USATF’s David Katz named Course Measurer for 2020 Olympic Games

Congrats, David! Will you wear a gas mask, so you can breathe somewhat clean air?

Out of curiosity, though, how many measurements of the course do you do for the Olympics? I assume it will be a configuration of loops. How many days do you allocate for all of your measurements/re-measurements?

Thanks Duane
I was already in Tokyo and few weeks ago to review the course with the Local Organizing Committee and to meet with the Japanese measurers.
I am prohibited from revealing anything about the course until it has the final approval of the IAAF. But I can tell you it will be different from the last two Olympic Games with the start and finish in the Olympic Stadium. In regards to the number of measurements - the last two Olympic Games I measured with at least two other "A" measurers and we were in agreement so no additional measurements were necessary. I expect the Tokyo measurement to be the same. In addition to the marathon, the 1k & 2k race walk courses need to be measured as well. Obviously these courses are less demanding in time then the marathon but they still required a high degree of accuracy. In fact for the Rio Games we had done the measurement about a month before the competition but I set up the race walk course to be able to slightly modify one of the turns based on how the course signage was set up (which I would not know until race day). We had a calibration course about 300m from the race route. Two of us calibrated, then had the officials clear the course and we quickly did 4 measurements (2 each), then adjusted one of the turning points by a few centimeters. I had Bernie sitting waiting for the adjustment of the one turn before signing off on the IAAF Certificate.