FanNation | Beijing Olympics Blog

From Hong Kong and Beijing to Oregon...It's been a stunning week at the Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene. Hopefully you've been following SI's Tim Layden throughout the week as he's offered coverage from every event at the Trials. One of the journalists here approvingly referred to the 20,000+ daily spectators as a "European crowd," and if you're a track and field fan, you know exactly what he's talking about. Hayward Field will always have an intimate feel to it, even with the added bleachers and all the structural improvements put in before this year to update the facility for the needs of a modern Olympic Trials, but if Europe is home base to the most vocal, raucous crowds in track, then Eugene is its not-too-distant cousin. The crowds here have been knowledgeable, passionate, and interested in every aspect of the event - last night's men's 10,000-meter final, so often chopped up in television coverage, was a riveter from start to finish thanks in no small part to Oregon's Galen Rupp, who took silver, but also just because, let's face it, Eugene knows track. As a host city, it's a fantastic place to hold the event - there are running trails all along the rivers here and everything is within a short walk or drive of downtown. Every day there have been cultural events as well as fabulous competitions, and last night, yes, fireworks as well. Earlier today I was joshing with a friend from the USATF, lobbying ever-so tongue-in-cheekly for Eugene to be awarded the Trials in perpetuity, so impressive has the week been. Good news for at least one more quadrennium: Eugene has already been awarded the 2012 Trials, so mark your calendars.

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July 7, 2008 10:19 AM ET

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I agree about Eugene being a great place to host the trials, but I have been less than impressed with NBC's coverage. I can understand only giving an hour or two for coverage during prime time, but the website could definitely provide more details. Try finding details about the results. You can see lots of videos that rehash what was seen on TV, but the write ups are almost non-existent and the individual results are impossible to find. I hope it improves for the actual Olympics.