US Olympic News
- Evan Jager Talks About Breaking The American Record And What's To Come In London "I had to go through this race to be able to put any expectations on myself at all. I hadn't been tested in a hard race before ... I didn't know what it was like to run against the Kenyans."
- Catching Up With 4th Place OTrials Finisher Molly Beckwith After Monaco "I haven't even peaked yet, I don't think. I still have that really big one in me right now."
- Three Interesting Pieces From NY Times: Video And Interactive Diagrams On Proper 4 X 1 Handoff Technique US Olympic relay coach Jon Drummond breaks down what goes into making a
good relay team and why it's so easy for disaster to strike.
*Ping, Ping, Ping: The Sound No Relay Team Ever Wants To Hear Will 2012 be the year the US break its streak of relay miscues? Based on Monaco, the men are in good shape, but the women could be in trouble.
*NY Times Interactive Graphic: How Lolo Jones Runs The 100 Hurdles High school coaches who don't know the hurdles, maybe this will help you. - Aries Merritt Says He's Not The Favorite To Win Olympic 110H He might not want the added pressure, but with three straight WLing 12.93s and Liu Xiang nursing a nagging back injury, he probably is.
- Hall Of Famer And Olympic Silver Medalist Jack Davis Passes Away At 81 Years Old
- Track Focus Nick Symmonds Olympic 800 Flowchart ... What Do You Do?
EPO Cheats Out
LRC 1,500 World Leader Mariem Alaoui Selsouli Of Morocco Tests Positive The former EPO cheat has tested positive a second time. Let's just say people who follow the sport day in and day out are not surprised. Perhaps the bigger question is why would an AAM member represent her and Nike sponsor her? Kudos for drug authorities for targeting her for testing.
Games History
- Video
Documentary On One Of The Most Controversial Races In Olympic History: Seoul 1988, Where Ben Johnson Historically Tested Positive For Steroids
*Article: Ben Johnson And The Dirtiest Race In History Johnson is full of conspiracy theory and a warped way of looking at things. Some of his quotes are just ridiculous. - Phil Hersh Describes His Visit To The Roger Bannister Track
- A Look Back At 1908 Guardian Writer Who Won 5-Mile Gold At The Olympics
Weekend Action
- Wow!!! 17-Year-Old Frenchman Wilhem Belocian Runs Incredible 13.12 In Hurdles His previous PR was 13.44. Even crazier, he didn't even win World Juniors or run as fast on their shorter hurdles, as he ran 13.29 for 3rd.
- Maggie Vessey Runs 1:59.98 To Erica Moore's 2:00.05 And Chanelle Price's 2:00.15 In Belgium
- Viktor Rothlin Edges Arata Fujiwara 41:41 To 41:42 In Battle Of Olympic Marathoners In 14.128km Race That's 29:28 pace for 10km.
- Steven Lewis Breaks British Pole Vault Record In Poland (5.82m - Former Record 5.80m) He breaks Nick Buckfield's 14-year national record on Saturday in Poland, but the real news may be that Steve Hooker and Brad Walker went 5.72m. *IAAF
- USATF: Ashton Eaton & Trey Hardee Do A Few Events In Multi Event - Bryan Clay Was A DNF
*MB: Eaton's lowest scoring event (JT) just got a bit better today - Sweden's Michel Torneus Sets New Swedish Long Jump Record Of 8.22m Also Finland's hopes for a javelin medal increased as Tero Pitkämäki went 84.90.
- Men Across The Globe Are Panicking Carolina Klüft Injured In LJ On Sunday - Might Miss Olympics
Olympic News
- IOC Head Jacques Rogge Won't Allow A Moment Of Silence For 1972 Olympic Massacre
- What Can We Expect From Danny Boyle's Opening Ceremony? The Opening Ceremony is a secret, but The Telegraph has pieced together what we can expect.
- The WSJ Examines The Olympics Of Gambling With so many obscure Olympic events, this is one sporting event where insiders will could have an edge. "There isn't a kayaking or a fencing trader out there, so if you're a really knowledgeable fan of one of those sports, you have a significant advantage."
- Not Sure If We Ever Put This Up: Caster Semenya To Carry Flag At Olympics
- (BOA) Chairman Colin Moynihan Says He Still Favours A Lifetime Ban For Drug Cheats Meanwhile in the US, drug cheat ringleaders get wined and dined in VIP suites.
- Columnist Is Irate Ireland Won't Take Anyone With "B" To Olympics We kind of think they should take 1:45.77 19-year-old Mark English.
- Irish Independent Catches Up With Joanna Mills - The 19-Year-Old At The Heart Of the 4 X 400 Controversy
- British Military Members Might Be Given Extra Olympic Tix For Filling In On Security
- Dwain Chambers Thrilled To Be An Olympian Again: "To be able to go out there and experience that Olympic atmosphere to me is like a gold medal to me."
Phil Hersh Justifiably Celebrates: Guor Marial Will Be Allowed To Compete In Olympics He'll have to compete under the Olympic flag instead of S. Sudan since S. Sudan doesn't have an Olympic delegation. Big props to 2008 US Trials qualifier Brad Poore, who befriended Marial and took up his cause. Poore himself was a 2:08 800 guy in HS who made the 2008 Olympic Trials Marathon. *AP Article
Olympic News
- 20 Years Later - Steve Ovett Finally Says What He Thinks About Seb Coe
- Two-Time Olympic Champ Seb Coe Talks About The Perfect Performance Did you know that Coe closed his 3:38.40 1980 Olympic gold with a 52.2 final lap and 12.1 final 100?
- We 100% Agree:
Man Who Transformed Olympics Into Multi-Billion Enterprise Says Enforcement Of Olympic Sponsorship Agreements Has Gone Too Far In response to Seb Coe saying fans wearing a Pepsi shirt likely won't be let into the Games. "The public do get it. They do understand that Coca-Cola has paid, Pepsi hasn't, so Coca-Cola should be entitled to provide the soft drinks, but what's that got to do with a flaming torch baguette in a café?" - Kenya's Finding It Pays To Not Be So Sexist As Women Are Winning Tons Of Medals We loved this quote from the first sub-27 man in history: "We are giving women a chance and women are proving themselves. You can say it's like an Arab Spring for women."
- TJ Fans: Phillips Idowu Healthy Enough To Carry Olympic Torch
- Some Brits Are Irate As Security Is So Tight No One Can Watch Bolt Practice "This is our country, this is our Olympics. We should be allowed here, not on the track, but certainly here to watch, that's what it's here for, to watch, not for them not to watch."
- Journalists Can't Even See Them Jamaica To Journalists: Athletes Are Off Limits Until July 24
- Ruth Wysocki, Craig Virgin, Bill Rodgers, Brian Diemer, Jim Spivey Give Insight Into Running At The Olympics
- Eunice Sum Is Glad She's Switched From 800 To 1,500 This Year
- Visually Impaired Runner With 5% Vision Says Training With Nick Willis Has Made Him Ready For Paralympics
- Galen Rupp Has 30-35 Pairs Of Air Jordans
Some Bad Updates From US Marathon Team
- Desiree Davila Struggling With Hip Flexor Injury Ahead Of London Games Quotes from Keith Hanson were not reassuring, as he said, "I'm trying to get her healthy enough to get her to the starting line" and "If she opts not to [race], it will not happen until she's on hard surfaces in London."
- Meb Keflezighi Loses Two Weeks Of Training Due To Injury And Coach Bob Larsen Says Don't Expect A PR Out Of Him In London Larsen: "He's only begun to look like the old Meb in the last several days."
- At Least Kara Goucher And Shalane Flanagan Are Doing Well: Good Interview With Kara Goucher "I feel very good at where I'm at. I know that I'm ready to PR, and I feel excited about it."
Monaco DL (See Right-Hand Column) *Full Results
- IAAF Recap: Silke Spiegelburg The Upset PV Winner With WLing 4.82m Yelena Isinbayeva no-heighted and World Champ Fabiana Murer was a distant fifth. The US men 4 x 1 team of Justin Gatlin, Tyson Gay, Ryan Bailey and Trell Kimmons ran a solid relay in a world-leading 37.61. But more importantly, they finished ... unlike the women, who botched the last handoff. *AW Recap
- Mixed Night For US: World Leaders In 110H & Men's 4 X 100 But Women Don't Finish 4 X 100 & Merritt Doesn't Finish
- LaShawn Merritt DNFs He pulled up with 150m to go saying he felt a cramp and didn't want to risk injury.
- Aries Merritt Runs His Third Straight 12.93 Liu Xiang and Dayron Robles may be the veterans, but at this point Merritt is the favorite going into London. Although he says the vets are still the favorites.
- Great Video Interview With Nick Willis Before Monaco
"It just feels like it's the moment for something special to happen."
*Video: Willis Ecstatic After New 1,500 PR - Duane Solomon After His 3rd Place Finish "These are the meets I need to be going to. No more of the "B" sticker races. I think I kind of belong here now."
- Them Is Fightin' Words: Brit Vaulter Holly Bleasdale Calls Out Yelena Isinbayeva's "Tramp Act" We don't necessarily see the problem here, but she was very offended that Isinbayeva was off on her own with a towel over her head. She also pretty much said Isinbayeva's WR is weak and she'll eventually crush it.
- UK HJer Robbie Grabarz Bounces Back From Poor Performance Last Week To Get 2nd On Countback To Jesse Williams They both jumped 2.33m.
- UK TJer Yamilé Aldama: "I have dreamt of an Olympic medal since I was a child." She has 4 World Championship medals and this will be her 5th Olympics, but she's never won a medal at the Games. Ranked 8th in 2012.
- On The Boards: Evan Jager 8:06.81 AR for 3rd Place!
*DUANE!!! (Solomon 1:43.44) His PR is now faster than Nick Symmonds.
*3'28.88 Asbel Kiprop (Nick Willis) 3:30:35
General Olympic News *Hilarious "Preview"
- Alan Bell Is The Starter Who DQed Usain Bolt Last Year In Daegu And He'll Be There Again This Year For The Olympics On Daegu he said, "The guy from TV was screaming, 'Get this race off, get this race off.' I ignored it because the seven guys out there need to compose themselves. I needed to give them the best shot." *2nd Article
- Spice Girls To Reunite For London 2012 Olympic Closing Ceremony
- The Social Media Olympics: Is It Inevitable That An Athlete Will Cause Controversy With Something They Post Online? Crazy: There were more tweets about the Olympics in one day last week than during the entire 2008 Games.
- Tattoo Artist Misspells "Olympics" On Torch Bearer's Tattoo
US Olympic News: First 2 Are Recommended Reads
- "Uneasy Tension" For U.S. Women's Hurdles Squad There seems to be some resentment by Dawn Harper that despite being the Olympic champ, she's always overshadowed in the media by Lolo Jones.
- A Few Years Ago, Ryan Bailey Was Living Out Of A Car With His Mom, Hanging Out With Gang Members, And Failing School ... Now He's An Olympian "I sit back and think, 'Wow, I could be like a couple of my friends - in jail or dead. I could be right there with them. But I'm not.'"
- Kind Of Amusing: Judge Tosses Out Bogus Lawsuit Accusing Galen Rupp Of Steroid Use Blatant harassment and defamation aside, the fraudster was pretty clever. He used a fake name so the case read "Prefontaine vs. Rupp." He did another one a month ago against Jerry Sandusky under the name Tom N. Jerry, so the case read Jerry vs. Sandusky.
- London Games Will Only Be Shalane Flanagan's Third Marathon Flanagan: "I will go through a lot of pain to beat someone. If there's pride and ego on the line, if I'm desperate, then I'm willing to go to a place where it hurts a lot more."
- For All Those Nuts Who Think Running Is Bad For You: 56-Year-Old Jerry Cahill Was Told He Might Not See 18 When He Was Diagnosed With Cystic Fibrosis As A Child He credits running and pole vaulting with keeping his lungs clear of mucus and strengthening his chest cavity.
Scientist Who Has Studied 100,000 Runners Says Don't Listen To Quacks - Running Is Good For You "It's important to not rush to any conclusions that 10 to 20 miles a week is the optimal dose."
Lignano: MB: Gabrielle Anderson Gets The "A" Her 4:04.84 came a little later than she would have liked, but she now has it for next year. Emily Infeld & Sheila Reid miss at 4:07. Maggie Vessey (2:00.59), Anna Pierce (2:00.66).
*MB: Don Cabral runs 3:40 for 1500 Olympic tune up David Torrence & Will Leer ran 3:37 in the same race. Tyler Mulder 1:44.75, Michael Rutt 1:45.35, Elijah Greer 1:45.47. More: MB: Lignano
1500
and 800
US High School Record/Incredible World Jr. Results (More On Right Column)
LRC Mary Cain Smashes American High School 1,500m Record The 16-year-old sophomore ran 4:11.01 to smash Jordan Hasay's high school record by nearly 3 seconds to finish 6th at the World Junior Championships in Barcelona,
Spain.
On The Boards: MARY CAIN 4:10
Half Of Competitors In Olympics And All Medallists Will Be Drug Tested At Olympics Let's hope they test 4th as well, as some medallists will get DQed.
*BALCO Scandal Head Victor Conte Says Anti-Doping System Is Flawed, High-Ranking Officials Have A Vested Interest In NOT Cleaning Up The Olympics
5,639-Word NY Times Front Page Sports Article On The Faith-Coached Ryan Hall Sara Hall: "The Bible is not going to tell you how to be a good runner ... I don't think Ryan is looking at the Bible for a formula, necessarily. There are certain things that God highlights for him that he applies to his training."
International Olympic Stuff: Vlasic Out, Kemboi Still In
- Apparently Ezekiel Kemboi Is Still On The Kenyan Olympic Team He has left the Kenya team's training camp in Nairobi for Bristol City so he will have a "quiet and calm environment to train" ... and won't stab anybody.
- Blanka Vlasic Won't Compete In London Due To Injury Issues "I'm not interested in jumping below my usual level."
- Japanese Paralympian Poses Nude To Pay For Prosthetics
- The Telegraph Takes A Look At What Goes On At The Athletes' Olympic Village
Anti-Drug News
- Recommended Read: A Peek Inside At The Top Athletes Looking for an Edge and the Scientists Trying to Stop Them Great article. A little doping science, history, and inside stories all wrapped up into one.
- Do As I Say, Not As I Do: Dwain Chambers Warns Olympic Athletes Of Doping Dangers "World records can be done cleanly. I got worse on drugs. It did not help me in any capacity. It made me a very unsociable person and ruined my career and the image of the sport."
LRC 2012 Ethiopian Olympic Track & Field Team Named: Mr. Silver Sileshi Sihine Stays At Home - Tirunesh Dibaba Only "Reserve" In Women's 5,000
*Crazy: After Diamond League Win, Swedish Govt. Gives 1,500 Ace Abeba Aregawi Citizenship & Files Suit With IAAF Saying She Should Represent Them, Not Ethiopia, In Olympics The article, which is based off an Ethiopian report, says Aregawi's citizenship request had been going nowhere until her sudden fame and that she wants to represent Ethiopia. Given Ethiopia's press manipulation,
this should be interesting to see how it develops.
*Update: Swedes Have Totally Different Story: Aregawi Really Wants To Compete For Sweden But Ethiopians Have Taken Her Cell Phone & Threatened Her (Translated from Swedish)
Amateur Hour II
Update: Nike Responds (Like We Thought They Would) "Gaining entry into the Nike box is an informal process and we plan to review our protocol for access for future events." *MB: Mark Block: Nike
Responds
LRC Why Was A Man In The Midst Of A 10-Year Doping Ban Enjoying The 2012 US Olympic Track & Field Trials From The Nike Sky Box? If you thought the days of looking the other way at doping were totally over, then you need to read this. Supposed former agent/coach
Mark Block, who is in the midst
of a 10-year doping ban, was seen by LetsRun.com njoying the Trials in the sky box of the #1 sponsor of both USATF and the Olympic Trials - Nike. All we can say is shameful. *MB: Discuss
2012 US Olympic Trials *Results *LRC Trials YouTube Channel *Photos: Day 1 (10ks), Day 2 (Eaton), Day 3 (100, 400), Day 4 (800), Day 7 (5,000s), Day 8 (W Steeple), Day 9 (200, 110H) *LRC Day-By-Day Coverage *Sunday Oregonian Photo Gallery
LRC
Three Best Punch Their Tickets To London As Leo Gets US Title #1 Leo Manzano, the man who had been top three every year since 2006, finally got the win he deserved but even he didn't expect. Manzano chased down Centro to get his first national title as Wheating pulled away from Robby Andrews to get third. *Men's
Race Video
LRC World #1 Uceny, World Champ Simpson And Medallist Rowbury Get It Done The Big
3 came
through as US #1 Morgan Uceny got her second straight US title with Rowbury 2nd and Simpson third. LetsRun.com recap hopefully coming later. *Women's Race Video
*After Winning The State XC Title As A Freshman, Morgan Uceny Quit Her Junior Year To Focus On Basketball That's what you do when you live in Indiana in a small town of 10,033 that has a high school basketball gym that seats 4,600
The US Olympic Trials *Results *TV Schedule *LRC Trials YouTube Channel *Photos: Day 1 (10ks), Day 2 (Eaton), Day 3 (100, 400), Day 4 *Check Prediction Contest Scores *LRC Day-By-Day Coverage
LRC The Women's 5,000 Final - The Olympic Trials At Its Absolute Best This race is what the Olympic Trials are all about. The race had the American record holder in the race, it had seven women with the "A" standard in it, and it had a bunch without the "A" who dreamed of the "A" and were wiling to do the work to try to get it. At the finish, there was a surprise winner in Julie Culley and American record holder Molly Huddle finished 2nd to make her first Olympic team. But for eternity, this race will be remembered for one thing - the most thrilling of victories and the most agonizing of defeats - and by victory and defeat we mean the victory of finishing third and defeat of finishing fourth.
USATF Saturday
LRC Ashton Eaton Sets WR & Mesmerizes On And Off The Track The former Oregon star
was sensational and got the world record after a big PR in
the 1,500
that sent the Hayward faithful into a frenzy. Afterwards, he sent the media into a frenzy with an amazing press conference.
LRC If You've Got 20 Minutes, Watch This Ashton Eaton Press Conference The world record holder is cerebral and fascinating.
Classy Move Of Year: Curtis Beach Lets Eaton Cross Line First As He Breaks WR - Eaton Wishes He "Could Be As Graceful" As Beach (link fixed) "I just thought it would be better for Ashton to win as he broke the world record."
*Eaton Uses Hayward Field Magic To Help Set World Record
*Ashton Eaton World Record Photo Essay
Olympic Champ Bryan Clay DQed In Hurdles *Clay, After Hurdles DQ: "It's The Worst Feeling Ever"
What About The Sport? LRC This Doesn't Have To
Be The End For Bryan Clay; He Should Do A Decathlon Next Week
Friday At The Trials - Day 1
LRC Galen
Rupp Puts On A Clinic As The Sub-13 Guys Punch Their Tickets To London Galen Rupp won and the three sub-13:00 guys made the team but this race held in a downpour was full of drama. Chris Derrick continued his fine 2012 in fourth. Recap, splits, results, and post-race interviews.
LRC Day 1 Photos Gallery
LRC Men's Post-Race 10,000m Reaction
Thursday Photo Gallery (Click Below. We Don't Have A Great Photo Of The Women's 5k Finish. For A Great Photo Of It, Click Here.)
Sunday Photo Gallery, Saturday (Eaton World Record Here) Friday (10,000m Finals Here)
Jump Start Your Tuesday With 4 Recommended Reads
- #1: Julia Lucas' Father Laments His Daughter's Lost Olympic Dream "I could not see the finish line, but I heard the collective groan ... I looked at Margaret - my wife, Julia's mother - and we shared a hard instant that stole a piece of our hearts. That collective groan was for Julia, and we knew it."
- #2: Childhood Accident Where A Drunk Doctor Refused To Help Her Friend Motivated Sally Kipyego To Get Her Nursing Degree Article talks about her start in running and how she showed talent early, but then quit for 3 years because of a tibial stress fracture. She says no one thought she could medal at Worlds last year and even the announcer didn't get her name right.
- #3: A Look At The Ultimate Struggles Of The Two Men Who Finished Behind Jesse Owens In The 200 In 1936 Mack Robinson, Jackie's older brother, went back to a racist Pasadena, CA, whereas Dutchman Martinus Osendarp ended up being convited of war crimes.
- #4: Road To The Olympics: Morgan Uceny Poised To Medal After Years Of Struggling Interesting look at Uceny's childhood as a farm girl in Indiana where she worked for her father hauling mortar and bricks and originally quit running to focus on basketball (even after she finished 3rd in the state as a freshman).
International Olympic News: Opening Ceremony Is In 3 Days (Track Starts Aug. 3rd)
- Sweden: Carolina Kluft Officially Pulls Out Of Olympics With Injury First Darya Klishina and now this ...
- Jamaica: Many Top Jamaicans Still Missing From Pre-Olympic Camp Asafa Powell, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Melaine Walker, Kaliese Spencer, among others.
- After Not Showing Up For Team Camp, There Is Talk That Asafa Powell Could Be Left Off Jamaican 4 X 1 Since He Missed Practices Remember, Powell wasn't on the team that set the WR last year in Daegu (Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake and Usain Bolt).
- Even With Limited Team Practices, Coach Says Jamaican 4 X 1 Will Be Ready To Defend Their Gold Medal
- Many Still Concerned About The Condition Of Usain Bolt's Hamstring However, if this article is accurate, he seems to be doing fine now.
- Kenya: David Rudisha Will Go For The WR At Zurich DL After The Games Although he might be going for it "again" since he plans to go for it without pacemakers in London.
- Bedan Karoki Was Only 3rd Place At The Kenyan Trials, But He Wants 10k Gold In London He's also already planning on winning the 2016 Olympic marathon.
- "You Tube Man" Julius Yego Breaks His Own Kenyan National Javelin Record
- Down Under: Truth: Sally Pearson Says Rivals Will Have To Have The Race Of Their Lives To Beat Her In London Unless she races like she did in London DL, where she lost to Kellie Wells. But she blames that partly on a fall during her warmup. Talking about Wells' celebratory dance, she said ''She won't be doing the dance in London because she won't win.''
- Steve Hooker Gains Some Confidence From Finally Getting Over The Bar In Poland Over The Weekend Whatever he has to tell himself to get over the "yips." He's also seeing a sports psychologist.
- Steepler Genevieve LaCaze Just Snuck Under The "A" But She Wants To Be In The 9:20s In London
- UK: Concerns Grow Over Phillips Idowu As He Pulls Out Of GB Training Camp To Get Injury Treatment This from the guy who was just quoted as saying he wasn't injured.
- Ireland: Still No Word On Outcome Of Ireland 4 X 4 Relay Debacle Apparently they've made a decision but just haven't announced it yet.
RecommendedRead: Emil Zatopek Wasn't Just One Of The Greatest Olympic Distance Champions - He Also Was A Great Man Of Principle Who Stood Up To The Soviets (link fixed) As a result, the 4-time gold medallist was forced to work as a laborer in a uranium mine at the age of 45.
Running 3:30 Has Its Advantages After Big PR, Nick Willis Gets High-Speed Police Escort To Take Him To Have Dinner With Prince Albert Of Monaco
More Doping Positives
- Boston Marathon Runner-Up Jemima Jelagat Sumgong DQed For Doping, As Is Hamburg Marathon Winner Rael Kguriatukei (Kiyara) Both are Kenyan. Sumgong, who only has a 2:29 PR but came within 2 seconds of winning in the heat of Boston, goes out for a cortisone violation and Kiyara, who ran 2:23:47, for a steroid.
More News From Kenya - Kenyan Olympians Get Free Installation & One Month Of Free Satellite TV Before Leaving
- We Agree: Kenyan Coach On 1,500 Men - "They are our greatest hope in London."
Sprint News
- Daughter Of A Preacher Man: Allyson Felix's Quest For 200m Gold Gets Lots Of Ink In USA Today The daughter of a preacher may be one of the few marketable stars on the US team. "For me, my faith is the reason I run. I definitely feel I have this amazing gift that God has blessed me with, and it's all about using it to the best of my ability."
- Rumors Leaking Out Of Jamaican Camp - Bolt Is Back: "Aspirants for Usain Bolt's 100-metre title at the London Olympic Games should be nervous. In fact, very nervous." "This is not the same Bolt we saw in Kingston. He has been working hard and is looking really focused on his work."
- Bolt Confirms? Usain Bolt Goes To "Dark Knight" - Says Training Is Going Great "Everything has been going really well, no worries, I am really enjoying the (training) camp," said Bolt, who said he's also pleased there has been more sun than rain.
- Sprinter Michael Frater And 400m Runner Novlene Williams-Mills Named Team Captains For The Jamaican Track & Field Team
- More News From Jamaica
- Jamaica Has 4 Throwers In The Olympics But Zero Coaches
Tarmoh & Felix Didn't Have To Wait This Long
Antonio Pettigrew Aftermath: Nigeria Wins 4 X 400 Gold From 2000
*Nigerian Gold Comes Too Late For Sunday Bada, Who Died 8 Months Ago
Steve Holman And Carrie Tollefson Chasing The Mayor At Belmar Chase 5k July 28th In New Jersey The mayor's got a chance, as he ran at GTown and gets a head start. 1997 bronze medallist Rich Kenah is the race director.
This Week's Signs Of The Apocalypse I & II
- I: Olympic Games Will Be Broadcast Live In Kenya Via YouTube
- II: Journalists Camp Out At Church But Leave Disappointed As Usain Bolt Skips US - Jamaica Church Service "Do you think he is out of bed yet?" one female photographer asked. Kerron Clement and Reese Hoffa did show.
Sprint News
- Aussie 4 X 400 Runner Claims He Was Called "Jungle Bunny'' And The N Word At 2008 Olympics
- Glen Mills Thrilled By Jason Young's 19.86 From Earlier In The Week Mills said Young, whose previous PR was 20.42, didn't do well at their Trials because he's a full-time university student.
- Norwegian's 19.89 Ma Jaysuma Ndure Says Early Season Times Don't Mean Anything He's only done 20.34 this year but is focused on London and not sure if he'll double.
- Athletics Weekly's Greatest Sprinter Ever Isn't Flo Jo - It's Irena Szewinska The first woman to break 50.00: Poland's 1976 Olympic champ Irena Szewinska.
- Jill Geer On Marion Jones: "People loved her. Loved her. Housewives, kids, men. I wonder if Marion prevented us from ever loving an athlete like that again."
Doping Corner
LRC Guess Who Was In Monaco On Friday? Banned Agent Mark Block The banned agent Mark Block, who just happened to be hanging out at the Nike hospitality suite for the Olympic Trials, just happened today to be in Monaco, site of the Diamond League meet. Evidence also points to him also being at the Penn Relays, Mt. SAC and the Jamaican
Invite.
Plus he was in Daegu
last year. And a trusted source says Block drank a celebratory beer in "Cap's Corner" at the Trials, where he also watched the women's 100 from the Nike box and not just the 200. Hey, Nike - It's pretty easy; why don't you ask John Capriotti, your Global Director of Athletics, if he knew Block was in the VIP area. If so, fine or suspend him for poor judgement. At a minimum, tell him, "Block's presence is unacceptable." And tell your star athletes Jason Richardson and
Carmelita
Jeter the same thing.
LRC 8:16 Spanish Steeplechaser Dropped From 2012 Olympic Team Amid EPO/HGH Doping Probe A local Spanish paper has released a reported email exchange between 8:16 steepler Angel Mullera and a doctor from last year's World Champs where the two discuss his required doping for the 2012 season. The Spanish federation was aware of the doping exchange months ago
but hadn't acted
on it until it was leaked to the press.
*MB: Spanish steeplechaser's leaked EPO discussion / doping plan for 2012
More Doping
THIS Is Why There Should Be Lifetime Bans:
*Hungarian Discus Thrower Robert Fazekas Out Of Games After Tests Positive For Steroids He was stripped of the gold medal in Athens 2004 for doping. He's also "coached" by someone who was stripped of a gold medal. How are these people allowed to stay in the sport?
*French Olympic
Steeplechaser
Nour-Eddine Gezzar Tests Positive For EPO He also served a 2-year ban back in 2006.
Recommended Read From Cycling: Running Needs A Fan To Do This: Fan Writes "An Open Letter To The Peloton" About Importance Of Anti-Doping Whoever writes it, please CC John Capriotti at Nike and the folks at USATF.
The World's Best Are Getting Ready For London
- Ezekiel Kemboi Spends 4 Days In Bristol Training Camp Before Opting To Return To Kenya A teammate said that it was because he couldn't get good training in GB due to poor weather and lack of a place for running.
- Sad News For Guys Everywhere: LJer Darya Klishina Not Selected For Russian Olympic Team
- For The First Time Since Automatic Timing, The Olympic 100m Field Includes All Four Of The Fastest Men On Earth
- SA 400 Hurdler LJ van Zyl Says He Prefers Being The Underdog Going Into The Olympics That's good since the Daegu bronze medalist isn't even ranked in the top 30 in the world in 2012.
Pre-Monaco:
LRC A Fan's Guide To Monaco: Steeple Madness, Symmonds & Montano Hope To Get 800 Wins, Evan Jager Goes For The AR?
*Relive Monaco 2011
LRC Help Pick Ryan Hall's Shoes For The Olympics Asics made 3 pairs of specially-designed shoes for Hall and he wants your input as to what he should wear.
4 Recommended Reads
- Possibly Even More Amazing Of A Story Than Lopez Lomong
- RR #1: Once A Slave, Guor Marial, The 2005 HS Indoor Champ And Former Iowa State Star, Hoping To Run In Olympics For Newly-Formed South Sudan The IOC says he can't run for them as they don't have an Olympic delegation and asked him to run for Sudan, a country which killed off most of his family and put him into slavery. The article doesn't call him a former slave, but isn't that what forcibly working for a year with no pay is? He also is in the process of becoming a US citizen.
- RR #2: The 4th Placer From 1976 Olympic Marathon, Don Kardong, Writes A Letter Full Of Advice To The 6 US Olympic Marathoners For 2012 "Don't let anyone or anything discourage you from pursuing delusions of grandeur," said Kardong who said in 1976 that only two people believed he could medal - himself and his mom. Had it not been for a drug cheat, he'd have a bronze.
- RR #3: A Very Tough Olympic Trials: Lea Wallace's Father Passed Away Somewhat Unexpectedly The Night Before Her Race, But She Decided To Run As He Was Her #1 Fan Oh yeah, and a week before the Trials, she lost one vision in an eye while doing pushups, passed out and had a seizure.
- RR #4 Science Of Sport's Ross Tucker: Based On Power Outputs - Leading Riders At Tour de France Could Be Clean "So that's what we're all getting at when we say the Tour is getting slower. It is, and it's a good sign, because it brings everything back into the realm of expected physiology."
Ryan Hall Talks To LetsRun.com
LRC Ryan Hall Hoping To Have "Best Stuff Ever" At 2012 London Olympic Marathon On Friday, LetsRun.com spent over 30 minutes talking with Ryan Hall. An optimistic Hall talked about his training has turned around, his goal for London, how he still thinks he's learning a ton, how he thinks his best marathon is ahead of him, and a whole lot more. We got Hall to give us the specifics of his training which has recently been changed to emphasize speed more often. Is he back at altitude? Hint: He gave the interview from the birthplace of LetsRun.com. How much mileage does he do? 20 x 1k? 10 miles of in and out 400s? *Discuss
Interesting Reads To Entertain You On A Monday
- Big Baltimore Sun Profile Of Matt Centrowitz: "1,500-meter hopeful Centrowitz grew up in the company of Olympians" *Discuss
- Chris Derrick - A True Student Of The Sport - Gets Nice Press In Hometown Paper His HS coach says, "Chris never seems to lose focus." *Discuss
- Learn About The Greatest Clutch/Heroic Olympic Story You've Never Heard Of - Olympics Retain Ability To Enthrall Imagine having to do a triple somersault dismount from 8 feet up on the gymnastic rings and land the dismount on a kneecap you know is broken. The result? A broken AND dislocated kneecap, torn ligaments in the leg, and a
gold medal.
- If OnlyJohn Chaplin In The US Was Held To Similar Standards
Great Column By Eamon Sweeney: There Should Be Resignations In 4 X 400 Mess-Up In Ireland In Ireland, a slower woman was picked for the 4 x 400 team until an appeal was filed and the initial decision was overturned. The columnist points out the "mistake" should never ever happened in the first place and people need to give explanations or be fired.
Saudia Arabia Sends Women To Olympics
LRC Meet Sarah Attar - Saudi Arabia's First Female Track & Field Athlete The woman who will make history in traditional Islamic attire at the Olympics is a Pepperdine sophomore who runs in shorts during the collegiate season. She's never run an 800 in college, but that's
what she'll run in London.
*NY Times: Attar's Family Asked School Website To Take Down Photos Of Her Competing In Singlet And Shorts
*Philip Hersh Says Recent Gender News Isn't Quite As Good As It Seems Still needs to generate change at home.
LRC What Does The Paris 5,000 Mean For Galen Rupp's Medal Chances? Before Friday, only 10 men in history had broken 12:50 for 5,000. Now after on amazing race, 16 guys have done it. Surely this is the end of Galen Rupp's medal chances, right? Wrong. We argue that once one gets over the initial shock of the "6 Guys Under 12:50 In Paris" headline, then one realizes there were plenty of encouraging results in Paris for Rupp. *Discuss
Samsung DL Paris *Results *MB Discussion *LRC Winners Photo Gallery
LRC Paris Recap: A Sensational Men's 5,000, A Troubling Women's 1,500, And David Rudisha's 1:41 Highlight Fans of Galen Rupp, Bernard Lagat,
Kenenisa Bekele, Jenny Simpson
and Morgan Uceny probably had a hard time watching this meet as the results of the men's 5,000 and women's 1,500 were stunning to stay the least. Plus Tyson Gay vs. Justin Gatlin. Read all about it. *Discuss
*Results (video highlights for US visitiors in player on right)
*LRC Winners Photo Gallery
Down Goes Bolt #2: Blake 19.80 Over Bolt 19.83 Bolt had the lead in this one and ran horribly the last 100. Video here.
*Bolt: "It is not like I was blown away. I know what I need to do to get it right."
Three Distance Finals Take Place Thursday *Oregonian Day 7 Photos
M 5,000: LRC Lucky 13 - Galen Rupp Snaps Winless Streak In Style - 52.54 Last Lap Beats Bernard Lagat & Steve Prefontaine's Meet Record Galen Rupp entered
the Olympic Trials 0 for 12 against Bernard Lagat during his lifetime but he left 1 for 13 and boy was it impressive. Not only did he win, but Rupp let it came down to the last 400 and then outkicked the 2nd-fastest man ever at 1,500. His last 400 was faster than what won Mo Farah World Championships gold last year.
M Steeple: LRC Evan Jager Wins With Ease As Three First-Time Olympians Punch Their Tickets To London Jager, Cabral, Alcorn. And a very happy 4th placer - former 4:22
HSer Donald
Cowart.
*LRC Steeplechase Interviews
*Oregonian Recap Of Jager's Tongue-Wagging, Fist-Pumping Win
More Olympic Trials Monday Distance
LRC Montano Hangs On, Gall Comes On, Schmidt Sneaks In, And Beckwith Has A 4-Year Wait Alysia Montano won as expected, but this one was close. 5 women were in contention for 3 Olympic spots and Molly Beckwith was the unlucky 4th place loser in a dramatic final 20 meters. *Race Video
800m Final Photos (Click Below For Gallery)
Eugene Saturday *LRC Trials YouTube Channel
LRC The Inside Story Of How Jeneba Tarmoh First Saw The 100m Finish Photo On The LetsRun.com Laptop Roughly 3 Hours After The Race
Carmelita
Jeter
won
the 100m, but the story was the battle for the third spot between training partners Jeneba Tarmoh and Allyson Felix. At first,
Tarmoh was announced in third by .001 but then after
the stands had emptied, a dead
heat was announced. We thought we were the only ones not knowing what was going on, until next thing we knew Tarmoh was looking at the finish photo on Wejo's laptop (pic on right).
LRC An Exclusive Interview With The Man Responsible For Reading The Allyson Felix 100m Finish Picture LetsRun.com exclusively caught up Roger Jennings, the man whose job it is to
determine who
finished third and who got fourth, and the timing whiz explained how it was determined there was a dead heat. Plus we do a little bit of research and determine that even though USATF has said there
is no protocol for breaking a tie, that the USATF rule book does in fact envision such a scenario and has a solution - an old-fashioned drawing of lots!!!
LRC Lolo Jones' Third Place Steals The Show In The Olympic Trials Hurdles Final Lolo turned around her season in 24 hours after a "reality meltdown" following round one. She said, "I woke up today and did not
think I would make the team. I was fighting a constant head battle to get through this. I had my sports psychologist on speed dial 1, my pastor on speed dial 2, and my mom on speed dial 3 ..."
Day 2 Photo Gallery (Eaton World Record)
Day 1 Trials Photo Gallery
General Olympic Stuff
- At The London Olympics, You Even Have To Pay To Go To The Bathroom Journalist Shares His Unfotunate Experience Apparently it costs 20 pence (about 31 cents).
- In The Past, Countries Tried Anything For Olympic Edge, Even Spying New York Times
- Who Do You Follow? List Of Top 50 Tweeters To Follow During London 2012 For the US, Nick Symmonds made the list, but we couldn't believe they left off Lolo Jones, who has 154,479 more followers.
- Pressure Mounts Against IOC Head Jacques Rogge Refusal For Moment Of Silence For 1972 Olympic Massacre Advocates were unsatisfied with Rogge's 1 minute of silence during his Olymipc Village opening speech.
2012 Monaco DL *Full Results
Updated
LRC: Evan Jager Breaks The American Steeplechase Record Evan Jager got the AR in just the 5th steeple of his life. Medalling at London isn't out of the question. Only a steeple recap above, but in other action, Asbel Kiprop made running 3:28.88 look easy as Nick Willis ran a 3:30.35 PR.
And in the 800m Duane Solomon is now the fastest active American as he blitzed a 1:43.44 ahead
of Nick Symmonds.
*Evan Jager Race Highlight Video
LRC Asbel Kiprop Reasserts Himself As The Olympic Favorite By Running A Sensational 3:28.88 The defending Olympic champ made a statement by running a 53.43 last lap with a 26-flat last 200 to mark himself as the London favorite. At the same time, Nick Willis marked himself as a medal contender with a stellar 3:30. Robby Andrews was a DNF and Centro and Manzano
were DNSs. *Race Video
*Kiprop On His 3:28: "It was a very good race and I felt very, very good. Yes, it gives me confidence."
*Kenyan Columnist: Thank God Kiprop Didn't Follow Through On His Pledge To Switch To 5,000 Last year, Kiprop famously said, "I will switch to 5,000m if I do not run under 3:30," but thankfully he didn't follow through on that, as while he didn't break 3:30, he did win Worlds.
More Monaco
LRC Duane Solomon Is Now The 5th-Fastest American Ever At 1:43.44 Americans, it's official - you can dream of your first 800 men's medal since 1992 after Duane Solomon and Nick Symmonds both ran in the 1:43s, but on this night, the hype justifiably belongs to
Solomon, who had a massive PR. *MB: DUANE!!!
LRC The Rest Of The Meet: Alysia Montano, Jenny Simpson And Caster Semenya Disappoint In the women's 800, Semenya was awful throughout and Montano didn't look like a medal contender. In the 3k, Simpson was unable to break 70 on her final lap.
Video Highlights Of Evan Jager's American Record (Larger Here)
Asbel Kiprop Makes 3:28 Look Easy, Nick Willis Runs 3:30
From Michigan Roads To Colorado Mountains
LRC Two-Time Olympic Trials Qualifier Sage Canaday Wins The US Mountain Running Championships On His First Time Out We catch up with former Hansons-Brooks marathoner, Sage Canaday, and talk to him about his switch in race focus, decision to leave Hansons-Brooks, and surviving as an unsponsored runner. Runners like Sage embody what could be called the "American running dream," as they put off pursuing what society says is practical or normal, making huge sacrifices to pursue their dreams.
Australian Hurdler's Provocative Pre-Race Dance Generates Thousands Of YouTube Hits
*MB: Michelle Jenneke Warm Up Routine. Oh, My...
The Olympics Are Coming
- London 2012 Faces New Threat As UK Border Staff Go On Strike
- What Month Is Best To Try And Conceive An Olympic Athlete? In the UK anyway, it appears to be the summer months of June, July and August.
- Seb Coe On Dealing With The Wettest London Summer On Record: "You just suck it up and get on with it."
- Interesting: London Light Show Reflects Britain's Olympic Mood Based On Twitter Posts Color of lights reflect mood based on tweets sent using the #Energy2012 hashtag.
- Tourists Beware: Expensive Prices And ATM's Running Out Of Cash
- Opening Ceremony Tickets Going For $10,000 On The Black Market
Is Usain Bolt High Maintenance?
- Usain Bolt Orders Special Orthopedic Bed To Sleep In At His Training Base In Birmingham He's been having hamstring issues since the Jamaican Trials.
- Bolt Buys Olympic Starting Blocks To Practice Before London More than you ever wanted to know about the new different Omega starting blocks.
- Justin Bieber Raves About Bolt's Game on Australian Radio
- Pat's Star Rob Grinkowski Calls It "Addicting"
Usain Bolt The Video Game Is Out
LRC Usain Bolt The Video Game For Iphone/Ipod - Q & A With Friend Of LRC Matt Taylor Bolt!, the Usain Bolt Iphone/Ipod free video game was released yesterday. We talk to LRC guest columnist Matt Taylor, who was instrumental in the game coming
to
fruition.
*Can Usain Bolt Create An Olympic-Sized Brand?
*Puma Pinning Hopes On Usain Bolt
More Distance News:
Ciarán Ó Lionáird Returns Home Looking For Spark After Missing Lots Of Time With Achilles Injury - Will
Race
14 Sub-4
Guys O Lionaird, who recently took time from his rehab to call LetsRun "gutter press," is racing for the 1st time since World Indoors.
The 12 Best Moments From The World Junior Champs Mary Cain and Ajee Wilson aren't on it.
London Diamond League Was Friday/Saturday *Day 2 Results *Day 1 Results *Event-By-Event Results
LRC Day 2: Nick Willis Goes For It, The American Mid-D Men Struggle & Molly Beckwith Pulls Upset On Day Full Of Upsets Day 2 was full of a lot
of upsets, particularly
on the women's side, as Carmelita Jeter, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Sally Pearson, Janeth Jepskosgei, Amantle Montsho and others were upset. The highlight from a LetsRun.com standpoint was wacky men's mile, where Nick Willis had a 3.5-second lead at the bell. It wasn't a good day for Bernard Lagat, an awful day for Leo Manzano, and a day to be remembered for Molly Beckwith, who
suffered heartbreak at the US Trials. But the American who had the best day may have been Nick Symmonds - and he didn't even run.
LRC Day 1:
Mo Farah, Vivian Cheruiyot Win With Ease As Maryam Jamal Shocks Women's 1,500 Field Mo Farah beat a week field that included training partner Dathan Ritzenhein, the American 1,500m women did not impress, Vivian Cheruiyot kept it going, and Aries Merritt stepped up again, as Tyson Gay came from behind to win.
More: Track & Field Athletes' Association Statement On Nick Symmonds & Lolo Jones Being Barred From Meet *MB Thread
World Junior Champs (See Saturday's Homepage For Days 1-4) *Schedule/Results *Nice On-Site Coverage By NSSF *Live Video Stream *Meet Central With Interviews, Photos, Event-By-Event Recaps
- Day 6: Conseslus Kipruto Runs 8:06 Steeple!!!! Faith Kipyegon Runs 4:04.96 1,500! Both Are Meet Records
- Complete Day 6 Recap: Botswana's Nijel Amos Wins 800 By .77 Over Kenyan Olympian To Prove He's The Real Deal Olympic medal hopefuls, you'd better hope his "injured leg" is bad, as this guy is a medal threat in the Olympics if he shows up.
- US Junior Team Won 20 Medals - 9 Gold
- Day 5: IAAF Recap: US Men And Women 4 X 1 Relays Take WJC Gold
- Run-Off: US Women's 4 X 4 Will Be In A Run-Off Today To Try To Make The Final They won the semifinals, but were DQed for a exchange zone violation. An appeal ruled official's error; now they have to re-run the race to post a legal qualifying time to make the final.
- RRW Distance Recap: Muktar Edris Takes 5,000 In 13:38
- IAAF Investigates Nigeria-Spain Visa Denial Dispute
- Jamaica's Janieve Russell Wins 400H
- Ashraf Amgad Elseify Wins Hammer With Junior WR
- IAAF Profile Turks And Caicos Islands' WJ 200 Champ Delano Williams, Who Will Probably Compete For The UK In The Future
- GB's Katarina Johnson-Thompson's Had A Major Upset In The LJ When She Won After Coming In Ranked Only 10th
- 100/200 Champ Will Be Running In The NCAA Next Year
LetsSprint.com
- Michael Johnson Thinks False Start Rule Is Bad For The Sport Because We Could Get A Repeat Of Daegu At The Olympics
- Jamaican Analysis Of Olympic 200: Will Allyson Felix Finally Get Gold Or Her Third Straight Silver?
- Carl Lewis Thinks Justin Gatlin Could Beat Bolt And Win The Olympics
- No Kidding: Michael Phelps And Usain Bolt Won't Be As Dominant In London As They Were In Beijing This article talks about how people have caught up to Bolt, but that isn't true at all. He's just slowed down.
6 Guys Break 12:50
Paris DL Photo Gallery (Click Here Or Below)
Blake Beats Bolt X 2 In 200
Emma Coburn Gets Emotional With Teammate Shalaya Kipp After Making Olympics
The Race Of The Trials: Julia Lucas' Agony Of Defeat (Race Video Here, More 5k W Interviews Here, Men 5k Here, Men Steeple Here)
Alan Webb's 2012 Olympic Dream Is Over (More On This Here (Link Fixed)). More Trials Videos Here
Tyler Mulder Showing The Emotion Of The Trials
BAA 10k 2012 BAA 10k Results
Geoffrey Mutai Runs 27:29 In Boston, Kim Smith Wins
We think Sam Chelanga still has a good chance to win $100,000 despite being crushed by nearly a minute.
Kenyan Trials *Mid-D/Distance Results
- King David Rudisha Runs 1:42.12 Altitude WR To Put Kenyan Crowd Into A Frenzy King David wasn't the only one to excite the crowd as even bigger cheers went
to Ezekiel Kemboi, who set the crowd afire when he pulled up to eventual steeple winner Brimin Kipruto and seemingly motioned to let him win with 50m to go before re-enacting his famous "Daegu jig" at the finish. Asbel Kiprop barely qualified (3rd) as Olympic champ Nancy Lagat, Linet Masai
and Paul Kipsiele Koech fell by the wayside.
*Kemboi's Dance Gets More Cheers Than Rudisha's Win
*MB: Rudisha's 1:42.12 NEW ALTITUDE WR!!! Brimin Kipruto 8:11 steeplechase and Isaiah Koech 13:09 as well, if this isn't a troll.
*MB: Kiprop 3rd: "It's a good thing that I did not win the Trials since the pressure that comes with it is too much." - AP Recap: Rudisha, Jelimo And Cheruiyot Win
LRC Exclusive: Timer Explains The Allyson Felix Tie
Matt Taylor Speaks #2
LRC Redefine Running: Who's In Charge Of "The Sport" (link fixed) Last week Matt Taylor, the guy behind ChasingTradition, ChasingKimbia, ChasingGlory, and an upcoming Usain Bolt video game, told you running was dying. This week he tells you it's thriving. He explains the inconsistency. While the activity of running is thriving, the sport is dead with the mainstream sports fan. In the internet era, diehards get their fix, while Joe Sports-Fan has no idea who Matt Centrowitz is. How do we fix this?