The other day in Eugene, in Track Town, the track and field capital of America, one afternoon. A Danish hammer thrower strode across the intersection on Agate Street, a block from the athletics stadium, hammer slung over her shoulder, followed by the eyes of children munching on their mango sorbet in the shade of the ice cream shop. A family was sitting on the porch of their house, the lawn could be mowed again (or not). Men with long hair, plastic bags, and rumpled clothes shuffled along the sidewalk, babbled into their beards. A group of Kenyan runners, led by Hellen Obiri, who later finished second in the 10,000m, sped past a restaurant where tourists were munching on fried halloumi cheese.
The scene captured what many contemporary witnesses have repeatedly reported from Eugene: a world sport is moving together in a very intimate way. It was fitting that they moved the first World Athletics Championships in the USA to this small power cell. At the same time, many in this small town have big dreams, like the British newspaper Guardian recently headlined (“small town, big dreams”). Although the Americans are more successful in athletics than any other competitor, they still seem almost like strangers in their own country when it comes to publicity. Can a 10-day World Cup break in an Oregon town change that?
Some seats also remain empty during the evening sessions
If you didn’t know about the reputation of this city, you would probably ignore Eugene, so hidden is the center next to Interstate 5, behind rolling hills and trees. If you take the turn off past the place name sign (“Ideal Recreational Area!”) you quickly spot the new tower of Hayward Field; it’s meant to resemble an Olympic torch, but it’s more like a larger-than-life burrito. The stadium is home to US championships and student competitions, which are raised like professional events in the United States. The campus could be copied from the prospectus of an elite East Coast college: red brick buildings, arches, a touch of romance, though the student housing where most of Eugene’s athletes reside lacks romance.
The equipment and mattress are more reminiscent of a youth hostel, confirmed sprinter Gina Lückenkemper recently. Many athletes complained about the lack of air conditioning, which made it difficult to sleep on hot nights. The American Sandi Morris, who won silver in the pole vault in Eugene, confirmed in an interview that the US association spoils its athletes “very much”, i.e. rather does not accommodate them on campus. Otherwise, said Lückenkemper, everything was clocked very coherently. Very German.
Any other city of Eugene’s size would have been laughed at if they had advertised a World Cup, which the world association otherwise likes to put in the spotlight of the metropolises. But the sporting goods manufacturer Nike, one of the most important sponsors of the US association, was invented in Eugene. And Nike’s arm in the sport has always reached far, to today’s World Federation President Sebastian Coe, who still took a six-figure annual salary from the company when he was vice-president openly promoting Eugene’s World Cup bid (Coe denies that, Nike and that OK have always rejected misconduct).
With Noah Lyles’ breathtaking 19.31 seconds over 200 meters, the mood crackled enormously
The new Hayward Field stands out from all this coziness like a jewel case, with its burrito tower, upholstered armchairs reaching under the stands and a screen so big that it will probably be repurposed as a space shuttle at some point. The magic of the old Hayward, the passion of the spectators in the cramped grandstands, some of which are almost 100 years old, didn’t quite save them. When the US athletes won all the medals in the 100-meter distance at the start of the World Championships, and also in the 200-meter race on Thursday, led by Noah Lyles’ breathtaking 19.31 seconds, things crackled enormously. The guests are responsible for the special effects, the Jamaican appendix, for example, accompanied Shericka Jackson’s 21.45 (!) seconds over the 200 meters on Thursday with an extensive horn concert. Otherwise, the supporting program is strikingly un-American, devoid of light shows or fireworks. Above all, they celebrate their legends: On Thursday, warm applause rained down on Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who shaped the Black Power protests at the 1968 Olympics.
Competition in a jewel box: Steeplechase runner Gesa Krause from Trier in front of the Burrito Tower in the new Hayward Field.
(Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa)
And something else is missing: Even during the evening events, which the organizer had reported as “full”, rarely more than three quarters of the 15,000 seats are occupied. “Disappointing,” said Michael Johnson, the former US grandmaster, who is interviewing the athletes in Eugene for the British BBC (while ironically they have flown in the stadium announcers from Great Britain).
And that in the self-proclaimed athletics city?
Jonathan Gault, one of the few US reporters working for the portal Letsrun.com reviewing athletics almost around the clock had indicated problems even before the World Cup. Eugene is located in the northwest corner of the United States, a two-hour drive from the nearest major city; the few accommodations were booked up quickly and seriously overpriced, 200, 300 dollars per night. Is the Track Town concept more of a marketing concept fed by a certain sporting goods manufacturer on site? Measured against the rest of the country, the track and field community in Eugene is strong, says Gault, around 3,000 followers, with a population of 170,000. The number one sport in Eugene is still football: the university team is one of the strongest in the country, the games in Autzen Stadium are almost always sold out, each of the 54,000 seats.
The Americans can even win 22 medals by the fourth to last day of competition – on the major sports and news sites they are usually reported in the notes column, if at all. And the NBC broadcaster does broadcast the evening sessions on free TV, but only on the weekends. Otherwise, the World Cup runs on specialist platforms, on TV or on the Internet. Almost all US sports leagues, with the exception of baseball, are currently on summer break.
Track Town in Eugene, for example, brings together the athletics community in the USA, from the region, right through to retired coaches from Washington and fans from Tennessee, who fill the cafés and restaurants in the evenings quite adequately. Otherwise, normality should return to every last corner of the city from next week – Eugene doesn’t differ much from the major events in the metropolises.