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 WilliamsThey 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
Assorted US News
- Mark Rowland Is Known As The OTC Elite Coach But Did You Know He Won A Bronze Medal At The 1988 Seoul Olympics
- Bryan Clay Will Lead Use Decathlon Team At This Weekend's Thorpe Cup Against Germany
- Assistant Oregon Coach, Jenni Ashcroft Gets The Axe As New Head Coach (?) Robert Johnson Continues To Clean House
- USA Today Q&A With Alysia Montaño "I can represent femininity and I can represent strength at the same time."
News In The USA
- 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.
- NY Times Article From 2003 Where Alberto Salazar Predicted Great Things From Galen Rupp
- Video: Meb Keflezighi Talks About Fleeing Eritrea And Coming To The US When He Was A Child
- Marketing Genius: Time Magazine Does A Long Piece On Lolo Jones And The Comeback From The Beijing Disaster Lolo was the only US track athlete to make Time's Olympic cover.
- Tyson Gay Predicts It Will Take 9.7 To Even Get A Medal In London
- Ten Questions With U.S. Hurdler Kellie Wells She thinks all the Lolo media hype is good for the sport.
- EatRunSwag Q&A With Emma Coburn
- Nick Symmonds Offers Some Insight Into Athlete's Sponsorship War With The IAAF And USOC
- Michael Phelps Shakes His Head At New USOC Restrictions
- Lance Update: USADA Calls For Lance Armstrong's Lawsuit To Be Dismissed
- Interesting: US Olympian History "Did You Know?" By Running Times
- All-Time Great HS Coach Tony Wells Passes Away
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.'"
- 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."
- Stephanie Hightower Blogs On Olympic Trials In Eugene She's kidding herself when she said "these Olympic Trials were on par with any sport's top tier event."
- Athletes Angry About USOC Strict Social Media And Apparel Rules At The Games Ryan Hall: "The rule I have the toughest time understanding is the blackout period. I understand the whole branding thing, but the fact that they control my image and even what I am allowed to tweet about seems overboard to me."
*Video: CNN Talks To Ryan Hall About His "Faith Based Coaching" - Galen Rupp Gets Yelled At By Alberto Salazar For Playing Soccer With Mo Farah Before Workouts And By His Wife For Having Too Many (35) Air Jordans
- The American Distance Project Moves Forward After Successful Inaugural Year Established in Colorado by Renato Canova and Scott Simmons, it includes Wendy Thomas, Alisha Williams and Joseph Chirlee.
- Video: Bruce Jenner And Bryan Clay Talk About Their Olympic Victories
- With Less Than 2 Weeks To Go, Many In The US Getting Nervous That They Still Don't Have Their Olympic Tickets New York Times
- RunBlogRun.com Q&A: Julie Culley Her first running memory is running 4 or 5 laps around her house to "train" for the middle school race the next day.
- Jenny Simpson Explains Her Move From The Steeple To The 1,500
Other US News
- 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.
- The Oregonian: Vin Lannana's New Role At Oregon Still Up In The Air
- Mike Morton Wins Badwater Ultramarathon 70-year-old Alan Webb finished 27th.
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."
Lots Of Tuesday Action
Lucerne: Yohan Blake Is Pleased With His 9.85! "Definitely I am on the right path for the Olympics. This is where I am supposed to be. I want to remain unbeaten." *Blake Race Video
*Veronica Campbell-Brown Loses 200 To US's ChaRonda Williams
*MB: US Olympian Kyle Alcorn Struggles In Steeple As The 7th Placer At Jamaican Trials, Jason Young Has The Biggest Surprise Of The Meet In The 200m - 19.86! *Results *IAAF
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
Ireland: Ryan Gregson (3:57.98) 1st, Ciarán Ó Lionáird (3:58.84) 5th In Mile, US 5k Olympian Kim Conley Wins 3,000 In 9:01.74 Liam Boylan-Pett (3:58.38) was 2nd and Elliott Heath third (3:58.48), while Ó Lionáird was overtaken by Ireland's newest sub-four man, St Coca's Paul Robinson (3:58.70) before finishing fifth in 3:58.84.
*Ciarán Ó Lionáird Happy Afterwards
Italy: Oscar P Runs 46.56 In Italy But Says He'll Still PR (45.07) In London If he does PR, it shows he's got an unfair advantage as an able-bodied athlete wouldn't drop 1.5 seconds in 2 weeks.
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
*Day 6: Conseslus Kipruto Runs 8:06 Steeple!!!! Faith Kipyegon Runs 4:04.96 1,500! Both times were 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.
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)
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 Worlds'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.
- Aussie Mid-D Runner Jeff Risley Still Hasn't Decided If He'll Do The 800 Or 1,500 In London He just recently missed the Aussie 800 record (1:44.40) by .08 that was set back in the 1968 Mexico City Games.
- Russia's Athens 800 Gold Medalist Yuriy Borzakovskiy Will Compete In His 4th Olympic Games In London
- Ireland 4 X 4 Dispute Between Cairiona Cuddih And Joanna Mills To Be Settled Monday
- Expert Psychologists Talk About Steve Hooker And His Case Of The Yips
- Fans And Journalists Still Angry They Can't Watch The Jamaican Team Training In Birmingham
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
More:
*US 4 X 1 Running Monaco As Extra Practice Ahead Of Games universalsports.com
They need it, as the US has DNFs Or DQs the last three global championships.
Mid-Week Action:
*Wednesday In Finland: Niclas Sandells Wins 1,500 (3:38.44) Over US's Garreth Heath, Craig Miller And John Bolas Kenya's Josephat Menjo won the 3k (7:44.07) over Ben St. Lawrence 20 seconds back.
*Impressive Throwing In Minsk As Aksana Miankova (Hammer) And Nadzeya Ostapchuk (Shot) Set NRs And World Leads
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.
Olympic News From Around The World
- Kenya: World Junior Medalists Faith Chepng'etich (1,500) & Timothy Kitum (800) Looking Forward To Representing Kenya In London
- Tough Love: AK Chairman Isaiah Kiplagat Criticizes Kenyan Performances At WJC "Who would have thought Botswana would have won a gold medal in the 800m and Qatar gold in the 1,500m. We must go back to the drawing board." The kids can't complain though; they actually got paid prize money for WJCs.
- Kenyan Runner Sums Up Kenyan-Ethiopian Relationship "We are friends when we travel but when we see each other in a race, we are like two lions. We want to kill each other."
- UK: Jessica Ennis: "Because of the expectation and pressure, I think anything but gold, everyone would view that as a failure and I'm aware of that."
- Seb Coe: "Personally I have found quite a close correlation between the number of tweets at competitive times and the level of under-performance."
- Once The Favorite, Team GB Captain Dai Greene Now The Underdog To Undefeated Javier Culson
- Jamaica: Jamaica Predicting 15 To 16 Medals In London 47 of their 50 athletes are track.
- Some Jamaican Sprinters Still Missing From Pre-Olympic Training Camp
- Jamaican Journalists Banned From Training Camp
- Other: Beijing Heptathlon Champ Nataliya Dobrynska Will Try To Defend Her Title Just Months After Losing Her Husband And Coach To Cancer
- Ghana's Athletes Battle Poverty And Corruption While Trying To Chase Their Olympic Dreams
- Yelena Isinbayeva Trying To Become The First Woman To Win 3 Consecutive Gold Medals
- SA 4 X 4 Team Hoping To Follow Up Daegu Medal With Another In London No word on what leg Oscar P will run.
- NZ 5,000 Runner & Villanova Asst. Coach Adrian Blincoe Pulls Out Of Olympics With Ankle Injury A tough break for the 13:10.19 guy.
More International Olympic News
- Going For It? David Rudisha: "Maybe this Olympics will be the first, where somebody will break 800m world record without pacemakers." He wants to break the WR in London.
- Athletics Illustrated Q&A With Emmanuel Mutai "In marathon there is no such thing as sacrifice. The strongest runner in the race will always win. This is not track where tactics play a bigger role."
- Christophe Lemaitre Will Probably Only Run The 200 (Not The 100) At The Olympics
- Olympic Cheerleaders: Even Choosing An Olympic Cheerleading Squad Causes Controversy For Team GB There was an online vote, but the selector overruled it. *Tryout Videos
- Oscar P Shooting To Make The Semifinal In London But he thinks 2016 will be his best Games. We'd normally say that's unrealistic since most sprinters peak in their mid-20s and he'll be almost 30, but then again, most sprinters can't simply replace their legs when they get older.
- Oh Canada: After Being Denied A Spot On The Olympic Marathon Team Despite Having The "A" Standard, Lanni Marchant Trying To Prove Athletics Canada Wrong She ran 2:31:51, but didn't hit the stricter Canada standard of 2:29:55. So she wants to run that in the Toronto Waterfront Marathon to stick it to AC.
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
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?