2005 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships

2005 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships
DatesJune 23–26
Host cityCarson, California
VenueThe Home Depot Center
LevelSenior
TypeOutdoor
Events40 (men: 20; women: 20)

The 2005 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships was organised by USA Track & Field and held from June 23 to 26 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California. The four-day competition served as the national championships in track and field for the United States and also the trials for the 2005 World Championships in Athletics.[1]

It was the first that the stadium in Carson had held the combined gender national track and field event, but the fourth straight time that the event was hosted in California, having previously been to Sacramento and Palo Alto.[2] The Home Depot Center launched the Adidas Track Classic earlier that year, which was briefly a prominent annual track meeting for American athletes.[3] The USA Junior Championships were held in conjunction with the event and the events served as selection for the 2005 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships.[4][5]

Athletes that finished in the top three of their event and held the IAAF qualifying standard were eligible to represent the United States at the 2005 World Championships. The United States was able to send three athletes per event to the competition, excluding any American reigning world champions, who received automatic qualification separate from the national selection. The World Championships national selection for the marathon and 50 kilometres walk were incorporated into the discrete national championship meets for those events. Selection for the relay races were made by committee.[5][6]

On the first day, 2004 Olympic champion Timothy Mack became a high profile omission from the national team and he finished outside of the top three of the men's pole vault.[7] The men's 100 m provided drama with the initial disqualification of reigning Olympic champion Justin Gatlin for a false start being overturned. Gatlin won the title while fellow Olympic winner Maurice Greene pulled up injured mid-race. Gatlin also won the 200 m, being the first to do that double since Kirk Baptiste in 1985.[8] Erin Gilreath won the women's hammer throw in an American record mark of 73.87 m (242 ft 4+1⁄4 in). Stacy Dragila won a seventh straight women's pole vault title (her ninth in total).[9][10] Tim Broe had a third straight men's 5000 m win in a championship record time. Hammer thrower James Parker also won his third consecutive national title while javelin specialist Breaux Greer extended his unbeaten run to six.[8]

A total of twelve athletes selected from the national championships went on to win individual gold medals at the World Championships that year.[11] A total of 120 athletes were selected for the national team as a result of the national championships.[12]

One athlete was disqualified for a doping infraction: Rickey Harris, a men's 400 m hurdles finalist, was later shown to have failed a drug test a month earlier at the same venue.[13][14] Sprinters Marion Jones, Chryste Gaines and Tim Montgomery both attended but withdrew from the championships, citing injury. Montgomery and Gaines were banned from the sport later that year for doping as part of the BALCO scandal, which also implicated Jones.[15][16][17]

The meet was marred before it began as official Paul Suzuki was killed, being struck in the head by a shot put during practice for the shot put competition.[18] The resulting analysis of official's procedures and risk management[19] greatly affected the conduct of throwing events since.[20][21]

  1. ^ 2005 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships Archived June 11, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. USA Track and Field. Retrieved on 2015-07-01.
  2. ^ The United States' National Championships In Track & Field Athletics: Introduction. Track and Field News. Retrieved on 2015-06-27.
  3. ^ World leading marks by Merritt, Willard, Stuczynski and Kiros in Carson . IAAF (2009-05-17). Retrieved on 2015-07-01.
  4. ^ Schedule & Results Archived June 11, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. USATF. Retrieved on 2015-07-01.
  5. ^ a b National Team Processing Archived March 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. USATF. Retrieved on 2015-07-01.
  6. ^ Entry Information Archived March 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. USATF. Retrieved on 2015-07-01.
  7. ^ Dunaway, James (2005-06-24). Pate is back - Mack is out - USATF Championships DAY ONE. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-07-01.
  8. ^ a b USA Championships Men. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-07-01.
  9. ^ Dunaway, James (2005-06-26). Gatlin wins 100m but Hart's athletes steal the day - 2005 USATF, Day Three. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-07-01.
  10. ^ USA Championships Women. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-07-01.
  11. ^ IAAF World Championships in Athletics. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-07-01.
  12. ^ USA team announced for Helsinki. IAAF (2005-07-28). Retrieved on 2015-07-01.
  13. ^ Track athlete suspended for one year for doping violation. ESPN (2006-05-23). Retrieved on 2015-07-01.
  14. ^ Arbitration Ruling: U.S. Track & Field Athlete Rickey Harris. USATF. Retrieved on 2015-07-01.
  15. ^ CAS decision on Montgomery and Gaines. IAAF (2005-12-13). Retrieved on 2015-07-01.
  16. ^ Dunaway, James (2005-06-25). Johnson out-leans rivals in 12.99 stunner - USATF Championships, DAY TWO. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-07-01.
  17. ^ Longman, Jere (2006-06-26). Jones's Withdrawal at Nationals Stirs Doubts. New York Times. Retrieved on 2015-07-01.
  18. ^ "Archives". Los Angeles Times.
  19. ^ "Mmalvic's blog » Blog Archive » Risk Management".
  20. ^ "Coaches Education - Safety in the Throwing Events".
  21. ^ "The Throwing Officials' Manual" (PDF). USA Track & Field. 2007.