August 15, 2015 Homepage Archive

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Archived Homepage For August 15, 2015

Welcome To America

“I love America a lot. [Becoming an American] is everything to me. I live in America and my [son] is American. I pay taxes, but I can do more than that as an athlete. And with citizenship that can become a reality.”

– Sam Chelanga, who became a US citizen on Friday, talking about what it means to be an American. The only current American 10,000 runner with a faster PR than Chelanga (27:08) is Galen Rupp.

Welcome To America (Officially)

LRCFour-Time NCAA Champion Sam Chelanga Became A U.S. Citizen On Friday

Chelanga, who has a 27:08 10,000 PR (a time surpassed by only two Americans in history), was sworn in as a citizen on Aug. 14 in Arizona.
*MB:Breaking: Sam Chelanga was sworn in as a US citizen today in Arizona

Thursday Miling

LRC Jack Bolas (3:58) And Rachel Schneider (4:31) Win Inaugural Boxcar Mile Bolas won over Ford Palmer (3:59.30) and Ashley Schneider beat out Heather Wilson (4:33.04) and Ashley Higginson (4:34.32).

Interesting To Say The Least: Q&A With Jamaican Sprinter Steve Mullings, Who 4 Years After His Lifetime Ban Is Still Shouting His Innocence Mullings contends that both times he tested positive he was sabotaged by the JAAA and JADCO and that he’s had threats on his life. He claims that JAAA/JADCO refused to do a DNA test and blocked him from a CAS hearing.

Worlds Are Coming: T-Minus 8 Days

Coach Glen Mills And Agent Ricky Simms Both Confident Usain Bolt Can Deliver At Worlds Mills says they’ve been getting better results in training, but he would have liked Bolt to get in more races.
USA Jumpers Chaunte Lowe (HJ) And Christina Epps (TJ) Get IAAF Invite To Compete At Worlds Without The Qualifying Standard Why did USATF seek an invitation for these two, but not shot putter Andrew Evans?
IAAF Profile On Canada’s Long Shot Medal Hope Andre De Grasse He’s been approached to turn pro, but according to this is sticking with the NCAA.
Greg Rutherford Criticizes “Terrible Choice” To Leave The UK Flag Off Their World Champs Uniforms Scottish steepler Eilish McColgan said, “It’s unfair for athletes not supported by UK Athletics to have to wear it. It doesn’t make any sense. Bring back the flag.”
*More UK Athletes React Angrily
*UKA Chief Niels de Vos Defends Unfirom “It’s not about taking the Union flag off the kit – the logo is still on the shorts and socks. It’s about promoting British Athletics.”
Ashton Eaton And Brianne Theisen-Eaton Trying To Become The First Married Couple To Win Multi-Event Golds At The Same Championship Barring disaster, Ashton is a lock, and Brianne is #1 in 2015, but will face a challenge from the Brits.
UKA Makes Martyn Rooney Team GB Captain After They First Made Him Appeal His Way Onto The Team You would think someone credentialed enough to be captain would have been an automatic entry (he was originally only in the relay, but not open 400). *2nd Article
Spain Names Team Of 39 For Worlds Their captain is 45-year-old 1993 50K racewalk champion Jesus Angel Garcia. He’ll be the oldest athlete in Beijing as he makes a record 12th World Champs appearance.
Kenyans Margaret Wambui (800) And Jacinter Shikanda (400) Get IAAF Invites To Worlds This year, the IAAF extends invites to the top athletes who didn’t get the standard in order to fill the fields at Worlds.
Ugandan Steepler Benjamin Kiplagat Gets An IAAF Invite

Doping News: Silver For Kara And Shalane?

Kara Goucher And Shalane Flanagan Could Be Upgraded To World And Olympic Silver After IAAF Re-Tests The Daily Mail is reporting that Turkey’s Olympic/World silver medalist Elvan Abeylegesse is among the 28 athletes caught in IAAF re-tests from 2005 and 2007 Worlds. Abeylegesse would lose three silver medals and UK’s Jo Pavey would also be upgraded to a Worlds bronze.
*MB:Kara Goucher to be upgraded to 2007 WC silver
*MB: “Elvan Abeylegesse excluded from WCH squad due to last minute injury.” What a coincidence!
Recommended Read:Open Letter From Doping Expert Michael Ashenden To Seb Coe Ashenden: “Does the IAAF pursue its anti-doping mandate with the same single-minded, all-consuming dedication that athletes adopt in their pursuit of winning? Based on what I saw in the leaked database, my view is No.”
*Article With Synopsis Of The Letter*2nd Article
Apparently Kip Keino Doesn’t Understand How Re-Testing Of Frozen Samples Works Keino: “Why should WADA and IAAF sanction athletes for doping issues taken in 2005 and 2007 now? Surely, can’t a way be found where decisions are taken immediately after tests are done as was the case with (Canadian) Ben Johnson in 1988?”
Tour De France Winner Chris Froome Backs Mo Farah’s Release Of Blood Data He compares it to the release of “power data” in cycling.
*MB: Chris Froome on PEDs in athletics
Good Video Interview:Froome Urges Track To Follow Cycling’s Lead And Invest More Money In Anti-Doping UCI spends way more as a percentage than the IAAF.
Ireland Independent: “Sebastian Coe’s pathetic statement on IAAF revelations is worrying.”
Seb Coe Doesn’t Want Athletes To Be Pressured To Release Their Blood Data
WADA President Craig Reedie Is Against Banning Entire Nations For Doping

Mid-Week Results / Upcoming

MB:Sifan Hassan Runs 3:56.33 In A Race Against Men(includes video) Apparently, she had asked to be paced to 3:52. *Results
Today @ 6:45PM: Ford Palmer, Jack Bolas, Rachel Schneider And Ashley Higginson Highlight Fields For Inaugural Boxcar Mile In West Chester, PA The race features $8,400 in prize money for elites and a post-race party for all. *Full Fields*Twitter*Facebook*Race Website
Sunday: RRW: Five Story Lines For Sunday’s New Balance Falmouth Road Race Defending champion Stephen Sambu and 2-time winner Micah Kogo lead men’s field that has Chris Derrick, Meb Keflezighi, Abdi Abdirahman, Sam Chelanga and Moses Kipsiro. The women are led by Amy Cragg, Diane Nukuri, Sara Hall, Neely Spence Gracey and Alexi Pappas.
Sep. 3: Genzebe Dibaba Leads Stacked 3,000 For Zurich DL On September 3rd She’ll face Almaz Ayana, Jenny Simpson, Vivian Cheruiyot and Mercy Cherono.
Sep. 13:Mo Farah Will Defend His Great North Run Half Marathon Title He’ll face 2014 London Marathon runner-up Stanley Biwott and South African champion Stephen Mokoka.
Ben Payne (28:50) And Brianne Nelson (32:46) Win Portland Track Festival 10,000*Results: Men*Women*Race Website
USATF: World Masters Champs: USA Scores 24 Gold, 62 Overall Medals In Forst Week; Five Break World Records In Lyon

USATF And Others Respond To Nick Symmonds

USATF Statement And Data On Elite Athlete Spending: USATF Will Spend More Than 50% Of Its Budget And More Than $15 Million On Elite Athletes In 2015 USATF dismisses claims by Andrew Zimbalist and Nick Symmonds that it only spends 8% of its revenues on elites by showing you spreadsheets of where the $15 million goes. $5 million directly to the athletes, $7 million to high performance centers and $3 million for athlete costs.

SI’s Tim Layden:“Symmonds’ Fight Against USATF About More Than Just One Runner” Layden finds it “remarkable” that Symmonds “Became more famous for not signing a piece of paper than he would ever have become for running the 800 meters.”
Olympic Expert Alan Abrahamson Slams Symmonds: “This predicament is entirely of Symmonds’ own making.” “For Symmonds to say he was ‘left off’ the team, as he did on Twitter, is disingenuous. … A study asserts USATF distributes 8 percent of its revenues to athletes; USATF says it’s more like 50 percent; tax returns say USATF is right.”
Lauren Fleshman:“Nike never is going to sponsor everybody. But for other sponsors to enter the economic market place, it has to be worth it.”
Symmonds Getting Press Worldwide, Including BBC

Admin News

Nick Symmonds / USATF Controversy Continues To Escalate

Athletes’ Rights Attorney Says USATF Is Wrong In Nick Symmonds CaseHogshead-Makar: “This is a clear overreach by the national governing body. … It’s a done deal. National governing bodies can’t do that.”
Symmonds Blogs In The Huffington Post About How USATF Financially Shorts Athletes He cites a study saying USATF only gives 8% of its revenues to USATF.
USATF Responds: Jill Geer’s Statement On Nick Symmonds Controversy She says, “USATF annually invests more than 50 percent of our total revenue directly in athlete support …”
*Symmonds On Twitter: “I am offended by @usatf statement. Not my decision to not represent #TeamUSA at #Beijing2015. And 50% investment?? That’s a flat out lie.”
Huffpost Q&A: Symmonds Says USATF Exploits Patriotism For Profit
Bold Statement From Symmonds “Tomorrow I will present proof that @USATF is stealing millions of dollars from the athletes, getting rich off the hard work of #TeamUSA.”
*USATF Catching A Lot Of Flack From Fans On Twitter
Reuters:Symmonds’ Stance Raises Thorny Old Issue Symmonds has gotten supportive tweets from many athletes on Twitter, including Jeremy Wariner and Kara Goucher. But David Oliver tweeted, “Personally I don’t care what I have to wear in order to be at the Worlds or Olympics …”
NY Times:“Gear Dispute Costs Nick Symmonds A Trip To Track Worlds”
TFAA Statements On Revenue Sharing Agreements And Transparency
LRC Sad: USATF Kicks Symmonds Off Team Instead Of Defining What An “Official” Team Function Is

Book Reviews

LRC Book Review Of Once a Runner Prequel Racing the Rain By John L. Parker, Jr. – “It works and has the potential to draw a new audience into Once a Runner.” Racing the Rain isn’t about Quenton Cassidy‘s development as a runner, but rather his development into a runner. The novel opens by introducing a second-grade Cassidy and concludes with the miler moving into his familiar room in Southeastern University’s Doobey Hall. In between, Parker’s sharp prose richly describes what it was like to grow up a middle-class baby boomer on Florida’s Gold Coast.

LRC Book Review: How to Race the Mile By Jeff Hollobaugh – “A terrific resource for younger runners.” And “… also a great read for even the expert fan.” We recommend the book, which is a comprehensive look at the mile from the 19th century to the present and is full of rich race histories.

USA Dominates NACAC Champs *Results

Day 3: Andy Bayer / Stanley Kebenei And Ashley Higginson / Shalaya Kipp Go 1-2 In Steeple At NACAC ChampsRyan Martin and Clayton Murphy were 1-2 in the 800 as Chanelle Price (800) and Kellyn Taylor (5,000) also got gold. Overall, Team USA took home 47 medals (27 gold).
IAAF:Jamaica’s Rasheed Dwyer Highlights With 20.12 200m VictoryJavier Culson had a dominant win in the 400H.
Day 2: Andrew Wheating (1,500) And Lopez Lomong (5,000) Lead 9 Golds For Team USA Wheating beat out US’s Daniel Winn by .35 seconds to get the gold while in the women’s 1,500, Rachel Schneider and Shelby Houlihan also went 1-2 for Team USA. Lolo Jones won the 100H in 12.63 as Barbara Pierre won the 100 (11.12).
MB:Crazy men’s pole vault final at NACAC. Everyone, including both U.S, no-heighted except for 1 guy from El Salvador!
IAAF Day 2
Day 1: Team USA Earns 9 Medals After First Day Of NACAC ChampsClayton Murphy and Ryan Martin both won their 800 heats as did Chanelle Price.
Throwers Win Gold During First Morning SessionLolo Jones had the fastest time in the heats of the 100H.
IAAF Day 1 Recap

2015 Beijing Worlds Start In 1 Week And Will Be Awesome

Looks Like Nick Won’t Be There: Nick Symmonds Gets Huge Profile In New York Times – A Sidelined Track Star, Continues To Break From The Pack Little LetsRun.com, our editorial on this issue, and our message board get a prominent mention. Doesn’t sound like there will be legal action so it looks like we all won’t get to see Nick at Worlds which is a huge bummer. Shame on USATF.
Sports Illustrated Catches Up With Soon-To-Be Silver Medalists Kara Goucher & Shalane Flanagan Flanagan had always thought she was the silver medalist and joked about it to her family as it was widely thought on the circuit that Elvan Abeylegesse was dirty. Goucher also says she raced 100% clean under Alberto Salazar. “I trained very well under Alberto,” Goucher said. “I believe that he can train people to great races clean, but what I witnessed in 2011 was different.”
Conseslus Kipruto Fires Warning Shot Ahead Of Beijing Steeple – “I feel this is the year for me to make a breakthrough.”
Outdoor Glory Finally Beckons For Genzebe Dibaba, Who Is Feeling Some Pressure “I have to do it, especially after what my sister has achieved. I have to do the same, if not better,” said Dibaba. But she’s dreaming really big down the road. “Now I want them all (world records): the 1,500, the 5,000, even the 800.”
Jenny Simpson/Shannon Rowbury, Pay Attention: Swedish Coach Is Optimistic About Abeba Aregawi’s Chances In Beijing – “She really believes in this 100 per cent and I feel incredibly good vibes from (her).”
Allyson Felix Explains Why She’s Doing The 400, Not 200, At Worlds – She Wants The Challenge “If I am going to try something different, and put a little bit of athletic pressure on myself, moving up to the 400 will be the bigger challenge versus saying I got everything to win or everything to lose by running the 200.”
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Is Entered In Both 100 And 200m For Jamaica, But She Insists She’s Not Doing 200m She sent a text from her training camp in Italy.
American Coach Randy Huntingdon Is Leading China’s Jumpers And Sprinters And Thinks They Can Excel A long jump gold isn’t out of the question for “Sonny” Li Jinzhe.
LJ van Zyl Is Having His Best Season Since 2011 But Not Making Any Predictions For Worlds
Rabah Yousif: “My life was saved by coming (to the UK), now I want to repay Britain.” Learn all about the inspiring story of Britain’s 400m champ (45.01 PR), who defected from Sudan at age 14.
19-Year-Old Dina Asher-Smith Isn’t Just Britain’s Fastest Woman – She’s Also A Student Of Chinese History “I know this sounds really nerdy but you see what we would define as medieval traditions carried through to society today when in a Western world we have eradicated that. They have continued it and I really want to know why.”
Record Number Of Countries (207) Will Compete At Worlds And Possible Record Number Of Individuals 1,936 people have entered.
5 Must-Watch Events In Beijing 1. M100 2. W1,500 3. M800 4. MTJ 5. M800

IAAF News

Random

Distance Stuff

More Big Thursday Headlines

Did USATF Drop The Ball Again?Why Isn’t Discus Thrower Andrew Evans Going To Worlds? Evans finished 3rd at USAs and according to the USATF and IAAF qualification procedures, it appears he should be going to Worlds. However, 4th placer Rodney Brown was named to the team.
Oscar Pistorius Likely To Be Released From Jail Next Week After Serving 10 Months Of His Five-Year Sentence He will live under house arrest and still faces an appeal by prosecutors as they fight to have his verdict be upgraded to murder, which would mean 15 years jail time instead of 5.

The Latest In The USATF/Symmonds Fight

Athlete Advisory Committee Chair Dwight Phillips Speaks Up On The Nick Symmonds Controversy Phillips has contrasting quotes as he agrees that the contract is “ambiguous” and needs to be clarified, but then says, “He [Symmonds] doctored it to make him look like the victim and make USATF look like the bad guy …”
Nick Symmonds Responds To USATF Budget Press Release On Twitter “Since when is hosting meets and broadcasting them part of athlete support? That’s your damn job @usatf!”
2nd Tweet: “Creative bookkeeping! Look at some of the expenditures they are calling athlete support.”
MB:Nick Symmonds fires back at USATF – Budget figures do not show any individual athletes receiving an actual salaries
UK Opinion Piece:“Symmonds’ Battle With Nike’s Corporate Autocrats Deserves Support” This is actually a lot more anti-Nike than anti-USATF.
LRCEditorial: We Respect Nick Symmonds, But Don’t Have A Lot Of Sympathy He Won’t Be At Worlds Symmonds’ cause is a just one but as fans we’re disappointed he won’t be racing at Worlds. We give you 7 takes on the controversy and save our biggest outrage for how a 20+-year Nike deal was signed without soliciting competing bids.

US Distance News

Good Read:Jenny Simpson And Shannon Rowbury Talk About The 1,500 AR, Their Rivalry And Chances To Medal At Worlds Simpson on Monaco: “I ran 3:57 and that’s incredible for me … But I was fourth and I want to be on the podium. Just as I stepped off the track, I walked up to my coaches and said ‘just get me ready for Beijing.'”
A Year After Giving Birth, Alysia Montaño Returns To World Championships Montano’s comeback from pregnancy has been amazing as she was still breastfeeding at USAs and it will be her daughter’s first birthday a week before Worlds starts.
Former Foot Locker Runner-Up And Stanford All-American Katy Trotter Now A Podiatrist In New Jersey
Mike Brannigan Wins Parapan Am Games 1,500m Brannigan, who has autism, actually has the T-20 paralympic WR in the 1,500 and should be the favorite to win at the Paralympics in Rio next year.
RRW:Ready To Take Next Step, Parker Stinson Joins Team USA Minnesota Stinson’s fall racing plan includes the US 20K Champs, US 10 Mile Chams and RNR Philly Half-Marathon.
*Stinson, Biya Simbassa, Katy Moen And Megan Goethals Join Team USA Minnesota

The US’s Biggest 800 Star Also Won’t Be At Worlds

LRC America’s Best Hope For A Mid-D Or Distance Gold, Ajee Wilson, Withdraws From 2015 IAAF World Championships It’s revealed that Wilson, who hasn’t raced since USAs, has been suffering from an injury since before USAs.

USATF Names Team Of 130 For Beijing 2015
800 Runners Adam Kszczot And Marcin Lewandowski Among Poland’s 50-Athlete Worlds Team
Australia Names Team Of 42 For Worlds They may add more in the coming days.

Today’s Doping Updates

IAAF Accuses London Marathon Chief Nick Bitel Of Being “Outrageous And Insulting” Bitel had accused the IAAF of failing “to take effective action” and the IAAF came back with a harsh response of their own.
Olympic Discus Champ Robert Harting Leads Athletes In YouTube Video Message To IAAF The video leads off with, “Dear IAAF, we cannot trust you anymore … you damage our sport.”
IAAF Responds: “We would love to welcome Robert Harting, whose no nonsense anti-doping stance we greatly admire, to come and talk to us so we can address his concerns and illustrate why WADA has confident in our commitment.”
UK Anti-Doping Doesn’t Want Athletes To Share Their Blood Data Because They Fear They’ll Face False Accusations UKAD chief exec. Nicole Sapstead: “You can’t just look at anonymous data in isolation.”
Sapstead Wants All Countries To Have High Level Of Drug Testing Testing definitely is not equal worldwide and some countries don’t even implement the biological passport.

More Pro Stuff

Lauren Johnson Talks About How She Dove Her Way Onto The USA World Team Johnson had made a huge breakthrough this year, bringing her PR down by over 6 seconds to 4:04.17.
Sport24:“Caster Semenya Ready To Show Her Old Rivals Her Heels” she says she’s in “good shape” and is “just happy to have qualified.” Asked about the recent doping allegations against Russian mid-d runners, Semenya had no comment.
Will Blanka Vlasic Be Able To Make Up For Her Olympic Defeat In Her Return To Beijing? In 2008 she had an agonizing defeat as she lost Olympic gold on countback. She hasn’t competed since June, but her agent says she’s ready.
IAAF Personal Bests Q&A With UK Sprinter Martyn Rooney Rooney says his biggest weakness is chocolate and the best athlete he’s ever seen is David Rudisha.
Robert Harting Will Not Defend His World Discus Title As He’s Still Recovering From A Knee Injury

USATF Screws Up Again

LRC Sad: USATF Kicks Nick Symmonds Off Team USA For Worlds Instead Of Defining What An “Official” Team Function IsBarring legal action, Team USA won’t have 800m silver medalist Nick Symmonds on it. Instead of clarifying when athletes need to wear Team USA gear at Worlds, USATF left Symmonds off the team when he didn’t sign a contract by yesterday’s deadline. Symmonds will consult an attorney on Monday and come out swinging, claiming to show how USATF “is stealing millions of dollars from the athletes.”
*Discuss
*PDF Of Contract USATF Wanted Nick To Sign Note it has the word “official” in “‘official’ team functions” in quotes. Something is official or it is not. Yet it doesn’t outline what an official team function is – bizarre.
*Darren Rovell ESPN Article
*MB Talk: BREAKING: Symmonds off World team
*MB Talk: What if Symmonds is just out of shape?

PreviousNick Symmonds Explains Why He Won’t Sign USATF’s Contract And How He Was “Bullied And Threatened” At World Indoors For Not Wearing USA Gear According to Symmonds, USATF wants to control what athletes wear to coffee.

On The Boards

What if Symmonds is just out of shape?
BREAKING: Symmonds off World team
When Symmonds stays home who else goes? Pan Am champ Clayton Murphy is the alternate.
Anyone else think Symmonds is trying too hard to be like Prefontaine?
Nick Symmonds: “I’m in shape right now to win a medal.”

NY Times Looks At Trail, Ultra And “Sky” Running

NY Times:A Real Adventure: Sorting Out All The F.K.T.s (Fastest Known Times) Scott Jurek’s Appalachian Trail record is just one of the hundreds of “official” “unofficial” records out there.
*Scott Jurek Responds To “Personal Attacks, Misinformation” Surrounding State Park Citations
“Skyrunning”: When Trail, Mountain And Ultra Running Aren’t Enough Skyrunning is a combination of running and mountaineering. As an example, one of the sport’s biggest names, Kilian Jornet, is going to try to set a speed record climbing Mount Everest in 24 to 48 hours.

The Cost Of Some Sporting Events Is Too Much For Some

Death Threat At USAs Unveiled

LRCPolice Report: Nike Global Director Of Athletics John Capriotti Threatened To Kill Brooks Beasts Head Coach And Former Nike Employee Danny Mackey At 2015 USAs At USAs, it was stated that people had been threatened at the meet but the details were missing – until now. LetsRun.com has obtained a police report stating that Nike’s John Capriotti threatened the life of the Brooks Beasts coach Danny Mackey. Witnesses interviewed by LetsRun.com support Mackey’s claim.
*MB: Nike’s Global Director of Athletics John Capriotti Threatened To Kill Brooks Beasts Head Coach Danny Mackey At 2015 USAs

Olympic News: LA 2024

USOC Confirm Los Angeles As Choice To Bid For 2024 Olympics
IAAF: Sergey Bubka Gets Support From Four Countries As Coe Picks Up His First African Country Paraguay, Peru, Singapore and Thailand will vote for Bubka and Ghana for Coe.
US Predicted To Finish Top Of The Medal Table In Rio 2016 With 99 Medals (46 Gold) China and Russia are predicted 2nd and 3rd.
IOC Official Says She Will Jump In The Water At Rio 2016 To Prove It’s Safe And Not Polluted
Rio 2016 Calls On Taxi Drivers To Sign Up For Online English Language Courses
British Charity Blasts UK Government For Failing To Repay Money They Claim Is Owed To Charities And Communities Used To Fund London 2012

Doping News: Major Drug Bust

Breaking:Japan Times Part III: Victor Conte Claims Flo-Jo And Jackie Joyner Kersee Tested Positive At 1988 Olympics And There Was A Huge Doping Cover-Up He names Flo-Jo, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and others as athletes whose failed drug tests were covered up. In terms of his six current athletes he thinks are doped, he names Galen Rupp, Mo Farah, Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Carmelita Jeter and Jason Richardson and says WADA purposely avoided re-testing samples from big names like Usain Bolt and Mo Farah. *Part I*Part II
*MB: Breaking: Victor Conte Claims Huge Doping Cover Up At The 1988 Olympics With Flo-Jo And Others; Corruption In WADA

MB: The IAAF Drops The Hammer – 28 Athletes Busted From Re-Test Of Samples From 2005 And 2007 World Champs! Track and field takes a lot of criticism for drugs but we don’t know of any other sport that goes after cheats 8-10 years after the fact. MLB (baseball) only started drug bans in 2004 and in 2005 a first ban resulted in a 10-day suspension.

“Four Kenyan Athletes Have Been Indefinitely Banned From Malaysia Road Races Following Claims Of Failed Doping Tests” The article really isn’t clear about why these four are thought to have doped, but none are big names.
Jamaica’s Former IAAF Anti-Doping Panel Member Dr. Herb Elliott Defends Kenya Elliott: “Many Africans, like Jamaicans, have sickle-cell trait. The blood pool in Africa is not as straight as the European one. … It doesn’t mean that they are doping; it means you have haemoglobin that looks funny.”
UK Writer Doesn’t Think The IAAF’s 28 Drug Bans Are Necessarily A “Success Story” “For the general public it represents yet another reason not to believe what they see.” Would he have rather had them sweep it under the rug? The bans are great because it deters current athletes from cheating.
Top Kenyans, Including Wilson Kipsang, Want Athletes With Suspicious Blood Values Named
Scottish Steepler Eilish McColgan Blogs About Blood Values And The IAAF She and many other athletes didn’t know it, but they can actually access all their blood test results from the IAAF whereabouts system online.
GB Olympic Distance Runner Freya Ross Explains Why She Agreed To Let The Sunday Times Publish Her Blood Data “Transparency is key to clean sport and I’m a big supporter of that.”

Jumps And Sprints

Usain Bolt And Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Lead Jamaican Team For Worlds They’ll be sending some distance runners, too, including former NCAA All-American Kemoy Campbell (5,000), former NCAA champ Natoya Goule (800) and former US steepler Aisha Praught (steeple/1,500).
After Racking Up Multiple Medals As A Youth, Russian Long Jumper Darya Klishina Is Hoping To Finally Finish On The Podium As A Senior Klishina is now living and training in Florida with a group that includes her US rival Tianna Bartoletta.
Profile On Kaylin Whitney, Who At 17 Years Old Is Going To Worlds As Part Of The USA 4 X 100 Squad The high school pro has been running track since she was 7 years old.
TJer Pedro Pablo Pichardo And PVer Yarisley Silva Lead Cuban Team For Worlds
The Year Of The Vault: Shawn Barber And Demi Payne Win Bowerman Award Fan Vote

Other: Portland 2016 Is Less Than A year Away

Distance / Mid-D News

After A Long Hiatus From The Top, 2011 Double World Champ Vivian Cheruiyot Is Back Eyeing A Return To The Podium Cheruiyot talks about how she was disappointed not to win gold in London 2012, so decided to take a break to start her family with the long-term plan in place to be back at the top by 2016.
NZ Herald Looks Back At John Walker’s Amazing Time Trial Run From 1975 When He Became The First Man To Run Under 3:50 It was a race that Walker almost didn’t run as the he didn’t like the Gothenburg stadium and the meet originally was running a 1,500, not the mile.
MB:Former NCAA Indoor Mile Champion Miles Batty Officially Done With Track (Possibly Longer Races) He says he’s now moving on to med school and maybe road racing.

The Beginning Of The End For Women’s Sports?

LRC The End Of Women’s Sports As We Know It? Is Caster Semenya The Favorite For Gold For The 2016 Olympics? The Court Of Arbitration For Sport Suspends IAAF’s Hyperandrogenism Regulations Earlier this week, hyperandrogenic Indian sprinter Dutee Chand was cleared to compete despite having super-elevated testosterone levels. More importantly, the court totally suspended the IAAF’s hyperandrogenism regulations, meaning athletes with internal testicles are free to compete as women without treatment. We break down what it means. Is this the beginning of the end for women’s sports?

Dutee Chand Aims To Qualify For Rio Olympics After CAS Verdict We 100% disagree with this statement from Payoshni Mitra: “This verdict upholds the notion of gender equality in sports. … I feel this verdict will pave the way for a more inclusive, fairer sporting culture.” Letting people with internal testicles compete as women is absurd.
Dutee Chand Will Not (For Now) Get Coveted Target Olympic Podium Funding In India

The Integrity Of The Sport Is At Stake – Mike Rossi Is A Marathon Cheat And Should Have Been DQed From The 2014 Lehigh Valley Marathon

LRC Investigates Lehigh Valley Got It Wrong: The Evidence Is Conclusive: Mike Rossi – The Viral Boston Marathon Dad – Is A Marathon Cheat And Should Never Have Been On The Starting Line In Boston In April, Mike Rossi gained international fame for his snarky response to a letter from his kids’ principal scolding him for taking them out of school for several days to watch Boston. A LetsRun.com investigation has revealed that Rossi’s principal was correct, the kids should never have been in Boston as the evidence is conclusive – their father didn’t legitimately qualify for the 2015 Boston Marathon. How confident are we that Rossi cut the course when he “ran” his 3:11:45 BQ qualifier at Lehigh Valley? Extremely. We’ll pay Mike Rossi $10,000 if he qualifies again in the next 12 months – and the qualifying time is 13+ minutes slower – 3:25.
*MB: Did Mike Rossi (viral marathon dad) cheat his way into Boston?