Let me get this straight.
Atholton High School?s Alison Smith, the 13-time state champion runner, was disqualified from last weekend?s Class 2A mile race, along with teammate Tatayana McFadden, a talented wheelchair athlete, because McFadden raced slightly ahead of Smith and “encouraged” her?
On Saturday, a group of coaches from other public schools, called a jury of appeals, disqualified Smith and McFadden, accusing McFadden of “pacing” ? because she raced close to Smith and cheered on Smith as she went.
Apparently, this jury is unfamiliar with the greatest moment in track and field history: Roger Bannister?s breaking of the 4-minute mile in 1954 at Iffley Road in Oxford, England.
According to Neal Bascomb?s book, “The Perfect Mile,” on the day Bannister achieved what most people at the time thought was beyond the capacity of a human being, he received quite a bit of encouragement by two of his teammates, Chris Brasher andChris Chataway, who ran next to him.
Prior to beginning Bannister?s world-shocking run of the 4-minute mile, the three teammates planned to race together to make sure Bannister could achieve the feat. Brasher was supposed to take the lead early on, while Chataway would push Bannister late.
They did a lot of encouraging and communicating as they went. Some examples:
» “Bannister … felt so fired with energy in that early part of the race that he thought Brasher was setting too slow a pace,” Bascomb wrote. “In the back straight Bannister yelled, “Faster, Chris! Faster!”
» About 2.5 laps in, Brasher began to fade, and Bannister called on Chataway to help him. “Bannister sensed that his friend was about to stall and called for Chataway to take over. ?Chris!? Bannister yelled. … With his short but powerful strides, [Chataway] quickly overtook Bannister, then Brasher.”
» As Bannister neared the finish line, Brasher called out to him: “Come on, Roger…Roger…Roger!”
» After the race was over, Bannister jogged a victory lap with Brasher and Chataway. “Without them, I could not have done it,” Bannister told everyone within earshot.
It was probably the greatest moment in track history. It might have been the greatest moment in the history of sports. But it wouldn?t have been allowed at the MPSSAA track meet last weekend.
No, nowadays somebody would have complained. Someone would have tried to win the cheap way, on a technicality. Somebody would have tried to find an excuse for Bannister?s success and his own failing.
The truth is, a pacer helps the field of a track meet equally. The runners from Eastern Tech and Hereford high schools who protested Smith?s victory cannot be proud of their finishes, because they lost. They were running on the same track as Smith and McFadden and couldn?t keep up. Had they been faster, they could have justas easily taken advantage of McFadden?s alleged “pacing.”
In the end, the track community now has a black eye. They unjustly stripped a deserving champion of the state title she earned. They made a foolish decision, probably based more on their own biases against wheelchair athletes than sound judgment of what defines pacing.
They also, in a single decision, interpreted track to be the only sport on Earth where it?s illegal to encourage a teammate.
Luke Broadwater is a staff writer for The Examiner.
