Trial of Miles - Qualifying for the Olympics

Trial of Miles
Qualifying for the 2000 Olympics

This is the process to compete in the 2000 Olympics in Track & Field for the United States. We start at the last step and work back from there. The examples provided here are for the men's 1500 meter competition. For complete guidelines, refer to the Works Cited at the bottom of the page.

Qualifying for the Olympics

The last step in making it to the Olympics is qualifying at the Olympic Trials. The following quote summarizes how the qualifiers are determined at the Trials. And the chart has an example of the "qualifying standards" mentioned in the quote. For a definition of what an "A" and "B" qualifying standards are, refer to the U.S. OLYMPIC TRACK & FIELD TEAM SELECTION PROCESS section at [2].

"The top three finishers who have met the Olympic qualifying standards for the 20 men’s and 19 women’s events will earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team." [1]

Olympic Games - Sydney 2000
Entry Standards
Men [2]

Event A B

1500m 3:36.80 3:39.50

Getting to the Trials

The following chart includes the requirements to make it to the U.S. Olympic Trials for the Men's 1500 meters. After the chart is a statement regarding where the time has to be run to be official. And after that is during which dates the time has to be performed.

2000 U.S. Olympic Team Trials
Track and Field
Men [1]

Event Entry Standard Funded

1500m 3:40.50 (3:58.14 mile) 3:38.00

"All qualifying performances must be achieved during competitions organized or sanctioned by USA Track & Field, the International Amateur Athletic Federation, or any of its IAAF Member Federations." [1]

"Qualifying Period -- January 1, 1999 through July 9, 2000." [1]

There is more than one way to get a qualifying performance. One way to go is to find an IAAF sanctioned meet. For a list of IAAF meets refer to [3]. The USA Track & Field web site also has a calendar of events. [4]

The following links provide information about qualifying for the Olympics, and are referenced above throughout the text.

(1) http://www.usatf.org/OT2000/stand-sked.html
Information about the Olympic Trials from USA Track & Field. It is a news brief that has some information about the qualifying times, and includes event schedules for the Trials.

(2) http://www.sacsports.com/trials/entry.html
The Sacramento Sports Commission is handling the Entry Process to compete in the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials. The link above points to the Entry Form and Declaration Process. The same page also includes Qualifying Regulations and information about the 2000 Olympic Games.

(3) http://www.iaaf.org/calendar/index.asp?Filename=/calendar/intro.asp
A calendar of events occurring around the world that are sanctioned by the IAAF.

(4) http://www.usatf.org/00cal/mini.html
The Year 2000 Events listed at the USATF.org web site.

Here are the main pages for the above links:
http://www.usatf.org - USA Track & Field
http://www.sacsports.com - Sacramento Sports Commission
http://www.iaaf.org - International Amateur Athletic Federation

MARCH | APRIL | Qualifying
Trial of Miles