Where Your Dreams Become
Reality
Where Your Dreams Become
Reality
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The Week That Was July 14-20, 2008 The Week That Was returns after a mid-summer hiatus. It's been an amazing week as international meets pick up, rivalries heat up, and drug cheats drop like flies. We also talk a little about the Rome Golden League meet (which was a week ago Friday) because it was missed in our mid-summer Olympic Trials hiatus. We start off with something a little different - our top 10 Athletes of the Week (and top 5 American distance athletes). LRC Top 10 Athletes of the Week
1. Dayron Robles: Leading up to the Olympics, one of the most anticipated events will inevitably be the men's 110m hurdles. Everyone knows Liu Xiang will have the pressure of 1.2 billion people yearning for him to win. He will certainly face stiff competition from the Americans (David Oliver, Terrence Trammell) and the rest of the world. But Robles of Cuba has stepped up in the Golden League season and said to the world, "I am the man to beat." He lowered the world record to 12.87 earlier in the summer and in Paris on Friday, he obliterated a stacked field to run 12.88 with only a slight tailwind. Robles rarely hits hurdles and races with such consistency that Liu Xiang has got to be concerned, especially considering recent news stating he has injury problems. Remember, Liu came to America for three meets and did not complete a race. The talk may not be "Will Liu Xiang win gold?" but "Could Liu Xiang leave Beijing without any hardware?" Robles looked nearly invincible in Paris. His best race is a world record, so it will take a world record to beat him if he's at 100%. 2. Yelena Isinbayeva: At the Rome Golden League meeting, Isinbayeva upped her pole vault world record to 5.03m (16' 6"), spurred on by chatter that American Jenn Stuczynski might soon take over as #1 in the world following her 4.92 American record clearance at the US Olympic Trials. Isinbayeva, who has gradually and methodically nudged the bar upward to 22 world records over the years, added that setting 36 world records in the event (legend Sergey Bubka set 35 on the men's side) was on her "to do" list, along with repeating as Olympic Champion, of course.
3. Usain Bolt: After sweetening the world record at 100m, Bolt got back to his better event, the 200m, in Athens. His 19.67 performance was astounding not only for the quality time, but for the way this tall Jamaican galloped around the turn and straight. He looks elegant and powerful. We wish Tyson Gay was running the 200m at the Olympics because it would set up a brilliant 2-event rivalry for the ages. 4. Yelena Soboleva: The 2008 World Indoor Champion (and 2007 World Championships silver medallist) at 1,500m, Soboleva won the ultra-competitive women's 800m at the Russian Championships in a world-leading 1:54.85. She spearheaded a dazzling race in which the top 4 were under 1:57 and the top 8 under 2:00, a shocking result somewhat reminiscent of Ma's Army in 1993 and 1997. Soboleva is the world indoor record holder in the 1,500m at 3:57.71 but is more interested in running solely the 800 at the Olympics. This is probably a good idea if she hopes to tackle Pamela Jelimo. After running the fastest 800 since 1997 (by Cuban Ana Quirot), Soboleva seems to have the right to argue her case.  Image details: IAAF Golden League - Gaz de France served by picapp.com 5. Jeremy Wariner: Wariner got off the hot seat and put himself in the driver's seat with an authoritative defeat of LaShawn Merritt in Paris, blazing to a world-leading time and the 4th fastest time of his career (43.86). He has absorbed a tremendous amount of criticism for giving Clyde Hart the sack, but he looked awesome in this race. In contrast to his two losses to Merritt this year (and his narrow win in Rome, where he appeared almost lucky to stave off Merritt's late charge and time his lean better), this time Wariner completely owned the final 100m, something he has always done during his dominance of the event and something he must likely do again to successfully defend his Olympic title. This was his smoothest, most complete race of the year. This rivalry is far from over, but if one evaluates the trends for the year, Wariner appears to be swinging up, while Merritt's trajectory may have flattened out. 6. Pamela Jelimo: If not for the four Russians running under 1:57 in the same race this week, Jelimo would be the lone favorite for the gold in Beijing. But we don't think she's too worried about what's going on in Moscow as her confidence must continue to soar with every major European 800m victory. This week, she won handily in Paris and stayed alive for the Golden Jackpot with a world junior (and African) record time of 1:54.97. She doesn't win it in the last 100m, nor in the last 200m; with Jelimo, the contest is over approximately 300m into the race. Even her rabbit can't stay in front for 500m. Jelimo is too strong and consistent to envision any woman stopping her. 7. Paul Kipsiele Koech: In an effort billed as an attack on Saif Shaheen's (QAT) 7:53.63 steeple world record set in Brussels in 2004, Paul Koech (KEN) came up short, but his 8:00.57 is a world leader and worthy of mention. Shaheen's mark is almost Komenesque and it may be many years before anyone can take it down. It's crazy to think that Koech won't be racing in Beijing, as he tripped on the final water barrier at the Kenyan Trials. 8. Kerron Clement: The reigning World Champion is 2-for-2 in the last two Golden League meetings (Rome and Paris) at the 400 hurdles. In both races, he and Bershawn "Batman" Jackson were neck-and-neck with 100m to go. In Rome, Clement powered flawlessly down the stretch. In Paris, he 15-stepped the final hurdle (the two extra steps were caused by stuttering) but after losing some momentum on the hurdle, he rocketed forcefully to the line to secure the victory. 9. Lucy Kabuu: An emerging Kenyan star, Kabuu ran a meet record 14:38.47 in Paris in a race with only 5 competitors, easily making mincemeat of the competition over the last three laps and winning by 20+ seconds. Time-wise, the performance is clearly not on the level of Ethiopian distance mega-stars Tirunesh Dibaba or Meseret Defar, but Kabuu did decisively run away from Priscah Jepleting Cherono, the 5k bronze medallist at last year's Worlds, so we'll have to see how she fares when the world's best all race head-to-head in the next month. (We do realize Lilya Shobukhova ran 14:23 at the Russian Champs for 5k to become the 4th fastest ever, but the multitude of fast times in Russia reminds us a bit too much of Ma's Army in 1993 and 1997. We'll stick with Kabuu's run in the heat (demolishing last year's bronze medallist) for our 5k performance of the week. Shobukhova's 5k time may have been a surprise as her previous best was 14:47, but she did run 8:27 for 3k (in Russia) in 2006.)
10. Blanka Vlaic
With a 2.01m victory in Paris, the Croatian HJ superstar still has a
shot at the Jackpot. British announcers were concerned with her
possibly competing too much. We're pretty sure we'd be competing if
there were a million dollars worth of gold bars staring at us to take
home if we kept winning. She has now won 33 consecutive high jump
competitions, including the most recent indoor and outdoor World
Championships, showing astounding consistency in a technical event
often fraught with unpredictability. Vlaic's inclusion in the weekly top 10
has less to do with her run-of-the-mill (for her) 2.01 mark in Paris;
rather, it is about her continuation of the phenomenal winning streak
against world class fields and her status as one of only two athletes
in contention for the million $$$. Adrian Blincoe: The Villanova alum has begun to move up to the 5k from his previously preferred 1,500m distance and hung on in Heusden to the tune of 13:10.19, only garnering 11th in the deep race but eclipsing the 13:12.86 New Zealand national record of the great Dick Quax, a mark which had stood since 1977 and was a world record at the time. Stephanie Twell: Great Britain's junior star stepped up to win the World Junior meet at 1,500m, then rode the elite train to an Olympic A qualifier (4:05.83) in Paris and will be heading to Beijing. Christina Muyanga: Muyanga, a Japan-based Kenyan junior, won the World Junior Championships steeplechase in 9:31.35, a Championship record. Normally, this would not be especially noteworthy to us, but she runs barefoot and, unless these photos are incredibly deceptive, she has extremely "innovative" water barrier technique. Photos of Muyanga: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/080708/59/133te.html
2. Jenny Barringer: Jenny nearly bested the American record while winning NCAAs. At the Olympic Trials, Anna Willard beat her to the punch, ganking Lisa Galaviz's record and winning in 9:27.59. But in Heusden, the Colorado alum Barringer struck back by pipping Willard at the post for the win, as both made a quantum improvement on the AR, with times of 9:22.73 and 9:22.76. Willard was the US Champion, but this time Barringer came out ahead (and snagged the record) and their American rivalry in this relatively new international event is blossoming into an intriguing matchup. 3. Morgan Uceny: Heading into the Olympic Trials, the Michigan-based Cornell alum had only raced the 1,500m seven times in her life. After races 8, 9 and 10 at the distance, she was 4th behind Rowbury, Erin Donohue and Christin Wurth in the US Trials. In the last week, she lowered her PRs in her favored event and her emerging event, the 800m and 1,500m, respectively. Even more impressive was the fact that Uceny won all three of her European contests, defeating Olympians Rowbury and Donohue at 800m (2:01.22), Olympian Anna Willard at 1,500m (4:06.93), and then besting a quality international field in Heusden (4:07.22). To be a factor at the world level, an athlete must be able to win races, not just run fast times in controlled, rabbited affairs. We think these wins bode well for Uceny's future as a US middle-distance star. 4. Anna Willard: Willard improved on her recent American record by nearly five seconds with a fabulous 9:22.76 effort, only to wind up an agonizing .03 behind Jenny Barringer in Heusden. We would rate Willard's #2 all-time American performance above Morgan Uceny's week of racing, but Uceny has won all three of her European races (one against Willard). Video of Wisconsin 1,500 5. Matt Tegenkamp/Jerry Schumacher/Chris Solinsky: We at LRC salute Jerry Schumacher and the Madison folks for holding a grass roots event this past week where Teg, Chris Solinsky and Jonathon Riley ran a hot 1,500m. Rabbited through 1k, Tegenkamp looked very smooth and controlled as he ran 3:37.94 to outkick the game Riley. The track was lined in lane 4 by a few hundred people, clapping rhythmically and shouting encouragement throughout the one-event, four-minute track meet which witnessed the fastest 1,500 in Wisconsin history. Solinsky then went to Heusden where he ran the 5k. He hung with the leaders until the final 450m. We received an update that with 500 to go he started suffering back spasms. The end result wasn't pretty. 42 seconds for the final 200 and he still ran 13:18. Solinsky was with 11 other guys with 500 to go, and all but one ran 13:08.
LRC Best Reads of the Week
1. Meet
Jim Dunaway, track and field journalist, legend, and hitchhiker of
500,000 miles in his life. Beijing will be his 14th consecutive
Olympic Games attended. 2. Get some interesting perspectives on Prefontaine from some of our nation's most recognizable names: George Seifert, Ken Kesey and Others Discuss: Pre - Rebel With a Cause
Author Ken Kesey said of Pre, "There was a sense of something holy going on and something tragic about Prefontaine." 3. Get to know your new CEO (of the USATF, that is) 5. The Times Guardian has a great piece on the epic (and we mean EPIC) beautification process going on in Beijing LRC Thumbs Up / Thumbs Down We have a lot to discuss this week in our Thumbs Up / Thumbs Down section. We tackle the Rome and Paris Golden League rivalries, international drug news including Le Tour de France, track and field announcers, and other news that caught our attention in the past week.
In drug news, we give a Thumbs Up to the judge who upheld Dwain Chambers' drug suspension, and to the lifetime ban handed down to US coach Trevor Graham.
A lifetime ban for a coach may not mean much in actuality as athletes
can choose who their coach is, but an athlete might have a hard time
choosing a coach who is banned from getting a credential at meets.
Dwain Chambers Will Not Be Allowed to Compete at Olympics BBC
Read Vroemen's denials on his site Thumbs Up to the Tour de France for continuing to ruthlessly test and expel drug cheats from the peloton. Last year, Michael Rasmussen and Alexandre Vinokourov were caught at the height of their popularity during the Tour and were forced to retire from the race in shame. Rasmussen was wearing the maillot jaune when he was axed by Rabobank after having failed to report for doping tests. Only halfway through this year's Tour, Riccardo Ricco (winner of 2 stages and leader of both the mountains competition and young rider competition at the time), Moises Duenas and Manuel Beltran (former teammate of Lance Armstrong) have been busted, dumped from the race and vilified, while Ricco's teammate and compatriot Leonardo Piepoli (winner of the dramatic high mountain stage 10 which finished at the summit of Hautacam) was given the boot by his Saunier Duval-Scott team manager for "violating the team's code of ethics." On the Tour, they aren't even waiting for the B sample; they are putting riders in police custody after a positive A sample (message board thread here). The French anti-doping agency (AFLD) has taken over the testing and appears to be going full throttle in an unsympathetic effort to bounce these cheats out of the sport. Another Thumbs Up goes to team sponsors for either pulling their funding of teams before the Tour or pulling their sponsorship during the Tour (Barloworld). We believe the punishments should be even harsher for busted athletes who are unwilling to cooperate with authorities in the fight against drugs. The other side to this coin is that there should be powerful enticements for cheats to blow the whistle on other cheats in the sport. Cheating kills sports partly because the fans can't trust that the amazing performances they are seeing are accomplished by the human spirit testing the pure limits of physical performance. Baseball, football, track, cycling and any sports tarnished by drug cheating continue to be plagued by fear among all in the sport's "inner circle" who refuse to fink on their peers who are cheating. You see it all the time - baseball color commentators talk about how no player, coach, agent, owner or trainer should ever rat out cheats. That attitude is ludicrous. Governing bodies of athletics need to start stepping in with incentives to encourage athletes, especially those who are already caught and face stiff punishments otherwise, to help authorities unravel the hidden web of doctors, agents, coaches and athletes who conspire to break the rules and ultimately damage and imperil the future of their sports. It needs to become honorable and socially acceptable to expose cheats, rather than the reverse. Olympic Rosters Being Announced: LRC Results of the Week To accomplish these things, a network needs the right personalities in the booth, and perhaps the current announcers don't have what it takes. In our minds, it's time for changes to be made. To give specific examples, we hate watching a tactical championship race in which, before the race is 1/4 through, the announcers are bemoaning the slow splits, as if every race should be run at world record or American record pace. Nor is it enjoyable to watch a race where one athlete dominates the field with an other-wordly mark (e.g., Pamela Jelimo), only to have the announcers present the lack of competition as boring or disappointing. Another example would be a false start in an event. Treat the dead time as a time to enhance the coverage rather than negatively bantering on about the passing minutes with no action. The solution is simple - every race is entertainment, pure human competition at the highest level. Announcers, show us that you are excited about the competition, spin each event positively and leave the viewer feeling like they've watched a great show. The troubling trend is that the present-day announcers seem to not innately understand this, and it's difficult to convey something you just don't feel deep down.
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Runner's World &
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