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She remembers how tired she felt in the intense heat during the long jump portion of the event. She remembers going out on the track for the javelin warmups. And she remembers, later, the ambulance ride to the hospital.
But there’s about an hour in the day that she doesn’t recall. She’s pieced together what happened from eyewitness accounts and by looking at photos and videos her friends and family took from the stands.
The temperatures in Eugene, Oregon, on that afternoon were extreme. It was 111 degrees in the mid-afternoon and felt at least 10 degrees warmer on the infield, where competitors were performing without shade, and the sun was radiating off the track’s surface.
The weather was no picnic on the first day of heptathlon competition, Saturday, June 26, either. During the first four events—100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, and 200 meters—it reached 103 degrees.
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The heat on the second day of competition—which featured the remaining three events: long jump, javelin, and 800 meters—was not a surprise. Forecasts were so dire that on June 23, four days previously, USA Track & Field (USATF) had announced changes to the schedule for other events. The race walks, originally scheduled McLaughlin-Levrone Sets WR in 400-Meter Hurdles women’s 10,000 meters, originally scheduled for the afternoon of the 26th, was moved to 10 a.m. And the men’s 5,000 meters, originally scheduled for the afternoon of the 27th, moved also to 10 a.m. on the 27th.
Conspicuously absent, however, were any changes to the heptathlon schedule, which, athletes say, can be just as grueling as any distance track race.
A strong start for Brooks
After the first day of competition, Brooks, 26, who lives and trains in Fayetteville, Arkansas, was in second place, thanks to her strong performances in the hurdles and the 200 meters.
But on the second day, she encountered difficulties. The first event, the long jump, took place at 1 p.m., and her leap of 6.36 meters (20 feet, 10 1/2 inches) was more than a foot off her best. It’s normally one of her better disciplines, but afterward, she had dropped to fourth in the competition.
She remembers going back under the track to an air-conditioned space, where she had a few bites of lunch and some Pedialyte. Then she headed back out to the furnace-like conditions for the javelin, which was held at 2:15 p.m. in the afternoon sun.
“There, it gets a little fuzzy,” she said in a phone call with Runner’s World on July 1. “I did my normal warmup, but then when we got on the runway to start our practice throws, I did just one practice throw. That’s when I started stumbling and falling all over the place.”
Olympic Track & Field Trials.
She recalls nothing of the medical staff treating her and putting her in a wheelchair. “The next thing I remember is waking up in a cold tub,” she said.
Brooks was taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation. She underwent a battery of tests. All were normal. She wasn’t dehydrated. The results of an EKG came back fine.
“They just think I got overheated,” Brooks said. “My core temperature got too hot.”
Finally, a delay
Meanwhile, back at Hayward Field, the javelin competition wrapped up. At 3:16 p.m., about an hour after Brooks collapsed, USATF announced on Twitter that the remainder of the competition was suspended and would resume about five hours later.
This pushed five other the events for that evening—plus, the final event of the heptathlon, the 800 meters—to 8:30 p.m. or later, when the sun would be setting and the temperatures would drop below triple digits.
Brooks’s agent was petitioning for her to be allowed back into the meet, so she would have the option if she felt well enough. And it seemed he was having some success. At 5:53 p.m., USATF sent an email statement saying her “request to re-enter competition has been granted by the USATF Games Committee.” She was to be given three javelin throws at 8:15 p.m., and then run the final event, the 800 meters.
Brooks returned to Hayward Field, ready to decide if she could try to finish. But she hadn’t been cleared by the medical staff when that first email went out. The medical director for USATF met her at the check-in table and told her she could not continue. At 8:24 p.m., USATF sent a one-line email: “Taliyah Brooks has withdrawn from competition.”
“It was going to be a tough decision at that point anyways,” Brooks said, “I didn’t really have the energy. Physically, I don’t think was capable of doing what it needed to do at that point.”
An accurate forecast
Observers and competitors were mystified that it had come to this point. Why did an athlete need to collapse on the track before the heptathlon was moved?
On June 24, realizing that USATF might be reasonable about making changes to the schedule to protect athletes from competing in extreme heat, Curtis Beach got to work. Beach, a retired decathlete, is the Athlete Advisory Committee (AAC) event leader for combined events. The AAC is a USATF committee that makes sure athletes’ interests are represented within the sport.
Runner’s World has reviewed emails Beach sent to various members of the governing body, asking for Day 2 of heptathlon to be contested between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., or later in the evening. His email initially went to Duffy Mahoney, USATF’s chief of sport performance. Later, he looped in Renee Washington, USATF’s chief operating officer, and Adam Schmenk, managing director of events and entertainment.
Beach’s emails included others who, like Beach, hold volunteer roles within the organization: Wallace Spearmon, a 2012 Olympian in the 200 meters who is listed as the interim chair and vice chair of the AAC; Rose Monday, a top middle-distance runner in the 1980s who is the women’s track and field chair; and Chari Hawkins, who was the women’s leader for combined events. Hawkins Advertisement - Continue Reading Below announced changes to the schedule.
Beach said he never received any response to his questions, or any acknowledgement that his emails had been received. He was also sending texts, and those were going unanswered.
Spearmon told Runner’s World that he was speaking to USATF staffers, several of whom were advocating for changes to the schedule. Ultimately, he heard that no changes would be made.
USATF did not respond to multiple email queries from Runner’s World about the heptathlon schedule. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) did not respond to an email.
Michael Reilly, the CEO of TrackTown USA, the local organizing committee of the Trials, wrote in an email to Runner’s World: “Since USATF has authority over all aspects of the competition at the Olympic Trials, you will need to contact them about the changes to the competition schedule. As the local organizing committee, TrackTown’s responsibility is to implement the venue and event operations that support the schedule.” He listed ticket scanning, spectators shuttles, and volunteers as examples.
An overlooked event
On the track, the other 14 remaining competitors in the heptathlon were shaken when they saw Brooks pass out after her practice throw for the javelin. For Hawkins, who had been included in the earlier efforts to change the schedule, it was a moment of frustration.
“When Taliyah ended up collapsing, I was boiled over with rage,” Hawkins told Runner’s World. “The priority is to make sure heptathletes are treated fairly and safely. It was super disappointing. It was not something that was missed; it was ignored.”
She said she frequently encounters a “shrugging of the shoulders” from the governing body when it comes to the heptathlon. “This was all avoidable by moving us up a little bit,” Hawkins said. “The fact that they did it for other events means they had the capacity to do it, and that was the hardest part.”
Brooks said that on Day 1, she requested an extra tent be brought over during the high jump portion of the competition. “There was not enough shade for us,” she said. “There was one little sliver of shade.”
Eventually, she said, officials did bring tents, but she wondered why she needed to ask. “I just think overall, they could have done a better job of that ahead of time. Because they knew what the situation was going to be.”
Hawkins does not want to diminish the performance of the three heptathletes—Annie Kunz, Kendell Williams, and Erica Bougard—who made Team USA for Tokyo. “The top three performed so well,” Hawkins, who finished sixth, said. “It was an incredibly difficult team to make, regardless of the heat.”
But Brooks, Hawkins said, had a right to finish her journey at the Olympic Trials, no matter where she finished in the field. “It’s not really about our peak performances; it’s about safety,” Hawkins said. “Not everyone was safe under those conditions.”
Brooks herself was still experiencing headaches four days after the competition ended. But she was buoyed by messages of support she had received from fans and competitors. She posted to Instagram Meanwhile, back at.
Within it, a message for USATF: “Do better,” she wrote. “Not only for myself, but for all of the athletes at the Trials. It’s a shame my situation had to happen for the meet to finally be postponed.”
originally scheduled for the afternoon of the 27th, moved also to 10 a.m. on the 27th is a writer and editor living in Eugene, Oregon, and her stories about the sport, its trends, and fascinating individuals have appeared in Runner’s World for June 26 at 9 a.m., were moved to 7 a.m. The, Run Your Butt Off! and Walk Your Butt Off!
