Mel Rosen, men's coach of the U.S. Olympic track and field team, was called a liar and unprofessional today by two members of the 1,600-meter relay team.
The runners, Steve Lewis and Danny Everett, both blasted Rosen for including Michael Johnson on the relay team, ahead of Andrew Valmon, the fourth-place finisher in the 400 meters at last month's Olympic trials."Mel Rosen is unprofessional, inconsistent and has not been truthful to Andrew Valmon," Lewis, the 1988 Olympic 400-meter gold medalist, said at a press conference.
"I will run, but I don't agree with what's going on."
Everett, the 1988 Olympic bronze medalist and 1992 Olympic trials champion, echoed Lewis, his Santa Monica Track Club teammate.
"I think the coach has mishandled the situation very seriously," he said. "I've lost all respect for Mel. He also has been inconsistent in the way he has handled the relays in the past.
"Mel has changed his philosophy. He's been lying to a lot of people," said Everett, who also revealed that he had an injured right Achilles' tendon and might have to withdraw from the Games.
"I don't think it would be helpful for team morale for me to engage in a war or words, because our plan is still to put our strongest 4 x 400 relay team on the track," Rosen said. "At this point, we're still staying with the statement that I've made. And that is that a final decision on the relay personnel will come two days before the first round, when we have to turn in a list of our final six people."
Everett also charged that Rosen's and Johnson's affiliation with the shoe company Nike also played a part in the coach's decision to give Johnson a place on the relay team.
"It's a conflict of interest when you have a coach who is with a shoe company trying to get an athlete on the team from that company," he said.