Kevin Ankrom

runjb

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/olympics-2012/irish-news/ankrom-im-fully-committed-to-irish-athletics-3182689.html

Interesting article that will raise some eyebrows even further.

I was going to place this post the Joanna Mills thread because it was only a few days previous where people were questioning his decisions and areas of focus. Maybe the article sheds some further light on it all.

IrishTrackFan

runjb wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/olympics-2012/irish-news/ankrom-im-fully-committed-to-irish-athletics-3182689.html

Interesting article that will raise some eyebrows even further.

I was going to place this post the Joanna Mills thread because it was only a few days previous where people were questioning his decisions and areas of focus. Maybe the article sheds some further light on it all.

Interesting how he refers to the athletes as 'my' athletes!
Easily the worst appointment ever by AAI (although effectively an ISC choice that was imposed post the Mary Coghlan/Paul Doyle fallout.

Here's the article referred to.

JHS grad has role in Olympics
July 27, 2012 6:00 AM
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GREG OLSON
Jacksonville residents may see a familiar face on the sidelines at the London Olympics, particularly if they’re watching Ireland’s track and field team.

Kevin Ankrom, 44, a 1986 graduate of Jacksonville High School, serves as high performance director of Athletics Ireland.

“He directly supervises all the staff and coaches, coaches the education training of Ireland’s track and field athletes and goes over the competition plans against other track teams,” said his mother, Carolyn Ankrom of Lake Moses, near Benton. Ankrom’s father is Carroll “Kik” Ankrom.

“He has an overwhelming pride in what he’s doing, and we as a family share in that pride,” Carolyn Ankrom said.

Ankrom, who lives and works in Dublin, Ireland, is in London with Ireland’s track and field team, preparing for today’s start of the Olympics.

“He will take part in the opening ceremonies, parading with the team in the Olympic stadium,” Carolyn Ankrom said.

Ankrom described his team in an e-mail from London.

“We have 23 athletes that have qualified for the 2012 Olympic Games, all achieving the ‘A’ standard in their respective event,” he said. “This is the biggest ‘A’ standard team for track and field that Ireland has had at the Olympic Games. Although Ireland track and field is not in a position to win any medals, the expectation is for the team to have several top 10 and top 16 finishers.”

Ankrom is enjoying his stay in London, but it is the chance to see old friends from around the world that thrills him the most.

“London is a great city and will host a great Olympic Games,” he said. “There certainly is a mix of food, cultures and transportation that make the city a great place to visit. The most enjoying part for me being in London and at the Olympic Games is catching up with all of my friends and former teams like Hong Kong, New Zealand and Bahrain. I have a global network of friends and family, and the Olympic Games is an opportunity for me to see them all once again.”

He said the track and field events will occupy most of his time at the Olympics.

“On a daily basis, I will be at the track and field events and will not see many other sports, although I would say now, after 10 years, I know most of the athletes and coaches from around the world in the track and field arena,” Ankrom said. “I do have a few friends from the USA and I will see every USA track and field athlete in the warm-up track over the 13 days of track and field.”

Carolyn Ankrom said her son has always been driven to succeed in the sports world.

“I know, as an athlete in high school and college, he was dedicated to high jumping even after breaking his leg in high school and tearing his Achilles tendon in college,” Carolyn Ankrom said. “Kik and I both realized many years ago that Kevin had a dedication to sports and realized that he was going to go far in whatever sport he chose. I just think that he is very dedicated today to whatever it takes to complete the responsibilities of his job. But his job often takes him away from his family for long periods of time.”

Ankrom and his wife, Winnie, whom he met in Hong Kong, have two daughters, Jazmeen, 4, and Jada, 2.

After JHS, Ankrom graduated from North Carolina State University, where he was a high jumper. He held the N.C. State high-jumping record for about six years in the 1990s.

Upon graduating college, Ankrom became a track and field coach in Bahrain in the Middle East. Since then he has held track and field coaching positions at Valparaiso University, the University of North Carolina-Wilmington and the Hong Kong Sports Institute, where he was a national team head coach. And from 2007-11, Ankrom was high performance director for New Zealand’s Olympic track and field team, which competed in the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing.

“This will be my third Olympic Games,” Ankrom said. “I have spent each of them with a different country, and I always knew if I wanted this experience I would have to leave the USA. I believe that I have accomplished a lot of my career goals in life and the Olympic experience will always be memories that I cherish the most.”

Carolyn Ankrom said her son is actively applying for U.S. Olympic track and field positions and hopes he can land a job closer to home. “As exciting as it is to have him live in other countries, as a mother and a grandmother I would hope that he will soon return to live in the United States,” she said.

drrunner

Oh dear - his poor mother kind of let the cat out of the bag!

Well anyway, I'm sure that the USA track & field team will be delighted that he's going to be seeing them all over there (which is more than he has managed to do with the Irish team or his athletes as he called them....)

And what about his impressive claim that he knows most athletes and coaches from around the world who will be at the Olympics...c'mon laughable!!!

Pisco Sour

IrishTrackFan wrote: »

He said the track and field events will occupy most of his time at the Olympics.

I should surely hope so!!

dna_leri

Not much of a story there, did not even twitch my eyebrows never mind raise them.

So his mother wants him to live closer to home, wow!
At least she has a better idea of his job than most Irish mammys.

he refers to the athletes as 'my' athletes!

Would it be better to refer to them as their athletes?

The claims appeared in a newspaper interview published on Friday in the Jacksonville Journal-Courier in the small Florida town where Ankrom grew up and where his family still lives.

The indo "journalist" did not even bother to check which Jacksonville Ankrom is from - its Illinois not Florida.

If we are going to criticise Ankrom, lets do it with facts and not take the lead from the indo.

PaulieC

What is it with the Indo these days ? That's the 3rd such story in a week or so (a story seemingly designed to destabilize things in the Olympic camp). It's fast becoming like the daily mail

IrishTrackFan

dna_leri wrote: »

Not much of a story there, did not even twitch my eyebrows never mind raise them.

So his mother wants him to live closer to home, wow!
At least she has a better idea of his job than most Irish mammys.


Would it be better to refer to them as their athletes?


The indo "journalist" did not even bother to check which Jacksonville Ankrom is from - its Illinois not Florida.

If we are going to criticise Ankrom, lets do it with facts and not take the lead from the indo.

Maybe today's article will get you past the Indo thing - fact is we have the greatest fool in charge of HP as he has shown again - Derval is only our best athlete of the past ten years and he sees fit to criticize her two days before her event! When its all about the HP Director and not the athletes this is the crap you get. He's even making Patsy look professional!

Pisco Sour

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/olympics-2012/irish-news/london-2012-why-arent-you-here-derval-3189669.html

PaulieC

What does the HP director if he doesn't have much contact with the elite athletes ?

The more I hear from/about this guy, the less I think of him.

thirtyfoot

That one is like walking into the wrong bar in the wrong town.

downthemiddle

Ailis McSweeney had a nice little pop at Ankrom this morning about his comments over Derval. All very polite but the message was clear.

downthemiddle

And Jerry Kiernan follows up with another go at Ankrom over the non selection of Mark English pointing out that three lads from the world juniors have qualified for the semis.

Rineanna

downthemiddle wrote: »

Ailis McSweeney had a nice little pop at Ankrom this morning about his comments over Derval. All very polite but the message was clear.

What was the gist for those of us on foreign soil?

downthemiddle

Rineanna wrote: »

What was the gist for those of us on foreign soil?

Basically that Derval was at home working with her coaches, that London is on her doorstep so didn't need to be there early and that she didn't need the distraction of Ankrom whinging to the media before the most important race of her life.
Derval also appeared to give a veiled response in the mixed zone afterwards stating that she is tough and can take whatever people throw at her .

Pherekydes

downthemiddle wrote: »

And Jerry Kiernan follows up with another go at Ankrom over the non selection of Mark English pointing out that three lads from the world juniors have qualified for the semis.

To be fair, AAI have no control over the selection policy. The OCI dictated to all that only 'A' standards would be sent.

SeanKenny

Cheers for that Downthemiddle! You miss that commentary when you are at the games.

Fair play to Ailish for saying it! Let's hope Derval can run even quicker in the semi's!

myflipflops

The irony of the thing about Ankroms comments about Derval O'Rourke is that he came out pretty strongly in public at the start of his contract about stamping out major championship tourism and people going along for the trip. His comment on Derval are completely contradictory to that.

Derval O'Rourke is the exact opposite of what he stated he wanted to stamp out. He should be his poster girl in many ways. She is someone who has continually aimed her seasons solely on the championships. It has a strategy that has gained great success. If you look down through Ireland's best athletes over the years, Derval (along with Treacy) is the one that should retire with zero regrets.

For her to stay later in Ireland preparing (don't underestimate the advantage of sleeping in your own bed) shows an enormous amount of focus and single mindedness. She is certainly not along for the trip. How easy would it have been to go the Games early and watch her boyfriend in the sailing or just hang around with the rest of the team.

As well as poor leadership in selection (relay debacle), Ankrom is also sending out completely mixed messages about what is expected.

Milkers

The people who hired Kevin Ankrom should be put in medieval style stocks up in Santry and egged/tomatoed. What a bunch of absolute plonkers.

IrishTrackFan

Milkers wrote: »

The people who hired Kevin Ankrom should be put in medieval style stocks up in Santry and egged/tomatoed. What a bunch of absolute plonkers.

His comments about having O'Rourke and Hession in the village so that he can chat with them are laughable given that he never once went the 5 minutes from his office to Santry where they train pretty much every day to meet either of them in the year he has been in Dublin.

He is an ISC hire but they won't ever have to take responsibility for that since the AAI are afraid to stand up to them.

Keep in mind that the HP person in the ISC is an ex advertising executive - he has no background in HP and there is no evidence that he knows how to recruit expertise in this area in any the 69 odd sports he is supposed to be in charge of.

It is common knowledge that the elite athletes have contempt for AAI's HP Director and Olympic Team Manager and for the ISC administrators that act as yes men for Treacy.

Hopefully when it comes time to interview Treacy for the ISC replacement organization (and it will be the first time in 17 years he has had to submit himself to interview) they will see that the single minded dedication and tunnel vision needed to be a successful marathon runner is incompatible with the team work and administration skills needed to move Irish sport in the right direction.
Ultimately he is the problem and Ankrom merely a symptom.