Olympic update- 2012 London games- USA men's Track 4 by 100M relay team stripped of silver medals/Gymnastics (FIG) to reduce teams by one

The USA men's 4 by 100 relay team at the 2012 London Olympics were stripped of their silver medals today by the IOC because of the Tyson Gay doping case. The USA athletes besides Tyson Gay stripped of their medals are: Trell Kimmons, Ryan Bailey, Justin Gatlin, Darvis Patton and Jeffrey Demps. Other athletes have been stripped of their medals on track relays but the rule was changed recently to disqualify all athletes on a relay team, not just the primary doper. This is not the first time medals have been stripped from USA relay teams. Marion Jones was stripped of a gold medal from the 2000 Sydney games in the 4 by 400M relay and bronze in the 4 by 100M relay. The rest of the relay team appealed successfully to keep their medals in 2010. Also the USA was stripped of the men's 4 by 400M relay gold from the 2000 Sydney games after Antonio Pettigrew admitted to doping. In 2012 the USA women's 4 by 400 relay team from 2004 was stripped of the gold medal because of Crystal Cox admission of doping.
Tyson Gay served a one year ban that ended in July 2014 but all of Gay's results were erased from June 2012 to July 2013.
The USA had finished second in 2012 in the 4 by 100M relay in a USA record 37.04 seconds while Jamaica won gold in a world record 36.84 seconds.
The silver medal now goes to Trinidad and Tobago finishing in 38.12 seconds while France wins bronze in 38.16 seconds.



FIG to reduce gymnastics teams by one

Starting with the 2020 Tokyo games, both men's and women's gymnastics teams will only have four members, This is a reduction from five gymnasts on a team at the London Games and six gymnasts on a team at the Beijing and Athens games. In Atlanta seven gymnasts were on each team.

According to the Federation of International Gymnastics(FIG) the four gymnasts will compete on each apparatus and three scores count. Countries will be able to qualify two gymnasts for Individual competition as well. Individuals can qualify through certain cups and championships. The exact details hasn't been finalized. Reaction by USA gymnastics coaches and athletes have been negative as elite gymnasts will be left off of the USA teams. More gymnasts will be able to compete as Individuals but on gymnastics teams there will be no room for specialists to compete on a certain apparatus.

Centennial Olympic Park visit observations

On May 8, 2015 I visited Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta. I had previously visited the park in March 1998, Sept. 2001, 2005, Nov. 2011 and May 2013. Over the past several visits I noticed the slow aging of my brick and several sections of bricks in the park. Last week I was able to speak to a park employee. This park employee had been there 12 years. He said that the bricks were not supposed to be life lasting and that my $35 contribution was to build the park. He had concern that the bricks were aging and that if enough bricks could not be read the park could take action to replace the bricks, but it was unlikely. There is significant wear on some bricks like mine but others were in much better shape. I thought the weather played a part but in my opinion, that is not the case. The park is heavily used for concerts and events. My brick is in section 54 light bricks, which is near the fountains in the main part of the park. Some 54 light bricks are in much better condition than mine. I also noticed some cracked areas where numbering was along the grass in certain areas of the park. The park does replace those. They were replacing the grass when I visited last week.
When people purchase commemorative bricks it usually means a lifetime. In 5-10 years at this rate most bricks wont be readable. The park needs to replace the most worn ones soon. My brick will not be readable in 5 years. If Centennial Olympic Park does not slow the aging process I will take action to save my brick. In my opinion, it is the reason lots of people visit the park. Please don't let the bricks become unreadable. Some already are.

Update: On May 22, 2015 I scrubbed my brick and rinsed it off. Actually I cleaned about 9 bricks total but only could really rinse mine. Looks a lot better! The engraving is in better shape than I thought. Also that day a family from New York was visiting the park and was trying to find their brick. I was talking to them. They had not ever seen their brick. After a few minutes they found it, It was readable but dirty. Another reason for the park to power wash the bricks.