EUGENE, Oregon (AFP) — Setting a sensational target for the Beijing Olympics, US women's Olympic athletics coach Jeanette Bolden predicted that the 2008 American track and field Olympic squad will be the greatest yet.
Two days ahead of Friday's opening events at the US team selection meet here at Hayward Field, Bolden boldly said this year's men and women have the talent to surpass the 25 medals won by US athletes at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
"This will be our best Olympic Games because it will be a mix veteran athletes and up and coming athletes," Bolden said. "Wearing red, white and blue will bring everyone together."
The Americans, who won 26 medals at last year's world championships in Osaka, have a hungry group of veteran competitors being pushed by rising young challengers, Bolden said.
"We want as many medals as possible," she said.
"You have some athletes that are veterans I anticipate will make the team that may have not medaled before. They are veterans now and have more to focus on."
Reigning 100- and 200-meter world champion Tyson Gay and Allyson Felix, who won the 200 world title and helped two women's relay crowns, will lead more than 1,000 athletes seeking a place on the US team.
Jeremy Wariner, the reigning world and Olympic 400 champion, and Sanya Richards are 400 favorites while reigning world champion Brad Walker and world number two Jenn Stuczynski are the people to beat in the pole vault.
Kenyan-born US star Bernard Lagat, the world champion at 1,500 and 5,000 meters, will try to book a chance for a double at Beijing. So will Shalane Flanagan, who owns the US record in her events, the 5,000 and 10,000.
"Our bread and butter would have to be our sprint events," Bolden said. "We're definitely making some inroads in our distance events."
The top three in most events at the Olympic trials will qualify for Beijing, provided they meet performance standards. Failure on the wrong day could leave a star sitting home no matter how impressive their history.
"That's what is exciting about our trials and our system. They can blow it like anyone else in the final," Bolden said. "Your opportunity to go to the Olympic Games is on your shoulders. Your destiny is in your hands."
An illness or injury on the wrong day could spell doom for a lifetime's work for even such stars as Gay or Felix.
"The Olympic trials are probably the most stressful competition any American athlete will participate in during an Olympic year. They are brutal," said Adam Nelson, runner-up in the shot put in the past two Olympics.
"With all the depth we have in this country, there's no other fair way to do it. It's a stressful experience but there's no other way to do it."
While many nations have a way to include stars even after a bad showing in a trials meet, the US stages a do-or-die drama that could mean an athlete with a better performance history stays home.
"The depth in the US is so great that it seems like the best way it has to be done," Walker said. "I don't see an easy solution. I don't think we send the best team we can under certain situations."
Stuczynski sees a better way by ensuring a top talent can reach the Olympics even with a flop at the trials.
"It's pretty obvious in most of your events who your top person is and I think that person should be able to go to the Olympics," she said. "The goal for the US team is to win medals and to do that you should be able to send your top people. Sometimes you have to change the system with the era."
The US Olympic athletics team will be revealed July 13, a week after the conclusion of the meet and five days after USA Track and Field submits names.
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