DJ

So I am in the Caribbean, Fort de France, Martinique to be exact. I announced to my people this weekend would kick off the season. Bolt made sure we all were paying attention, but the rest had yet to let us know it was that time again. I could not wait until Friday. Doha would start it and Martinique and Modesto would end it.

David Oliver and Allyson Felix made it official, it is THE year. 12.95, 10.93, and 49.84. Thanks guys it was great, and got me going. Now this is easy to talk about because the times speak for themselves, ya know. However, there is something that got me real excited and you had to be there to get it.

Martinique has a secret, the long jump competition is always great. I remember 2 years ago when Walter Davis and Brian Johnson had the headband war, I thought that was great. This year topped that by years. It started from round one, Miguel Pate, Brian Johnson and Dwight Phillips came to party. All three started the competition by jumping over 8.20! It was all in succession and it was a throw back competition. It brought me back to the Myricks - Powell - Lewis days when 27 feet got you third and 28 feet was nothing to be comfortable about. They were not jumping that far but they were jumping farther as a collective and it was GREAT to feel. Every round was dramatic, all the way until Dwight's last jump, when he went 8.47, falling one centimeter shy of tying BJ. If you have ever seen BJ, Miguel and Dwight perform you can imagine how it was going down. The energy on the field was beautiful.

Then came my personal moment when Ryan won the highs. That was good stuff. He beat back the Old Guy aka Allen Johnson, which is no easy task.
But the women's race had me dancing on the infield. D. Cherry and D. Ennis-London locked up in a war. Every hurdle was step for step, EVERY HURDLE! Neither woman was giving up a thing. I was shocked by the final time margin, but that did nothing to minimize the excitement of watching the 2 athletes get after it. 12.47 was the winning time, fastest in the world.

And the festivities ended with a blistering display by Muna Lee in the 200. She came off the bend and it was all over. The end came at 21.91w and it looked that fast.

And so went the opening weekend of excitement and highlights to let us all know this is the Olympic year.

Meanwhile, life is like a box of chocolates. LOL

It is May. For all the athletes out there May is hell. Time to compete and come down off the training or in some cases get in the last bit of training which makes competing a mental exercise the equivalent to solving the world economic problems. For coaches it is a time to insert the mental cues that will win medals and make teams.

Welcome to the Olympic year. I will see you all when I need to see you. Not sure when that will be, but I was told it will be on time. ;-)