Just looked over the iaaf.org website, to see who is participating in each track and field event.

The 800m for women ... there are 22 women in the world who have run under 2:00 this year . That is pretty amazing. I think the 800m and 1500m are at all-time highs with women athletes. The US record in the 1500m was recently broken by Shannon Rowbury - formerly held by Mary Decker (now Mary Slaney) way back in about 1985. Jennifer Simpson in the 1500m has also broken Slaney's old record. In the 800m in the US, quite a few women under 2:00 this year, only top 3 went to Beijing.

Love to see Laura Roesler make it to the Olympics next year, but both the 800m and 1500m are loaded in the US right now. I don't think she would entertain the 400m. (Might also mention, a freshman at Oregon ran a 1:59 and change this year at the NCAAs - which was a huge PR for the young woman - so she has a great chance of eclipsing some of Laura's accomplishments there, which is saying something.) Roesler is going to have a fight in making top 3 next year in the O.Trials.

Castor Troy has posted (old post) that he thought Roesler had the potential to run 1:56 territory ... I agree. Glad to see she is training for the 800m now, rather than the sprinter biased training she had at Oregon.