Chris Solinsky's Comeback To Begin at Falmouth The first non-African born runner in history under 27:00 will race in Falmouth on August 12th. *MB: Falmouth Road Race Prize Money- SLASHED -
US Olympic News
- Thank God/Hall's Coach: Ryan Hall Happy To Be Toeing The Olympic Line Feeling Fit, Prepared, And Over His Nasty Bout Of Plantar Fasciitis "To be honest, my build up for this marathon has had many rocky moments, everything from MRIs to plague-like sickness, but through it all I have been able to not miss any workouts and I feel well prepared."
- RR: Meet Staten Island's First Olypmic Medallist - Former 1,500 World Record Holder Abel Kiviat The roommate of Jim Thorpe won Olympic silver in 1912. *NY1 Video On Kiviat
- Kara Goucher And Shalane Flanagan Have Benefitted From Being Training Partners Flanagan: "We chased each other for years in championship races, and were fierce rivals, and our friendship has now evolved to a deeper level. We've allowed ourselves to be vulnerable in front of each other; we know every bump in the road we've had the last 10 months."
- Video: Amy Hastings On Taking Chances In Olympic 10k: "Fourth place is the same as last place so you might as well go for it." "I know I'm the underdog right now in this race ... I might not even be an underdog."
- Lolo Jones Criticized For Gun Tweet
- Tyson Gay: "The Quiet American Ready To Blow The Jamaican Dream Apart"
- US Distance Rundown: Look At Stats For All Our Runners And America's Past Olympic Medals In Those Events
- Ashton Eaton Says If He Was David Rudisha He Might Come In Overconfident, But Not In The Decathlon "With the multi-events, there are a lot of things that can go wrong. So I
never feel like I have it in the bag."
*Eaton Says Don't Expect A WR In London And That's He's Not Concerned With Getting "Bolt-Like" Fame - Ashton Eaton, Jesse Williams And Sanya Richards-Ross London Press Conference Excerpts *Video
- What If Baltimore Had Landed The 2012 Olympics?
- Jenn Suhr's Parents Talk About Their Daughter And The Hometown Community Rooting For Her
Negative News From London
- A Common Theme Among Olympic Sports: Journalist Complains About TV Commentators Covering Sports They Know Nothing About We think it's bad when sprinters try to commentate on distance races, but this was how the BBC had track runners commentating cycling. "It was like asking Gazza, Robbie Williams and Snooki from Jersey Shore to judge the Booker Prize."
- Everyone Has A Price: Journalist Has Twitter Account Suspended For Criticizing NBC He didn't technically break any rules, but Twitter has a partnership with NBC Sports. We guess even Twitter can be bought. *Go here for the journalist's side of the story.
- NY Times On Chinese Swimming Phenom "Response to achievement falls somewhere uncomfortably between amazement and incredulity, that gray area between celebration and suspicion."
- London 2012 Puts Thousands Of Tickets Back On Sale In A Bid To Solve Empty Seat Fiasco
- Swiss Soccer Player Joins Greek TJer As Two Athletes Kicked Out Of Games Because Of Racist Tweets
- South Korean Fencer Forced To Sit On Court For Over An Hour As Her Delegation Protested The Controversial Semifinal
It's Official: Paula Is Out
- Paula Radcliffe Officially Pulls Out Of London "The most important thing is, as I always believe, to know that you did all you could in going after those dreams ... However hard today is, finally closing the door on that dream, at least I can know that I truly have tried absolutely everything."
- Video: BOA Chairman Colin Moynihan Makes Announcement
- We Agree: Jonathan Edwards Says Despite Olympic Misses, Paula Radcliffe Will Go Down In History As One Of GB's Greatest Athletes At this point she hasn't made any decisions on what path her athletic career will take from here.
- Learn About Scotland's Freya Murray, The Woman Who Will Replace Paula Radcliffe In The Olympic Marathon She debuted at the London Marathon, where she finished 13th in 2:28:10 behind Claire Hallissey, who earned her Olympic berth that day.
Olympic Controversy And Criticism
- Seb Coe Insists That Security Wasn't Compromised As Mystery Woman With India's Team Identified As An Out Of Place Volunteer Coe: "She shouldn't have been in the Opening Ceremony but don't run away with the idea that she sort of walked in off the street."
- Doping Alert? 16-Year-Old Chinese Female Swimmer Closes Her Last 50m Faster Than US Gold Medalist Ryan Lochte Did In The Same Event USAToday She broke the WR by over a second and yet one columnist wrote, "The accusations fired at Ye are out of line in this age of drug testing." We're not saying she doped, and actually liked this thread, but pretending cheats don't beat drug tests is not smart. All in all a very good article. *MB: Suspicious Chinese Swimmer
- Seb Coe Reacts To Criticism About Olympic Ticket Policy As Many Events Go On In Front Of Half Empty Stadiums He claims that low attendance is normal early in the Games and that it will not continue. They are also giving away free tickets to soldiers and students in an attempt to fill stadiums.
- Fans Take To Twitter With Hashtag #nbcfail To Complain About Problems With Live Streams And Tape Delays
- Hope Solo Won't Be Disciplined For Twitter Rant Against Former US Soccer Legend/NBC Commentator Brandi Chastain
- Officials Confident They Will Be Able To Solve Hijab Controversy With Saudi Judo Female Athlete Judo rules say she can't be covered, but Saudis say she has to or won't compete.
- Brazilian Officials Angry That A Brazilian Politician Opposed To The Government Was 1 Of 9 Olympic Flag Carriers During Opening Ceremony The IOC responded that she was chosen for her work as an environmentalist.
- Twitter Blamed For Jamming Networks And Preventing Information Flow During Cycle Road Races Fans lining the streets overloaded the networks, but the IOC promises that the issues are being fixed.
Interactive World Medal Map Updates Every 5 Minutes To Show Which Countries Are Winning The Most Medals 82 have been handed out so far.
In Track & Field, The Olympics Have Yet To Begin, But They Are Already Over Before They Start For One Marathoner & Possibly Two
Kevin Hanson: American Desi Davila Pulls Out With Injury *Discuss *Never
Mind; Despite Kevin Hanson's Statement, Davila May Now Run
More Press With Negative Tones Coming From London
*Indians Irate That Random Woman Sneaks In & Walks Next To Flagbearer In Opening Cermony
*London Organizers - Don't Worry About It - She Was A Cast Member From Bangalore
*Some Saudis Not Happy With Women's Appearance In Opening Ceremony "Whores of the Olympics ... They want to run so that they intentionally fall down and reveal (their figures)."
*BBC Relies On World Feed & Butchers TV Coverage Of Cycling & Gymnastics Apparently there were GPS problems in cycling and they didn't even know who medalled.
*Despite Doing Her Best To Ignore It, The Start Of Tthe Olymipcs Has Lauren Fleshman Feeling "Not So Good" Not so good.
*Irish Track Coach - The American Kevin Ankrom Is In Hot Water After His Mom Says He's Actively Searching For Jobs In The US The original article in the Jacksonville paper has outraged some people who think Ankrom is more excited to get to party with friends in
London than he is for the track competition.
Sprint News - At Least Bolt & Powell Are Having Fun At The Olympics
Lost In Translation: Press Member Asks Bolt How Does He Relax Off Track Since
He Is Gay? Another Asks Bolt & Powell Who "Their Partners" Are In
Village *Discuss
*Usain Bolt Gets Standing O When He Walks Into Dining Hall - Has To Use Jamaican Throwers As Bodyguard The 6-foot-1, 291-pound Dorian Scott is keeping everyone away from Bolt,
who skipped the chicken nuggets and went for grilled chicken. *2nd Article With Standing O Mention
*Usain Bolt & Asafa Powell Want To Break 37.00 In 4 X 100 The World Record is 37.04.
*Maurice Greene Says 1st 60m Makes Bolt Vulnerable In 100m And That Asafa Powell Could Win
*Warm Weather & Lots Of Usain Bolt Billboards Are
Making London Feel Like Caribbean For Jamaicans
LaShawn Merritt Hoping He Once Again Has A Small Slight Problem His coach is hoping his hamstring problem is just "slight." The good news is Merritt can still flex it.
*Bahamas Derrick Atkins Hoping For Final In 100m
Opening Ceremony News
- London Given Licence To Thrill As Games Begin With A Bang *MBoarder Disagrees: Worst opening ceremony for anything I've ever seen in my life *Cauldron lighting letdown
- Mayor Pleased: "Mayor Boris gets his wish: London 'knocks their socks off' with magical Olympic Opening Ceremony."
- Roger Bannister Is Snubbed - Little Kids Light Flame
- Roger Bannister: Olympic Failure Led To Sub-4 Mile His 45-minute, 5-day-a-week training regime left him ill-prepared for the 3 straight days of racing in the Olympics.
- Here's The Opening Ceremony Tribute To Terrorism Victims NBC Doesn't Want You To See This was for the July 7, 2005 attacks in London. Meanwhile, the Jewish athletes who were massacred in 1972 get nothing.
- Kenya's President Attends Games For First Time *MB: WTF?! The Kenyan flag was just carried in by a white swimmer?! *White dude carries flag for Kenya
Non-Opening Ceremony Olympic News
- Tweet Of The Week: Paula Radcliffe Happy To See Selsouli Gone Radcliffe tweeted: "World 1,500m leader (strike that off) Alaoui Selsouli (MAR) will miss Olympics as she's tested positive at Paris DL. Good riddance, no surprise."
- Malcolm Gladwell & Nicholas Thompson To Blog About Track & Field In New Yorker: Episode I - Mo Farah & Galen Rupp Gladwell spent time with Rupp and Farah in Park City and it's clear who won the charisma contest.
- Bolt: "I don't think it will be the end of the world if I lose." To be fair, he did later say, "I don't think I should be talking about losing anyway as there are friends of mine who will not appreciate that."
- Greek Far Right Party Not Happy With Ban Of TJer "The only racism in Greece is the racism against the Greeks. Anybody who says even a word against illegal immigrants is held up to public ridicule," the party added.
- This Isn't A Joke: From 1912 To 1948, The Olympics Gave Out Medals For Architecture, Painting, Sculpture, Literature, And Music
- Nor Is This - Proof That Racewalking Is Not A Legitimate Sport - IAAF Makes 2-Page User-Friendly Document To Help You Have A Better Understanding Of Racewalking
- 400H Man Javier Culson Justifiably Feels Weight Of Puerto Rican Expectations Puerto Rico has never won Olympic gold in any sport and never won a track and field medal of any color.
- 20 Greatest NZ Olympic Moments - Peter Snell's 800/1,500 Double From 1964 Is #2
- 20 Greatest NZ Olympic Moments - Lydiard's Boys Double Gold (Snell/Halberg) In 1960 At 800 & 5k Is #1
- Where Will Britain's Medals Come From - 8 Likely T&F Medallists & 10 Strong Contenders
- UK Athletics' Chief Executive, Niels de Vos, Believes Phillips Idowu Will Be Fit In Time For The Games
- Female Muslim IAAF Council Member Named Vice President Of IOC Executive Board
We Wish This Was An April Fools Joke, But We Believe The Date Is July 27, 2012
LRC Beyond Stupidity: The NCAA Says Its Coaches Can't Coach In The Olympics Please take two minutes to read this article and another two minutes to pick up the phone and contact the NCAA as you are going to be outraged. The bean counters at the NCAA have hit an all-time low and recently told collegiate track and field coaches that they can't coach their athletes in the biggest track meet in the world - the Olympics.
US Team Updates With 2 Recommended Reads
- RR1: Tim Layden Catches Up With Jeneba Tarmoh In Birmingham On The Aftermath Of The 100m Conteroversy Tarmoh: "I thought it was fishy. And I think it still stinks. But I can't put my finger on what it is. I don't think it should have been a dead heat." *MB Thread
- RR2: Great Blog By Kim Conley On Making The Olympics: "The journey was never just about making an Olympic team, it was about becoming the best runner I could be." She says at 3k she thought the "A" standard was out of reach and almost gave up, but didn't because she owed it to those who had supported her "to leave her heart on the track."
- Lolo Jones Talks About What It's Like Being A Virgin At 29 And Finding The Man Of Her Dreams
EPO Cheats Out
LRC 1,500 World Leader Mariem Alaoui Selsouli Of Morocco Tests Positive The former EPO cheat has tested positive a second time. Let's just say people who follow the sport day in and day out are not surprised. Perhaps the bigger question is why would an AAM member represent her and Nike sponsor her? Kudos for drug authorities for targeting her for testing.
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?"
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."
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
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."
Anti-Drug News
- BALCO Scandal Head Victor Conte Says Anti-Doping System Is Flawed, High-Ranking Officials Have A Vested Interest In NOT Cleaning Up The Olympics
- 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."
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
LRCThree 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.
Track Starts Friday In London *Olympic Track And Field Schedule (Updated) *Official London 2012 Entry Lists Available
LRC Women's 10,000 Preview: All The Makings Of A Classic - Tirunesh Dibaba Vs. Vivian Cheruiyot We start our series of Olympic previews with the first distance final which
features two runners who haven't lost in almost two and three years respectively. Yet we, unlike the bookies in London, don't think it's hard to choose between Vivian Cheruiyot and Tirunesh
Dibaba. Plus what about the American's chances - is top 5 or 10 realistic?
*Track And Field News Previews All Track & Field Events
LRC Plan Ahead: 2012 Olympic Track And Field Schedule Getting to the Olympics is a difficult task. Watching the Olympics
while not getting fired at work or having your significant other dump
you is almost as difficult. Plan ahead and figure out how you are going
to watch the track and field action live while not being fired or
divorced by looking at our two versions of the Olympic schedule. *** Updated with links to NBC TV schedules for track and all other Olympic sports.
More On Rule 40: A
Vicious Cycle: Athletes Can't Support Their Sponsors Because They're Not Olympic Sponsors; Olympic Sponsors Don't Sponsor Athletes Because IAAF Regulations Sanya Richards-Ross:
"Only two percent of U.S. athletes are able to tweet about their sponsors because only two percent of athletes have USOC or IOC sponsors."
International T And F
- Not A College Star? Still Dream Big: None Of Japan's Three Marathoners Ever Won A Stage In Japan's Prestigous Hakone Ekiden And only one of three ever even ran on the prestigious 5th uphill stage.
- Pat Butcher's Great Tribute To The Great Accomplishments Of Paula Radcliffe "Even Oscar Wilde may have been stretched to describe the experience of losing three successive Olympic gold medal chances."
- Jamaican Official Describes Usain Bolt's Crazy Mile Walk To The Olympic Stadium During Opening Ceremony Bolt put on a mile-long show for fans and other athletes who all clamored to get photos and autographs. Bolt once again had to make use of his Jamaican thrower bodyguards.
- After 4 Surgeries And Spending 3 Years Just Trying To Walk Normally Again, World Indoor Silver Medallist Vanessa Bosla Is Just Happy To Be At The Games
- UK Team Captain Dai Greene And Coach Charles van Commenee Give Inspiring Speeches At Pre-Olympic Camp Van Commenee: "Our journey together has been hard and that is why you are such a success by being here. No one in this room has had an easy journey."
- Jamaican Press Catch Up With Olympian Andrew Riley, The Only Sprinter In NCAA History To Win Both The 100 And 110 Hurdles
- Kenyan Distance Team Finally Departs For London The men's 10k and marathon athletes still stayed behind in Kenya.
- IAAF Profile On Daegu TJ Silver Medallist Olga Rypakova
- Japan's Ryoko Kizaki Is In London After Training In Flagstaff
General Olympic News
- The Eternal Question: Does Sex Affect Athletic Performance? Marty Liquori once said: "Sex makes you happy. Happy people don't run a 3:47 mile." Based on these studies, any effect seems to be psychological, not physical.
- List Of Memorable Quotes From The First Days Of London 2012 London Mayor Boris Johnson: "'Inspire a generation' is our motto. Not necessarily 'Create a generation,' which is what they sometimes get up to in the Olympic village."
- Paul McCartney Paid $1.57 For Opening Ceremony Performance AKA he did it for free.
- The Olympic Village Even Has Its Own Newspaper For And About The Athletes
A Lot Of Great Advice For All You Future Sports Journalists: The Power & Glory Of Sportswriting "An editor at Sports Illustrated once advised me that the art of the work rested in telling people who already know what happened a story so compelling that they forget everything and, at the end, wish they'd been there."
We Aren't Scared Of Rule 40 Even If Everyone Else Is *Official London 2012 Entry Lists Available
LRC $200,012 LetsRun.com London Prediction Contest The very future of LetsRun.com may be at stake, but our world-famous prediction contest is back and better than
ever as it's up a full week before the 2012 Games. Even though every potential sponsor we approached wouldn't touch it out of fear of Rule 40, we have given you what you've demanded - a fantasy contest that we believe is allowed by the US Supreme Court. But because of the cowardice of everyone else, the prizes have been curtailed a bit. If you aren't good
enough to win $200,012 for a perfect ballot or $2,012 for a perfect distance ballot, you will be just like the Olympic athletes themselves - competing solely for pride unless you are lucky enough to get top three.
Need Help Making Your Picks?
*London 2012 Athlete Database Tracks the world's top athletes for their 2012 season. Includes this season's entire race results and individual bio pages with career achievements, biographical data, personal bests, twitter
feeds, and some interviews.
*IAAF London 2012 Athletics Statistics Book Available For Download
Rule 40
- US Track Athletes Take To Twitter To Protest Against IOC's "Rule 40" It's great that they're making a unified protest against it, but this is probably too little, too late.
- EatRunSwag Blogger Calls Rule 40 The "Keep 'Em Poor!" Rule Did you know in London all non-McDonald's food retailers are forbidden from serving french fries and only Visa card holders can use ATMs at Olympic venues?
Track And Field Olympic News
- Pamela Jelimo Ready To Defend Her Title In London After Training "Under Near Freezing Conditions" "I have been climbing the mountain daily to build on my endurance under severe weather conditions of up to 14 degrees [57 degrees F] so that I will be able to survive in London."
- Brazil 2016? Haile Gebrselassie: "It's very painful not to be running here after all I have achieved." He added, "Hopefully I'll be running for the next four years and you'll see me in Brazil. Why not?!"
- Track & Field Legends Vote Blake Over Bolt To Win Olympic 100m Gold Edwin Moses, Maurice Greene, Daley Thompson and Haile G all chose Blake, while Dick Fosbury chose Bolt. But then again, Fosbury also chose Wallace Spearmon to win the 200. *Video
- Really Cool: Interactive Graphic Shows How Bad Usain Bolt Would Destroy The Best Sprinter From 1896 And Other Past Olympic Champs
- Watch Out, Evan Jager: 3rd Kenyan Steepler Abel Mutai Says He's Not Just In London To Make Up The Numbers He wants to prove making the team over guys like Richard Mateelong and Kipsiele Koech "was no fluke."
- Italian Racewalker Pulling Out Of 20k Walk And Focusing On Defending His 50k Title We'd get bored too if you tried to get us to walk that much.
- 2012 Olympic Race Walkers To Appear On Today Show This Morning To "Educate" Us On How To Walk Toddlers everywhere, be sure to tune in.
- Contrary To Media Reports That Referred To Various Races As "Ethiopian Olympic Trials" Selection Was Based On Fastest Times Some on the team are actually referring to 5,000 team member Genet Yalew as the reserve so maybe we will get to see Tirunesh Dibaba defend her 5k title too.
- Olympic Debate: Is The Olympic Marathon The Ultimate Test Or Have Big City Races Taken Over? We're surprised LetsRun friend Dick Patrick argues on the side of majors. We think the debate is worth having, but the majors rarely get the 3 best Kenyan and 3 best Ethiopians. They may have more like 8 of 10 but not 1-2-3.
- Oscar P Enjoying Training In Peace Outside Of London Before The Inevitable Media Storm Hits
This Proves What We Already Knew - Track And Field Is The Olympics
Some Aren't Happy That The Symbol Of The Olympics - The Olympic Flame - Isn't Visible To Fans Unless You Are In Track Stadium Well, it's visible if you have track and field tickets, as it's down low in a corner of the stadium.
Doping Articles
- Interesting Read: Jenny Meadows Says After Losing To Drug Cheat, She Changed Her Training And Got Hurt & Missed Out On Olympics Stunned to have been run down in the last 200m, she figured she needed big changes.
- Pat Butcher: Are The Moroccans The Gold Medallists Win It Comes To Doping? "The Moroccans have long built up an unenviable reputation for doping. They are, of course, not the only nation whose athletes indulge in drug-taking, but for a numerically small athletics country, the band of high achieving athletes caught drug-taking puts them close to top of the doping league."
Olympic M. Steeplechase, W. Marathon News & W. 800 News
- Evan Jager Fans, Read This: 3rd Kenyan Steepler Admits He Was Stunned He Made The Team "I was so surprised I made it since I did not believe I could beat champions. Brimin, Kemboi, Kipsiele and Mateelong have been making the Olympics and World Championships team and to compete with them and get a place left me in shock."
- Kipruto: I'm Up To Challenge Of Defending My Olympic Steeple Title "It's easier to win a title than defend it as everybody tends to watch over you because they consider you favourite. However, I am convinced that I am up to the challenge and I will emerge top in London."
Marathon - After Successful Marathon Training Camp, Edna Kiplagat Says She Wants Marathon Gold & Her Husband/Coach Says He Expects It She did win a gold at Worlds last year, but Mary Keitany is the favorite on paper.
- Recommended Read Learn All About The Life Of 2:18:20 Marathoner Liliya Shobukhova IAAF
Once a failed 1,500 runner who struggled to do speed work in -25 Celsius weather with no indoor track within 60 miles, she's now a marathon star.
800 - Semenya Says She Feels No Pressure But Is Inspired By Mandela She shouldn't feel pressure as she hasn't been running well at all. "He means a lot to me. He made me believe that I can do this, through thick and thin. Because when I met him he just told me to believe I can do it, (you) just have to be strong, that's all."
- Pamela Jelimo Wants To Defend Title - WR Isn't Important
It's Back: The Week That Was
LRC The Week That Was In Running: July 16-22, 2012 Just so we can remember how to do it, our famed "Week That Was" weekly recap is back after a two month vacation. This week we talk about another third-place tie, how an Olympic champ thinks computers are evil,
the declining fortunes of Meb Keflezighi and Deisree Davila and the rising fortunes of Duane Solomon.
Matt Taylor Redefine Running: Time To Ditch The Olympics? For the first time in decades the balance of power is shifting and many
bureaucrats are feeling the heat. They're looking for tweaks to a
broken system that they hope will appease the peasants. But I'm afraid
there's only one way for athletes and fans to permanently tip things in
their favor: Move away from the Olympic model. The sport will never
progress when every aspect of it revolves around an "amateur" event that
takes place every four years and is governed by a legal monopoly
granted "perpetual existence."
Jump Start Your Tuesday With 4 Recommended Reads
- #1: Julia Lucas' Father Laments His Daughter's Lost Olympic Dream "I could not see the finish line, but I heard the collective groan ... I looked at Margaret - my wife, Julia's mother - and we shared a hard instant that stole a piece of our hearts. That collective groan was for Julia, and we knew it."
- #2: Childhood Accident Where A Drunk Doctor Refused To Help Her Friend Motivated Sally Kipyego To Get Her Nursing Degree Article talks about her start in running and how she showed talent early, but then quit for 3 years because of a tibial stress fracture. She says no one thought she could medal at Worlds last year and even the announcer didn't get her name right.
- #3: A Look At The Ultimate Struggles Of The Two Men Who Finished Behind Jesse Owens In The 200 In 1936 Mack Robinson, Jackie's older brother, went back to a racist Pasadena, CA, whereas Dutchman Martinus Osendarp ended up being convited of war crimes.
- #4: Road To The Olympics: Morgan Uceny Poised To Medal After Years Of Struggling Interesting look at Uceny's childhood as a farm girl in Indiana where she worked for her father hauling mortar and bricks and originally quit running to focus on basketball (even after she finished 3rd in the state as a freshman).
RecommendedRead: Emil Zatopek Wasn't Just One Of The Greatest Olympic Distance Champions - He Also Was A Great Man Of Principle Who Stood Up To The Soviets (link fixed) As a result, the 4-time gold medallist was forced to work as a laborer in a uranium mine at the age of 45.
Running 3:30 Has Its Advantages After Big PR, Nick Willis Gets High-Speed Police Escort To Take Him To Have Dinner With Prince Albert Of Monaco
More Doping Positives
Boston Marathon Runner-Up Jemima Jelagat Sumgong DQed For Doping, As Is Hamburg Marathon Winner Rael Kguriatukei (Kiyara) Both are Kenyan. Sumgong, who only has a 2:29 PR but came within 2 seconds of winning in the heat of Boston, goes out for a cortisone violation and Kiyara, who ran 2:23:47, for a steroid.
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.
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.
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
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."
Help Out A LRCer Who Has Terminal Cancer: Help Cancer Guy
LRC It's Official: The NCAA Says Its Athletes Can't Be Coached By Their Actual Coaches In The Olympics The NCAA seems to officially be a joke. Imagine training your whole life for the Olympics and then being told your actual coach can't coach you in the Olympics unless they are listed as an official coach by the national governing body even if the NGB wants them there and gets them credentials. *Discuss
Silas Kipruto Repeats As Bix 7 Road Race Winner Ryan Bak was first American in 11th. Margaret Muriuki won for the women with Caroline Rotich 2nd, Julia Lucas 3rd and Catherine Ndereba 9th.
Kaylin Whitney Breaks 100/200 Youth Records Of Sanya Richards-Ross Whitney ran 23.41 in the 200 and 11.59 in the 100 (Ross's records were 11.61 and 23.63).
Peter Kirui Dominates Bogotá Half Marathon In 1:02:26 Gladys Cherono won the women's race in 1:13:27.
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.
New York City Half And Peachtree Winner Peter Kirui Running Bogota Half This Weekend
IAAF Announces 9 Doping Suspensions And The Worldwide Press Eats It Up
Rojo Nine Over-Hyped Doping Suspensions Or A Savvy PR Move Gone Too Far? Headlines across the globe are talking about the 9 doing suspensions announced by the IAAF on Wednesday. Yet LetsRun.com co-founder Robert Johnson finds himself not happy with the way the development was announced and broadcast to the world. *MB:
IAAF finds 6 new dopers using biological passport
More Doping News:
*World Indoor HJ Champ Dimitrios Chondrokoukis Is Busted
*Mathew Kisorio (58:46 Philly Half Marathon) Busted
*New Test For HGH Available At Olympics
First Olympic SNAFU: North Koreans Furious As Organizers Accidentally Display South Korea's Flag Instead Of Theirs The game was delayed for an hour after the North Korean team refused to leave the locker room.
General Olympic Stuff
- At The London Olympics, You Even Have To Pay To Go To The Bathroom Journalist Shares His Unfotunate Experience Apparently it costs 20 pence (about 31 cents).
- In The Past, Countries Tried Anything For Olympic Edge, Even Spying New York Times
- Who Do You Follow? List Of Top 50 Tweeters To Follow During London 2012 For the US, Nick Symmonds made the list, but we couldn't believe they left off Lolo Jones, who has 154,479 more followers.
2012 Monaco DL *Full Results
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
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...
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
*Jon Gugala Reviews Usain Bolt Video Game "Bolt!" An iPhone App "Think of Bolt! as the Angry Birds for the track and field fan. ... a fun diversion from whatever you're supposed to be doing."
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.
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
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