved the Olympic "A" qualification standard will be used to select members of the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team.

The following criteria will be used to nominate athletes to the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team:

• Order of Finish: All athletes competing in an Olympic Trials event will be assigned a rank based upon the order of finish for that event. An athlete must finish the event in order to be assigned a rank. Athletes will be assigned a rank based upon their place-finish in the Olympic Trials.
• Olympic "A" Standard: The number of athletes who have achieved the Olympic "A" standard in a designated event will determine the number of athletes who will be nominated (up to 4) to the U.S. Olympic Team for that event.
• For all track & field events:
  1. No later than July 18, 2004, USATF will nominate to the USOC the names of four athletes in each individual event. These athletes are then considered to be candidates for the Olympic Team. Only these athletes may subsequently be entered to compete and thereby become official Olympic Team members, based upon the qualifying standard met by these individual athletes.
  2. These four candidates are selected by virtue of their place of finish at the Olympic Trials and qualifying standards that they have achieved after January 1, 2003.
  3. If there are four or more athletes who have achieved the "A" standard in an event, then the top four "A" qualifiers will be nominated as candidates in rank order of finish from the Olympic Trials.
  4. If there are fewer than four athletes who have achieved the "A" standard, then all those who have achieved the "A" standard will be nominated as candidates. To fill out the list of four candidates, the highest-placing finishers who have achieved the "B" standard will be nominated in order of finish at the Olympic Trials. If there are not enough "B" standard athletes to fill the list of four Candidates, then the highest-placing finishers at the Olympic Trials who are without a standard will be added to the list of four candidates in order of finish at the Olympic Trials.
  5. All athletes who are listed as Olympic Team Candidates on July 18, 2004 will have until August 9, 2004 to achieve an Olympic Games qualifying mark ("A" or "B" standard). Only these athletes may subsequently be nominated to the Olympic Team, based upon the qualifying standard met by these individual athletes.
  6. At the close of the qualifying period on August 9, 2004, the Olympic Team will be determined based upon qualifying standards met by the candidates.
  7. If two or more athlete candidates in an event have met the Olympic "A" standard by August 9, 2004, those athletes (up to 3) will be nominated to the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team in rank order of finish from the Olympic Trials.
  8. If only one athlete candidate in an event has met the Olympic "A" standard by August 9, 2004, only the highest placing athlete who has met either the "A" or "B" standard will be nominated to the 2004 Olympic Team.

Replacement of Athletes

An athlete who withdraws from the team after July 18, 2004 will be replaced by the next eligible nominated candidate who has achieved the Olympic Games qualifying standard, in rank order of finish at the Olympic Trials.

More Information

Click here for the full, detailed selection procedures.