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≡ SYDNEY, OWENS & LEWIS? ≡
“She could do it. She’s proven she’s capable. Yeah, she’s capable of doing it. So why not give her the opportunity?
“We’re a sport fighting for attention. So why do you make this decision? This shows the weakness of our sport. We’ve got the stars but we don’t get any help from the top.”
That’s legendary coach Bobby Kersee, speaking to Scott Reid of the Southern California News Group on Wednesday, on the newly-released track & field schedule for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
The schedule shows that a women’s 400 m and 400 m hurdles double is essentially impossible, even for the brilliant McLaughlin-Levrone, the world-record holder and Olympic champion in the 400 m hurdles and the 2025 World Champion – and no. 2 all-time – in the 400 m (full-session times shown; no race times available yet):
● 15 July-evening (1700-2020): 400 m round 1
● 18 July-morning (0930-1210): 400 m hurdles round 1
● 18 July-evening (1550-1855): 400 m semifinals
● 20 July-evening (1530-1830): 400 m hurdles semifinals and 400 m final
● 22 July-evening (1405-1820): 400 m hurdles final
Said Kersee, “It could be done if they worked with the schedule. Apparently they don’t feel that that’s important.”
And he noted that unusual doubles, like the unprecedented one that McLaughlin-Levrone could try, have been featured in past Olympic Games:
“I’ve been living with naysayers all my life. Nobody was looking at a 400/800 double and [Cuba’s] Alberto Juantorena did it [in 1976] and it was the biggest story of the Games and they got a world record out of it.
“I don’t understand if they adjust the schedule so Michael Johnson is able to double in the 400 and 200 [in 1996], why not? I just don’t understand it.”
One obvious option and an easy change that could help would be to bring the 400 m hurdles semifinals to the morning session (930-1200), which has a weak program of two field-event qualifying rounds of the women’s high jump and javelin, the first round of the men’s 800 m, the women’s 200 m repechage and the men’s Steeple final.
If switched, McLaughlin could run her 400 m hurdles semi at 10 a.m. and would be able to rest until about 6:20 p.m. for the 400 m final. That might work.
She would have already done a similar two races-in-a-day on the 18th with the 400 m hurdles heats in the morning and 400 m semifinals in the afternoon session. She would get a full day of rest on the 19th and then after the 20th, a full day of rest on the 21st before running the 400 m hurdles final on the 22nd.
McLaughlin-Levrone would also get a rest day on the 23rd and could then run in the women’s 4×400 m relay final on the 24th, the final day of the main track & field program at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. That would be seven 400 m races in eight days. A lot, but not impossible if the 20 July schedule were stretched out.
For those dreaming further, about an iconic Jesse Owens-Carl Lewis-style four golds in a single Games, the available option is for McLaughlin-Levrone to run in the Mixed 4×400 m, which has heats on 16th in the morning and the final in the evening of that day. If she ran the final only – and USA Track & Field has never run its top 400 m stars in the mixed relay – she would still have a rest day on the 17th before two qualifying races on the 18th.
Crazy? Probably. But as Kersee noted, crazy sometimes happens, with a little cooperation. If this wild idea were to be tried, her schedule would be:
● 15 July-evening (1700-2020): 400 m round 1
● 16 July-evening (1515-1900): Mixed 4×400 m relay final
● 18 July-morning (0930-1210): 400 m hurdles round 1
● 18 July-evening (1550-1855): 400 m semifinals
● 20 July-morning (0930-1200): 400 m hurdles semifinals
● 20 July-evening (1530-1830): 400 m final
● 22 July-evening (1405-1820): 400 m hurdles final
● 24 July-evening (1635-1825): Women’s 4×400 m relay final
The International Olympic Committee and World Athletics, as well as all of the other International Federations, wail incessantly about how the athlete is the center of everything they do. In order to give McLaughlin-Levrone – in her absolute prime at age 28 – a chance at history and – maybe – a shot at an astounding four Olympic golds, moving one race from the evening session to the morning on the same day doesn’t seem like an insurmountable obstacle.
But someone had better talk to Bobby Kersee first.
Rich Perelman
Editor
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