Local track coach international star
By NORA SORENA CASEY Special to the Daily Press
AMSTERDAM The Santa Monica Track Club has coached everyone from Olympic track star Carl Lewis to high school coach Pat Cady, and this year they are sending another international contender to Beijing.
Bayano Kamani will compete in the men’s 400 meter hurdles, starting Aug. 15. Kamani took fifth in the Olympics in 2004 after training with the Santa Monica Track Club (SMTC) for approximately a year.
He is originally from Houston, Texas and won national championships at the college level for the 4x400 meter relay and the 400 hurdles.
The SMTC’s presence in Beijing is nothing unusual. Since Joe Douglas founded the club in 1972 they have sent runners to ever Olympics, except for the competition in Berlin that was boycotted.
Overall, the club’s runners have set 37 world records, 66 American records, and won 37 Olympic medals. With a reputation for consistent excellency, Douglas and the club are internationally famous but overlooked at home as they practice on the Santa Monica College track or the Pacific Palisades.
“I think they know us less in Santa Monica than anywhere else in the world,” Douglas said. “I wear my SMTC shirt in Japan and people come up and ask me about it.”
This year Douglas does not expect to bring home a medal because several injuries have hurt Kamani’s training.
“If his Achilles is okay hopefully he’ll place the finals,” said Douglas. “We still have a lot of work to do but once he gets in shape it should go quickly.”
SMTC’s reputation is not dependent on a single year or competition. In his several decades of coaching, Douglas has helped many great track names and changed the face of the sport in America.
“If you think of Carl Lewis you’ll think of Joe Douglas,” said Tania Fischer, who was third in the nation in the 5,000 meters when she ran with the Douglas. “They go hand in hand bringing track to a higher level.”
Douglas was a groundbreaking manager. When the SMTC began Douglas said that the contracts for runners made it impossible to earn a living as a runner. The SMTC changed that when they began bringing athletes to Europe to compete and managing athletes events so that they were getting better pay.
“It was one of the cutting edge clubs,” said Cady. “He made it so guys could get money running.”
The track club’s membership of premier athletes was what allowed them the leverage to negotiate for more money and better treatment.
“If they didn’t give us good housing I would leave,” said Douglas. “Then we started asking for more money and because we were bringing in TV stations, sponsors, we got it.”
Douglas originally came to Santa Monica to work with the Hungarian track coach Mihaly Igloi. He trained here and made friends with other serious track athletes.
They came to form the Los Angeles track club and traveled to compete successfully in Europe.
Inspired by Igloi’s coaching style, Douglas studied exercise physiology.
“Most coaches don’t know the physics or the physiology behind it,” said Douglas. “I wanted to study how to be a good coach.”
Cady trained with Douglas as a local runner, and was impressed by his coaching style. He said that Douglas keeps a log of every runner’s workout to help him hone their particular skills.
“People come with different talents,” said Douglas. “So I weight these factors and I train everyone individually.”
Fischer said that training with Douglas demanded great dedication, as they would work out every day, often twice a day. However, his management allowed her to compete in elite meets and achieve her goal of making the finals for the Olympic trials.
“It’s like if you were traveling with the Lakers, maybe they don’t recognize you but they recognize the name,” Fischer said, remember her treatment at competitions abroad. “I wanted to run really, really fast so I was holding up the name and prove, you know, its not like it was a fluke, I’m wearing the uniform with pride.”
Although there are other track clubs in Santa Monica, the SMTC is set apart by the highest caliber of its athletes and its unique groundbreaking history, according to VS Athletics Track Club’s Director Skip Stolley. Stolley’s club handles a greater number of athletes he described as emerging elite.
“We compete in many of the same meets, but if you’re talking about rivalry we are really two different groups,” he said. “I think both are groups are very supportive of each other.”
Douglas’ impact in track can be seen everywhere this summer, from the high schools students running under the direction of Cady and Fischer to a runner representing not only the USA, but part of Santa Monica, in the games at Beijing.
“He’s a legend,” said Fischer.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 5, 2008. Read the original PDF.