Quote Of The Day

"I think it's one of my duties to raise the image of the sport. The image is very important for the longer future. It is more than only winning and losing - I think a lot of people see a different team, a different sport than a few years ago. I am proud of that."
- Charles van Commenee on the heels of an excellent British showing at the European Championships. Van Commenee talks about reshaping the attitudes, goals and public perception of British T&F athletes, justifies his "tough love" stance and admonishes that there is still a lot of ground to cover before the recent success at Euros translates into a desirable medal tally at the 2012 London Games.

From Over The Weekend

Deriba Merga Dominates Bogota Half Marathon As WR Holder Tadese Drops Out The race belonged to the 2009 Boston champ from the get-go.

Kenya Thrilled By Turnout At African Champs And Hopes To Host Other Meets In Future

African Champs *Results

Asbel Kiprop Wins African GoldKenya Elated: Kenya Exceeds All Expectations With 25 Medals At African Champs Ten golds, including five in a 2-hour period on the final day, helped the host nation dominate the medal count. Nigeria was second with 18 medals.

Sunday: New Tactics, Same Result: Kiprop = The Best In The World
The Olympic champ Asbel Kiprop showed that he is still the best in the world as he used yo-yo tactics to dispatch a slew of talented challengers on Sunday. Instead of putting himself too far back as he did at last year's World Champs, Kiprop hammered to the front and towed the field through 53.65 before backing off and hammering things home in 54.38 as Silas Kiplagat failed to medal. Former USA Today writer Dick Patrick reports from Kenya.
*IAAF Recap Of Final Day Of African Champs In addition to the 1,500m, there was the 5k final, which Kenya swept. Vincent Yato appeared to have the gold but slipped on the infield grass in the final 10 meters, letting Edwin Soi get the win. Another sold-out crowd at the Champs surprised Kenyan officials.

Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba carries her country flag after winning in the women's 10,000m final race at the 2010 African Athletics Championship at the Nyayo stadium in the capital Nairobi, July 31, 2010. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya (KENYA - Tags: SPORT ATHLETICS) Saturday: Ethiopia Finally Wins Gold As Tirunesh Dibaba Remains Undefeated At 10k Thanks to a final lap of 61, the Olympic champ had no problems with world champ and hometown favorite Linet Masai, who finished 3rd.
Interesting Read Kenyan Officials Are Stunned By Large Crowds Just like in America, the Kenyans are great at track but the public normally doesn't support it, but more than 30,000 were in the stands on Saturday.

Friday: David Rudisha Runs 1:42.84 (At Altitude!) To Crown Himself King At 2010 African Champs Rudisha's run was a negative split. Simply amazing. One of our favorite journalists, Dick Patrick, is in Nairobi with the report. Blessing Okagbare completed the 100m-long jump double to go with her NCAA double in the same events.
More Friday Action:

*Kaki: "I Don't Fear Rudisha." Kaki says he't not afraid of Rudisha and that the duo will square off in Stockholm next week. Our take ... he should be fearful of him and likely is. Stockholm next Friday will also see a Bolt-Powell-Gay showdown.
*Richard Mateelong Leads Kenyan 1-2 In Steeple At African Champs

CAC Games Conclude With Jamaica Dominant

Gebre Gebremariam And Werknesh Kidane Added To 2010 Falmouth Road Race

Doug Binder Has The Scoop

Bolt Says 9.4 Is Possible But Focuses On Repeating As Olympic Champ To Cement His Legend Status Bolt says he may also foray into the long jump so his presence in the sprints won't become boring.

Two Recommended Reads
1) Alan Webb's Primed To Start Comeback On August 14th
After a brief racing stint in Europe, both he and Galen Rupp will be getting married.
2) Andrew Wheating:
"Oh Crap, I got fourth (in Monaco)."
A great brief chat with the US star, who says it's all about winning for him. Sadly, a "family priority" in mid August may prevent him from contintuing to race.

Another Interesting Read
Man Blogs About Drinking 13 Beers While Running 13 Miles At SF Half Marathon No, he didn't die in the process.

More African Champs *Results

Thursday: Vivian Cheruiyot Dispatches Meseret Defar & 5 Others In Final Lap Of Women's 5k 7 women were in contention heading into the final lap, but Cheruiyot destroyed Defar and Diamond League leader Ejigu over the final 400.
IAAF Recap Of Day 2: In the men's 100, Ivorian Ben Youssef Meite pulled off a stunner. *Kenyan Stars Of Past Are In Stands Enjoying The Action
*All Kenyans Make 800 Final
*Two Kenyan 400 Guys Make Final


The 2010 17th African Senior Athletics Championships
via ActionPixs
Wednesday: Wilson Kiprop Wins 10,000m To Give Kenya Its First Gold At African Champs Sileshi Sihine was no match for Kiprop on the opening day of the African Champs in Kenya. Kiprop, a marathoner doing marathon training, is coached by LetsRun.com message board poster Renato Canova, who has posted about Kiprop's win. He did his last long run 7 days ago.
*Famed Coach Renato Canova Posts About The Win And Training Of His Marathoner Wilson Kiprop In The 10k He also has some info on Mo Farah's training.
*Video Highlights Of Men's 10,000m At 2010 African Champs
*World 5k Champ Vivian Cheruiyot Going For First Women's Gold Today For Kenya

More: Kaki Drops Out Of Showdown With Rudisha In 800m At African Champs Kaki a week ago had said he may not run. So it looks like he was just ducking Rudisha.

Jun 11, 2010; Eugene, OR, USA; Andrew Wheating of Oregon reacts after
winning the 800m in 1:45.69 in the 2010 NCAA Track & Field Championships at Hayward Field. Photo via Newscom Andrew Wheating Signs With ... Nike Wheating says he is excited to stay in Eugene. And his recent performances likely got him a ton more money. The only question we have is couldn't he have stayed in Eugene if he signed with someone else? Seems like a good result for Wheating and Nike.
Discuss: Wheating Signs With ... Nike

More $$$ News: South Carolina Hurlder Johnny Dutch Gives Up A Year Of Eligibility To Turn Pro

It's Official August 6th

Bolt vs. Gay vs. Powell @ 100m The matchup we've all been waiting for is a little over a week away. Also, Meseret Defar will be going for a World 5k record.

CAC Champs *Results

Central American And Caribbean Games Underway: Churandy Martina Wins 100m, World Champ Ryan Brathwaite Wins 110 Hurdles

The Only Must-Read In The Industry

LRC The Week That Was We start our weekly recap by analyzing the magnificent men's 1,500 in Monaco. Then we talk about Alysia Johnson and Lauren Fleshman before educating our viewers on the "Myth of Prodigy and Why It Matters," which then causes us to give a warning to Jordan Hasay fans with a little help from famed author Malcolm Gladwell. We then praise Robby Andrews and Cas Loxsom and Emily Sisson. Plus we talk about the Taliban, Charles van Commenee and much more.

Thanks To LetsRun.com Community

LRC Kevin McDermott Recovering From Paralysis 1 year ago, Sean McDermott appealed to the LetsRun community for support for his paralyzed brother Kevin, a former runner at Duke. Over 250 LRC readers donated and Sean wrote to thank us and point us to a video of Kevin's recovery process.

American News

Ritzenheins have 2nd child - the next prodigy is a boy (Ritz's other child is a 3-year-old girl).

2 Years Until London - British News

Interesting Random Running Writing

Castelbuono

Tadesse ZersenayTadese Overwhelms Strong Field And Wanjiru In Castelbuono Wanjiru dropped out with breathing problems. This race is definitely our type of road race. 36 runners total and the town loves it and comes out to watch. Running as a spectator sport ... amazing.

Pre-Race:
Italy's Smallest Road Race Packs The Biggest Punch With Only 36 Entrants, Including Wanjiru, Cheruiyot, Kwambai And Tadese Read the details about the race - definitely the most interesting elite road race in Europe.

Justin Gatlin's Comeback Starts Tuesday & Everyone Is Talking About It