As they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither are Olympians. The journey to the top of the world is a long and arduous one, and athletes have to start early to ensure they are considered among the greatest names in their sports. The ongoing 2024 USATF Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships at Texas A&M University’s E. B. Cushing Stadium offer the perfect stage for budding stars to showcase their worth to the world. However, things seem to be taking an unexpected turn.

While athletes focus all their energy and time on excelling in their domain, they also expect to participate in a tournament that does justice to their skills. However, hosting events can be a tricky affair.

Track and field stars face unprecedented troubles

In a post on X earlier today by Lewis Edmonson, coach of Head Boys T&F, the pandemonium unfolding at Texas A&M has been shared. Captioned, “What’s going on at Texas A&M?” the post’s accompanying video shows chaotic scenes from the entrance of the school’s stadium. While it’s not entirely clear what caused the fiasco, the video comes with the statement, “USATF keeping athletes out of the track,” and a young athlete can be seen high on emotions amid the ruckus.

The official USATF website had previously announced that bad weather could dampen the moods in Texas, but a cacophony like the one at hand wasn’t anticipated. Naturally, athletes, their parents, and coaches seem justifiably distressed about the ordeal. In the latter part of the video, an athlete can be seen finding his own way into the stadium by scaling one of the gates.

From the brief snippets that came to light, it’s apparent that mismanagement is creating a major conundrum at the Championships, and track and field fans aren’t satisfied with how things are being handled either.

Fans are taken aback by the shocking visuals

Natalie seems to have had enough of the inadequate measures taken by the hosts and exposed even more details about why the jostling was bound to happen at some point. “Whole thing @TAMU is a disaster—buying tickets, parking, practice fields setup, security, policies, etc. Now they’re keeping people out b/c they “reached capacity.” But the stadium’s barely full. Maybe not enough staff? People traveled days, spent $$$, now can’t watch their kids?“ fumed this fan.

Another track connoisseur also complained that the fact visitors have to buy individual tickets for each day of the meet shows just how lackluster the whole organizational aspect has been for this year’s Junior Olympics. “Stadium aint big enough and USATF selling infinite tickets,” vented the fan’s comment.

Gray doesn’t seem too surprised like the rest and instead claims that this has always been the case for the Junior Olympics. On top of that, he also shared his displeasure about how guards at the stadiums are always hostile toward the attendees. “Don’t act like this is anything new in the USATF Junior Olympic Series. If I had a dollar for every time I heard “yOu GoTs to gO aRouNd” from some angry gate guard,“ commented the fan, almost struggling to hold back a chuckle.

Demestrius, another track coach, is equally baffled by how little thought was put into ensuring the tournament was a smooth experience for everyone. “Track is something you have to be prepared to host. If the event is big, it will bring a lot of competition,“ notes his disappointed tone.

With the country’s top track and field stars currently getting acclimatized in Paris in hopes of bringing honor and glory to the nation, we hope such situations will be mitigated with better care and sensitivity in the future. However, it might be a long and winding road to the destination. “Man that’s crazy,“ is all Jermaine could blurt out upon seeing the video clip, which should be enough to cause concern among track and field fans about how the sport is managed in the country.

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