Topic: Slotgate revisited

[Gary Valentine]

its been a mess since, and before, the bednarski debacle in 68. there will always be the intangibles of who is peaking and when, and who performs the best under pressure.  what a shame for a great lifter like casey not to get this opportunity.
it has to inspire us all to grow this sport, get more lifters involved, run meets, recruit, do whatever possible to get more numbers, ancrease the quantity AND quality of lifters to get a full team someday. -g

[Paul LaDuke]

it has to inspire us all to grow this sport, get more lifters involved, run meets, recruit, do whatever possible to get more numbers, increase the quantity AND quality of lifters to get a full team someday. -g

Well said, Gary!  I know you are doing your part to do all of those things. 

I think there will always be hard feelings about not being chosen no matter what the system.  If we do qualify 4 lifters for the 2012 Olympics, the 5th guy will be upset.  No matter what the number, you still have to chose some to go and some to stay home.  It is the nature of the beast. But the governing body needs to do everything it can to make the standards as fair and as objective as they can early in the quad so that the lifter left out knows that politics didn't come into the decision.

[mikeburgener]

personally, if you all believe that casey should continue his career, tell him!!!!  hell, i am dad, what do i know!  i hate to see him give in to the political crap of a few!!!  sooooo encourage him to stay in the sport!!!

caseycasum@yahoo.com   just do not tell him i gave you his e mail!!!!

[Shaun Le Conte]

i know i am dad, but in this situation i am a coach.  the world championships are critical to our qualifying our athletes.  had kendrick had his 362 day at the wc we would have probably taken 4 people. had cody gibbs totaled i am sure we would have 4 athletes in the olympics.   chad has never been a good international competitor, kendrick has not lived up to his potential in the past but he really came thru at the games.....i hope this will be the case for future teams.   my suggestion is that the coach/athlete be super conservative for openers at the worlds to get in as many pure totals as possible.   you never know at the end of the day where you will be left standing.....in 03 greg schouten and chad bombed.....had they totaled pete kelly, and casey would have gone to the games in athens!!!   personally giving chad's international experience and results why start him heavy at all.

I am glad you've said this Coach because the US team's performance 2007 World Championships seems to have been buried in the past and forgotten about. I've written about it a couple of times with no response - not that I expect much, considering I'm nobody in particular. Nobody wants to blame their friends or teammates, but I thought with all the straight shooters and tell-it-like-it-is'ers in the US the topic of bombouts and athlete selection at least year's worlds would be ressurected after it was confirmed that there was only 2 spots for the US men's team.

[Jim Hooper]

Mike, I just spammed Casey.  I would appreciate it if you could arrange for him to please NOT kick my ass.  Jim

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

I've written about it a couple of times with no response - not that I expect much, considering I'm nobody in particular.

Shaun,

Its a valid point that personally I felt no need to respond to because it was well made. However there were many factors that went in to Casey getting shafted and all need to be addressed if we are going to move forward productively. The constantly changing, randomly generated qualification system is fubar, aka Fober.

[Andy Dick]

Is Casey really thinking of throwing in the towel?

[Mike Wittmer]

I don't think it is a secret, but my understanding is yes.  Mike will hopefully correct me if I am wrong.
I hope he doesn't as I think he is a great representative of the sport has not maxed out his potential.

I sure would not blame him for being frustrated with the way things have been handled in the past year.