2014 USATF Outdoor Open Track & Field Championships

From: USA Track & Field
To: [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 12:31 PM
Subject: Elite Athlete Handbook NOW Available Online

Attention All – the Elite Athlete Department at USA Track & Field is proud to announce that the 2009 Elite Athlete Handbook is now available online. In an effort to be more efficient – this publication will be available online only and will not be printed and mailed. This allows USATF to provide athletes and agents the most updated information in a timely fashion.  The 2009 Elite Athlete Handbook can be found at www.usatf.org/elite.

Athletes have the ability to download the entire Elite Athlete Handbook as a PDF or you can download individual sections – see a description of each section below.

Elite Athlete Handbook by Section 

• Introduction – letters from USATF CEO Doug Logan, USATF President Stephanie Hightower and Chair of the Athletes Advisory Committee Jon Drummond. There is also a introduction to USATF as well as detailed looked at the Project 30 recommendations and Doug Logan’s response to those recommendations. Finally – there is a picture guide for the Elite Athlete Department.
• Athlete Support – USATF Foundation information, Elite Development Clubs and Taxes.
  Note: We are currently awaiting approval from the USOC on athlete support programs such as Operation Gold, Travel Allocations, Performance Pool Funding, Elite Athlete Health Insurance, etc. As soon as the information is available – the handbook will be updated and athletes will be emailed directing them to the new information.
• Anti-Doping – All new regulations and protocols for the recently introduced International Standard of Testing as well as USATF Regulations regarding drug testing. Information regarding medical exemptions for athletes who required prohibited substances for medical reasons. Sample forms for Surrender of Citizenship Benefits and Therapeutic Use Exemption as well as information for athletes considering retirement.
• Team USA – List of 2009 Team USA competitions, information on selection procedures for 2009 World Championships, sample of Team USA Statement of Conditions. Qualifying Standards for USA Outdoor Championships and IAAF World Championships. There is also extensive information traveling both domestically and internationally as well detailed information on US airlines, contact information, their baggage fee structure and information on frequent travel programs.
• Communications/Public Outreach – Win with Integrity programs as well as information for dealing with Media and athlete bios for the internet and printed publications.
• Events/Calendars – 2009 Calendar of Elite Athlete Competitions, information on the IAAF Golden League and the upcoming IAAF Diamond League debuting in 2010. Details on the 2009 Visa Championship Series, USA Running Circuit and USA Race Walking Grand Prix.
• Committees/Directories – Information and contact details for the following USATF groups that directly affect athletes – Athletes Advisory Committee, Authorized Athletes Representatives (Agents), Board of Directors and the National Office Staff Directory.

We hope that this handbook provides you information on any question or issue you have regarding your interactions with USATF and/or the sport of track & field. If you have suggestions, corrections, additions or requests for this handbook, please send them to [email protected] or if there is something that is not covered in this handbook, contact Melissa as well. We will help you to find the answer to your question or concern.

Happy Earth Day to you all – the Elite Athlete Department of USA Track & Field

From: USA Track & Field <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 3:16 pm
Subject: USATF News and Notes, Volume 9, Number 17

For Immediate Release
April 8, 2009
Contact: Tom Surber, Media Information Manager
USA Track & Field
317-713-4690; [email protected]

News and Notes, Volume 9, Number 17

Women’s discus competition returns to Drake Relays

Olympic gold medalist Stephanie Brown Trafton, American record holder Suzy Powell-Roos and 2008 Olympic Trials winner Aretha Hill will headline the field as the women’s discus returns to the Drake Relays this year for the first time since 1988.

The second event of the 2009 USA Track & Field Outdoor Visa Championship Series, the 100th Drake Relays will be televised April 26 from 2 p.m.-3 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN2.

“This is a field that we’ve never seen the likes of at Drake,” said Relays director Brian Brown. “It is a U.S. high performance event in which our fans will see outstanding competition.”

Brown has installed new stands along the northwest Drake St adium throwing area to accommodate spectators for the event, which will be held at 2:30 p.m. during the Saturday (April 25) session of the Drake Relays.

On her first attempt in the Olympic final in Beijing, Brown Trafton threw the discus 64.74 meters/212 feet 5 inches, less than five feet off her personal best. During the remainder of the competition the other competitors tried and failed to better Brown Trafton’s first attempt, but by the time she entered the ring for her final throw, the gold medal was hers. It was the United States’ first gold medal in the women’s discus since Lillian Copeland in 1932, and the first medal of any kind since Leslie Jean Deniz won silver in the boycott-afflicted 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Powell-Roos, who competed in the 1996, 2000 and 2008 Olympics, set the existing American record of 67.67m/222 feet at the 2007 Maui “Big Wind” Discus Challenge to surpass the 21-year-old U.S. women’s record of 66.10m/216-10 set by Carol Cady in 1986. A six-time USA runner-up (1997, 2000-03, 2006), Powell-Roos claimed her first U.S. title at the 2007 USA Outdoor Championships.

Hill, who owns a personal best of 65.87m/216-1 in 2004, also is a three-time Olympian, competing in 199620and 2004, while placing 10th at the 2008 Olympics at 59.80m/196-2.  She was ranked #6 in the world in 2006, #7 in 2004, #8 in 2003 and #10 in 2002. Hill has been among the top and most consistent American throwers for the last 10 years, winning the U.S. Outdoor Championships in 2003, 2004 and 2006.

As a senior at Washington, Hill set a then American collegiate record of 65.60m/215-3 in 1998, and won a gold medal at the 2003 Pan American Games.

The field also includes Becky Breisch, who won the 2005 U.S. Outdoor Championship, while winning the 2003 NCAA Outdoor shot put title and 2004 NCAA discus crown at Nebraska. Breisch, who was fourth in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials, owns a personal best of 67.38m/221-1 set in 2007.

For more information on the 2009 USATF Outdoor Visa Championship Series, visit:www.usatf.org.
USA Track & Field | 132 E. Washington Street | Suite 800 | Indianapolis | IN | 46204

For Immediate Release Friday, April 3, 2009

Contact: Jill Geer USA Track & Field Director of Communications
317-713-4654;
[email protected]

USA Track & Field will continue its youth-focused anti-doping efforts in 2009 by continuing educational outreach efforts and, for the first time, conducting in-competition drug testing at youth championship events. The Win With Integrity – Clean Kids Program is a partnership with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and is tied to USATF’s Win With Integrity youth outreach program.

In 2008, USATF worked with USADA to distribute educational materials on drug testing and other anti-doping information to youth athletes at USATF’s three youth national championship events. Additionally, athletes in the Youth, Intermediate, and Young divisions were required to view USADA’s Doping Control Process video, which highlights the processes and procedures that occur during an in-competition drug test. In 2009, USATF will continue to provide educational materials to athletes and has created a new Win With Integrity – Clean Kids Program web page specific to enhancing the educational outreach on the anti-doping initiative.

“‘Clean Kids’ is critical to our mission of eradicating performance enhancing drugs from our sport and positively impacting society as a whole,” said USATF CEO Doug Logan. “If we can help these young athletes understand that using drugs is an unethical choice that is wrong for them, wrong for the sport and wrong for their health, then we have taken one step forward in this fight.”

In 2009, drug testing will be conducted at the World Youth Trials and USA Youth Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Ypsilanti, Mich.; USATF National Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships in Greensboro, N.C.; and the USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships in Reno, Nev. Athletes in the Intermediate and Young divisions will be subject to drug testing conducted by USADA.

To learn more about the Win with Integrity – Clean Kids Program visit usatf.org/youth

About USA Track & Field USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world’s oldest organized sports, some of the most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States. For more information on USATF, visit usatf.org..