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Rupp Ecstatic Over 2016 World Indoors Announcement

Published by
DyeStatPRO.com   Nov 18th 2013, 4:55pm
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By Doug Binder

With the announcement of Portland securing the right to host the 2016 World Indoor Championships, it was pretty easy to imagine how 2012 Olympic 10,000 silver medalist Galen Rupp would feel about it.

“I was thrilled,” Rupp said Saturday. “I’m just really happy for the city of Portland and the state of Oregon.”

Rupp grew up about two miles from the Oregon Convention Center on Portland’s east side and cut his teeth as a serious runner at Central Catholic High School, where he was discovered by Alberto Salazar.

Rupp has competed in global championship around the world, but in 2016 the world of athletics comes to him.

“It means a ton,” he said. “Personally, I feel like the luckiest guy ever. I’ve been fortunate to have Olympic Trials and national championships in Eugene, where I went to school, and now this. I can’t wait. It will work our really well with the timing of getting ready for the 2016 Olympics.”

The World Indoors bid came by way of a late charge by Vin Lananna and Track Town USA, which will serve as the local organizing committee.

It will be the first significant indoor meet in Portland – or the entire state for that matter – in about 25 years.

Over the past 10 years, however, the city’s importance to track and field has grown exponentially. Nike’s two training groups, coached by Salazar and Jerry Schumacher, have pooled many of the nation’s best distance runners – plus Great Britain’s Mo Farah – in Portland or suburban Beaverton. In 2004, the USATF annual meeting was in Portland. That same year, Nike Cross Nationals made its debut at Portland Meadows. The Portland Track Festival may not be a Diamond League meet, but it is one of the best professional track meets in the U.S. The city even became a magnet for throwers after Mac Wilkins built a throwing center near the airport.

For those reasons and others, Rupp believes the event will thrive in Portland.

“I think the city is going to be a thousand percent behind it and be really into it,” Rupp said. “A lot of people from Portland go down to the Pre Classic and I’m sure lots of people from Eugene will drive up (to World Indoors).”

Rupp competed at the 2010 World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar and is no stranger to the indoor circuit.

“It’s a whole other animal from the big outdoor meets,” Rupp said of indoor track. “I think indoors is really fun. (Racing) is a little more physical. There are more laps, which means more strategy. It’s always pretty crazy and being inside keeps the noise. It can be pretty rowdy when everyone is close to the track.”

Rupp may have been recalling a meet last winter at Boston University where he ran 3:50.92 in front of a couple thousand screaming fans.

For Rupp, in particular, the notion of a global championship at “home” has come up before.

He and his family were both excited when Chicago was in the running for the 2016 Olympic Games. Rupp’s father, Greg, is a Chicago native and he has family in the area.

“Obviously you don’t get too many opportunities over the span of your career to do events like this, and for one to be in your home country, let alone your hometown, is great,” he said. “It’s a testament to all of the work of Vin and Track Town USA to put this quick bid together and then go get it.”

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