PoleVaultPower.com

OK first of all, I paid $20 for the Diamond League package on Universal Sports, and all I got was the shitty NBC coverage. Seriously?

Second, I can't believe the meet directors put the men's pole vault, the DIAMOND LEAGUE event, at a place on the schedule that left the completely outside the TV window. They should have either put the men first, or put the women earlier so that TV could show them tape delayed (which they did anyway) and still have a chance to catch the men's competition.

Third, none of the camera crews stuck around to catch any of the men's pole vault.

Look, if Universal Sports is going to make a big deal about their Diamond League coverage, and charge $$$ for it, then I expect to see coverage of the DIAMOND LEAGUE events held at each meet. Frankly, when I gave them $$, I was expecting the European coverage. I was already streaming the NBC crap for free. The quality of the video wasn't even any better on Universal Sports. Also, Universal Sports couldn't even be bothered to update their T&F page to reflect that the meet was streaming live... they eventually got around to putting a link on the main page of the site, but only after the coverage had started.


The men's pole vault had a fantastic field, and it sounded like a very exciting competition. I wanted to watch it!!

Some comments from Facebook:

At least Jill got some love... NBC blows!

AGREED!!!!! Totally blows...although it was nice to see some well deserved love for Jilly.

The BIGGEST name in the meet got NO coverage and no intro during the lead in......WTF!?!?!

With Bolt out was there a bigger name than Hooker in the meet? I think not.

Yeah I wish I had seen Hooker vault today

All of the foreign Diamond League coverage on Universal Sports is really good. NBC showed how many events out of how many?

I was at the meet and NBC left long before the mens vault was over and the vault went longer than the running events so the majority of the crowd was gone too before vaulting was done.

The Life

This was posted on the T&F News Message Board:

I don't know if this is true or not, excerpt from Sandra Perković's short interview for Croatian newspaper "Jutarnji list" ("Morning newspaper"): - http://www.jutarnji.hr/perkovic--ovo-je ... a-/829636/

"Perković: Worst organization ever

... I never saw worse organization. Didn't expect that something like that is possible in the USA. Nobody picked us up at the airport. They put my coach Ivan Ivančić and me in different hotels, without meals. We must manage on our own and eat outside of the hotels. There was unpleasant surprise at the stadium too. We wanted to train but there is no gym or any possibilities for throw training. Terrible, organization is horrible. But, our old proverb says - what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. ..."

Sorry for grammatical etc. errors.

all the media keeps pushing soccer and 98% of the country couldn't care less. But they ignore track and feld. Same with Sports Illustrated. Can you immagine them giving 1/4 issue coverage of college championships? Maybe we could get some attendance with more than a page.

Could not agree with you more! But you all are just preachin' to the choir, so to speak. NBC has to get the message loud and clear that we want at least some coverage of the men's event too. Send emails to NBC and your local affiliate stations expressing your discontent. Let the local advertising businesses know as well. A little extra heat never hurts. And tell them to get that moronic, half-witted, blowhard Dwight Stones off the air! He know less about this sport than I do and I have never put a pole in my hands! What a complete jerk!

rainbowgirl28 wrote:This was posted on the T&F News Message Board:

I don't know if this is true or not, excerpt from Sandra Perković's short interview for Croatian newspaper "Jutarnji list" ("Morning newspaper"): - http://www.jutarnji.hr/perkovic--ovo-je ... a-/829636/

"Perković: Worst organization ever

... I never saw worse organization. Didn't expect that something like that is possible in the USA. Nobody picked us up at the airport. They put my coach Ivan Ivančić and me in different hotels, without meals. We must manage on our own and eat outside of the hotels. There was unpleasant surprise at the stadium too. We wanted to train but there is no gym or any possibilities for throw training. Terrible, organization is horrible. But, our old proverb says - what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. ..."

Sorry for grammatical etc. errors.

Croatian is my mother tongue and translation is very accurate to original text. She is not kind of person that is looking for media coverage at any price.
By the way, his coach is still World Masters M45 record holder in SP, and I remember him well from meets 20 years ago when he was in late 40.

Firstly, correspondence was sent long ago to guest of the meeting that coaches would be housed (a few blocks away) separately. No big deal....Athletes are the main priority. Also, the young woman was presented with a generous daily (amount)Visa debit card for meals. This allowed everyone to choose a non-fixed meal. This method is prefered as you have Muslim/Vegetarian athletes etc. It's NYC and she was surrounded by choices and room service.

rainbowgirl28 wrote:This was posted on the T&F News Message Board:

I don't know if this is true or not, excerpt from Sandra Perković's short interview for Croatian newspaper "Jutarnji list" ("Morning newspaper"): - http://www.jutarnji.hr/perkovic--ovo-je ... a-/829636/

"Perković: Worst organization ever

... I never saw worse organization. Didn't expect that something like that is possible in the USA. Nobody picked us up at the airport. They put my coach Ivan Ivančić and me in different hotels, without meals. We must manage on our own and eat outside of the hotels. There was unpleasant surprise at the stadium too. We wanted to train but there is no gym or any possibilities for throw training. Terrible, organization is horrible. But, our old proverb says - what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. ..."

Sorry for grammatical etc. errors.

KLocke wrote:Firstly, correspondence was sent long ago to guest of the meeting that coaches would be housed (a few blocks away) separately. No big deal....Athletes are the main priority. Also, the young woman was presented with a generous daily (amount)Visa debit card for meals. This allowed everyone to choose a non-fixed meal. This method is prefered as you have Muslim/Vegetarian athletes etc. It's NYC and she was surrounded by choices and room service.

That sounds like a decent plan, but I can see how some might be uncomfortable or confused by it, since it's different from how most meets in Europe handle those things.

well, she was comfortable enough to win her comp

rainbowgirl28 wrote:

KLocke wrote:Firstly, correspondence was sent long ago to guest of the meeting that coaches would be housed (a few blocks away) separately. No big deal....Athletes are the main priority. Also, the young woman was presented with a generous daily (amount)Visa debit card for meals. This allowed everyone to choose a non-fixed meal. This method is prefered as you have Muslim/Vegetarian athletes etc. It's NYC and she was surrounded by choices and room service.

That sounds like a decent plan, but I can see how some might be uncomfortable or confused by it, since it's different from how most meets in Europe handle those things.

A few weeks ago I asked USATF the question:

Why are US track and field meets televised differently than foreign broadcasted meets?

USATF responded:

Clearly the U.S. tends to take a more ‘personal’ and ‘story-telling’ approach to broadcasting – this goes back to the days when ABC instituted ‘up-close and personal’ vignettes into their Olympic broadcasts, in the 1970s and early 80s – while European broadcasts tend to be more just the action.

Clearly if you want to see action then don't watch US track and field meets. If you want to change this then please contact the correct people at USATF Here is the link to the Directory http://www.usatf.org/about/directory/info.asp?parent=&group=National%20Office