EUGENE, Ore. — As the top 500 American track and field athletes gather this weekend for the Olympic trials, a question that has consumed videoconferencing calls and text chains throughout the sport over the past year will finally be discussed in person.
How is Nike rethinking its financial support of track and field in the United States, a sport that has been sustained by its largess for decades?
Nike is notoriously secretive, and as a result a mystery leading into the Tokyo Olympics has blossomed from the company’s smaller maneuvers: canceled or reduced sponsorship agreements, executive shuffling and its internal responses to scandals in the sport.