Wanjiru To Receive Special Treat From Wife Upon Return To Kenya ... No, it's not what you think. Can you say porridge? This is a good article as it reveals a lot about his upbringing. As his brother said, "We had to forgo meals many times because we had no option."
Dorian Ulrey NCAA 1500m Runner-Up Transfer to Arkansas
Lindsey Scherf Doping Matter Gets Resolved It's crazy WADA wasted money appealing this case. The need to remember what they are trying to accomplish.
$$$
*Big Time Money Motivates Chinese Athletes
*Kenya Govt. Paying Olympic Medallists $10,800 for gold, $7,200 for silver, $3,600 for bronze.
*Travis Padgett Of Clemson Goes Pro 9.89 guy - a total class act - would have a medal if they could have gotten the stick around in the 4 x 100m.
Marathon Aftermath:
Warning: Don't read if you are opposed to alcohol as this has a picture of Wanjiru drinking a post-race cold one. Japanese Connection Pays Off For Wanjiru This article has some good info that we didn't see reported elsewhere. Lel apparently battled malaria and typhoid while Kibet had stomach problems. *Message
Board Thread on Wanjiru Here
*A Brief Chat With Women's Champ Constantina Tomescu-Dita The 38-year-old trains only on the road in Colorado and blames the famed trails of Magnolia Road for an injury last fall.
*2004 Olympic Champ Stefano Baldini Is Hanging Them Up
*A Recommended Read: The IAAF Catches Up With The 1st Non-African In The Men's Marathon, Victor Röthlin He won the bronze last year and was 6th in Beijing. He was very pleased. "To come in sixth in an Olympic marathon as the best (non-African) is a superb achievement for me ... I have done really well."
*UK's Dan Robinson Runs 23rd In Olympic Marathon, Was 11th In Osaka WC's Last Year - Much Tougher Race
*Ramaala Blames Drug Testing, Not Torrid Pacing, For Marathon Disappointment Taking the lead at 10k probably didn't help things.
*Wanjiru Thanks Japanese Mentors For Guidance Kind of funny as he thanks them for teaching him patience.
*Wanjiru Joins Bekele & Geb as A Great Young Distance Prodigy
Great Article On 1,500m Champ Lagat American fans, it's true - Lagat won gold. Women's gold.
Article On Disparity Of Wealth Among Olympic Nations Affecting Equipment And Training
Boston Globe's Top Photos From the Olympics
2008 Olympic Track Action *Results*LIVE Event by Event Report/Previews *Videos/Highlights
Daily Nation: Marathon Gold Caps Best-Ever Olympics for Kenya The sexists in Kenya ought to rethink their ways as thanks to their women, Kenya won a record 14 medals when its previous best was 9.
Jamaica Sprint Mania Continues:
*Bolt Says Success Won't Slow Him Down - Puma is giving their main man a BMW.
*Jamaicans Returning Home To Huge Celebration; For Some, Success Could Lift Entire Family From Extreme Poverty Olympic champ Shelly-Ann Fraser comes from big-time poverty. Her aunt says, "Me go down pon mi knee and me tell you she did set out fi get the gold ... She win! She win! She take we out of sufferation."
*Reflections On Past Olympics For Jamaica and Potential Tough Road For Olympic Athletes After Careers End
*Bolt: Genius At Work
*Bolt and Co.'s Positive Vibes Reverberate In Jamaica
*Bob Costas' Criticism, Not Bolt's Celebration, Was Inappropriate
*In Defense of Bolt
Sunday *Final Day Photos
Men's 5k
LRC: Kenenisa Bekele Completes The Double In Style - By Running The Greatest 5k Ever Run Bekele
was simply sensational as he arguably ran the greatest 5k in history.
Pushing the pace throughout, he ran an Olympic record 12:57.82 thanks
to a ridiculous
3:57.01 last 1,600m, 4:56.97 last 2k, 7:35.53 last 3k and 53.87 last
lap. Unbelievable. He clearly enjoyed this one as he showed great
emotion in the last 150m as he won his first global 5k and became the
1st man to complete the Olympic 10k/5k double since his countryman, Miruts Yifter, in 1980. *IAAF Recap of Race *Reuters Recap of Race
IAAF: Kenenisa Bekele Joins Legends By Completing Distance Double
Recommended Read: Bernard Lagat Goes Home Empty Handed But Looking Forward To The Future The New York Times
gets the scoop on what has been ailing the double world champion from
last year. Apparently, after the US trials he developed a serious
achilles problem. Throw in a viral infection before the 5k final and
you've got big-time trouble.
He stayed in it until 1,200m left. Even if he was 100% on his game, no
way was he staying with Bekele on this special night. *Matt Tegenkamp Finishes 13th *Nic Bideau Shocked by Mottram's Failure *Bideau Hoping To Rebulid Mottram "We feel like it's just a couple days prior to Christmas and we've
found it's been cancelled." *Mottram's Career At Crossroads
*Matt Tegenkamp's Comments
Wilfred Bungei Wins Men's 800m -
The Kenyan's 10 years of training in Verona, Italy finally paid off in
a big way as he led the race at 400m, 600m and 800m. It's been a long
time coming for Bungei, who showed great promise when he was ranked
#1 in the world 6 years ago, running 1:42.34, and when he was the heavy
favorite 4 years ago. The article has a great photo of the finish.
*IAAF Recap of Race *Reuters Article
*4 Years After Being Favorite In Athens, Bungei Takes Home Gold Alan Webb can take heart in this story.
4 x 400m Mania
US Men Set 4 x 400m Olympic Record
Sanya Richards Comes From Behind To Take Women's 4 x 400m
*At last: Richards, Felix, Wariner get their golds
*Wariner Doesn't Do Redemption
Friday *Results *Photos
Tirunesh Dibaba Outkicks Rival To Complete Historic Double A 59-second last lap gave Dibaba a victory in a crazy, crazy race that went out at 5:50 mile pace for 1k. As a result, she is the first woman to ever win the 5k/10k double and now can officially be considered the greatest female runner
on the planet. IAAF Recap of Race
*Tirunesh Officially The Empress of Women's Distance Running
Bolt Completes Historic Triple - 3 Races & 3 World Records Plus 3 ridiculous margins of victory - 0.22, 0.66 and 0.96 seconds. It was great to see Asafa
Powell get a gold as well. Trinidad & Tobago was 2nd as Japan got the bronze - that's right, Japan. It was Japan's 1st Olympic track medal in 80 years - yes, 80 years.
Bryan Clay Wins Decathlon Gold - The world's greatest all-around athlete got silver four years ago. Bolt is clearly the world's fastest athlete.
Jamaica Blows Women's 4 x 100m as Russian Wins
*Australia's Steve Hooker Wins Men's Pole Vault *Drug Cheat Win's Women's Long Jump
Another Great Tim Layden Article: Putting The So-Called US Track Debacle In Perspective The US will end up with more medals than Sydney and likely more medals than the home field Atlanta Olymipcs. Plus you can't blame the US system as there is no US system. Additionally, Britain spent over $1 million on their relays and neither
4 x 100m finished - nor did the unbeatable Jamaican women.
Thursday *Results *Photos
LaShawn Merritt Crushes Jeremy Wariner As US Goes 1-2-3 in 400m The much-anticipated 400m duel turned into a rout as Merritt ran great (43.75) and Wariner was off his game. David Neville got a surprise bronze.*LaShawn Merritt Dedicates Win To His Deceased Brother *Texas
Paper on Wariner's Loss *Merritt Studied Video of Bolt's Race To Come Up With Game Plan *Dick Patrick On Merritt's Win
This Is What the Olympics Are All About: David Neville Dives For Bronze He was a surprise team member and an even bigger surprise for the bronze. A great story. We enjoyed seeing him at Track Town Pizza the day he made the team. Pizza and soda to celebrate. A class act.
*Veronica Campbell-Brown PRs & Defends Olympic 200m Crown Allyson Felix ended up in tears with the silver but we think given her struggles so far this year, her sub-22.00 clocking was a hell of a performance.
*US Drops Baton In Both 4 x 100m Relays No one should truly be shocked as the US men botched it for the 5th time in the last 12 global championships. On the plus side, we won't get the opportunity to get smoked by Jamaica in the final. *Britain (Thanks To Craig Pickering) Blows It As Well
*Tim Layden Looks At Struggling US Short Sprinters - Personally, we think Americans are spoiled by the US sprint domination and think the media is overblowing the US failures (and taking for granted our domination of the 400m hurdles and 400m). Plus the Jamaicans just have some big time stars. But it is the first
Olympics that the US will not win any of the 100m, 200m or 4 x 100m for at least one sex.
*Washington Post Puts Proper Perspective on USA's Performance - 6 Medals in 3 Finals is Damn Good
*Dayron Robles Masters 110m Hurdles The Cuban makes the hurdles look so effortless - unlike anyone we've ever seen before. The US got 2nd and 3rd. It's too bad Liu Xiang wasn't in this race or it would have been a huge spectacle.
*Bryan Clay Leads Decathlon After Day 1
*Nelson Evora Wins One of Best TJs in History You had to jump farther than ever before to get a medal as 7 men broke 17 meters.
Wednesday *Results *Usain Bolt 200m Photos
USAIN BOLT 19.30!!! Lightning struck twice
as Bolt ran a ridiculous time into a .9 headwind. More than a half second behind Bolt, the race was marred by the DQs of the 2nd and 3rd place finishers.
IAAF Recap of Race *Video of the Race
*Bolt Stakes His Claim as the Greatest Sprinter Ever A good article with a great conclusion: "Perhaps it is too much to hope that he has also banished the suspicions
that have undermined the integrity of Olympic sprinting for so long.
But when you look at him, at his 6ft 5in, 13st 8lb frame and at the
articulation of his limbs as he devours the track, you might be
forgiven for believing that he, more than any leading sprinter for
several generations, might just be able to achieve such feats without
artificial assistance. There is none of the sense of physical distortion created by the excess
muscle that powered recent generations out of the blocks. He looks
balanced and natural."
*London Times: Usain Bolt Leaves Beijing Spellbound Again Bolt was very nice to MJ's legacy. Bolt: "Michael Johnson revolutionised the
sport," he said. "I just changed it a little bit."
*Tim Layden: Bolt's 19.30 Cements Greatness This is a good article that follows up Layden's remarkable pre-race article. Sports Illustrated Vault: MJ Was Shocked by His 19.32
*Christine Brennan: Bolt Becomes an Instant Legend
*Dutch Antilles: US 200m Protest Not in Olympic Spirit We agree with their sentiment and think in the future the IOC should automatically look for blatant lane violations so countries don't get blamed. "It's a pity for a big country like the United States to make such a small statement."
*Usain Bolt 400m Mania Erupts - Apparently He's Promised To Run the 400m in 42.5 in 2014 This isn't some BS article. This is an article by the IAAF where the 1983 World 400-meter Champion Bert Cameron says that Bolt has promised him he'll run the 400m in 2014. Cameron thinks he'll run 42.5. Insane.
Other Action From Wednesday
Men's 800:*Nick Symmonds Advances As Andrew Wheating Is Edged Out in Tough Heat and Christian Smith Fails to Advance * Eugene-Register Guard Article on 800m
IAAF: Men's 800m - Round 1
IAAF: Melaine Walker Wins 400m Hurdles In Olympic Record Rojo's favorite 400m hurdler Sheena Johnson Tosta gets a much deserved silver after being denied a bronze by a drug cheat 4 years ago.
IAAF: Men's 110m Hurdles - Semi-Finals
Tuesday *Results *Nick Willis Photos!!
Men's 1,500m: Nick Willis Wins Bronze!!!!! (as Rashid Ramzi Wins Gold) The men's 1,500m final was thrilling for sure. In
the end, former Michigan Wolverine Nick Willis had given hope to Westerners across the globe as he won New Zealand's first track medal in 32 years, as Kenyan Asbel Kiprop won the respect
of Letsrunners across the globe for his sensational silver medal performance. Meanwhile, Rashid Ramzi won gold and it seems that most LetsRun.com viewers aren't happy as they all seem to think he is a drug cheat. *Honest question: why is everyone so sure Ramzi is doping? *RAMZI
WON - WHENEVER THE US SEES SOMEONE [From Another Country Win] WE ACCUSE THEM OF DOPING *Ramzi should have been DQ'ed Video: *Men's 1,500m Final Video
LRC: Recap of Men's 1,500 Final, Men's 400m Semis
The top two in the world proved it in the 1,500m, while Nick Willis put together the best possible race to come away with the bronze. The 400m semis had no major casualties, as Wariner and Merritt made their expected statements and other main medal contenders got through.
*Legends Hail Willis' Bronze
*Willis Cries for Those Who "Sacrificed" for His Victory
*Willis Takes Coach's Advice and Gets Medal
*Pre-Race: Nick Willis' Road to Bronze Ran Through Ann Arbor
*Rashid Ramzi Wins 1st-Ever Gold For Bahrain
IAAF: Men's 1,500m Recap
IAAF: Former Banned Brit Christine Ohuruogu Wins Olympic Gold Sanya Richards felt a cramp and ended up 3rd
IAAF: Both LaShawn Merritt and Jeremy Wariner Impress In 400m Semis Both won and both ran fast. Who will win the final?
IAAF: Dawn Harper Focuses On Herself and Wins 100m Hurdles Olympic Title The JJK protege shockingly won after pre-race Lolo Jones failed to medal.
IAAF: Andrey Silnov Wins Olympic HJ Title The guy was only 4th at the Russian Trials but was added to the team at the last minute after some good European performances.
Mens' 200 Semis: Usain Bolt Wins Easily And Then Pours Powerade Down Wallace Spearmon's Back
IAAF: Women's 5,000m - Round 1
Monday: *Results *Photos Day 4 (Discus, w800, 10k medals, Steeple) *Day 3 Updated (Men's 10k, W. Marathon, W. Steeple, M. 1,500m semis,
W.
100m)
LRC: Steeple, 800m Recap: A Kenyan Wins A Steeple For The Ages As Pamela Jelimo Sensationally Captures The Women's 800m The men's steeple had it all - an American leading more than halfway through and then 3 competitors side-by-side going into the final barrier (and
one of them was not a Kenyan). In the women's 800m, the 18-year-old was simply sensational from start to finish as was her teammate Janeth Jepkosgei. IAAF: 18-Year-Old Sensation Pamela Jelimo Wins Women's 800m Title A year ago she
had never raced the distance in her life. Now she's an Olympic Champion. Simply unreal. *IAAF: Men's 3,000m Steeplechase Recap
*IAAF: Angelo Taylor Electrifies Beijing and Wins His 2nd Olympic Gold in the 400m Hurdles as USA Sweeps Taylor shockingly won in 2000 out of lane 1. Let's hope the USA puts him on the 4 x 400m as he looked sensational. Two years ago, he was up laying electric cable at 5 a.m. in Atlanta. *Nice
ESPN Article on Angelo Taylor's Resurgence
*IAAF: Isinbayeva Puts on a Show! Sets WR & Wins Olympic Title Jenn Stuczynski was 2nd. *Isinbayeva Talks Tons Of Trash About Stuczynski After Winning Gold
*IAAF: Irving Saladino Wins Panama's First-Ever Olympic Gold in Men's Long Jump
*IAAF:Recap of 2nd Round of Men's 200m
Sunday: *Results *Photos (Marathon, Men's 10k)
LRC: Kenenisa Bekele Sets Olympic Record in Men's 10k The
men's 10k produced great drama as you had it all - a fast pace, Haile G in the
medal hunt and more.
*Video: 3 Minute 10k Highlight
LRC: Historic 1st Women's Olympic Steeple
Produces A World Record And an American Record as Well
*Video: *Steeple Final
LRC: Men's 1,500m Semis Produce Shocker As Bernard Lagat
Fails To Advance The two-time World Champion didn't advance as he was edged by Nick Willis, the lone athlete with
NCAA experience to make the final. *Bernard Lagat Fails To Advance *Nick Willis Makes 1,500m Final He becomes the first Kiwi to make a men's final in any track event since 1996. *Canada's
Kevin Sullivan Fails To Make Final - Doesn't Want To Talk About Retirement *Nate Brannen Fails To Advance
*Video: *Men's 1,500m Semi #1 (Kiprop, Lomong, Brannen) *Men's 1,500m Semi #2 (Lagat, Ramzi, Willis)
*IAAF: Jamaicans Sweep Women's 100m Video: Women's 100m Final
*IAAF: Women's Steeplechase Starts its Olympic History with a World Record
*IAAF: Radcliffe: Looking ahead to London 2012
*David Epstein of SI: Night To Forget For US Runners - Swept
in the women's 100m, zero men's 1,500m qualifiers, etc.
*Phil Hersh: *American Track Athletes Off To Slow Start - In addition to what's already mentioned, the US also has no LJ finalist or HJ finalists for the 1st time in history.
*Pre-Race Article on Lagat's Preparations - Lagat ran a 2:19 1k time trial last Sunday. This and Alan
Webb's time trials prove that it's easy for runners to use them to get a false
sense of raceworthiness. The article said Lagat was hoping no one noticed how he ran in London.
*More Lagat: Seattle Times: Lagat Fails To Advance
Saturday *Results *PhotosUSAIN BOLT 9.69 The men's 100 meter final was arguably the most anticipated sprint matchup in history. It more than lived up to the hype, not because of the expected 3-way matchup of Powell/Bolt/Gay, but rather due to the sheer brilliance of Usain Bolt. It was truly stunning. The question now is how fast can Bolt run in the 200m?
*Tim Layden (and Ato Boldon) on Usain Bolt Ato did another excellent job on the commentary. Can the other announcers defer and let him do the distances as well? He is knowledgeable and injects excitement.
*Usain Bolt Skipped Breakfast and Ate Chicken Nuggets for Lunch and a Snack Before the 100m Final
*Jamaica Prime Minister Planning Huge Homecoming for Bolt
*Usain Bolt and Jamaica Celebrate USA Today
*On the boards: 9.69 is Believable?
Friday: *Results *Photos
*Greatest Women's 10k Ever Dibaba Smashes Olympic 10,000m Record as Two Dip Under 30 Minutes! Flanagan Gets Bronze and American Record Tirunesh Dibaba got the one thing missing on her resume, an Olympic gold,
and she did it in grand style. She outkicked Elvan Abeylegesse to win in 29:54.66 as they became the 2nd and 3rd women in history to break 30 minutes for 10k and the first since Wang Junxia's unbelievable 29:31.78, 15 years ago. Shalane Flanagan came from behind to smash her American record (30:22.22) and get the first American medal in a track event over 400m since 1992. In other action, the American men bombed in the shot put (many expected a US sweep,
but Christian
Cantwell was the only American on the medal stand), the American women bombed in round 1 of the 800m and the USA was the only country to have all 3 of its entrants advance to round 2 of the 1,500m (Manzano on time), but Bernard
Lagat didn't look great doing it. We'll hopefully have a letsrun.com recap of these races later, but in the meantime the IAAF has event recaps: *Men's 1,500m Round 1 *Women's 800m Round 1 *Women's Steeple Round 1 Recaps (Willard and Barringer advanced)
More 10k: NY Times Recap on Dibaba's 10k Victory, Flanagan's Bronze * Washington Post Recap on Flanagan
On the boards: *TWO women under 30 minutes in the Olympic 10000m final A historic day.
*1,500m Heats Talk Here
*USA's Flanagan wins bronze in 10,000 meters USA Today *Flanagan shows American distance runners can compete with best ... ESPN
*IAAF Recap of Day 1 - Kara Goucher 30:55 PR
Shot: Poland's Tomasz Majewski Surprise Shot Put Winner
*US Shot Putters Come Up Short New York Times
More:
*Pamela Jelimo Favored For 800m Gold
*Lagat's Goals Include Being Oldest 1,500m Gold Medallist
*Heptathlon: Kelly Sotherton Leaves Day 1 In Tears As American Hyleas Fountain PRs In 4 Events To Lead
*Famiglietti Advances To Men's Steeple Final With 8:17 PR!
*All 3 Americans, As Well As Michigan Alums Brannen and Willis, Advance To 1,500m Semis Rashid Ramzi Rolls, Kenyan Nicholas Kemboi Failed To Advance *1,500m Heats Talk Here
*
LRC Preview #2 - Women's Marathon & Pole Vault as Well As Men's 400m Hurdles The women's marathon will be one of the few athletics events shown live in the US. What a race - Radcliffe, Kastor, Ndereba and plenty of other Chinese, Japanese, and Africans to add even more drama.
LRC Beijing Olympic Day 1 Preview: Games Kick Off With Women's 10k Final, Men's Shot Final, Round 1 of the 100m Showdown, Plus Men's 1,500m Round 1, Women's 800m Round 1, Steeplechase Round 1 Tirunesh Dibaba will try to get the Games underway by getting the one thing missing
on her resume - an Olympic gold. She'll face a slew of challengers as 9 other women have a decent shot at the medal stand, including Americans Kara Goucher and Shalane Flanagan. We preview the other events, including the men's steeple, where the favorite, Paul Koech, may not even get to run as he's the Kenyan alternate. We also give you a sneak peak at the LetsRun.com Prediction Contest predictions (where not a single person has failed to pick one of Bolt,
Gay or Powell to win the 100m).
*US Men Going for the Medal Sweep in the Shotput USA Today
8/8/08 Dazzling Opening Ceremonies Kick Off Beijing Olympics A reader abroad wrote us saying, "I thought it was mind blowing ... it's like China is saying: 'We are the next power' ... I'm telling you, it was the most amazing visual display I have ever seen on television. And I'm not even watching on an HD or anything. London must be shitting
their pants because that was unbeatable. It was amazing ... It just went on for 4 straight hours." We agree. *America's a Great Country "For the rest of us, who have generally eaten well, felt safe and
experienced total hopelessness only in sad movies, (Lopez) Lomong is a gift. He
lights up the room again and puts a Band-Aid on the cynicism. If you are a writer, you want to tell his story, even if dozens have
preceded you. You want to tell it better, to grip the reader just in
case your predecessors haven't. And
then you sit in the audience on the morning of the opening ceremony and
realize you need do nothing more than listen and take notes, because
Lomong is telling it to you, for you, and better than ever before ... We have a world full of politicians and diplomatic spinners and we have only one Lopez Lomong. Too bad it isn't the other way around." -LA Times columnists Bill Dwyre writing on Lopez Lomong *Washington
Post Editorial by Thomas Boswell on Lopez Lomong *Message board thread on the amazing opening ceremony
Sprint/Foreign Olympic News: Men's 100: *Tim Layden Looks at Tyson Gay: Coach Jon Drummond Says Tyson Gay is 100% Sports Illustrated Drummond
hints Gay was 100% by London. *Asafa Powell Nearly Quit the Sport to become a Mechanic When His Brother was Murdered in a NYC Taxi *Asafa Powell's Coach Steve Francis Says: "Since May [Asafa] has been almost reformed. It has done wonders for his performance" *Forgotten
Five Will Try to Break Up Bolt, Gay and Powell IAAF
NY Times Looks at Liu Xiang's Decision to Not Run Any Races Before Olympics New York Times
LetsRun.com Rojo's Tour of China, Part 2 - The Great Wall Not too much about athletics in this one, except Rojo was too exhausted to make it to the top of the Great Wall and he did meet Leo Manzano's dad's employers. Rojo talks about the smog, the taxis being bugged, getting some digits, and
getting only the money stolen from his wallet. Plus he's embarrassed about the American cyclists who showed up wearing black smog masks.
LetsRun.com Rojo's Tour of China, Part 1 - Hanging Out With Usain Bolt Rojo went to the Puma Party put on for Usain Bolt.
Open bar,
Chinese dancers putting on their best sorority girl imitations, and then Rojo going 1-on-1 with Bolt. Rojo actually asked Usain about moving up to the 800m. Bolt hinted the Jamaicans want him to run the 4 x 400m. More importantly, Bolt apologized for visiting Facebook instead of LetsRun.com.
Thanou Refuses IOC Request to Appear for Herself at Hearing on Whether She Can Compete at Olympics
LetsRun.com Olympic Trials Prediction Contest Recap The world-famous letsrun.com prediction contest for the Olympic Trials was a huge success. Football players, shot putters, DIII All-Americans
and wives out to upstage their husbands did very well in our contest. We give you the run-down (and in case you're wondering., that guy on the left is on the home page today because the winner of the contest was given control of the home page for a day). *Message board thread on front page photo
Our Blowout Beijing Prediction Contest Will Be Up Tomorrow
Three Russian Race Walkers Test Positive for EP 1was favored for gold. The tests were in April but for some reason are just being announced.
Too Bad NBC's Coverage Has Regressed and Won't Show Track Live on the Internet (or TV) Aaron Ross, Sanya Richards' Boyfriend, Intends to Watch Her 400m Heats on the Internet Someone needs to tell the NFL player, Ross, that contrary to NBC's announcement of "record coverage"
of the Olympics, it will be anything but record in our book. Way back when, in 1992, prior to the internet, it was possible to watch every track and field event in the Olympics live on television (on pay per view). Somehow NBC execs with all their consultants in the day of NFL Sunday Ticket, MLB Extra Innings, and MLS Super Pass, have forgotten the most fervent Olympic supporters, the people who consider the Olympics a sporting event worth watching live (and would pay big bucks to do so). Instead we're all supposed
to exist in a 12- to 15-hour time warp.
Please Don't Tell Us You're Surprised (unless you're surprised they actually got caught) Huge Doping Scandal in Russia: 6 Athletes, Including 1:54.85 800m world leader Soboleva and 2-Time 1,500m Champ Tomashova, Are Suspended This is big, big
news. The 6 suspended include Yelena Soboleva, who had dominated the mid-d ranks in 2008 with 1:54.85 and 3:57.71 world leaders (the 3:57.71 was also a world indoor record) and double (2003 and 2005) 1,500m World Champ Tatyana Tomashova. Also suspended are Yuliya Fomenko (3:59.41 for 2nd at World Indoors this year, 2nd at the Russian Olympic Trials), European discus champ Darya Pishchalnikova, former world record holder in the hammer Gulfiya Khanafeyeva and distance runner Svetlana Cherkasova. The 6 suspended did not test positive for any substance, but the IAAF, by running DNA analysis on their samples, realized they were submitting fake samples for out of competition tests (which leads to involvement of some co-conspirators in the process). This shows the IAAF program to target suspected cheats (based on profiling samples) is making some progress, although it also shows the anti-doping authorities still cannot actually detect the drugs the cheats
are taking. *Message Board Thread Latest: AP Article on Doping Scandal *Russian Suspensions Are Good News for Shannon Rowbury She's #2 in the world heading into Beijing. *Russian Positives Lead Many to Wonder If There was a Systematic Doping System in Place for Some in Russia New York Times *Anti-Doping Authorities Became Suspicious of Russians Because Everything was Too Perfect
Times of London On the boards: Is Borzakovskiy Clean? *DNA Convergance, how exact is it?
LRC: Recap of Final Day of Olympic Trials: Lagat Cruises, Rowbury Dominates, Alan Webb Treniere Clement Left Off Beijing Team In both the men's and women's 1,500s, those having the best 2008 seasons made it to Beijing as the 3-time US champions Alan Webb and Treniere Clement picked a horrible time to have bad years. The US men's 1,500 team is all foreign-born, with Bernard Lagat, Lopez Lomong and Leo Manzano. We recap all of the action on the final day of a fantastic 2008 Trials.
*LRC Sunday Photos On the boards: Webb: How Did It All Go So Wrong? Rowbury
Dominates Women's 1,500 More on Men's 1,500: Steve Sherer on Webb: "Going from world leader to not making the team, that's sad." *Bernard Lagat Talks About Alan Webb Finishing Fifth *Update: Tyson Gay Has Mild Leg Strain, Will Miss 2 Weeks The big news in the prelims was Tyson Gay falling over in his 200m quarter and 3-time World Champ and Olympic champ Allen
Johnson stopping in the hurdle quarters.
*Video of Gay Falling
*Time Catches Up with Allen Johnson (Video and article)
*Tyson Gay's Family Says He'll Run In Beijing
Shocker:Current CU Star Billy Nelson Makes It, Former Buff Steve Slattery Comes Up Short Nelson peaked when it mattered most as he set his 2nd straight PR and got the Olympic A standard.
*Anthony Famiglietti Has Mixed Emotions on Beijing The guy loves the city but also feels for Tibet.
*A Look Back At How Lindsey Gallo and Morgan Uceny Did In Semis
*ESPN.com: Race Walk Gets No Respect
*1996 Olympic Champion Allen Johnson Bows Out of Hurdles He's been battling injury and says he hopes to be back next year.
A Look Back At Men's 10k.
*Rupp Rises To The Occasion.
*Column: Don't Get Carried Away About Rupp's Run This positive article on Rupp points out the allusions to Prefontaine are too much.
*Sports Illustrated Looks at Rupp's 2nd Place Run
*LA Times looks at Torres Twins' Quest For Olympics
Thursday: LRC Anna Willard Sets American Record, LaShawn Merritt over Jeremy Wariner Willard was super-impressive in the steeplechase as she got the American record before the appreciative
crowd. Merritt defeated Wariner for the 2nd straight time (after getting some advice from Alan Webb) and then Wariner didn't go on the Olympians lap and skipped the post-race press conference, although he did come back to address the press and we have a video with him. The other distance action on Thursday was the men's and women's Round 1 of the 1,500s and Round 1 of the men's steeple, which we recap below: LRC Round 1 of 1,500, Men's Steeple: Webb Returns and Impresses, Lomong Points His Finger, High Schoolers Advance (link fixed) We've got it all covered, from the return of Alan Webb to fine form to two high school girls advancing to round 2 to Said Ahmed talking about his new training
group with 800 sensation Kaki to Steve Slattery talking about his new training group. Text, photos and video.
*Anna Willard Wins Olympic Trials With New American Record Willard: "It's amazing. I can't even comprehend it. Especially four years ago,
thinking about where I was. I sucked four years ago. So to see how far
I've come, it feels really, really good." Willard isn't lying when she says she sucked 4 years ago. 3 years ago her steeple PR was 10:35. Now it's 9:27.
*Wariner Loses Again As Clyde Hart Coaches Richards To Women's 400 Title Dumping his coach wasn't too smart, was it?
*7-Year Itch? New York Times Looks at Alan Webb 7 Years After He Crushed HS Mile Record
*ESPN Columnist: "Why did we have to wait so long for the trials to return to Pre Country?" We agree but are worried they are going to oversaturate Eugene with track. In our minds, they ought to have the Trials here every 4 years and NCAAs in one of the middle two years, so there is a championship meet in Eugene every two years. *Great Read: Sports
Illustrated's Tim Layden Reflects On 1st Half Of Trials And Looks Ahead To The Men's 1,500
*Controversy Erupts In Eugene As Adam Goucher is Let Into Field For 10k Field With 32nd Best Qualifying Time While Runners 25-31 Are Left Out USATF doesn't seem to have a clear policy in place. And the USOC seems to be concerned about a lack of due process for the athletes. We wonder if ultimately the USOC will look at the no-bid awarding of the 2012 Trials as well.
*SF Chronicle Looks Back at 1st Half of Trials
*NY Sun Looks At 2nd Half of Trials Rips NBC's Coverage of Trials
1,500s Start Thursday
*Chris Lukezic Hoping to Avoid 4th Place Again The former Georgetown runner was 4th in 2004 as a 20-year-old. He also was 4th in 2006 and 2007 but amazingly at only age 24 isn't viewed as being the future of the sport as he wasn't even invited to the USATF press conference for the event. He hopes to changes those sentiments this year.
Lukezic: "I couldn't have asked for better training. I've had no hiccups."
*Nice Profile Of Bernard Lagat in Boston Globe
*Alan Webb Profile in NY Times
*Jordan Hasay Added to 1,500 Field
Monday: Men's 800 - Nick Symmonds Leads Eugene Sweep
The men's 800 more than delivered on its pre-race hype as the Eugene crew came through big time. Nick Symmonds got out of a box with 160 to go and catapulted to a 1:44.10 dominating PR victory. Wonder boy Andrew Wheating charged late for 2nd, and Christian Smith (the 29th seed out of 30 coming into the meet) outleaned three-time defending US champ Khadevis Robinson for the third Olympic spot.
Women's 800: Hazel Clark Goes Wire to Wire as Everyone Staggers Home USATF put 12 people in the final and as a result it went out in 56.8 (we had the split wrong earlier) seconds. The final 200 wasn't pretty but Hazel Clark held on for the win to make her third Olympic team, Alice Schmidt
was
second to make her first, and Kameisha Bennett was third. Bennett, however, was not under the Olympic qualifying time of 2:00.00 and as a result,
Nicole Teter made her second Olympic team.
*More Monday LRC Recap: Women's 5k and Steeple Semis, Mens and Women's 400 Semis
*Jenn Stuczynski Profile In USA Today Sunday:LRC Sprint Recap: Tyson Gay
9.68, Bershawn Jackson Storms Back, World Leader LaShinda Demus Comes up Short Gay ran the fastest 100m ever under any conditions (although the wind was 4.1 mps) as Walter Dix showed he's the real deal and Darvis Patton continued his fine 2008. World leader Lashinda Demus failed to make the team in the 400m hurdles. Queen Harrison and Tiffany Ross-Williams both made the team over Demus with their fathers in prison. *Race Videos from Sunday LRC Sunday Field Event Recap Olympic Champ Dwight Phillips Comes Up Short, Jeff Hartwig Makes Team at 40, Momma Power in the Discus Defending Olympic champ Dwight Phillips didn't make the team in the long jump. 40 year old Jeff Hartwig
made the team in the pole vault and the US is only sending two to Beijing in the triple jump. *Race Videos from Sunday
Day 2: LRC Tyson Gay 9.77, Muna Lee 10.85 Maybe
the greatest US day of 100m sprinting ever as six men went sub 10.00 in the QUARTERFINALS of the men's 100, not to mention Gay's 9.77 in his new beautiful adidas uniform and Jeff Demps blistering a 10.01 high school record. Muna Lee won the fast women's 100, Reese Hoffa got the shot, and the Olympic spots in the women's heptathlon came down to the wire.
*Muna Lee Overcomes Car Accident, Wins 100m Up until May 31st, she'd never broken 11.00 for 100m.
*Great Article on Tyson Gay Aiming High
*IAAF Recap of Day 2 Gay amost cried after barely advancing in round 1o f 100m. He more than made up for it in round 2.
*Hyleas Fountain Produces World-Leading 6667 To Win Heptathlon
*ESPN: Will We Ever Be Able To Enjoy Track?
*Ex-Drug Cheat Torri Edwards Moves Closer To Olympics By Finishing 2nd
OlympianDay
1 Women's 10k: Flanagan, over Goucher but Amy Yoder-Begley Steals the Show Shalane Flanagan outkicked Kara Goucher for the 10k win, but the story of the night was Amy Yoder-Begley running one of the gutsiest races ever at storied Hayward Field to make the US Olympic Team. Yoder-Begley squeaked
under the Olympic A standard by 1.6 seconds after running 10 seconds off her 5k PR the second half of the 10k in the hot Eugene conditions.
Recommended Read:16-Yr-Old Laura Roesler Gets Much Deserved Praise In NY Times The 3-time winner of 100, 200 and 400 at the ND state meet advanced to the 800 semis with a 2:03.
*Katie McGregor Agonizingly Finishes 4th For 2nd Straight Trials
*Dick Patrick's 10k Recap For USA Today
*Blood Testing Occuring at Track Trials
Again, Who Are The Idiots That Schedule USA Jrs and NON For The Same Weekend???
USA Jrs. *Schedule/Results*8:34.40!!!! German Fernandez Breaks Jeff Nelson's 2 Mile Record *Results 64.2, 2:10, 3:14.9, 4:19.4, 63.9, 64.7, 63.3, 62.9 *Message board thread *Nice Recap from
Dyestat Fernandez played basketball Friday afternoon before breaking the record. *Videos of Race On the boards: How long till Fernandez record goes down? *Photos
*Neely Spence Won Girl's 2 Mile at NON
LetsRun.com
London
Men: Lel
Leads 3 Under 2:05:30!!!, Ryan Hall 2:06:17
Ryan Hall
Goes Through Halfway on World Record Pace
The 2008 Flora London Marathon will be remembered for a long time. The
lead pack of 9 went through 5k at 14:21 (2:01 pace). They continued
together (yes, all 9) through halfway on world record pace (1:02:13).
Ryan Hall then went to the front soon after and asked the pacemakers to
go FASTER. Soon Hall was off the back, but he would catch the
leaders briefly again and go on to run 2:06:17. Until Sunday, only 7
guys had ever run under 2:06:15, now 11 have. Up front, it came down
to a 3-man battle over the final mile before Martin Lel
got his 3rd straight World Marathon Major win over the final quarter
mile as he led 6 guys under 2:07 and to $50,000 bonuses each.
Recap, photos, video above
This Guy Has
Totally Won Back Our Respect
Maasai
Warriors Finish Marathon link fixed One of them
went back to the course and finished the race a day after being forced
to go the hospital after a ceremonial wrap cut off his circulation. He
said, "It was very important for me to do this. This is what I came to
England for."
LetsRun.com Ryan
Hall Reflects On His Incredible Run We tell you (and let you watch) what Ryan, his dad,
his granddad, his coach and even Martin Lel had
to say about Ryan. Lel was full of praise for the
American and shocked by Ryan's attempt to get the pacemakers to go even
faster. If Hall didn't already have your respect,
he does after reading this article, as he pays homage to a throwback
type of guy - Steve Jones. Text and Video.
LetsRun.com
Video: Ryan
Hall Talks About His 2:06:17 at the 2008 Flora London Marathon
*More
LRC London Videos Here
*Photo Gallery
|
Bangladesh Paper - Bolt, not Phelps, Is Star of 2008 Games "My beef with swimming is that, like the Winter Olympics, it is a rich man's sport ... "and "The track and field equivalents of the swimming events are: running
forward, running backwards, running sideways and a combination thereof
within a 50-metre track. You get the picture!"
SI Reporters Recount Their Favorite Olympic Memories:
*Tim Layden: Liu leaves China in tears as his gold medal defense ends prematurely
*Craig Neff: Bolt is in a different class
More Layden: Layden Recaps the Games With His Final Thoughts Bolt, Bolt, Bolt and he points out Churandy Martina was DQd for stepping on the outside of his lane which is a bit ridiculous.
Zürich Is Friday
*Ramzi Headed To Zürich With 4 Other Bahrain Athletes Ramzi is first Bahraini Olympic medal winner.
*Hellebaut/Vlaic Is One Of Biggest Stories in Zürich A $500,000 consolation prize is on the line for Vlaic.
Lee Troop Of Australia Retires He was in 60th in Olympic marathon.
Still More Bolt
*Usain Bolt More Popular Than Paris Hilton, Tiger Woods Combined At least based on web searches.
*IAAF's Lamine Diack Sides With Bolt And His Antics
*Greek Writer Harps On "Unsportsmanlike" Bolt How About Unsportsmanlike Greek Druggies?
Bolt's Father Is Onto Something
*Bolt's Yams Contain Precursor To Steroid Hormones
*Hey NBC - What Happened To The Real Olympics? NBC went for ratings and instead did fans across the US a disservice by not showing more of the traditional Olympic events.
Looking Ahead To Friday's Golden League Meet in Zürich
*Olympic Top 4 In Men's 100m To Race In Zürich (Or Bolt and Next 3)
*Wariner vs. Merritt Rematch In Zürich
A Clever Scoring Method Gives Overall Medal Glory To ... 3 points for gold, 2 for silver and 1 for bronze. And the winner is ...
*Blanka Vlaic Had Better Get Over Her Olympic Disappointment Very Quickly As She Competes For $500,000 and Possibly $1 Million on Friday
She's one of two left in the battle for the Golden League jackpot which resumes Friday.
*Video of Cuban Taekwondo Athlete Kicking Referee in Head link fixed We can't believe we are saying this, but it's not as bad as we thought.
Talk About Competitive
Allyson Felix Didn't Talk To Bob Kersee For Two Days After Losing in 200 Meters
Drugs, Drugs, Drugs
*Conte Speaks Again: Drug Use "Rampant" - WADA Head Disagrees All we can say is please remember that Russia almost did make a total mockery of the women's Track & Field competition.
*Clean Olympics? Low Number Of Positives ... A Positive Or Negative?
Men's Marathon *Photos
LRC: The
Future Has Arrived as Phenom Sammy Wanjiru Runs Greatest Marathon In
History To Give Kenya Its Long Overdue 1st Olympic Marathon Gold Wanjiru's early pace was outrageous (4:41 1st mile) and many people thought it was totally suicidal.
And
it was for mere mortals but not for this new species of marathoner who
appears to have come back from the future. The 21-year-old relentlessly
pushed the pace from start to finish and ended up shattering the
Olympic record by nearly 3 full minutes. Unreal. American Dathan Ritzenhein had a fantastic race to finish 9th as Ryan Hall was 10th and Brian Sell 22nd. *The
Guardian: Wanjiru makes marathon history for Kenya *IAAF Recap of Marathon
*Ryan Hall Talks About His Race And Sammy Wanjiru's "Insane" Pace *Dathan Ritzenhein Talks About His Surprising 9th Place Finish Ritz: "I thought I had a chance at a medal, and tried to put myself
in it
early. But I looked at the
clock at 5k and we were already out at, I think, 14:55. I knew if I
kept that up, that I wouldn't be finishing." *Brian Sell Hits Wall at 35k *Brian Sell's Family Rejoices
*Extensive Comments from all 3 Americans from Runnersworld
Women's 1,500m - "World, youd better watch out, Kenyan women are on the march."
*Nancy Lagat Surprise Winner of Women's 1,500m Title Lagat
showed great promise way back in 2000 when she was world junior
champion at 800 meters but her career since then has been spotty as she
had no results in 2002, 2003, 2006 and 2007. She was as surprised as
anyone that she won and admitted she had
no race plan. After this race, she won't surprise anyone anymore as she
was simply sensational and knocked more than 2 seconds off her career
best to blow away the field and win in 4:00.23.*IAAF Recap of Race
*Shannon Rowbury Records Highest-Ever American Women's 1,500m Finish Hard
to believe an American woman has never finished higher than 7th.
Rowbury seemed pleased despite the fact that she had the 2nd best
seasonal best of all the finalists.
*Britain's Lisa Dobriskey Just Misses Olympic Medal A
late kick got her 4th. "If you told me last year I would be 4th in the
Olympics I wouldn't have believed you so I've got to take heart from
that."
Unbelievable Women's HJ: Blanka Vlaic's 34-Victory Streak is Snapped Tia Hellebaut set a national record to steal gold from Vlaic who had been perfect before missing once at 2.05m.
LRC Preview of Men's Marathon
*Online Betting Odds (Lel 4 to 1, Hall 17.5 to 1)
The final Track & Field event is on tap! Kenya has never won Olympic gold in the men's marathon but brings in two of the top five performers of all time. Oh, they have the World Champion, too. Can they finally do it? Can Ryan Hall end the three-decades-long American-born men's Olympic medal drought? *Defending Champ Stefano Baldini May
Not Run *Good Weather Predicted For Marathon
*Ato Boldon Gets Praise From New York Times - The NYT is realizing what we knew a long time ago - Boldon is a great track announcer. When they hire Rojo for the distances, then we can all watch track with the volume on.
*Boldon Is Called "A Real Star" By SportsBusiness Daily We agree but think his blaming the US's 4 x 100m dropped batons on Craig Masback's departure was really off-base and totally stupid.
*NYTimes: Track Has Chance To Regain Wider Appeal
*Sports Business Journal Talks About Track's Chances To Get Big Again
Saturday: Men's 5k Final & 6 Other Finals
*Kenyans Will Use Sacrificial Lamb & Team Tactics to Try to Defeat Lagat & Bekele The Kenyans actually think Lagat is the man to beat.
*Ethiopian Paper Previews Men's 5k Final Will Tariku sacrifice himself for his big brother? It seems likely that team tactics will occur given what happened in 2004 and 2007. The race is loaded as this author thinks 10 guys could medal.
*The 10k/5k Double Is Officially Difficult - Bekele Leaves Actress/Wife Home From Games to Watch It on TV
*Day 9 Preview - 7 Track Finals They include the men's 800m, women's 1,500m and the men's 5k.
A Day After The Men's 400m
*Did Jeremy Wariner Switching Coaches Cost Him Gold?
*Clyde Hart Talks About Jeremy Wariner Getting Silver
Friday Preview: Women's 5k Final: A Recommended Read Dibaba vs. Defar It should be a hell of a race. Dibaba has the world record but Defar is fresh (but jet-lagged). They haven't met since 2006. Defar leads their head-to-head matchup all-time 12 to 10. This article talks about who roots for whom in Ethiopia and why. Don't discount steeplechase world record holder
Gulnara Galkina-Samitova, as she was 6th in 2004 in the 5k. *IAAF Preview of Race
LRC Read Our Preview of Women's 5k from Monday
*Ethiopians Aiming To Sweep Women's 5k Final
Women's 1,500m Semis: Shannon Rowbury Advances To Final She was in a fast heat and had the lead on the 2nd and 3rd laps before fading a bit at the end to get in on time. Meanwhile Erin Donohue was eliminated as was Christin Wurth Thomas. Read
Wurth Thomas' Blog Here. IAAF Recap of 1,500m Semis
On The Boards: *Why is SHANNON ROWBURY hardly getting any attention????
Men's 800m Semi Shockers - The story of the 800m semis was who didn't advance. The winner of gold (Yuri Borzakovsky) and silver (Mbulaeni Mulaudzi) from 2004 are out, as is the world leader and indoor champion Abubaker Kaki, who looked terrible. Thus Nick Symmonds, who also was eliminated, shouldn't feel too bad. In our mind, the IAAF
needs to add a 4th round to the 800m as it's too much of a crap shoot. *MB Thread on Kaki Bowing Out *MB Thread on Symmonds Elimination
An In-Depth Look At Sex In The Olympic Village? According to this former athlete it's totally crazy - almost an orgy. A crazy dichotomy exists between the sexes however. Men go for the hot women while women go for the gold medallists apparently. Some men apparently look down upon the women who are the best athletes.
More Nick Willis Mania *Updated Day 5 Photos: Men's 1,500m (Nick Willis Bronze), Women's 400m, Women's 100m Hurdles Final
*Nick Willis To Cash In On His Olympic Bronze Willis thinks the bronze will pay off his mortgage. Hard to believe that Reebok, his sponsor, only had 4 US athletes make the team.
*Nick Willis Reveals Secret To His Success Having lost his mother at age 4 has had a profound effect on his life. Willis talks about growing up without a mom and the same article also reveals that he may currently be in hot water with his new wife as he took an eternity to get to her on the victory lap.
*John Walker: Willis Shows Africans Are Beatable Walker: "What Nick Willis has done is tremendous for New Zealand, tremendous for the spirit of New Zealand." The article also reveals that Walker placed a bet at the local sports betting place that Willis would win gold.
*Nick Willis Credits Drug Tests With Helping Him Get Bronze: Willis' views on drugs very much mirror LetsRun.com's. Willis: "I'm not saying any names. But I could name seven or eight guys [who] I
think didn't perform anywhere near what they should have. I really
believe that our prayers were answered and that people weren't able to
fulfill the ability they normally show on a weekly basis on the circuit."
*Adrien Blincoe, Willis' Roommate in China, Gives Willis Advice On Kick That Helps Produce Bronze
*Willis Describes In Detail His Pre-Race Routine A 50-minute nap/ipod session, 15-20 minute jog, a chiropractic adjustment and prayers are key.
*Asbel Kiprop Gets Silver
IAAF: Men's 5,000m - Round 1
*Craig Mottram Out The big news is that Rashid Ramzi isn't running but K. Bekele is. In the heats, Matt Tegenkamp won his heat as did Lagat. The shocking news was that Aussie Craig Mottram was eliminated. Mottram offered no excuses.
NBC's Coverage Reaches An All-Time Historic Low - Men's 1,500m Was Broadcast at 2:15 a.m.
*Thank God: ABC/ESPN Promises to Show More Live Coverage if They Get Olympic TV Rights in Future
Tuesday: LRC Previews of Men's 800m and Men's 5,000m
Extremely deep fields highlight these events, as eight to ten runners in each race seem equally likely to come away with a medal.
Billy Mills-esque Shocking Win Occurs Again Over 40 Years Later
*Stephanie Brown Trafton Shocks World & Wins USA's 1st T&F Gold in Women's Discus: A Huge, Huge, Huge Upset. She was only 3rd at the US Trials and only qualified for the final on her last throw. What a story!!!
*Great Article on Stephanie Brown Trafton - The Shortest Winning Throw in 40 Years She says: So what? Let's throw out the drug-induced records. We agree. She also points out that no one cares if someone doesn't set a scoring record in the NBA finals.
*Article on Stephanie Brown Trafton's Preliminary Performance She qualified for the final on her last throw.
*NY Times Recap of America's Great Day Led by Angelo Taylor and Stephanie Brown Trafton
*Washington Post Article on USA's Fine Performances on Monday
Monday Morning: Shock and Disbelief as Chinese Hero Liu Xiang Pulls Out of Hurdles An inflamed Achilles tendon had the 2004 Olympic Champion noticeably grimacing. He made it to the starting line but after a false start by another competitor, he realized it would be futile to compete
and walked out of the stunned, deathly silent stadium.
*Video: Liu Xiang Out
Olympics: (We will not publish results on the homepage of LetsRun.com until after an event airs in the US)
Monday: LRC Preview of Women's 5,000m
The top five women 5k runners of all time line up, with the Dibaba/Defar rivalry set to come to a head. It should be a great event.
Preview of Women's 1,500m
With the top Russians suspended, medals may be easier to come by, and American Shannon Rowbury is a real threat to grab one.
LRC: Women's Marathon: Constantina Tomescu Steals the Show Just after halfway, the Romanian surged to the front and no one went with her. For whatever reason, the large chase pack never threw down the gauntlet to go after the leader until it was just a battle for silver and bronze, as Tomescu
ran very strongly the second half to steal the gold. Paula Radcliffe ran with the leaders for the first half, then her injury took its toll, but she limped gamely to the finish. The big surprise was American Deena Kastor dropping out just around the 5k with a foot injury. The incredible Catherine Ndereba did it again as she got silver with a great kick in the last 100m. In other distance action, Anthony
Famiglietti made the steeple final and the favorites in the women's 800m advanced, including Maria Mutola.
*IAAF Steeple Recap *IAAF Women's 800m Semi
Excellent Read: Amby Burfoot on Women's Marathon He talks about"over the hill" Tomescu, Paula, Catherine, and Magdalena Boulet being injured (she banged her knee on a plane).
*Race Results Weekly Recap: Constantina Tomescu-Dita Wins Olympic Marathon
*On the boards: Watching Paula Radcliffe finish made me cry
Video: *Women's Marathon (Full NBC Coverage)
*Marathon 3 Hour Video Coverage No Announcers
Women's Steeple Heats Mean Full Equality for Women on the Track The women don't have the 50k race walk, but the men should try to follow the women on that one.
Embarrassing: Britain's Kate Reed Forced To Run 2km Time Trial Day Before 10k Final To Prove Fitness link fixed Who cares if she drops out? The Brits
ought to be ashamed. At least she was entered. The Canadians barely
enter anyone.
Enjoy the Olympics as the World May Be Ending Soon
Lengthy Article In Kenyan Paper On Their Lone Decent Race Walker "The dearth of race walking in Kenya is a big worry."
On the boards: "Swimming today is like what distance running was in the 1960's"
Non-Distance Action from Final Day of Olympic Trials: Men's 200: Walter Dix Leaves the Meet Atop the US Sprint Ranks *Pole Vault: Jenn Stuczynski
Nearly No-Heights,
Goes on to Break American Record in Pole Vault Women's 200: *Allyson Felix Cruises in 200 *Marshevet Hooker Falls
Across Line to Make Team in 200 After Finishing 4th in 100 110 Hurdles: David Payne Makes Olympic Team in Hurdles as Anwar Moore Falls After Clearing the Final Hurdle David Oliver ran 12.95 to defeat Terrence Trammell. Triple: Aarik Wilson Wins Triple Jump, Sets Hayward Field Record Javelin: Bobby Smith Wins Javelin But He Doesn't Have "A" Standard So He Won't Be in Beijing
LRC Fam Goes Wire to Wire in Steeplechase Anthony Famiglietti led from the gun to win the men's steeplechase at the Olympic Trials. Billy Nelson of CU
had a huge final lap to get 2nd, the Olympic A time and a ticket to Beijing. Last year's champ Josh McAdams ran a smart race to get third. Interviews with Fam, Olinger, McAdams and Nelson. More: Anthony Famiglietti Has Mixed Emotions on Beijing NYTimes
LRC Women's 1,500 Preview The men's race is getting all the attention but the women's should be a good one.
Friday: LRC Abdi Goes Nearly Wire to Wire, Outkicks Rupp; Kara Goucher Storms Back to Win 5k It
was a great night of action
at Hayward Field. We've got event-by-event recaps, photos, and video.
In addition to the finals above, high schooler Jordan Hasay made the
final of the women's 1,500, breaking the high school 1,500m record. All
the favorites made the 1,500 finals, including Lopez Lomong, who told us he's going to win the 1,500m final. More from Eugene Register Guard: *Interesting
Look at Rupp Hoopla, Don't Get Carried Away in the Mania Abdi stopped Rupp and the comparisons to Pre are unfair. *Galen Rupp Rises to Occasion in 10k *Kara Goucher Wins Women's 5k *Breaux
Greer Failed to Qualify in Javelin after Rotator Cuff Surgery *AJ Kruger Wins Hammer
Men's 5k Final: Bernard Lagat Makes It Look Easy
Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that the double world champ, Lagat, made it look so easy, but he dispatched of the field over the final 200. 4th placer at Worlds last year, Matt Tegenkamp, was 2nd, as 2005 Worlds team member Ian Dobson was third. Bolota Asmerom was 4th and Chris Solinsky, who pushed the pace for 1,100 of the final 1,200m, finished fifth. Adam Goucher stepped
off the track with 2 laps to go as the race was not going to hit the
Olympic qualifying time
of 13:21.50, and he wasn't happy about it afterwards. Solinsky also was
left to do all the work after Matt Tegenkamp didn't follow through on
the tentative plan to take over the lead with 2 laps to go.
by John NepolitanSaturday: LRC 800 Semis: Chaos in Women's 800, Jacob Hernandez, David Krummenacker Out A
fall in semi #1 turned the day's proceedings into a waste of time as an
appeal put all 8 runners
into the final. Monday's final will be more like a high school race
with 12 runners as a result. On the men's side, the Olympic dreams of
former World indoor champ David Krummenacker likely came to an end as he now joins the list of great American runners to never make an Olympic team. NCAA champ Jacob Hernandez was eliminated. *Day 2 Photos 800: Nicole
Teter: "I dont know what a protest would be based on" More Coverage: SI: Tim Layden of SI on Tyson Gay *Eugene
Register Guard: Heptathlon: Hyleas Fountain Wins 5 of 7 Events to Set World Leader in Heptathlon Shot: Hoffa Leads Big 3 in Shot Put to Beijing Pole Vault: Tommy
Skipper Chokes in Pole Vault Qualifying With 3 No-Heights
Bolt Defeats Powell Wins Jamaican Trials The crazy thing is Powell's 9.97 would only be 6th in the US quarters. Bolt ran 9.85.
AgonyLRC Day 1 800/5k Prelims: Men's 5k Semis: Alysia Johnson Out, Khadevis Robinson Struggles Round
1 of the 800 had two shockers as defending women's champ Alysia Johnson didn't advance and defending men's champ Khadevis Robinson only finished 6th in his heat but advanced to the semi on time. The other favorites looked good in both races. Lopez Lomong won
his heat , but was disappointed with his time, and said he'll keep
running the 800 here until he runs 1:44 even if that means running the
final. Galen Rupp likely won't run the 5k final, but that didn't stop him from winning his 5k heat, and fist pumping to the crowd. *Defending Champ Alysia Johnson Finishes 9th, Taken Off Track in Wheelchair www.sfgate.com
Other News
Unbelievable
New York Times Give Press to Study Showing EPO Test Isn't Effective at Catching Cheats Researchers
gave 8 people EPO and then sent off blood samples to WADA-accredited
labs. They rarely caught any hint of EPO and some even gave off false
positives.
2008 NCAAs D1 Results NCAA Day 4: LRC Hernandez Edges Wheating,
Manzano Wins, Hannah England Runs NCAA Record The Wheating/Hernandez duel more than lived up to its hype. Leo Manzano went out in style, Hannah England ran very fast but she owes a big thank you to Sally Kipyego. A Cornell athlete won the men's triple jump for the 2nd straight year, Walter Dix took the 200, Cory Martin won the shot and the hammer. We recap the action. *Day
4 Photo Gallery *AP Recap: Florida State, Walter Dix Three-Peat, LSU Women Win Interviews: Wheating, Hernandez, Manzano, England, Kipyego, Bowman, Dix, Martin and more. *4 Guys Go Sub-45 in NCAA 400
ExxonMobile Bislett Games *Bislett Game Results 14:11.15!!!!!! 1:42.69 for Kaki *Photos Tirunesh Dibaba's
performance was simply amazing. Running in 78-80 degree weather, she
smashed the world 5,000m record. She averaged 4:15 each 1,500m and ran
her last 1,500 in 4:06-4:07. Jen Rhines ran a 14:54 PR. In other action, in the much-anticipated 800m matchup between teen sensations Abubaker Kaki and David Rudisha, Kaki was simply amazing. He led coming into the homestretch then blew away the field the final 100m, running 1:42.69, the first sub-1:43 clocking in 5 years and a junior world record as Rudisha ran a PR but lost for the first time in 12 races. Pamela Jelimo showed 1:55s are routine for her as she
clocked a 1:55.41,
Samitova-Galkina ran a 9:14 steeple and Andrew Baddeley went sub-3:50 to get the big upset in the mile that we're sure everyone in Britain will be writing about tomorrow. Jeremy Wariner
ran 43.98, his first sub-44 clocking before the Trials. Despite our
harping on his decision to switch coaches, he's running very well
(nonetheless, his loss may have cost him $200,000). *Tirunesh Dibaba: "I could have run faster" iaaf.org *Athlete Quotes from Bislett *Baddeley Breaks Through On the boards:
*Dibaba 14:11.15 WR! *Andrew Baddeley 3:49.38! *Wariner 43.98 at Bislett
LetsRun.com Boston
08 LetsRun.com Party Photos The party hosted by Puma was a
smashing success. A packed house, as those passionate
about running (from ages 5 to 65+) came to celebrate a great weekend in
Boston. LetsRun.com fans celebrated with Rojo, Wejo, Matt Taylor, and a
few legends in the sport, including former marathon world record holder
Steve Jones and Olympic Silver Medallist Sonia
O'Sullivan. The Harpoon beer was flowing,
DJ Inkognito kept things going and contrary to popular
opinion, there was a healthy mix of males and females. The reviews were
excellent. "It's refreshing not to see the same 50
people (industry insiders) at a party." "Most favorable female-to-male
ratio I've seen in a long time."
LetsRun.com London
Women: Mikitenko Wins Crazy Women's Race The
women's race went totally
not according to form. German Irina Mikitenko was
the surprise winner. The race went out slow, then picked up, then
slowed back down again. Then Gete Wami wiped
out at a water stop, nearly knocking her own teeth out, fell off
the back, then battled back only to get dropped again as Mikitenko
threw it down the final 5k. And a perfectly sunny day turned into a
cold, windy rainstorm at times. Text, Photos, and Video
Other London Coverage: *Yelling
Makes GB Team: A great moment when she looked rival
Hayley Haining in the eye at 19 miles. Amazingly, both ended up happy
as both PRd.
*British
Men Could Run 25 Miles, Everyone Else 26.2 Miles and They'd Still Lose
in London
*World
Marathon Majors Points Standings - Lel Has a Huge Lead; Wami's Is
Narrowed by Mikitenko
*Dick
Patrick of USAToday Writes About Ryan Hall
*American
Ryan Hall Mixes it with Kenyans
*AP
Story on Ryan Hall: Hall Confident About Beijing Chances
*Quotes
From the Top 3 in London
*Gas
Leak Causes London Marathon to Be Diverted
*Paula
Radcliffe Talks About Her Beijing Preparations
*Jon
Brown Blasts UK Performance Director Dave Collins The
4th placer in the marathon at the last two Olympics absolutely rips
Collins - a man who somehow managed to fail to show up at world cross
country last month when it was in Scotland.
101 Years Old, Still Smoking,
Running and Drinking: Buster
Martin: "I'm not worried about the fags because I'll carry them with
me. Everyone says smoking kills but it's taking a long time in my case." The 101-year-old legend plans on smoking while
running Sunday's London Marathon.
LetsRun.com
2007 Worlds Coverage:
*Sunday's Homepage Ndereba marathon
*Saturday's
Homepage
*Friday's
Homepage Tyson Gay
*Thursday's
Homepage Lagat
*Wednesday's Homepage
Lagat
*Tuesday's Homepage Bekele 10k
*Monday's Homepage Tyson Gay
*Sunday's Homepage Dibaba/Goucher 10k
*Saturday's
Homepage Kibet
Marathon
*NYC Reebok Grand Prix:USAIN BOLT 9.72 World Record!! *Meet Results *Video of Usain Bolt's 9.72
Bolt Runs 9.72.The Jamaican put on a show in the Big Apple to conclude a meet that showed exactly what track can be in this country - a large sold-out crowd, live TV and unreal performances. Tyson Gay ran a great race with 9.85 but was
soundly
beaten. In other action (like anything else matters), Veronica Campbell-Brown ran the fastest 100 of the year (10.91). In the distances, Paul Koech ran a U.S. all-comers record in the steeple, Lauren Fleshman went sub-15 for the first time, Lopez Lomong got his first big professional win and Yusuf Kamel edged Khadevis Robinson
in a very close men's 800. *Message Board Thread Here *LRC Distance Recaps *Photo Gallery *Race
Results Weekly Distance Recap With Athlete Quotes *NY Daily News Recap (Only NY newspaper that delayed Sunday publication to include the Bolt article) *Ato Boldon Wonders Whether Bolt Can Get 100, 200, and 400 World Records USA Today *Usain Bolt Not Overly Excited about World Record USA Today *Athlete Quotes from Reebok Grand Prix Drug Talk: Hopefully Bolt can join some sort of baseline testing program like Tyson Gay to restore people's confidence. *Drug
Scandal Hangs Over Bolt's 9.72 Times of London *Progression of 100m World Record *NY Times: Is Bolt Clean? New York
Times Om the boards Please, Jesus, Let Bolt Be Clean We
think he should voluntarily join a baseline testing program like Tyson
Gay. And while we're at it, we think that everyone's baselines should
be published.
Olympic Trials:
LetsRun.com:
Deena
Triumphs in Boisterous Boston It was an incredible day on the streets in Boston.
The fans turned out in droves to cheer on America's finest and Magdalena
Lewy-Boulet made it interesting by opening up nearly a 2-minute lead
before Deena Kastor came from behind for the win.
We give you all the analysis, talk about Deena's strategy, and more (Joan
Benoit's final competitive marathon).
*LetsRun.com Boston Women's
Olympic Trials Photos
*4
Minute Highlight Video of Post Race Comments
Deena, Magdalena, Blake
Russell and Joan Benoit all give their take.
*Victah
Sailer Photos Link fixed. Photos reshuffled. A few
captions added.
More coverage:
*USAToday
article by Dick Patrick
*Joan
Benoit Article in NY Times
*Olympic
Trials Coverage Splits
for Every Mile Here
*LestRun.com Message Board Thread
Here
*Watch on Demand Here
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