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Where Your Dreams Become Reality

What Happened To The Real Olympics?
"I have to say that NBC has really blown it with its prime-time coverage, especially of the second week. It's simply not showing us the classic Olympic events, like the decathlon, discus, hammer throw, javelin, high jump, long jump or pole vault. Yeah, it'll toss in a minute or two of coverage of the winning jump or the last decathlon event, but that's kind of like tearing out the last page of "War and Peace" and saying you read it.

These are great, epic events. They're the heart and soul of the Olympics. They are the central stitches in its vast historic tapestry. They connect us with great memories of past Olympics, of Al Oerter and Sergei Bubka and Rafer Johnson and Dick Fosbury. Even more than baseball, the Olympics are all about tradition and continuity. The Olympic record book isn't just a set of statistics -- it's a vast encyclopedia of memories. By all but ignoring the events that make the Olympics special, NBC is doing its viewers a great disservice. A young kid watching the Olympics for the first time on TV would really not understand what the games are all about. And that's a damn shame."
-
Gary Kamiya writing in Salon.com on how NBC blew it with their lack of coverage of the traditional Olympic events (aka track and field) in an article entitled, "What happened to the real Olympics?" Kamiya is a big beach volleyball fan but said there was too much coverage of it.

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Book Review: Running Within
Want to improve your mental outlook on running? Then Running Within is the book for you. Read our review of this excellent book.
Recommended Reads
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Ryan Shay
1979-2007

*Official Ryan Shay Remembrance Thread.
*Ryan Shay Photo Gallery

We interview one of our own:
LetsRun.com's Rojo talks about coaching at Cornell

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 Robinso
n 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

Olympian
Day 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: R
yan 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/Vlašic Is One Of Biggest Stories in Zürich A $500,000 consolation prize is on the line for Vlašic.

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 Vlašic 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, you’d 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 Vlašic's 34-Victory Streak is Snapped Tia Hellebaut set a national record to steal gold from Vlašic 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 F
alls 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 Nepolitan
Saturday: 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
8
00: Nicole Teter: "“I don’t 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.


Agony
LRC 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


On the boards: If it turns out that Bolt is dirty, is our sport ruined forever?
*
A Typical Day in the Life of a Let's Run Addict
*
USATF secretary alleges financial mischief in top board
*
10 Year Old Baseball Player Told He Can't Pitch Anymore Because He's Too Good
*Wejo=Willem DaFoe? Insult or Compliment

Ryan Hall:
*
Beijing Interview from the Berlin Wall The interview and thread linked to above and this thread both discuss whether Ryan should have skipped London as he says in the interview he didn't feel as good in his Beijing training.

Ato Boldon's Criticisms of US Track & Field Were Overblown We agree. How did Masback's departure cause the relays to drop the batons or the shot putters to perform horribly? But this won't stop Boldon from being the top announcer in the sport by far.
*
US Track & Field Was A Disaster - Not true despite what this guy says.

Yesterday's Homepage
:
*Yesterday's Quote of the Day from this article:
Bob Costas' Criticism, Not Bolt's Celebration, Was Inappropriate Salon.com

*
Final Olympic Track & Field Team Scores
USA: 123
RUS: 117
KEN: 87
JAM: 71

LRC/Brooks Our World Famous $1,000,000 Prediction Contest
*
Scores are updated now - check them prior to men's marathon to see if you have a chance for victory

Stupid Track CEO Performance Director News
*
UK Athletics Looking For New Performance Director After Perceived Disappointment Rojo had this wrong earlier. The performance director probably has more to do with performance than the CEO. But saying that, Britain in our minds seemed to do about as was expected.
*Australian Athletics Head Lashes Out At His Critics After They Surpass Expectations With 4 Medals


Drugs/Drugs/Drugs
*
Lyudmila Blonska Banned For Roids - Blames her Husband/Coach
We wonder who she blamed for her 1st positive as she now faces a lifetime ban.
*British Jumper Jade Johnson Irate That Drug Cheat Won Women's LJ Johnson: "It's annoying to finish seventh, but the most annoying bit is that a drugs cheat came back and won the Olympic Games. I was hoping anyone would beat her."
*
The New York Times States The Obvious - The Men's Winner of the Marathon Will Be Faster Than the Women's Because of Testosterone The paper actually sounds surprised that men are faster than women.
*
Geography Matters When It Comes to Out-Of-Competition Testing The article mentions that Bershawn Jackson missed two out-of-competition tests this year.

Message Board Thread Of The Day:
*No One Will Win The LetsRun.com Prediction Contest - What A Crazy Olympics For Track & Field No one could have possibly predicted what has taken place at the Bird's Nest. Not even close - thus the $1 million is safe. This is another reason why track is so much better than swimming.

Nice Blog Entry: The Big Stars Of The Olympics - Lebron, Kobe and Wilson Kipketer

Thursday: M 400m Final, M 110m Hurdles Final, W 200m Final
*
Robles Going for History in 110m Hurdles Final

Mottram Comes Up Short in 5,000m Heat

Tight Hamstring Caused Sanya Richards' Dream to Slip Away

Ryan Hall Blog from Beijing Hall skipped the opening cermonies even though his race was over 2 weeks away.

Kelly Sotherton Vindicated
*
Ukranian Silver Medallist Lyudmila Blonska Faces Lifetime Ban if B Sample Comes Back Positive Sotherton said last year it was a joke that the convicted steroid user was allowed back into the sport and shunned her at the World Championships. Sotherton: "I’m totally not surprised by the news. I've been saying all along that Blonska got caught doping when she was scoring 6300 points. How can she not be doping and scoring 6800? "

Monday's Homepage: Bekele Wins 10k
Sunday's's Homepage: Bolt 9.69!!
*Saturday's Homepage: Stunning Women's 10k

Video: (It will Expand) Usain Bolt Predicted His 9.69 Last Week While Playing His New Online Computer Game

Video thumbnail. Click to play
Click To Play

You can Race Bolt at www.chasingbolt.com

Good Read: Amby Burfoot Talks to Shalane's Running Parents Her dad says she will go sub-30 at 10k and sub-2:19 in the marathon.

Robert Cheruiyot Out of Olympic Marathon

Friday Olympic Video (Women's 10k, Men's 1,500m Heats, Women's 800m Heats, Women's Steeple, Men's Shot) It only took 36 hours, but someone found a full replay of Friday's action online on NBCOlympics.com. There is no announcing and it is titled "Steeplechase Pileup" instead of "Day 1 Track and Field," but finally we are able to at least watch the events.

So Much for Journalistic Integrity: NBC Is a Joke - They mislead everyone in the Pacific and Rocky Mountain Time Zones to believe their "live coverage" is live (they stamp "Live" on the screen even though it is not.). The FCC should do something about it (you can file a complaint here). We won't even elaborate on how there seems to be no way for American track fans to watch nearly 24 hours later the events they want to watch live, taped or online, unless you want to watch the 20k race walk which is on in its entirety. So if you want to see Michael Phelps' quest for history live West of the Rockies, forget about it, they'll just mislead you. So much for journalistic integrity on their part. More and more people on the West Coast are discovering this and ratings are slipping. Not sure if there is a connection.
Henry Blodget gets it
Please take us back to 1992 and the Triplecast.

*On the boards: Time to Give Up on the Olympics? NBC's model seems to be delay events the majority of people don't care about for 18 hours and then put up only a few minutes of highlights (which they did for the men's shot and women's 10k)

Nice Recap of Women's 10k from a Guy Who Flew Back to Britain So He Could Watch the Olympics on TV

Bulgarian middle-distance runner Daniela Yordanov Banned

Sad News Gabriel Pacione, 2-Time Boston Globe All-Scholastic Cross-Country Runner of the Year, Dies in Car Crash
*Salem News Sports Writer Shares His Memories of Pacione

Sonia O'Sullivan May Try to Make 2012 Olympics

NW Australia Color Ezine With Interview With NCAA Star Rebecca Lowe


LRC Our World Famous $1,000,000 Prediction Contest Is Back & Better Than Ever A $1 million perfect ballot bonus as well as a more realistic $20,800 perfect distance ballot bonus.

Today's Sign of the Apocalypse: LetsRun.com Message Boarder Quoted in Washington Post on Giving Advice on How Amateurs Can Dope

Post of the Day: "This time of year I find myself thinking, 'Being homeless in San Francisco might not be a bad gig....'" - on what its like training in Texas in the summer (well at least if you're in Corpus).

LetsRun.com the Magazine Coming Soon: Runner's World Had $72 Million in Ad Sales Last Year If you want to advertise on letsrun email us. We won't be greedy. Our reach is way more than 1/10th that of Runner's World and we only want to bring in $7 million. And with us you can actually be guaranteed your ad gets seen. How many people actually read page 27 of Runner's World anyway?

April Fools Day - See Our April Fools Day Home Page Here For all of you guys that have always thought that an Ivy League degree is way overrated based on the amount of typos we have on this site, we have to say, "You are right." We can report that Bruce Hyde got congratulatory emails for his "3:55 mile" from several idiotic Ivy Leaguers who lack common sense.
April Fools Archives:

Apparently, our 2004 April Fools edition was the best as a woman wrote us saying she "should not be forced to read an entire article" without knowing it wasn't true and we would be
lucky to escape a lawsuit.
*2007 *2006
*2005 (we didn't have one)
*2004 *2003
*2002 *2001

Blue Collar Running: Camp Phoenix Marathon Kabul, Afghanistan

Video of Asafa Powell's 9.74 WR

On the boards: Have the Japanese Perfected Lydiard Training?

Last Year's World Champs Video Race Highlights:
1,500
: The Final lap of the men's 1,500m
Video:
Horrendous Fall in Men's Steeplechase Warning: this is not for the faint of heart.
Video: Video of Tyson Gay's 200m Win

Training Advice:
Advice from the pros

Top 10 Training Tips

LetsRun.com's Weldon Johnson gives his top 10 training tips in this letsrun.com classic when the site first launched.. They helped him knock 1:22 off his 10k pr in one race and will definitely help you too.
No Shortcuts
LetsRun.Com coaching consultant John Kellogg outlines his basic coaching approach and gives the four principles to correct training for elites. LetsRun.com co-founder Robert Johnson translates Mr. Kellogg's approach so that it is beneficial for the masses.

Wejo Speaks:
Why I Sucked in College
Perhaps Wejo's Most Popular Training Article Ever
"In running however, there are not bonus points for running 'hard.' The point is to run fast. There is a difference. Don't forget that."

-Letsrun.com's Wejo explaining "Why He Sucked in College" but went on to be 4th in the country in the 10k"

Rojo Speaks:
*In Case You Forgot JK is a genius: "John (JK)is the whole inspiration [for] why my brother and I are into running,His philosophy is what we use here at Cornell."- LetsRun.com's Rojo on the legendary JK

JK Speaks: JK Speaks: Progressing To Peak Fitness LetsRun.com coaching guru John Kellogg talks about progression runs and the art of the sport versus the science of the sport.

Learn From a Legend
Arthur Lydiard Quotes:

"
Train Don't Strain"

-famed distance coach Arthur Lydiard
Lydiard Quote:
"Americans arrogantly want it all now, this is why they finish last. Speed must be used in proper proportions. Build and build like the Africans. This is the only way to realise your potential."
-famed distance coach Arthur Lydiard

Learn/ Be Inspired from the Stars:
Yet Again The LetsRun.com Training Philosophy Is Proven True:

"Everything has been part of a master plan. Of course we've had to re-focus and re-adjust along the way, like everyone does, but there has always been a plan. [Years] 2005 and 2006 were all about training for 2007 and 2008. The last couple of years, we were trying to build up the strength he needs to win championship medals in the 1,500.''
-Scott Raczko, coach of Alan Webb, talking about how their focus on strength the last two years is paying big dividends in a feature in America's top sports magazine, Sports Illustrated (although we are pretty sure the article appears only online).

Great Read/Advice: Such a Simple Sport:
"I train twice every day except on Sundays and on Christmas Day."

-the great Haile Gebrselassie, on his training over the holidays. He says his New Year's resolution is to win the gold medal at 10k and break the 10k world record. And Gebrselassie is still young as it is only 1996 in Ethiopia (we swear).

Geb:
More Great Advice from the Greatest Distance Runner Ever:

Haile Gebrselassie says work hard, be patient, and take your recovery days seriously.
Good Read.
*
Haile Gebrselassie's Addicted to Running:
"I always have a goal to do something. That way I keep running. It's an addiction to winning. But it's also an addiction to run - it is like a drug. If I'm not sweating I don't feel good."

Cheruyiot
A Must Read
Inspirational Profile of Boston Marathon Record Holder Robert Cheruiyot The life story of Cheruiyot, who is looking for his 3rd Boston title Monday, is truly remarkable
LetsRun.com
R
ojo Speaks: Inspired By a Kenyan Robert Cheruyiot Cheruyiot is a true star in the sport and a truly unbelievable rags-to-riches story.

Some of the Highlights From Our Archives:
You Know You're a Runner If...
(our readers fill in the blanks with some hilarious responses on the message boards)

Kenya: LetsRun.com's Wejo went to Kenya for the World XC Championships and then he toured the country and explored the secrets of some of the Kenyan greats. See some of his insights on this incredible country.
Controlled Chaos
Read about incredible one of kind 2007 World XC Championships in Mombasa, Kenya. Tens of thousands of people packed like sardines, hanging in trees, in oppressive heat, all to see the Cross Country Championships for the first time in Kenya. There will never be a party like this one again.
Kenyan Distance Running Part I: Kenya, the Land of Opportunity
You've seen the highly praised photos, read the incredible race recap, now learn about the Kenyan distance phenomenon. In this article, Wejo looks at the motivations of Kenyan runners. Running in Kenya is by-and-large about one thing: money opportunity.
Wejo's Kenya Photos:
546 Photos from His Post-World XC Trip
See how the Kenyans live and train in Eldoret and Iten. Plus photos of Kip Keino's center, St. Patrick's High School, Singore Girls School,Lornah Kiplagat's, and the Kimbia house. Not to mention photos of Tergat, Tanui, Kiplagat, and many more.

Interviews With Today's Stars on Their High School Careers
A bit old, but we've got to remember our roots.

Rod Dehaven: U.S. Marathon Champ

Juli Henner: U.S. Olympian
Todd Reeser: Top Road Racer Wrestled in High School
Many more
Training Advice
Learn how LetsRun.com running guru, John Kellogg, made a tiny private school in Texas one of the best teams in the state.

And the winner is:
Best Running Movie of All-Time: Fire on the Track
After sitting on the results for months, we're proud to announce that the best running movie of all time as selected by our viewers is a not an Academy Award winner (Chariots of Fire) or a highly publicized film produced by Tom Cruise (Without Limits), but rather a running documentary, Fire on the Track: The Steve Prefontaine Story. Read all about the voting and see the 10 best running movies of all time as selected by our viewers.
*
Thumbs Up Showdown DVD: Wejo watched the Showdown DVD on the 2007 USA XC Champs in Boulder and was inspired.

Married Thanks to LetsRun.com:
"I don't want to say it. It sounds crazy but it was a dream come true"

- John Stiner,on getting married to his wife, Sarah, who he met on the LetsRun.com message boards. Read about their incredible story.

More isn't always better:
"I had over-trained. I put too much pressure on myself because I wanted that gold medal too much. If I had trained 15 per cent less, I would have won. I was training like a crazy person. There was a lack of self-confidence and a lack of maturity. An athlete does not only train with his body. He trains with his mind."

-Hicham El Guerrouj on why he didn't win Olympic gold in 2000

Inspirational Running Poem