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LONDON >> He told them so.
Doug Logan got fired as the CEO of the U.S. track team in 2010, about 18 months after setting the audacious goal of collecting 30 medals at the London Olympics.
Heading into the final two days, the Americans have 26, with up to five more possible. Logan says he’s not surprised.
“I feel a certain sense of validation that the direction I took and the way I did it was correct,” he told the Associated Press on Friday.
The Americans won 23 medals in Beijing, a performance that prompted Logan to call for a top-to-bottom review of the track program that resulted in a report called “Project 30.”
Logan’s in-your-face management style eventually led to his ouster in September 2010 after little more than two years on the job. He’s watching the games from his home in Florida this year with mixed emotions.
“When I challenged the federation to perform up to its potential, I knew it had an Olympics like this in it,” he said. “But a lot of people, including my own board members, thought I was arrogant and ill-informed.”
But the man who ultimately replaced Logan, Max Siegel, hasn’t shied away from the goal of 30 medals. If the U.S. can reach the podium in the two remaining relays and two of three other events where it has a chance — women’s high jump (Chaunte Lowe), men’s 5,000 meters (Bernard Lagat) and men’s marathon (Meb Keflezighi) — it would hit the number.
Though this year’s track meet has, once again, been dominated by Usain Bolt and his back-to-back victories in the 100 and 200, the Americans are at the top of the medals table with more than double the next-best countries, Jamaica and Russia, which have 10.
