Thursday: The Track Season Is Winding Down, But We Hope You Saved Something For Zürich *Results *Yahoo Photos

LRC 2012 Weltklasse Recap: Rudisha Loses, Bolt And Blake Win, Drama In Women's Steeple, And Americans Fizzle In 5,000m It's the best one-day track meet in the world for a reason - it gets the stars. This year was no different and there were a few shockers. In the men's 5,000, Bernard Lagat broke 13:00 for the first time this year but his AR survived as Galen Rupp finished ninth in 13:09.

LRC
David Rudisha Gets Beaten Mohammed Aman ruined David Rudisha's perfect season for the second straight year.
*Full Results
*Other Recaps: *
IAAF *Athletics Weekly *Reuters Recap
*
Rudisha Is Lucky The Weather Was Great For The Olympics: "I never feel good when the track is wet and it is raining." www.independent.co.uk
800 Video (US Visitors)
*US Men With Gay & Bailey Beat Jamaican "B" Team In 4 X 100
*
Grabarz Wins The Diamond League HJ Title & Now Wants To Buy A Porsche A Year After Losing Lottery Funding

Zürich On The Boards:

US-Based Mid-D & Distance Guys & Gals In The News

Interesting Reads

Are We The Only Ones Who Think It's Very Ironic That The Greeks Spent $814,000 For A Trophy To Inspire Them To Fight Out Of Their Financial Abyss?
$814,000 Marathon Trophy From 1896 Olympics Goes On Display In Greece For 1st Time - Is Being Used To Inspire All Greeks


RR:
A Look At The Great Mid-Race Surges In 5k History Could Mo Farah handle a 58-second third lap? What about a 1:56 for the eighth and ninth laps?

Harvey Glance On Kirani James: "(James) is a phenomenal young man and I'm just proud to be associated with him."
Did you know that James' gold medal is currently making the rounds at the SEC's BeachFest?

Amby Burfoot Asks: Do You Realize African-Born Runners Won Every Mid-D/Distance Gold On The Men's Side In London?
*Amby Burfoot Asks: Are Americans Really Running Better Or Are Europeans/Russians Just Worse?

Q&A With Nate Brannen: When Plans Go To Hell, Get Up And Keep Running

Kenyan Olympic Games Team Report To Come Out Today

Could We See Usain Bolt On The Big Screen In The Near Future?

Birmingham DL Sunday *Full Results *Event-By-Event Results

International News From Retired/Almost Retired Olympians

Coach Dan Pfaff Might Return Home To Texas After His Contract With UK Athletics Expires, And Greg Rutherford May Come With Him

Lance Armstrong Pleads Guilty Gives Up

USADA To Ban Lance Armstrong For Life And Strip Him Of All 7 Tour de France Titles USADA chief exec Travis Tygart: "It is a sad day for all of us who love sport and athletes. It's a heartbreaking example of win at all costs overtaking the fair and safe option. There's no success in cheating to win." *ESPN
*MB: BREAKING Report: Lance Abandoning Fight vs Doping Charges, TDF Titles Gone
*Lance Armstrong's Full Statement On USADA Refers to USADA's investigation as an "unconstitutional witch hunt."

More Drugs: Dick Pound Says Despite All The Drug Testing At The Olympics, The Dopers Are Winning The former WADA chairman criticizes his successor for not taking the advice and making use of the expertise of Victor Conte. Pound accuses countries of not caring and only handing out 2-year bans since they want their athletes back in action.

Paralympics: Paralympic Torch Relay Has Begun
*Guide To Understanding The Confusing Paralympic Classification System

US Olympic-Related News

US Stuff

Stockholm Diamond League Meet *Full Results *LRC Post-Race Video Interviews *Yahoo Photos

LRC Stockholm Diamond League Full Recap Updated A slew of Olympic champions competed and some did really well and some did awful. Duane Solomon ran a great 800m, Evan Jager ran a PR and revealed he wants to run a 5k, and Shannon Rowbury and Jenny Simpson ran seasonal bests. Now with quotes and interviews.
More: LRC Evan Jager Wants To Run A 5k, But Coach Jerry Schumacher Is Against It
LRC Shannon Rowbury Speaks Out Against Drug Cheats
LRC
Taoufik Makhloufi Explains How He Got So Much Better This Year
LRC
Andrew Wheating Runs 1:46.4 In B Race And Says It's A Positive Step

LRC
Full Results *Video Highlights
*IAAF Recap *Athletics Weekly *Reuters
*Bolt Didn't Run Because He's Too Expensive, Say Meet Organizers
*Valerie Adams Dominates In Stockholm

Goodbye, London

Getting High Praise In The Email Inbox:
LRC Mediocre Great Britain: You Lived Up To Your Name "For a country where pessimism is now part of the national consciousness, the Olympics were a resounding success. Not okay, not pretty good, but truly Great ..."
*IAAF's 12 Highlights Of London 2012
*London Athletes Face Post-Olympic Blues It now even has an official name: Post-Olympic Stress Disorder, or POSD.

Need A Running App For Your iPhone? Runtastic Gets Praise In NY Times

LRC The Incredible Meb Keflezighi Reacts On Just Missing A Medal, Ryan Hall & Abdi Talk About Dropping Out Post-race reaction from the Americans and the medallists. Meb used the fact he was slighted and not introduced to the worldwide audience at the start, even though he was the only Olympic medallist in the field, to fuel him. Ryan Hall reacts to his first non-top-10 result and Wilson Kipsang says he has no regrets about the 14:11 3rd 5k.

Olympic Marathon: LRC The Unheralded Stephen Kiprotich Of Uganda Stuns The Field And Wins The 2012 Olympic Men's Marathon Uganda's only Olympic medal of the 2012 Games has a great color to it and it came in a historic event, as after getting dropped at the 35km mark (21.7 m), Kiprotich stormed back to the lead at the 23-mile mark and stunned the world and Kenyans Wilson Kipsang and Abel Kirui as the US's Meb Keflezighi was a surprise 4th. Kipsang tried to do his best Sammy Wanjiru impersonation with a crazy 14:11 5k early in the race, but that 5km segment at 1:59 marathon pace may have done him in later.
*USA Today: Kiprotich: "Now, I am known and I am happy that I am known."
*RRW Recap *AP Recap

Saturday:
LRC Mo Farah Completes The Double As The British Fans Go Wild The British fans got what they wanted on the final day of Olympic track competition (marathon tomorrow is on the roads and doesn't end in the stadium) as Farah won a tactical 5,000. Bernard Lagat came up just short in his quest for his first Olympic medal for the US as he was 4th, Rupp 7th and Lomong 10th.
*Picture: Mo Farah And Usain Bolt Swap Victory Poses
*Mo Farah Says He Wants To Move To The Marathon Eventually, But Not Yet
*MB: Official men's 5000m thread *That was the worst 5000m final in an Olympics ever

Friday

W 1,500: LRC Disaster Strikes Twice As Morgan Uceny Gets Tripped Again And A Former Doper Wins Gold Disaster struck twice in the 1,500 final. First at the bell when, unbelievably, Morgan Uceny was sent sprawling for the second straight year. It struck again a lap later when a former doper won gold and her compatriot, who has gone from 4:18 to 4:01 this year, nabbed silver.
*Pat Forde: "Saddest sight of the Games"
*Woods: "Half a lifetime of preparation, of dreaming, shattered in an instant."
*Battaglia: Uceny's medal hopes fall - again
*MB: *I am crying for Morgan Uceny *Uceny goes down! *US should protest - Let's re-run the 1,500
*UK 1,500 Runner Lisa Dobriskey Voices Concerns Over Turkey's Asli Çakir Alptekin Being Clean Dobriskey said: "I'll probably get into trouble for saying this, but I don't believe I'm competing on a level playing field.

Usain Bolt Wins 200 To Become A "Legend" Bolt became the first man to win the 100 and 200 at back-to-back Olympics and become a legend in his own words. We thought he was already a legend. After leading the Jamaica 1-2-3 sweep, Bolt trashed Carl Lewis, saying he has "no respect for him" as a result of Carl's thinly-veiled drug allegations at Bolt.
More Bolt-Lewis: *Bolt Rips Lewis
*Editorial Saying This Will Hurt Bolt In US With Endorsements We Disagree. The article nails it in describing how entertaining Bolt was in the rest of the press conference.
*Article From Last Month Explaining What Lewis Said
*Yohan Blake's Watch Has Caught The Eye Of IOC Brand Police
*Four Years Ago, Warren Weir Was Watching The Olympics From The Couch, But Now He's Part Of A Jamaican 200 Medal Sweep When asked what Bolt whispered to him before the start, he said, "1-2-3." All 3 are coached by Glen Mills.

Ashton Eaton, Trey Hardee Go 1-2 In Decathlon Hardee: "It's safe to say my reign is over. I still think my best decathlon is ahead of me, but Ashton's are too."
*Ashton Eaton: "20 years on you will have people saying 'I was sitting on my couch, watching Hardee and Eaton win.'"
*USATF Release On 1-2 Finishes In Decathlon And TJ Includes athlete quotes.

Gators Christian Taylor And Will Claye Go 1-2 In Triple Jump 2nd medal of Games for Claye as he got bronze in the LJ.

NYTimes: Day Of Drama In London

Wednesday

Allyson Felix Wins 200 Gold As USA Crushes It With 7 Medals & 3 Golds Brittney Reese also won gold as did Aries Merritt. The meet was "was slipping away" from the US when everything got turned around with a ton of medals. Lashinda Demus had to settle for silver despite running 52.77. *USATF Release On Historic Day
*Layden: Allyson Felix finally strikes gold on banner night for US track and field
*After Coming Up Short 4 Years Ago, Allyson Felix And Brittney Reese Come Through For Gold In 200 And LJ In 2012

110H: Aries Merritt Is On Fire - PRs At 12.92 As US Goes 1-2 Jason Richardson was a little disappointed he got silver.
Epstein: Merritt quest perfectionism pays off with gold medal in 110m hurdles
Reuters: After showing great promises as jr. world champ, Merritt arrives on center stage

LJ: After Four Straight World Titles, Brittney Reese Gets Long-Sough- After Olympic Gold
*Reese Celebrates With Mom Who Told Her To Turn Down Basketball Scholarship For College & Focus On Track


Tuesday:
A Great Read: LRC Men's 1,500m Reaction, Leo Manzano Talks About His Medal, Matt Centrowitz His Near Miss, Makhloufi, Kiprop, Willis, More LRC gives you all the athlete reaction from the crazy men's 1,500m, which saw Leo Manzano take home the first US Olympic 1,500m medal since 1968. Leo says he felt awful but his prayer was answered; Centrowitz says he was running for gold and wouldn't change a thing; Asbel Kiprop praises Leo; Nick Willlis is amazed by Makhloufi's recovery but embarrassed by his own showing. What happened to the Kenyans? What about Nick Willis? What about Makhloufi's injury? *LRC Leo Photo Gallery

Race Recap: LRC 1,500 Final: Taoufik Makhloufi Dominates As Leo Manzano Surprises With Silver (updated) Makhloufi's last 300 was just way better than everyone else's, as anyone that tried to go with him paid a big price. Leo Manzano had the next-best last lap as he went from 10th to 2nd as Matt Centrowitz just missed a medal by .04. *IAAF Recap

*Deadspin: Algerian Runner Booted From Olympics For Quitting A Race Reinstated After Getting A Doctor's Note
*Taoufik Makhloufi: The Man Who Won Olympic Gold After Being Thrown Out For Not Trying An honest assesment of the DQ situation and questioning the rules around it.

Monday

400 Final: 19-Year-Old Kirani James Wins Grenada's First Olympic Gold In The 400 Luguelin Santos took silver and Lalonde Gordon bronze. Kirani James is Mr. Clutch at age 19. Incredible.
*Grenada Prime Minister Declares National Holiday To Celebrate Kirani James' 400 Win
SI: US 400m Dynasty Comes To An End
*MB: Kirani James 43.94!!!!

Recommended Read: Frank Deford: Drug Cheats Ruin Sport Completely
*No Shame: Lance Armstrong Does Group Run In Montreal

Paralympics Open To Huge Fanfare In The UK

US Marathon News

Other US: Lance Gets To Keep His Olympic Medal; 1,000 Mile WR Relay Team On Pace

International News

Seasons & Careers Coming To An End

Surprising: Aussie Long Jumper Mitchell Watt - Who Is Leading DL Points Race - Calls It A Season As His Achilles Is Hurting

She'll Be Missed: Heptathlete Carolina Klüft Will Get To Bow Out In Style This Weekend In 4 X 400 Younger people may not realize how good Klüft once was. She won the 2004 Olympic Hept by 517 points.

He Won't Be Missed:
France's 8:12 Steepler Nour-Eddine Gezzar Given 10 Year EPO Ban When someone is PRing by 12 seconds after a doping ban, you know they are doping again.

Two Recommended Reads

More Results From The Weekend

Paralympic News

Other Weekend Action: German Fernandez 3:40; Yuki Kawauchi Runs Another Marathon

Olympians: Vivian Cheruiyot Might Not Race Next Year And Might Run The Marathon In 2016

NY Times: Hong Kong Women's High Life Expectancy Attributed To Daily Morning Exercise

Mo Farah/Usain Bolt News

Olympic 5,000m Final Was So Loud That Finish Line Camera Shook And The Official Finish Photo Was Blurry For The First Time Ever It didn't happen in any other race in London. Farah mania > Bolt mania in London.

Mo Farah's Wife Gives Birth To Twin Girls

Usain Bolt Gets Honored At Manchester United Halftime

More Lance Armstrong News *Get Your Own "Cheat To Win" Bracelet

Lausanne DL *Full Results

LRC: Matt Centrowitz Runs 3:31.96 For Third The twenty-two-year-old American continued to roll as in his first race post-London, he skipped the 3:32s and 3:33s to run 3:31.96 and come close to the win in Lausanne.
*Video Of Centro's Race
*MB: CENTRO 3:31!! *What the hell happened? Centro 3:31, Rupp DNF, Manzano/Willis 3:34

Results: Yohan Blake 9.69, Usain Bolt 19.58, Pamela Jelimo Over Mariya Savinova, Matt Centrowitz 3:31, Leo Manzano 3:34, Galen Rupp DNF The two Jamaican sprint stars came to play in Lausanne. But the mid-d and distance action left you wondering how the Olympic results were as they were. In the 1,500, the American silver medallists didn't really show up as Leo Manzano was 10th and Galen Rupp didn't finish, as Silas Kiplagat got the win and Matt Centrowitz showed why he's the best American miler when healthy. In the women's 800, Pamela Jelimo got the win over the 2012 Olympic champion, and in the 3,000, Jenny Simpson was dead last - proving in our minds that her problems in 2012 aren't a matter of confidence or tactics, but rather of fitness.
*IAAF Recap *AP *BBC
*MB: The Good: CENTRO 3:31!! *9.69 - My head just exploded
The Bad: What the hell happened? Centro 3:31, Rupp DNF, Manzano/Willis 3:34
The Ugly: JennyB needs a new coach fast

Monday/More Weekend Track Action

More Post-London News

Olympic Track & Field *Daily Schedule/Results *Complete T&F Schedule *LRC Check Prediction Contest Scores/Change Picks

Saturday: W800: LRC The World Champion Is Now The Olympic Champion As Mariya Savinova Wins Comfortably Over Caster Semenya (updated) Russia's Mariya Savinova came from way back to win the gold comfortably in 1:56.19 and retain her global superiority. Caster Semenya had a blazing last 100 to grab the silver, but waited way too long to kick to challenge for gold. Defending champ Pamela Jelimo led with 200 to go, but faded badly and was the first outside the medals.
*David Epstein: "Silver Medal in 800 meters Offers Little Clarity in Semenya Speculation" Talks about speculation as to how Semenya came out of nowhere again to get silver and points out how those who objected to her in the past (such as Savinova) seem to be fine with her now that she's losing.

Friday

W 5,000: LRC Meseret Defar Stunningly Stops The Coronation Of Tiruneh Dibaba The script was all set. Tirunesh Dibaba was to complete the "Double Double" and become the first women track athlete with four individual golds. Only thing was, the person making history ended up being Meseret Defar.
*Reuters Defar's golden focus pays dividends Defar said she's had great health and says she changed training to prepare for a tactical race. The religious Defar says she feels "born again."
*Defar Says She Will Now Move Up To The Marathon She's ran one half before in 67:45. Dibaba has said she's making the same move, so their rivalry isn't over yet.
*AP Recap

Thursday

800 Could Be Was Epic:
LRC
David Rudisha Becomes A Legend By Winning Gold With A World Record In The Greatest 800 Race In History updated David Rudisha went after in London and delivered, as he became the first person to break 1:41 in the 800. The rest of the field went after Rudisha and delivered as well as 7 of 8 runners PRed in a truly epic race where places 1-8 set new all-time best time-for-place marks. Duane Solomon and Nick Symmonds became the 2nd and 3rd Americans to break 1:43 and amazingly neither medalled.
*MB: Rudisha 1:40.91 WORLD RECORD!!
*Epstein: How low can Rudisha go in 800?
*Science Of The Sport Analyzes The Olympic 800 Final And Rudisha's Race Strategy

LRC Duane Solomon And Nick Symmonds React To Their Historic Olympic 800s That Leave Them Short Of The Medals The sub-1:43 club has two more Americans. Unbelievably both of them will leave London without medals. Nick Symmonds ran faster in the final than he thought was humanly possible for him.
*IAAF Article On Rudisha's WR 17-year-old Kenyan Timothy Kitum, who got bronze, said, "[Rudisha] told me he was going to go fast for the line. He advised me not to follow him and to go for silver. That's why (Mohammed) Aman failed. That was our plan."
*Usain Bolt & David Rudisha: Olympic Stars United In Greatness The 800 was crazy; British runner Andrew Osagie's 1:43.77 was enough to get him 4th all-time UK and would have won any of the past three Olympic finals ... but here it got him last.
*Ultimate Track Showdown: Bolt Vs. Rudisha Over 400 Both have hinted they'd be up for it. Props to whatever meet organizer makes this happen. *MB: More Dominant: Bolt or Rudisha ?

LRC Column/Editorial: Sarah Attar Makes Olympic Track And Field History For Saudi Arabia In 800m, But Is It Enough? Imagine the outrage if the South African delegation made its black athletes walk behind the whites and told them to not give interviews or mingle with whites."It's time for the IOC to stop supporting sexism. Gender discrimination should be treated no differently than racial discrimination. ... How about for a start, the Saudi women come out first at the closing ceremonies? Come out before anyone else enters the stadium, that would be a step in the right direction."

The Paralympics Have Begun

Stop The Wedding!

OH NO: Love Of Employee #1's Life, Ivet Lalova, Getting Hitched To Another Man She's marying Italian sprinter Simone Collio. *MB: Ivet Lalova Blows Employee #1 a Kiss... *Employee #1's Classic Interview

Olympic Marathoners Past & Present In The News

US News

Lausanne Diamond League Photo Gallery

Stockholm Diamond League Photo Gallery

Collegiate News: NCAA XC Is Just Around The Corner

Nick Symmonds' Beer Mile AR

Lausanne 1,500: Centro 3:31.96

Coaching/Administrative News

Men's Olympic Marathon Photo Gallery

Non-DL Weekend Action

The Only Thing Worse Than Cheating Is Cheating And Then Lying About It

Saturday Photo Gallery: Usain And Mo

Goodbye London 2012 - Closing Ceremony Photos Gallery

LRC Asks Carmelita Jeter & Jason Richardson About Mark Block

Latest: Britain's Sunday Herald Picks Up Block Story & USADA Says "There is an investigation going on."
*Pat Forde Of Yahoo Sports Picks Up On Controversy

LRC Carmelita Jeter And Jason Richardson Answer Questions About Banned Agent Mark Block LRC's Weldon Johnson asked Jeter and Richardson about their association with banned agent Mark Block. Jeter and Richardson, to their credit, didn't dodge the questions. To say there was tension in the air is an understatement. *Discuss
*Associated Press Picks Up Story: US sprinter Carmelita Jeter defends friendship with suspended agent Mark Block
*The Guardian Picks Up Story: "A wonderful night for the USA's athletics team turned sour when Carmelita Jeter was questioned about her links with the controversial former coach, Mark Block."
*NY Daily News *Daily Mail *San Diego Tribune

Day 8 Olympic Photo Gallery: Women's 4 X 100 WR, Uceny Falls, Women's 5,000m Final

Day 7 Olympic Photo Gallery: Rudisha And Bolt

Day 6 Photo Gallery: Allsyon Felix, Aries Merritt, Brittney Reese, Women's 1,500m Semis

Day 5 Photo Gallery: Leo 1,500m Silver, Men's High Jump, Men's 800m Semis, Men's Discus Final

Day 4 Photo Gallery: King James, Felix Sanchez, Jenn Suhr, Women's Steeple

Day 3 Photo Gallery: Men's 100, Men's Steeple, Women's 400, More

Women's Olympic Marathon Photo Gallery

Day 2 Photo Gallery: Olympic 10,000m Final Photo Gallery

Day 1 Friday Photo Gallery: Women's 10k And Men's Shot Final, Round 1 Steeple, 1,500

Help Out A LRCer Who Has Terminal Cancer: Help Cancer Guy

A Legend Passes Too Young

LRC Eight-Time US Cross-Country Champion Pat Porter Dies In Plane Crash Updated: We've added a great photo of Porter with 3-time World XC Champ Lynn Jennings.
*Authorities: "There are no indications as to what may have caused this accident." Porter and his 15-year-old son and a neighbohood friend have perished.

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.