Athens Assault Update

So here's how the weekend events out in Sacremento at the Olympic Trials faired for my buddy Derrick Peterson in the 800m:
Friday Night (Preliminary Heats)
1:47.83
1st Place
"On paper, it looked pretty tough. But once I got going, I got my bearings and it was just another race."
"I came here with one goal in mind and that was to buy my ticket to Athens."
Re: Losing by 0.01 in 2000 - "Tomorrow night is the redemption race. It's one of the driving factors. It wakes you up in the morning and keeps motivating you."

Saturday Night (Semi-Final Heats)
1:47.87
2nd Place
"The semifinal is probably the toughest race of all three. Finishing in the top four is basically the prime order for the day. My goal was to do that today."
On this year's field compared to last year's field: "Last year, experienced, young people, we kind of had everyone across the board. This year, there are a lot of newcomers. Everyone here in the finals last time didn't make the finals or wasn't even in college yet!"

So tonight, Derrick races in the Finals at 7:10 Pacific (that's 9:10pm local time). It will be televised on the USA Network.
Looking at the times from the semis, it becomes apparent that his race was the slower of the two heats. Derrick's time is second slowest of all qualifiers, but that is due mainly to the fact that his heat ran a bit slower than the other one. You can be sure that the pace tonight will be fast, and we'll see if Derrick can pull it out in the end.
It looks like the man to beat this weekend is Khadevis Robinson, who has been running consistently faster than everyone else (albeit only slightly faster at a half a second).

It has been a fun weekend to feel loosely tied to these events. I found myself watching the Olympic Trials yesterday on television (Track and Field and Swimming) and it is fascinating. I love the Olympics. I love the drama, the athleticism and the suspense. If you get a moment, you might want to tune into these trials to find out who to root for when we head to Athens.