"Bob Schwartz" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
Although I'm sure it wasn't your intention, that underscores my point. Since 1988 the US has
taken 6 medals on the track vs 2 on the road and 1 in MtB. The period from the late 80s up to
1996 was a high point in support for the US track program and if medals are the goal then the
results showed this.
Since 1996 USAC has been bent on flushing everything that had been accomplished down the toilet.
It's a mess. It would be a tremendous improvement if we could return to the level of support we
had in the late 80s and early 90s.
I presume you are referring to Olympic medals. If so, you need to give less credit to the Feds and
more credit to the individuals who earned them.
If I have it straight:
1988 Connie Young sprints - Fed financial support; trained on her own 1992 Rebecca Twigg pursuit -
Some Fed financial support; trained a lot on her own (comeback year) 1992 Ervdog H. Kilo - Lots of
Fed support in all aspects 1996 Ervdog H. Kilo - Fed financial support, less fed support in other
ways 1996 Nodeberg Sprint- Lots of Fed support, was probably the primary sponsor focus for '96 2000
Nodeberg Sprint - Lots of Fed support, but a little more independent than '96
'88 was nothing special in terms of support for track riders, neither were the years leading up to
and including 1992. From 1989 thru 1992, the coaching staff was in continuous upheaval. We went from
aero tubed carbon fiber Raleighs built by Mike Melton in 1988 to round tube steel
Yamaguchi/Performance bikes in 1992.
Due to the locality of the 1984 and 1996 Games, sponsor interest and support was much greater in the
quadrenniums leading up to those games. 1984 had three major sponsors supporting track squads
(7-Eleven, SRC Raleigh, and Murray). 1996 of course had Project 96 support and the Feds actually
showed some interest in supporting the national track team financially, whereas before most of the
grants and stipends had gone to the road team.
Following 1996 was the usual collapse of support that occurs in a post Olympic year, only the
drop was greater since the amount of support had been so much better leading up to 1996 than
1988 and 1992.
