The Oberlin Review
<< Front page News October 1, 2004

Lananna successful in Athens

After causing a stir in the athletics department during his first year at Oberlin, Delta Lodge Director of Athletics Vin Lananna spent the summer in Athens as assistant head coach for the men’s middle distance and distance teams. As the assistant coach, he was in charge of the athletes who ran the 800m, 1.5K, 5K, 10K, marathon and walking events.

This was Lananna’s first Olympics as an official delegate, but he is no stranger to the scene. Lananna has been to all of the summer Olympics, starting with the 1976 Montreal Games, and has been a personal coach for various Olympians since 1984.

Under the direction of Lananna and ex-UCLA coach Bob Larsen, the 24 male athletes for the U.S. achieved Lananna’s goal of “improving the U.S.’s standing in middle distance and distance.”

In the marathon, this Olympics marked the first time since 1976 in which the U.S. medaled. Mebrahtom Keflezighi won the silver by running 42K in 2:11:29. Stefano Baldini of Italy won the race with a time of 2:10:55. The last American to medal in this event was Frank Shorter, 18 years ago, who also won silver.

Outside of the marathon, the 20K walkers also finished with impressive results. Timothy Seaman, Kevin Eastler and John Nunn earned 20th, 21st and 26th place. “The 20K team had the best Olympic games ever,” Lananna said.

Future Olympics should only produce stronger results for the U.S. team, as the majority of the distance athletes were competing in their first Olympic Games.

There is a chance that the future of those athletes could again be in the hands of Lananna. As an assistant coach of the Athens group, Lananna will be considered among a group of over 20 candidates to be the head coach of the U.S. Track and Field team for the 2008 games, held in Beijing. The position will be appointed within the year as it is always made three years before the games.
 
 

   

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