Quote Of The Day


"You can't expect the governing body to offer a level playing field for investors when it's locked up with one brand. Some people say the USATF couldn't exist without Nike money. Honestly, the USATF should be blown up and reconstructed."


- Sally Bergesen, Founder and CEO of women sports apparel company Oiselle, with an aggressive take on how track and field can be more popular and financially lucrative in the US. USATF public affairs officer Jill Greer says, "The shoe companies put the most money into the sport globally. If they feel their interests aren't being protected and take their money out of the sport, that doesn't help." Both quotes from a good article by Oregonian's Ken Goe on the financial state of the sport.

Week In Review

LRC Gay And Powell Test Positive: Leroy Burrell The Fastest Of All Time?, Brandon Johnson Keeps Rolling, Ben True, Hassan Mead And More We take a look at Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell testing positive, give some props to some good performances on the track and much more.

MB: A slew of Americans PR in Lignano, Italy (Bayer, Blankenship, Kampf, Grace, Huddle, etc.)
MB: Sad News: Former Ethiopian Runner Meskerem Legesse Collapes on US Street, Dies But Gives Birth and Baby Survives

More Doping Updates: Powell Loses Sponsor

International News: Vote For Haile

Asafa Powell And Jamaicans Test Positive

Other International News

Previous Jamaican Doping News

Gone Over The Weekend? Some Positive News: *KBC-Nacht Full Results *Madrid Results

LRC Jordan Hasay Qualifies For Moscow World Champs, Just Misses Her Goal Of The IAAF "A" Standard Of 31:45 With 31:46.42 With three male pacemakers leading the way, Hasay punched her ticket to Moscow.
MB:
Official Jordan Hasay chase thread
*Salazar: "Maybe I didn't rest her enough (to get the A), but her workouts have been good."
*Behind The Scenes Of Jordan Hasay's 10K Chase

Brandon Johnson 1:43.84 PR Win In Madrid, Nesta Carter 9.87 Brandon Johnson's incredible 2013 has kept rolling into July. LaTavia Thomas won the 800 with Jenny Simpson 3rd, and Gabrielle Anderson over Morgan Uceny in 1,500.
MB: *Brandon Johnson 1.43.83

LRC Cory McGee Qualifies Ffor Worlds - Runs 4:06.67 In Belgium

LRC Ryan Hill Qualifies For 2013 IAAF World Track And Field Championships - Runs 13:14.22

More From The Weekend:

GBR Trials *Sainsbury's British Championships & World Trials  Schedule/Results

Val Adams Worried Someone Will Try To Spike Her Food With Drugs In Moscow

Gebrselassie Intends To Lead Ethiopia With A Message: Anything Is Possible

LRC For The Record, David Rudisha Has Not Had Surgery All we can say is - don't believe everything you see on Facebook/Twitter, as we have reached out to Rudisha's agent, who has squashed the Internet rumors that Rudisha had knee surgery.

Paris DL Men *Full Results *Event-By-Event Results *Race Video Highlights (US Only) *LRC Paris Photo Gallery LRC Post-Race Video Interviews

*LRC Paris Photo Gallery Added
LRC Men's 1,500: Mission Accomplished* For American Men; Leo's BACK!!! Leo Manzano may still be sponsorless but the lion is officially out of hibernation as he showed why he is the Olympic silver medallist as he led the American charge as he and Lopez Lomong both got the "A" to finalize America's Moscow WC team. All was not totally well for the Americans, though, as Centro stepped off the track, possibly injured. Update: Salazar Says Centro's Not Injured - Just "Embarrassed" For Dropping Out For First Time Ever
Video: Leo, Lawi, Lopez And Lagat Talk After Paris 1,500
MB: Paris 1500m *Manzano IS BACK - 3:33.14 in Paris!!! *Centro DNF Paris 1,500?

LRC Men's Steeple: Ezekiel Kemboi Breaks 8:00 As Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad Breaks The European Record The men's steeple clash between the Olympic gold and silver medallists certainly lived up to the hype.
*EA: France's Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad Broke The Steeple European Record With 8:00.09

MB Talk: Manzano 3:33.14 for 3rd!, Lomong Gets "A", Centro Drops Out, Bolt 19.73, James Over Merritt, Kemboi Sub 8:00, Mekhissi 8:00.09, Individual links above for each headline. Manzano interview here.

Monaco DL Is Friday *Start Lists, Results And Streaming & Television Information *LRC Fan Polls

Men's Preview: LRC What An Incredible Lineup - Rupp And Lagat Go For The AR In The 5,000; Symmonds, Centro And Manzano Vs. Kiprop And Farah (Yes, Farah) In The 1,500; World #1 Duane Solomon In The 800 The men's mid-d and distance action is unreal from an American perspective. Take the day off from work for this one.
Women's Preview: LRC Jenny Simpson Returns To 1,500 And Will Face Martinez, Moser, Obiri And Rowbury Plus Shalaya Kipp tries to qualify one last time in the steeple after failing to do so last week.
*Brianna Rollins Withdraws From Monaco DL Meet

LRC How Can Usain Bolt Be Clean (When Everyone Else Is Dirty)? He's The Lebron James And Babe Ruth Of Track And Field LetsRun.com co-founder, Robert Johnson, saw today's quote of the day and was spurred to write. He tells you how and why it's not crazy to believe Usain Bolt might be clean even though it seems as if everyone else he is racing might be dirty.
MB: Rojo and Usain Bolt

Recommended Read: Ken Goe: Track And Field A Sport Of Haves And Have-Nots Goe takes a look at the state of the sport, saying, "For every Allyson Felix or Galen Rupp, who make a comfortable living from track and field, there are dozens of athletes living on the margins, near poverty or in debt, or bankrolled by relatives. Olympic dream? This is more like a nightmare."

Sad RIP News: Steve Prefontaine's Mom Passes Away

US News

More On Tyson Gay Testing Positive *The Thread With Insider Info That Predicted A Day In Advance Do You Have A Drug Tip? Contact Us

Who Will Actually Be In Moscow?: David Rudisha And Yohan Blake Both Withdraw

UK Names Its Team For Moscow 2013

Previous Tyson Gay Drug News

adidas Moves Swiftly And Dumps Tyson Gay - Gay Continues To Accept Responsibility: "I know exactly what went on, but I can't discuss it right now ... I hope I am able to run again, but I will take whatever punishment I get like a man."

The Independent: "The Life-And-Death Fight Against Drugs Has Always Been Sport's Phoney War"
UK writer "looks at athletics' history with drug scandals in the wake of a dark week that yet again tarnishes the sport."

Ato Boldon Says Supplements And Stimulants Should Be Legalized
"Everyone is already on it. It's a question of who's getting away with it and who isn't."

Previous Tyson Gay / Asafa Powell News

Tyson Gay And Now Asafa Powell And Five Jamaicans Test Positive Even if this ends up just being a positive for a stimulant that warrants a 3-month suspension, Gay's positive (and also now Powell's) is a huge blow to the sport. Gay: "I don't have a sabotage story. I don't have any lies. I don't have anything to say to make this seem like it was a mistake or it was on USADA's hands, someone playing games ... I basically put my trust in someone and I was let down."
LRC: Do You Know Who Let Gay Down? We Want To Know
MB: Makes you wonder, Who is the person that Gay trusted?

More Coverage: *AP On Gay *NY Times On Gay *Powell/Simpson Article *Powell's Statement Saying He's Not A Cheater
Columnists/Analysis:
*New Yorker:
TYSON GAY AND HOW TO CLEAN UP TRACK This is a Recommended Read as it contrasts how Gay and Powell have handled it - Gay has admitted it, Powell has claimed ignorance (plus it gives props to LRC).
*Science Of Sport:
A House Of Cards? Sprinting Tumbles Down As Gay, Then Powell, Then Simpson, Carter Named As Failing Drug Controls
*
Alan Abrahmson: Track's Dirty Day
*
Hersh: Doping Issues Killing Track And Field Again
*
USA Today: Track Experts Say Fight Against Doping Can't Be Won

More: Powell's Trainer Arrested In Italy
*
Reuters: Positives Deliver Body Blow To Troubled Sport From widespread doping in Turkey to widespread doping in sprinting, it's been quite a week on the anti-doping front.
*
A Look Back At The Sprinting Dopers Over The Last 25 Years A better to ask would be who hasn't doped, as it's basically like the Tour de France.
*
Jamaica's Women's Discus Champ "Shocked" By Positive Test As Well
*
Powell Says He's Not A Cheat
*Drug Crisis After Gay And Powell Test Positive
*
Full Statements From Jamacians Powell & Simpson

MB:
LRC Thread Predicted Positive at 6pm Saturday night that a major US sprinter would test positive Clearly our Thread of the Month. And people wonder why we allow anonymous posting.
MB: TYSON GAY FAILS TEST
MB: Confirmed: Tyson Gay admits positive test, out of worlds. "I put my trust in someone."
*Powell busted for OXILOFRINE a stimulant
*Makes you wonder, Who is the person that Gay trusted?
*Powell busted for OXILOFRINE a stimulant
*Asafa's Statement
*Describe Your Reaction to the Tyson Gay Tests Postive News in One Word
*Admit it, we are all now waiting to see if Bolt is positve....

2013 Kenyan Moscow Champs *Results *Full Kenyan Team *Video Highlights

Chris Solinsky To Focus On Roads For Rest Of Summer Rather than blow money running times well of his PR in Europe, he's going to stay here and work on improving his fitness/strength and run some big road races like Falmouth. *MB: Discuss

Weekly Recap - The Week That Was

LRC Mary Cain Is A Nerd, US 1,500 Runners Run Fast But Somehow We Get Depressed, Don't Believe Everything You See On Facebook This week we remind you not to believe everything you see on Facebook, talk about the crazy-fast US 1,500 times from last week but somehow get a little depressed by it before getting out of our funk to realize Mary Cain is a nerd, discuss some crazy Russian doping news, and praise Bridget Franek for taking a sabbatical at age 25. Plus talk of Alan Webb, Evan Jager, Chris Lear and Lolo Jones.
*LRC Correction On Centro Showing A "Visible Limp" Through The Mixed Zone This is a correction on what we said initially in our Paris recap.

Paris DL Women *Full Results *Event-By-Event Results *Race Video Highlights (US Only) *LRC Paris Photo Gallery *LRC Post-Race Video Interviews

LRC Women's 800: Alysia Montaño Nearly Wins, Kate Grace Joins The Sub-2:00 Club Alysia Montano battled for the win and left with a season's best and Kate Grace joined the sub 2 club.
*Stanford's Justine Fedronic Breaks Stanford 800 Record With 2:00.97 She got the World Champs "B" standard and is fastest in France right now so has a shot at going to Moscow.
*LRC Interview With Fredonic

LRC Women's 5,000: Tirunesh Dibaba Runs World-Leading 14:23.68 5,000 As Relative Unknown Almaz Ayana Becomes 6th-Fastest Woman Ever Not a good day for Molly Huddle or Amy Hastings but Jackie Areson did PR.
*Reuters: Dibaba Says This Was Her Last Race Before Moscow, Where She Will Double 5k/10k

MB Talk: Montano 1:57.75!, Kate Grace Breaks 2:00, Dibaba 14:23

2 Reviews & 1 Book Excerpt From John McDonnell: The Most Successful NCAA Coach In History

Book Excerpt The Legendary Story Of The 1989 Penn Relays DMR, Where 4 Kids From Arkansas, Texas And Missouri Beat 4 African Olympians And The Olympic 1,500m Champ The 1989 Mount St. Mary's Penn Relays DMR team featured 4 African Olympians, including 1988 Olympic 1,500m champ Peter Rono. John McDonnell's Arkansas squad featured 4 kids from Texas, Missouri and Arkansas. A legendary motivational speech by McDonnell and Joe Falcon on the anchor made for one of the great upsets in Penn Relays history. Read all about it in this excerpt from the new John McDonnell biography.

LRC Reviews: #1: Two Thumbs Up
*Review #2 by D2 Coach Torrey Olson "It's got a lot to offer anyone interested in an incredibly sustained passion for the both the sport and the profession."

Mid-Week Results: Americans Distance Action In Europe; Caster Semenya's 2013 Debut, Badwater