The Karolyi way -- U.S. women are winners

The biggest name in American gymnastics, the outsized personality, is Bela.

Everyone, it seems, knows Bela Karolyi. In their minds' eye, they can see Bela with Nadia Comaneci, and that was in 1976, well before Bela and his wife, Martha, made their way to the west. They can see Bela with Mary Lou Retton in Los Angeles in 1984. Perhaps most memorably, there is Bela holding Kerri Strug after Kerri's vault in Atlanta in 1996.

Bela is and forever will be Bela.

You know what, though? Martha is formidable, as everyone who is close to the sport has well understood for a very long time, and the American women proved it yet again Tuesday, winning the 2011 team world championship in Tokyo with a roster missing the stars most casual American gymnastics fans have come to know over the past few years.

This was a young team, a new team, and still the Americans didn't miss a beat.

Indeed, by the final rotation, the floor exercise, the U.S. team was so far ahead of the defending world champion Russians that the final American up, 17-year-old Aly Raisman, only had to score better than an 11 -- a really low score in elite gymnastics -- for the U.S. to win. She did, easily, with a 14.666, and the celebration was on.

The Americans finished with 179.411, more than four full points ahead of the Russians, with 175.329. China took third, with 172.820.

The U.S. men, meanwhile, won their first world team medal in eight years on Wednesday -- a bronze, missing silver by a mere 0.010. China won gold, Japan silver.

The 2011 world title matches the gold medals the U.S. women won in 2007 and 2003. It also makes the U.S. women favorites for team gold next summer in London.

"This team victory exemplifies the amazing program that has emerged over the past 11 years under the leadership of Martha Karolyi," Steve Penny, the president and chief executive officer of USA Gymnastics, said.

"The athletes, coaches and everyone connected to the program contributed to this success.  This," he said, "is another very proud moment."

This also underscores, yet again, that the Martha Karolyi way, which means the American way in women's gymnastics, works -- a direct challenge to, for instance, the Chinese, or others, compelled from their youngest years to live away from home, away from their families, and do gymnastics in a state-sponsored system.

Martha is the U.S. team's national coordinator. She and Bela have a ranch down in New Waverly, Texas, out in the woods about an hour's drive north of Houston's international airport.

Here's the essence of the Karolyi way:

Promising gymnasts live at home and train at their local gyms with their own coaches. On a regular basis, they come to the Karolyi Ranch, where the girls train under Martha's watchful eye -- and the coaches, not incidentally, learn and share together.

Make no mistake. Martha is demanding, physically and mentally. And the U.S. selection process, under Martha's direction, is rigorous, intentionally so.

But here is the thing. If Martha is exacting, Martha is not outrageous. There is a fine line, and she walks it. It's why gymnasts who have lived the Karolyi way come back for more, sometimes years later. They know that she not only can but does bring out their best.

At the same time, this, too: gymnastics can be really hard on the body. As this summer proved, that means pressure all around -- on the girls and on Martha, too.

The U.S. selection process included the national championships and then two more competition-style training camps at the Karolyi Ranch.

At the championships, Chellsie Memmel -- who was on the silver medal-winning 2008 U.S. Olympic team -- suffered a shoulder injury on the uneven bars. At the same meet, Rebecca Bross, the 2010 U.S. all-around champion, hurt her knee.

At one of the selection camps, Mackenzie Caquatto hurt her ankle. Then, in Japan, uneven bars specialist Anna Li strained an abdominal muscle; and, finally, almost unbelievably, Alicia Sacramone, the U.S. team captain, tore an Achilles tendon during a practice tumbling pass.

Shawn Johnson, the Olympic gold medalist on the balance beam in 2008? She wasn't available in Tokyo. In the midst of a comeback from a knee injury, she's due to be competing at the Pan Am Games later this month in Mexico.

Nastia Liukin, the all-around gold medalist from Beijing? She wasn't in Tokyo, either. She just announced an intent to mount a comeback for London.

Bridget Sloan, who like Shawn and Nastia was on the 2008 Beijing team? Like Shawn, Bridget will be at the Pan Ams.

Several of the other teams in Tokyo had six healthy athletes. The U.S. women had only five: Raisman; Jordyn Wieber; McKayla Maroney; Sabrina Vega; Gabrielle Douglas.

This kind of intensity is also the Karolyi way.

Raisman gathered the others around and said, in essence, let's do this. "I told all the girls, 'We're going to remember this for the rest of our lives and just to go out there and own it and have fun."

Wieber, the 2011 U.S. all-around champ, said, "We were confident and aggressive and we just did our job. It turned out awesome."

Here's an exclamation point to the awesomeness:

The Americans ended up with 46.816 points on the vault -- more than two points better than any of the other teams, and that without Sacramone, the 2010 world champion in the vault.

Because Sacramone was officially a member of the team, she earned a 10th world championship medal. That's an American record. She had been tied with Liukin and Shannon Miller, with nine.

Martha observed that this was a "very young team" and that they had "prepared physically very well," but "we were not so sure if they would hold up very well under the pressure."

She said, "These girls proved they did the right preparation, physically and mentally," and if you know Martha you know that "mentally" was absolutely the key. "I'm very proud of them."

She also said, "I'm very satisfied. This is my passion. Every time the results come out as you plan, you are certainly extremely happy. That's how I feel today -- happy and proud of the program and of these young ladies."

Brady Ellison: world's No. 1 archer

Brady Ellison can still vividly remember the first time his father, Alfred, took him hunting. Brady was still in diapers. Son, if some ducks fly by, tell me, Alfred had said. All of a sudden, Brady yelled out, "Bang! Bang! Bang!" Alfred fell off his chair as three mallards flew overhead.

"I said, 'I want to shoot some, too!' " Brady said, laughing.

Brady Ellison turns 23 later this month. He has grown into the world's No. 1-ranked archer. It all started from just wanting to be an outdoorsman in Arizona, where he grew up, hanging out with his dad, each with a gun or a bow in hand.

"Just to do stuff together," Brady said. "It really just grew from there."

Alfred Ellison is a man's man. The father has, as his son said, "done a lot of different stuff" for work, ranging from "fusing pipes together for mines" to being a foreman.

Brady is an only child.

If you think Arizona is only desert and boring -- best to go back to the geography books. The state has northern mountains, and lakes that are good for trout and bass fishing.

"It's not like New Mexico or Texas, where you have monster bass, but we do okay," Brady allowed.

When you grow up this way, just like in the Old West of lore, you naturally become a good shot, with guns and with arrows.

Indeed, the family scrapbook is filled with photos of Brady and dad with their hunts.

The jump from being a most excellent shot to No. 1 in the world with a bow in his hands is what has transpired over the past couple of years.

As Brady readily acknowledges, it's all in his head, and in this regard, this is where the script diverges from what could have been a black-and-white 1950s cowboy movie to include elements of 21st-century sports-psychologist New Age Zen dude.

Which Brady is, as he absolutely should be, proud of.

Coached by Lanny and Troy Basham of Mental Management Systems, he has done prodigious work on the mental side of his game. It's not just his game face. It's part of his routine -- his day, every day. And let's face it. Archery, especially at the elite level, is supremely mental.

Here is the realization that changed everything for Brady, and it's in two parts:

He is not afraid to lose.

And:

He's there to win.

There's a subtle but crucial difference to each.

Until a couple years ago, he said, "I had a problem with fear. My fear was going somewhere no one had ever gone before. Once I got over that, I started winning tournaments.

"It was just something I realized I was doing I just got over it. Don't be afraid. If you're good enough, just go show the world you're good enough.

"Letting the fear go away -- knowing I can only control what I can control -- if I control myself, other people are going to work hard to beat me."

At, for instance, the Olympic test event this week at Lord's Cricket Ground in London, where the South Korean team set a new team world record in the quarterfinal round against Australia, 233 points, led by Im Dong-Hyun. That was two points better than the mark a South Korean team had set at the 2007 world championships.

In the semifinals at the London event, the Americans, led by Ellison, defeated the No. 1-seeded South Koreans, 222-216, and went on to defeat Chinese Taipei, 225-222, to take gold.

On Monday, he won the individual gold at the test event, defeating Im, 6-2.

For the season, as the world archery federation noted in a release, Ellison has won 34 of 36 events, or 94.4 percent. His average scores per tournament included 28.52 in Torino, Italy, which -- in assessing just how good that was -- the federation marked with not just one but three exclamation points.

Brady Ellison is one of the humblest, soft-spoken, decent athletes out there. He is also supremely confident. He has to be. That's how you win.

In recent years, the South Koreans have dominated archery at the Olympic Games. But a South Korean archer has never won the individual gold medal.

You want to know who, next summer on the same field at Lord's, is going to not just welcome but embrace that pressure?

"So many people out there are afraid to win a tournament," Brady Ellison said. "I'm afraid to lose. It makes me mad. You don't get a paycheck. You don't get rankings. There are so many more downsides to losing. I'm not afraid to win any more."

He also said, "It's just a gift from God the way I grew up. I honestly think there's not a person in the world with a bow in his hand who is mentally as strong as I am."

Justice: 'Six-month' rule booted, appropriately

Doping in sport is corrosive. The international Olympic Committee has every right to want to be tough on doping. But you can't occupy the moral high ground when you're mired in legal quicksand. From the get-go, that was always the problem with what is formally known as Rule 45, informally as "the six-month rule," which took effect in 2008 and sought to ban any athlete hit with a doping-related suspension of more than six months from competing in the next Summer or Winter Games.

In a case that centered on American LaShawn Merritt, the 400-meter champion from the 2008 Beijing Games, sport's top tribunal, the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport on Thursday unanimously decided that Rule 45 violated the World Anti-Doping Code -- with which by the Olympic Charter the IOC must comply -- and is thus "invalid and unenforceable."

This is a victory for Merritt, who now gets to run in the 2012 London Games, assuming of course he makes the team at the U.S. Trials next year in Eugene, Ore.

It is a victory for the U.S. Olympic Committee, which brought the case on his behalf.

Mostly, it's a victory for common sense.

Which, bluntly, the anti-doping system needs.

For that system to work, it depends most of all on credibility.

Rule 45 was a credibility-killer.

Typically, the IOC is very big on process and procedure.

Not so much in this instance.

In a bid to be tough on dopers, the IOC pronounced -- in essence -- we get to make the rules because they're our Olympic Games and we make those rules our way and if you don't like it, well, too bad for you.

That's not fair play.

That's why Thursday's decision is so important.

The decision "further establishes the independence and legitimacy of CAS," Howard Jacobs, the noted California lawyer who argued the case on behalf of the USOC, said.

"Of course, the big concern is that the IOC is the IOC," he said. "For them to say, 'It's our Olympics and we create the rules' -- it's comforting to know there's a body to say, 'Only to a point.' "

The IOC, reiterating its "zero tolerance" in the campaign against the use of illicit performance-enhancing drug use in sport, issued a statement that said it was "naturally disappointed" and "somewhat surprised" in the CAS decision, saying it had believed all along the rule was an "efficient means to advance the fight against doping."

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, joined by anti-doping bodies from Britain, South Africa, Japan, New Zealand, Norway and Denmark, had filed a brief urging CAS to find Rule 45 invalid, arguing that because it was inconsistent with the world code it actually "undermines the world anti-doping program."

Also joining in, filing separate briefs backing the USOC: the Swiss Anti-Doping Agency; the French Anti-Doping Agency; the Dutch and Hungarian Olympic committees; the Spanish Professional Cyclist Assn.; and the Russian Biathlon Union. The Valparaiso (Indiana) University Sports Law Clinic also filed a brief supporting the USOC.

The IOC came to court by itself, asserting it had no need to produce such "friend-of-the-court" briefs. In this instance, it was probably because it had no such friends backing up its position.

So many other parties, however, were so interested in the USOC's arguments because Thursday's ruling holds the ruling to impact athletes well beyond Merritt and nations far beyond American shores. A British Olympic Assn. rule bans drug offenders for life from the Games. Now that rule surely will come under renewed scrutiny.

The IOC's policy-making Executive Board enacted the six-month rule on June 27, 2008, just ahead of the Beijing Olympics. It came into effect that next month. London 2012, though, would have been the first Summer Games to have been fully covered by it.

If the IOC wanted to make this kind of rule, the way to do it would have been to seek an amendment to the WADA code. The obvious reality is, it's far from clear the IOC could garner support for this kind of policy.

Why?

Because, simply, the rule makes no distinction between those who intend to cheat and those who, like Merritt, make a stupid mistake.

This always was the fatal flaw in the rule.

Merritt served a 21-month suspension after testing positive for a banned substance found in the male enhancement produce ExtenZe. He bought the stuff at a 7-Eleven. He made a bad choice. He didn't intend to cheat.

Even though Merritt had already served that suspension, the IOC nonetheless wanted to bar him from the next edition of the Games. Rule 45 was an "eligibility" provision, it alleged.

Nonsense, the USOC and others responded. Rule 45 amounted to an impermissible double "sanction," they said. You can't serve a suspension and then get another suspension on top of that, which is what being banned from the next Olympics amounts to.

To the credit of the IOC and USOC, both parties agreed to bring the case to CAS this year instead of next -- instead of letting it drag on, as litigation can tend to do. The two sides have not always agree in recent years on matter of procedure, much less substance. It might well have been chaos if this kind of case had come up next year, and this sort of "eligibility" issue had arisen -- should Merritt, for instance, be allowed to run at the Trials?

As Scott Blackmun, the chief executive of the USOC pointed out in a statement, getting the case decided now ensured "certainty" amid preparations for 2012, and -- again -- the USOC deserves special mention for taking up the case, quietly and deliberately, and doing the right thing. Let's face it -- it was advocating for an Olympic champion, yes, but also for one convicted of a doping offense, and at the outset the USOC had no idea in which way that might ultimately play out in the court of public opinion.

Echoed Bob Hersh, the senior IAAF vice president, speaking at a news conference in Doha, Qatar, "I'm glad there is apparent resolution to something that is uncertain," adding, "It was an important issue to resolve."

An eight-hour hearing was held Aug. 17 in Lausanne, Switzerland, CAS' base. CAS initially planned to issue the ruling last week but ultimately did so Thursday.

Even if it could be seen as an eligibility rule, the three-member CAS panel said, cutting through all the legal mumbo-jumbo to get to the essence, the rule obviously held the "nature and inherent characteristics of a sanction." Therefore, the panel said, it violated the WADA code.

Common sense.

From the Bronx to Gymnastics' Big Stage

You want to know why Americans love the Olympic dream? It's young people like John Orozco.

John is a world-class gymnast from the Bronx. He finished third in the all-around in the 2011 U.S. national championships, behind Danell Leyva and U.S. men's team mainstay Jon Horton.

As if that alone weren't enough -- a gymnast from the Bronx, for real -- John's dad, William, worked for New York City's Department of Sanitation for 24 years; William retired because he suffered a stroke.

John's mom, Damaris, used to drive John 30 miles to a gym in Chappaqua, N.Y., about an hour each way, and it was an hour only if traffic was good. She has herself faced multiple health issues.

When you watch John compete this week at the gymnastics world championships in Tokyo, think about all it took about for him just to get there -- as well as all he proudly stands for and all he hopes yet to achieve.

"I'm on the podium, winning a medal," listening to The Star-Spangled Banner. "That's the moment I want to be in. That's the moment I see myself in -- I try to see myself in, the moment I think about every day.

"It's like I get chills and butterflies in my stomach when I think about it," John said. "It's almost like -- I don't know. It's almost embarrassing. I'm almost on the verge of tears. I guess I'm a softie."

In the lead-up to London and 2012, John is based now at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

But New York City is definitely still home.

Assuming John makes the 2012 U.S. team, the buzz around him figures to be big. Like way big. He is, after all, from the Media Capital of The World. How it is that the major outlets in New York -- with the exception of the Daily News -- haven't yet discovered John is something of a mystery.

Oh, but they will.

Dominic Minicucci, Jr., from Staten Island, was the last guy from the city of New York to be on the U.S. men's Olympic teams. He was on the 1988 and 1992 teams.

The Bronx?

"It was hard," John said, "because, you know, I'd get flak from all the other guys," the ones in high school who were playing other sports, basketball especially. "What is that you are doing? Gymnastics? You're putting all those tight clothes on? You're doing flips?

"I'd say, 'You guys just don't get it.' "

Again: The Bronx. Gymnastics. High school.

If that's not the sort of thing that forges mental toughness, what does?

One day last week, between sessions at the Colorado Springs center, John was wearing a shirt that read, "Pain is Love."

It was not, assuredly, a statement of self-pity.

It was a statement of toughness. And realness.

"I didn't have that much time for friends," John said, thinking back to high school. He finished about a year ago. He's still just 18, turning 19 in December.

Then again, "I figured I'd have all the time in the world after the Olympics to make friends."

He said, "My parents helped me out with that, too. They told me anything you want to do is fine. "If you want to do this," meaning gymnastics, "keep going. If you don't, let us know. Don't let anyone else influence you because of how you might fit in."

John said a moment or two later, "My family is everything to me. They're the ones who have always been there. They're the ones who are always going to be there."

John is the youngest of five. He has three brothers. "They act like, 'Oh, gymnastics -- oh, ha-ha-ha.' But when I'm not around, they're like, 'Oh, my brother -- he's going to the world championships!"

Where the spotlight finds John and, assuming he stays healthy, stays on him to and through London.

Ready for that spotlight? "I hope so," he said.

He thought for another moment, then smiled and said, an affirmation, "I think so."

Watch out, world: Lindsey Vonn is motivated

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Traditionally, alpine ski star Lindsey Vonn has been something of a summer workout fiend. This past March, she came up just three points shy of what would have been a fourth straight overall World Cup overall title, denied in part because bad weather forced the cancellation of the season's final race, a giant slalom in Lenzerheide, Switerland. Maria Riesch of Germany, who is Lindsey's very good friend, won the overall.

Watch out, world.

Because this summer? Lindsey was saying in a phone call from Chile, where there's snow: "I have had the most motivated summer I have ever had." Maybe, she said, she took two weeks off -- total.

On Friday night, Lindsey was named the USOC sportswoman of the year for her 2010 campaign, which included that third World Cup overall and two Olympic medals, gold in the downhill and bronze in the super-G.

Evan Lysacek, who also won gold at those Vancouver Games in men's figure skating, was named the USOC sportsman of the year; the bobsled team piloted by Steve Holcomb won the team of the year. Lysacek and Holcomb were both here to accept their awards, Lysacek announcing he intends to go for the Sochi 2014 Games, Holcomb saying he wants to keep on going through Pyeongchang and 2018.

It's not that Lindsey didn't want to be here as well. She sent a video thank-you in which she said she was "excited" to be an Olympic athlete and "hopefully represented the Olympic values," and anyone who has ever observed the many times Lindsey has stopped to patiently and graciously pose for photos or sign autographs for her younger fans knows she understands full well the reach of those Olympic values.

The USOC award was Lindsey's second in a row. "There are so many amazing athletes out there," she was saying on the phone. "I am incredibly honored to be mentioned in the same category with them. To have won this award two years in a row is more than I could have hoped for. I really appreciate it."

This attitude is no act.

This is not the stuff of locker-room cliché.

This is real Lindsey.

"You can never take anything for granted," she said. "Sometimes it's easy to get comfortable. You can never be satisfied. You always have to be hungry. That was one of the things I have definitely learned over the last few seasons.

"And it is very much a learning process. There's a reason people are veterans. They have been around a while. They have figured it out. Every year I have learned something. I am a much more mature skier and a much more mature person than I was even last year."

To recap the 2011 season:

In early February, Lindsey suffered a concussion. That forced her to take some time off.

When she resumed skiing, she decided to simply ski with abandon, reasoning she had nothing to lose -- she was that far down in the standings.

In late February, at the World Cup stop in Sweden, Lindsey was 216 points down.

By the time the season ended, and the weather canceled that final giant slalom in Lenzerheide, Lindsey had closed the gap to just three points -- Riesch ending with 1,728, Vonn with 1,725.

"I was disappointed," Lindsey said. "To say the least."

In May, she went to the USOC's training center near San Diego, to work on both her explosive power and her agility. She said, "It's similar to what I did last year. But a more intense program this year."

After that month, she went to Europe, to "really disconnect from the world and get hunkered down and get a good block of conditioning training."

Then it was to New Zealand, to get there ahead of the U.S. team, to get "a lot of really good info on equipment and get feeling really good, really strong in all events."

"Right now we're finishing up in Chile," she said, literally finishing up, dashing out when the phone call ended after three weeks of downhill and super-G training, and a fair amount of that with the guys.

"I feel like this summer has gone really well," Lindsey said. "I am extremely motivated for another season."

Watch out, world.

The USOC as "us" instead of "them"

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Scott Blackmun, the chief executive of the United States Olympic Committee, wrapped up his speech to the USOC's annual general assembly here Friday morning with what may have been the one of the most remarkable comments put forth in the nearly 14 years I have closely covered America's Olympic organization. In the context of pretty much any other American entity, it might not have been so incredible. But by the standards of the formerly dysfunctional USOC, it was a chart-topper.

"I'm having a blast," Blackmun, the USOC's chief executive since January, 2010, said. He added a moment later, "We feel great about where we're going, and I hope you do too. If you don't, I hope you come talk to us about it."

The USOC very much used to be an "us" versus "them" sort of institution. Petty politics, turf wars and worse used to pass for par for the course.

Now, with Blackmun and board chairman Larry Probst firmly in charge, the message that rang through loud and clear Friday was of a USOC with the emphasis on just those first two letters -- "us."

Accessible, inclusive, publicly and avowedly committed Friday to diversity and to winning off the field of play as much as on -- to being what Probst, in his speech, which immediately preceded Blackmun's, called a "trusted partner" within the worldwide Olympic movement.

There will be other days in which the USOC doubtlessly will find itself criticized for something, and assuredly that criticism will be deserved. That's the nature of being in the public interest. On the once-a-year occasion when the leaders of the USOC stand before their stakeholders, and the report is largely positive -- it's only fair, and right, that the good vibe ought to be noted, too.

Reality check: Is the USOC perfect? Hardly.

Does it face significant challenges? Of course.

Internationally, for instance, the USOC and the International Olympic Committee must yet, for instance, resolve a longstanding dispute over broadcast and marketing revenue shares.

It will have been at least 20 years since the Games were held in the United States  -- in 2002 in Salt Lake City -- and it's far from clear when the Olympics will be held here next.

In another area, a USOC diversity working group reported that but 36 percent of the USOC's manager level positions and above were women; 91 percent were white. Among the national governing bodies, only two of the 47 chief executives are women; 91 percent of the board of the directors are white; and just 15 percent of membership is non-white.

Saying the USOC was looking for "measurable progress" to "enhance diversity," and soon, Blackmun declared, "We're not doing this because we have to. We're doing this because it's going to make us better."

It that sort of thing sounds treacly to those who don't understand the way Probst and Blackmun operate -- think back to October, 2009.

That was when Chicago got whacked in IOC voting for the 2016 Summer Games. That was the (most recent) low point. The president of the United States had made a personal appearance In Copenhagen on behalf of the bid and still Chicago got the boot in the very first round. A lot needed to be changed.

At the time, Stephanie Streeter was the acting chief executive. She fairly quickly opted to step down.

The obvious step thereafter was a new chief executive. Whoever would get the job -- and, just as important, whether Probst would let whoever that would be actually run the place, the tone and tenor that would be set -- would prove key.

Probst, in his address Friday, called Blackmun "one of the finest leaders--and finest individuals--on the international sports scene, and we are very fortunate to have him leading the USOC."

The next step was fixing the USOC's governance model, former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue's committee recommending a series of steps, including the appointment of new board members, five of whom were appointed last December, resulting in what has -- so far -- yielded a more-balanced board.

The result, Probst told the audience: a "great" CEO, an "engaged and committed" board, a "strong governance model, all "operating in complete alignment with your interests as never before."

Add to that the $4.4 billion deal NBC struck with the IOC a couple months ago for the U.S. broadcast rights for the Games from 2014 through 2020 -- that ensures not just the IOC's financial base but the USOC's, too.

Over the last year, meanwhile, Probst has been to 18 different international meetings and events in 13 different countries; Blackmun has been with him on most of those trips.

The two of them, for example, were the first national Olympic committee officials to travel to Tokyo after the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in northeastern Japan this past March.

"The Olympic movement operates on relationships -- on real friendships built over time," Probst said, noting the example of Pyeongchang, South Korea's winning bid for the 2018 Winter Games, a success after failed bids for the 2010 and 2014 Olympics.

"It's making a difference because we can go into hotel lobbies … and know people," Blackmun said of the travel he and Probst have undertaken.

In past years, USOC leaders have been blunt in saying they expected the U.S. team to top the medals count at the Summer Games. Looking toward London and 2012, some experts have said the United States might fall as far as third in the medals count, behind China and Russia. Mindful of the successes this past summer of U.S. teams, including the 32 medals the swim team won in Shanghai and the 25 the track team won in Daegu, Probst gently said from the lectern, knowing full well his comments would be reported around the world, "I'd be willing to bet we don't finish third."

You don't have to smack talk to be confident in your team, you know.

It is, in fact, a new USOC -- one that recognizes the United States has a distinct position in our world but doesn't seek to impose an American way to the exclusion of all other ways. There are lots of ways.

"Our goal is to become off the field what we have always sought to be on the field -- the best and most respected national Olympic committee in the world," Probst said. "To do that, you have to be present, you have to be real and you have to connect."

Blackmun put it slightly differently but no less elegantly. He said, "One thing I sometimes feel is that people in Washington are focused on one party or the other instead of the nation. Historically, we've had some of the same issues in this room. I don't feel like that today. I feel unequivocally supported by everyone in this room."

Galen Rupp answers his critics

The community that closely follows American distance running is full of zeal, snark and great passion.

Last week, in a race in Belgium, Galen Rupp broke the American record in the 10,000 meters, and by more than 11 seconds, finishing in 26 minutes and 48 seconds. That was his personal-best time, by more than 22 seconds.

Rupp's run was the fourth-fastest in the world in 2011. He is now the 16th-fastest man in history at 10k; his 26:48 is the 29th-fastest of all time.

Chris Solinsky had held the American record, 26:59.60, set in May, 2010. Solinsky's run was the 81st-fastest 10k ever run; Solinsky is now the 39th-fastest man in 10k history.

All those superlatives -- and what did Rupp get from the American track and field community?

Along with the praise -- a healthy dose of angst and criticism.

No American man has won an Olympic medal in the 10k since Billy Mills in 1964. There's a lot of pent-up emotion. Bring on the therapy sessions!

"Dear Galen Rupp: Time to Move Up to the Marathon," said one poster to the message boards at LetsRun.com, criticizing Rupp's finishing kick.

As was duly noted, Rupp was blown away in the last lap of the race by eventual winner Kenenisa Bekele and Kenya's Lucas Rotich.

Bekele won in a world-leading 26:43.16. Rotich took second, Rupp third. Bekele, for the unfamiliar, is the world-record holder and arguably the greatest 10k (and 5k) runner of all time.

More than one critic also noted that Rupp was blown away at the close of last month's world championship 10k in Daegu, South Korea, finishing seventh.

Also on the LetsRun.com message boards: the assertion that Solinsky's effort, at the beginning of the 2010 outdoor season, was just as good as Rupp's, at the end of the year and on a super-fast track.

The event in Belgium, in Brussels, called the Van Damme meet, is notorious for speed. Dating back to 1996, 12 of the 16 fastest 10k runners of all time have turned in their best at Van Damme, including Bekele's world-record 26:17.53, on August 26, 2005.

Wait -- there's more.

Alberto Salazar, the 1980s distance great who is now coaching both Rupp and Britain's Mo Farah in Oregon -- Farah won silver in Daegu in the 10k and gold in the 5k -- said the following in comments published on the IAAF, or international track and field association, website:

"… When you run World Championships in hot weather you've got to deal with it.

"But even though Galen is not a big guy he's still big compared to a Kenyan or an Ethiopian. It's a disadvantage if you are a Caucasian running in the heat versus an African, you just have more body mass and it's going to be harder."

What's an American record-holder to do?

First things first.

"I mean, I don't -- I don't think it has anything to do with being white," Rupp said Tuesday in a conference call with reporters, asked if it was a disadvantage to be a white runner in a discipline dominated by dark-skinned Africans.

"I think his point in saying that is more that I'm just a bigger guy than a lot of these guys," adding a moment later, "It's easier for them to stay cooler longer. I think that was the point [Salazar] was trying to make with that statement. You know, I agree with it."

As for his finishing kick -- Rupp agrees with his critics. He needs to get stronger.

It's a process, he said.

Farah has urged patience. Salazar has urged patience.

If there is anything the American distance community ought to understand, that's for sure it -- if there is to be greatness in the 10k, it takes patience.

Rupp, for instance, finished 13th in the 10k at the 2008 Olympics. To go from 13th in 2008 to seventh in 2011 -- that's definitely moving up, isn't it?

"Sometimes it takes time," Rupp said. "It takes years of doing a lot of strength workouts and to keep the same approach we have been taking. You have got to be able to finish fast in slow races to be able to close in fast races."

A couple years ago, he said, it was "hang on as long as you can." Now it's the "fun part, where I'm going to be there at the end."

He said, "For me to make that next jump, I have to be sound. I'm close to making that big jump. I think I have the pieces in place to do something well. I have great people around me and full confidence they are doing the right thing."

'...Big things' for 2011 U.S. track team

DAEGU, South Korea -- Christian Taylor, 21 years old, won the triple jump Sunday at the 2011 track championships with an audacious leap of 17.96 meters, 58 feet, 11 1/4 inches, the fifth-best in history. He declared afterward, in the tone of a respectful competitor, not a jerk, "I came to win." Will Claye is just 20 years old. Both Claye and Taylor were going to be seniors at the University of Florida until turning pro. What are the odds that these would be the two guys finishing 1-3 at the worlds in the same event? Yet that's what happened, Claye jumping a personal-best 17.5, or 57-5. He said, "We came out here, did our best and ended up doing big things."

The American team did, indeed, do big things.

First and foremost, it topped the medal table, with 25, the second-highest medal total at a worlds for Team USA, one shy of the 26 won by the 1991 and 2007 teams.

But for the thoroughly unexpected, the American team actually could have reached the elusive 30 mark, which would have been sweet validation indeed for Doug Logan, the vanquished former chief executive of USA Track & Field, who had said all along that 30 was eminently do-able -- only to get sent packing before the plans he had put in place to get to 30 could be realized.

The Americans put four men in the final 12 in shot put, an event the U.S. has dominated in recent years. None got a medal. The U.S. has also been strong in the 400-meter men's hurdles; no medals there in Daegu despite two finalists. The Americans took home no medals in pole-vaulting, men's or women's, a traditional strength.

And, once again, in the very last event of the championships, the men's 400 relay, an event won by the Jamaicans -- anchored by Usain Bolt -- in world-record time, 37.04, the American men did not get through without disaster.

The 2008 Olympics, the 2009 world champs and now these 2011 worlds -- all DQs. This one involved a collision on the final exchange involving American Darvis Patton and Britain's Harry Aikines-Aryeetey. Details, even after repeated viewings of the tape, remain sketchy.

"I felt his big knee in my arm," Aikines-Aryeetey said in a television interview.

Under no circumstances would the Americans have beaten the Jamaicans. Even so, Justin Gatlin, who had run the second leg, said, "You can't tell me we weren't going to set an American record."

Stepping back to assess the U.S. team's "big things" over the nine days of the meet:

The 12 medals won by the U.S. women are the most-ever; the 1993 team won 11.

Allyson Felix didn't win individual gold in her 200/400 double. But she did win silver in the 400, bronze in the 200 and gold in both the 400 and 1600 relays. Four is the most medals ever won by a woman at one meet; American Gwen Torrance, Kathrin Krabbe of Germany and Marita Koch of East Germany also won four.

If Felix had been a country, the four medals she won would have tied her for seventh on the 2011 medals chart.

Also: those four medals lift Felix's career world-championships total won to 10. That ties her with Carl Lewis for most medals won by an American.

Jenny Simpson, 25 and still a newlywed (last October), won the first gold for the United States in the women's 1500 since 1983. Then, a couple days later, Matthew Centrowitz, 21, a fifth-year senior at Oregon, won bronze in the 1500.

The U.S. men swept the high jump, long jump and triple jump golds. The U.S. men -- Trey Hardee and Ashton Eaton -- went 1-2 in the decathlon. Dwight Phillips' long jump victory was his fourth at the worlds, to go along with his 2004 Olympic gold.

Phillips is 33, turning 34 in October. Bernard Lagat, who took silver Sunday night in the 5000, is 36, turning 37 in December. Lagat is the 2007 5000 and 1500 champ and, as well, the 2009 1500 bronze and 5000 silver medalist; he won silver at the 2004 Games in Athens when he was still running for Kenya.

Lagat, Phillips, Simpson, Centrowitz -- they illustrate the mix of veteran and younger talent that made up this team. That same sort of mix is likely to be on display next year for the United States track team at the Olympics in London.

"If Jenny can do it … if Matt can do it … if Bernard can still do it … I'm proud of my team," Lagat said.

Taylor, asked about the U.S. men sweeping the jumps, said, "It's about time. That's what I would say. Like I said, to have Dwight in the same group and having that family -- you know it's like, I wouldn't say a brother, but he's kind of old, so kind of like a dad! I mean, it's just been a great experience.

"The U.S. definitely represented and showed the world that we are the best team in the world."

So -- what does this performance here in Daegu mean for London?

Maybe a lot and perhaps very little.

LaShawn Merritt, the 2008 400 gold medalist, took silver in the event here and anchored the gold medal-winning 1600 relay. His future remains uncertain pending the outcome of litigation stemming from a 21-month doping-related suspension he has already served.

Tyson Gay, who had been America's best 100 and 200 sprinter, was hurt. Jeremy Wariner, the 2004 400 gold medalist -- hurt. Chris Solinsky, the 10,000-meter American record-holder -- hurt. Bryan Clay, the 2008 Olympic decathlon champ -- hurt. Standout hurdler Lolo Jones -- hurt. None of them competed here.

Do any or all of them make it to London? No one can predict.

Who knows whether Gay, who has struggled to stay healthy, can get fit?

Beyond which -- the brutal nature of the U.S. Trials, in which you're top-three or you stay home -- allows for no sentiment.

Just ask Phillips. He finished fourth at the Trials in 2008.

Or Simpson. "I mean, all this can do is bolster my confidence," she said.

But now Daegu is over, and London awaits. And she said, "I'm very cognizant of the fact this doesn't mean that I'm any shoo-in for any race following this."

Let Bolt run

DAEGU, South Korea -- It's my fault, and only my fault, for false-starting in the 100, Usain Bolt said. He also said, and he was not boasting nor was he being disrespectful, that he believes he would have run in the 9.6s or maybe 9.7-low and that without the false start his teammate Yohan Blake, who went on to win the 100 in 9.92, would have run 9.8.

Got that?

He, Bolt, intimated that he would have won the 100. Absolutely, positively, unequivocally, he would have won.

That is because he, Usain Bolt, is the best.

After watching Bolt run the fourth-fastest 200 of all time Saturday night -- 19.40, and from Lane 3, a lane he said he had never run in before, a tighter lane that required more from him than Lane 5 or 6, where he usually operates -- who wants to argue the point?

That is the shame of the false-start rule that robbed everyone in the entire world of the thrill of watching Bolt in the 100.

That rule will be up for debate here Sunday. Don't expect much. The IAAF president, Lamine Diack, told Reuters on Saturday there is "no chance" the rule will be changed by next summer's London Olympics.

"I think it was Bolt disqualified by false start -- I did not expect this. [But] I work for this rule. I like very much this rule. I vote for having this rule."

Why? Two reasons. One, because of gamesmanship by the athletes in the blocks under the prior rule, which charged a first false start to the entire field; only a second led to disqualification of the particular athlete. Second, and perhaps even more important, such manipulation was dragging proceedings out, which made the timing of meets unpredictable for TV.

The president has a point.

But the president is not facing the withering criticism here that he would be facing were Bolt to have been booted from the Olympics themselves.

I haven't canvassed anyone at NBC on the matter but it stands to reason that for the hundreds of millions of dollars the network paid for the rights to broadcast the London Games -- they'd very much like to see Usain Bolt run the 100. If it takes an extra four minutes, I'm guessing they'd be willing to accommodate that.

Same goes for the other major networks in other countries around the globe.

The Olympics are different than the world championships. It's that simple.

It's not as easy to say, as the president would like, that the rule is the rule, and that's that, particularly when his primary rationale -- that it's better for TV his way -- doesn't cut it.

In London in 2012, it wouldn't be better for TV. In fact, it would be worse. Way worse.

The essential point is that the Olympics needs stars, and in particular track and field needs stars. Bolt and Michael Phelps are the biggest stars there are in the Olympic sphere. People want to see them. Why do you think NBC is paying hundreds of millions of dollars?

It's not -- and no offense to their fans -- for team handball.

So let's be real. Whether in Olympic Park or watching on TV, fans should be able to see Bolt do his thing.

That's what Bolt was talking about at that news conference. He knows, we know, even Yohan Blake knows who the best sprinter in the world is.

It's not Yohan Blake.

For public consumption, by the way, Bolt played it perfectly Saturday night. He said he would not be lobbying for a rules change. He said, "It has taught me a lesson to focus and to stay in the blocks," adding, "You should wait and listen. The guy with the gun is the guy who gives the commands … I have learned and wish to move on from that."

He learned so well, in fact, that his reaction time. 0.193, was by far the slowest in the field Saturday evening. And still he blew everybody away. Walter Dix of the United States took second, in 19.7. Christophe Lemaitre of France got third, in 19.8.

Bolt's best time in 2011 in the 200, coming into the worlds, was 19.86. He improved that here by 46-hundredths of a second. The man is lights-out fantastic at championship meets.

Bolt now owns three of the four fastest-times ever in the 200. He ran 19.19 in Berlin, at the 2009 worlds. He ran 19.30 at the 2008 Games. Michael Johnson ran 19.32 in Atlanta, at the 1996 Games.

With a better lane in the finals, and better fitness, it's not inconceivable that Bolt can run even faster than 19.19 in London next summer. "I'm going to work hard," he said.

Everybody deserves to see the results of that. It's that simple.

'Believe': Matthew Centrowitz does

DAEGU, South Korea -- For 20 years, Americans -- whether native-born or naturalized -- proved non-factors in one of the glamour races in track and field, the 1500. Now, though, it appears the Americans are again for real.

On Saturday night, Matthew Centrowitz, who this fall will be a fifth-year senior at the University of Oregon, won the bronze medal in the 1500 at the 2011 track and field world championships. "Taking that victory lap," he said afterward, "I still didn't think it was real."

It was, and it adds to these recent performances:

Thursday: Jenny Simpson wins the women's 1500.

2009 worlds, in Berlin: Bernard Lagat takes bronze. That race was particularly noteworthy because, of the 12 guys in the final, three were American. All three were naturalized Americans, and damn proud of it: Lagat, Lopez Lomong and Leo Manzano.

2007, in Osaka: Lagat wins. He also wins the 5000.

Before that -- there was a long, long gap.

You have to go all the way back to Jim Spivey, in 1987 in Rome, who took bronze.

The two medals here mark the first time since 1983 that Americans have won medals in the men's and women's 1500.

The same day that Simpson won her final, Centrowitz won his semifinal.

It made him realize, he said, that he had a chance -- a real chance.

Later that day, he called home and told his folks he had made the final. His dad, Matt, ran in the 1976 Summer Games and was on the 1980 U.S. team as well; he was All-American at Oregon. "He was just pumped," Matthew said. He caught his mom, Beverly, as she was driving to work; Matthew said she cried.

In retrospect, of course he won the semifinal. The day before, as he posted to his Twitter feed, he had been in the cafeteria and Cher's song, "Believe," started playing: "In Korea … whats the odds of 1 of my fav songs coming on?!"

A college senior who not only listens to Cher but admits to it in a public forum -- that takes a certain amount of confidence in one's self, right?

That same guy was loose and confident in the ready room. Nick Willis, the Beijing Games 1500 silver medalist, who is now all of 28, said after the race that he was looking over at Centrowitz, 21, who was laughing and joking while waiting in that ready room, and it reminded him of a young Nick Willis: "There was no pressure."

There were two Kenyans in the race, 2008 Olympic champ Asbel Kiprop and Silas Kiplagat. Two Moroccans. An Ethiopian. An Algerian. Willis.

In other words -- the field was stacked. And Centrowitz felt zero pressure. "I think I looked at the start list for this final the least of any race I raced all year," Centrowitz said. "I knew everyone was going to be good -- so what was the point of looking at their [personal-bests], or who was in it? I knew I was going to have to come out and give a hard showing no matter what … not analyzing who was in it, just -- no expectations, just having fun."

Centrowitz's strategy is to run from the front. "I get more excited up there. I'm more engaged," he said, adding, "I like to stay up there," and that was his plan in Saturday's final as well.

Willis led the pack through the first two laps, with Centrowitz right behind.

Then the Kenyans took over. At 1200 meters Kiplagat had the lead, and Centrowitz found himself slightly behind, and boxed in.

"I mean, they went so hard with like 350 to go," he said. Relax, he told himself. They'll come back to you.

"Sure enough, once 200 hit, each 50 -- it was just one more guy, one more guy and then I found myself in my own position, just digging down," on the outside, coming down the stretch, crossing the line in third.

There used to be a time when having "U-S-A" on your jersey seemed to doom you in the 1500. Maybe that time is over.

"As we have seen," Centrowitz said, "anything can happen. When you put good training in, when you stay consistent, good things happen, and that's what I believed when I came here."