Olympic Track & Field Action *Daily Schedule/Results *Complete T&F Schedule *Entry Lists *Watch Live
*IAAF Event-By-Event Olympic Previews *LRC Check Prediction Contest Scores
What Happens To The Athletes When The Games Are Over?
- Usain Bolt Might Get A Tryout With Manchester United Soccer Team But apparently he also has an offer to play professional cricket in Australia.
- Jeff Demps Reportedly Pursuing A Career In The NFL espn.go.com He got a silver medal in London for running the heats of the 4 x 100. *MB: Jeff Demps to Play in NFL in 2012
- Wow: Trinidad & Tobago's Javelin Gold Medallist Rewarded With A Free Lighthouse Their second gold medalist ever (first since 1976) also gets £100,000, a new house, a Caribbean Airline plane named after him and is to have a landmark named in his honor.
- Athletes Are Often Left Unprepared For Retirement And Face Psychological Problems As Well As Financial Woes "Some have refused to reflect on [retirement] for more than a moment. All have felt at least some terror at what it holds."
- For Many Athletes, The Biggest Challenge Is Figuring Out What To Do With Themselves Now That They Games Are Over "Real life means confronting all of those questions about who you are without your sport and what you want to do with your life. Your passion is gone. Your focus is gone. All of a sudden you are searching when all you are used to is being focused. It's a dangerous time."
- Video: Ashton Eaton Appears On The Late Show With David Letterman
Alberto Salazar: "When Mo [Farah] Came To Me He Was The Weakest Athlete I'd Ever Trained" "He was a skinny distance runner with a great engine but no upper body ... in terms of core strength and being able to do push-ups, sit-ups and single-leg squats. He was a 90lb weakling. The No 1 thing that has helped Mo is not the 110 miles a week he puts in on the road, but the seven hours a fortnight in the gym."
US News
- Jason Vigilante To Coach At Princeton Robby Andrews will still be coached by Vigilante, as he tweeted he's looking forward to moving back to NJ. Article doesn't mention Alan Webb though. *MB: Vig to Princeton
- 59 Olympic Medals Won By Current Or Former US Collegiates
- Brief Chat With Gabriele Anderson On Missing The Olympics/Watching From Home And On What's Next
- Colorado Springs American Distance Project Adds 10 New Members, Including Robert Cheseret And Kyle Heath
Olympic Gold Medallists And Non-Medallists Speak After The Games
The Associated Press Catches Up With Morgan Uceny "I couldn't believe that this was happening to me again. It seemed impossible and unreal. My emotions just took control and I couldn't do anything but sit there and cry. It feels unfair."
*The Tall Christophe Lemaitre
Makes No Excuses For Struggling In Lane 2 In 200: "I was not able to seize my opportunity in the semifinal and I got what I deserved."
*Meseret Defar Says Her Husband Was The Key To Her Gold & Says The Religious Picture Was An Orthodox Christian Virgin Mary Her husband helped her prepare for an uneven pace and insisted she only run the 5,000.
*Pat Butcher's Praise For Rudisha's Frontrunning World Record It reminds him of Filbert Bayi's world record from
1974. Watch Bayi set the 1,500 WR from the front here and mile here.
Four Recommended Reads
- RR #1 NY Times: Kip Keino's Victory Over Jim Ryun Shattered Racial Stereotypes - The Triumph That Inspired Kenyan Runners To Be Great
- RR #2 Learn All About The Historic 1908 Olympic Marathon That Set The Distance At 26 Miles & 385 Yards The race was epic as one leader drank champagne in the closing stages, the winner was DQed after passing out, and the distance was changed to accommodate the queen.
- RR For All Women & New People A Girl's Guide To Letsrun.com This primer explains everything from the black page, to trolls, to our April Fools Day pages.
- RR #4 Running In Ethiopia: Olympic Dreams, Empty Pockets Yahoo's thepostgame.com does a long profile of a an up and coming runner who sold one third of his family's livestock to try to make it as a runner only to be ripped off by an unscrupulous agent.
Usain Bolt News
Edwin Moses - Bolt should retire now why he's on top"I am not sure it would be wise for Bolt to carry on."
*Bolt Partied Until 6am After 4 X 100 *More On Bolt's Partying
*Bolt In Negotiations To Play Professional Cricket Next Year In Australia
Sports Illustrated Debates Who's Greater - Phelps Or Bolt?
*Phil Taylor: Usain Bolt - Not Phelps Was The Main Man In London "With all due respect to the greatness of Michael Phelps, the 2012 Olympics have been, more than anything, Usain Bolt's show."
*Michael
Farber: Bolt's star power is unmatched, but Phelps' numbers set him apart
LRC Usain Bolt Beat Michael Phelps In Terms Of Twitter Mentions During Olympics
*Michigan QB Says He Can Beat Bolt In A 40-Yard Dash
*Will Olympic Sprinter Usain Bolt Give Jamaica Tourism A Jolt?
Need A Running App For Your iPhone? Runtastic Gets Praise In NY Times
LRC The Incredible Meb Keflezighi Reacts On Just Missing A Medal, Ryan Hall & Abdi Talk About Dropping Out Post-race reaction from the Americans and the medallists. Meb used the fact he was slighted and not introduced to the worldwide audience at the start, even though he was the only Olympic medallist in the field, to fuel him. Ryan Hall reacts to his first
non-top-10 result and Wilson Kipsang says he has no regrets about the 14:11 3rd 5k.
Recommended Read: Coach Renato Canova Analyzes The Olympic Marathon: "I think nobody could think of STEPHEN KIPROTICH as a possible Olympic Champion," says Canova, who doesn't think it's really possible to do well in a spring marathon and then again in the Olympics.
On The Boards: Meb Keflezighi = American Marathon of the Year! Perhaps they mean of the last 30 years.
Update On Ryan Hall, Abdi Abdirahm Dropping Out Of Marathon
Olympic Marathon: LRC The Unheralded Stephen Kiprotich Of Uganda Stuns The Field And Wins The 2012 Olympic Men's Marathon Uganda's only Olympic medal of the 2012 Games has a great color to it and it came in a historic event, as after getting dropped at
the 35km mark (21.7 m), Kiprotich stormed back to the lead at the 23-mile mark and stunned the world and Kenyans Wilson
Kipsang and Abel Kirui as the US's Meb Keflezighi was a surprise 4th. Kipsang tried to do his best Sammy Wanjiru impersonation with a crazy 14:11 5k early in the race, but that 5km segment at 1:59 marathon pace may have done him in later.
*USA Today: Kiprotich: "Now, I am known and I am happy that I am known."
*RRW Recap *AP Recap
Saturday:
LRC Mo Farah Completes The Double As The British Fans Go Wild The British fans got what they wanted on the final day of Olympic track competition (marathon tomorrow is on the roads and doesn't end in the stadium) as Farah won a tactical 5,000. Bernard Lagat came up just short in his quest for his first Olympic medal for the US as he was 4th, Rupp 7th and Lomong
10th.
*Picture: Mo Farah And Usain Bolt Swap Victory Poses
*Mo Farah Says He Wants To Move To The Marathon Eventually, But Not Yet
*MB: Official
men's 5000m thread *That was the
worst 5000m final in an Olympics ever
-
More Saturday:
- Anna Chicherova Wins Olympic HJ In 2.05m American Brigetta Barrett set a big PR to get silver. Chaunté Lowe came in as a favorite to medal, but was a disappointing 6th.
- Come On, Ryan Hall! US Is 1 Medal Shy Of The Ambitious 30-Medal Goal Set After Beijing USATF release that includes athlete quotes from Saturday.
- Strange Jav Competiion Leaves All The Favorites Out Of The Medals And Allows Keshorn Walcott To Get Gold For Trinidad & Tobago He set a NR and was his country's first-ever Olympic throwing events finalist, let alone medallist. Trinidad's first gold in any event since 1976. Kenya's "YouTube Man" Julius Yego finished 12th.
- IAAF Saturday Recap
Steve Cram Praises David Rudisha And Says He Thinks He Can Go Sub-1:40 He also says he thinks Bolt would definitely beat him over 400 meters. *MB: When will we see 1:39.XX
How Would The Winners Of Previous Olympics Fare Against The 2012 Victors?
Friday
W 1,500: LRC Disaster Strikes Twice As Morgan Uceny Gets Tripped Again And A Former Doper Wins Gold Disaster struck twice in the 1,500 final. First at the bell when, unbelievably, Morgan Uceny was sent sprawling for the second straight year. It struck again a lap later when a former doper won gold and her compatriot, who has gone from 4:18 to 4:01 this year, nabbed silver.
*Pat Forde: "Saddest sight of the Games"
*Woods: "Half a lifetime of preparation, of dreaming, shattered in an instant."
*Battaglia: Uceny's medal hopes fall - again
*MB: *I am crying
for Morgan Uceny *Uceny goes
down! *US should
protest - Let's re-run the 1,500
*UK 1,500 Runner Lisa Dobriskey Voices Concerns Over Turkey's Asli Çakir Alptekin Being Clean Dobriskey said: "I'll probably get into trouble for saying this, but I don't believe I'm competing on a level playing field."
-
Friday Relay News:
- US Women 4 X 100 Smash World Record They smashed an almost certainly drugged E. German record. Tim Layden points out some will wonder what that means for this record.
*NY Times Article *IAAF
*MB: 40.82!!!!! WR for USA Women's 4x100!! Drummond is the man!! - Men 4 X 1: US Men Break 20-Year-Old National Record In 4 X 100 Semifinals WITHOUT Tyson Gay Or Ryan Bailey The Jamaican team ran .01 slower in the heats than the US, but they didn't have Bolt. Today's final should be good.
*Bad Handoff Involving Teen Sprint Sensation Adam Gemili Gets The UK DQed And Out Of The Final They handed off on the anchor leg just outside the pass zone. - 4 X 4: Bahamas Takes 4 X 4 Gold As US Gets Silver And Fails To Win For The First Time Since 1972 Multiple injuries hurt the US team's chances.
*The Guardian: "USA Bag Silver To Repay Relay Runner With Broken Leg"
*Bryshon Nellum Named Flag Bearer For Closing Ceremony
*Oscar P Leaves Without A Medal As SA Finish 7th Oscar P anchored, but they were already way back when he got it. - USATF Release On Relay Performances
Other Friday Results: - Pole Vault: France's Renaud Lavillenie Lives Up To Expectations As The Favorite To Take PV Title With Olympic Record 5.97m 2008 champ and former Olympic record holder Steve Hooker was a no-height, as was US record holder Brad Walker.
- Hammer: Former Russian Drug Cheat Tatyana Lysenko Wins Women's Hammer Amid Confusion Over Bronze China's Zhang Wenxiu was awarded bronze before a measurement malfunction was corrected and Germany's Betty Heidler moved up to 3rd. China appealed and it led to 3 hours of deliberation before the results were official. *IAAF Article
- IAAF Full Friday Report
Usain
Bolt Wins 200 To Become A "Legend" Bolt became the first man to win the 100 and 200 at back-to-back Olympics and become a legend in his own words. We thought he was already a legend. After leading the Jamaica 1-2-3 sweep, Bolt trashed Carl Lewis, saying he has "no respect for him" as a result of Carl's thinly-veiled drug allegations at Bolt.
More Bolt-Lewis: *Bolt Rips Lewis
*Editorial Saying This Will Hurt Bolt In US With Endorsements We Disagree. The article nails it in describing how entertaining Bolt was in the rest of the press conference.
*Article From Last Month Explaining What Lewis Said
*Yohan Blake's Watch Has Caught The Eye Of IOC Brand Police
*Four Years Ago, Warren Weir Was Watching The Olympics From The Couch, But Now He's Part Of A Jamaican 200 Medal Sweep When asked what Bolt whispered to him before the start, he said, "1-2-3." All 3 are coached by Glen Mills.
Ashton Eaton, Trey Hardee Go 1-2 In Decathlon Hardee: "It's safe to say my reign is over. I still think my best decathlon is ahead of me, but Ashton's are too."
*Ashton Eaton: "20 years on you will have people saying 'I was sitting on my couch, watching Hardee and Eaton win.'"
*USATF Release On 1-2 Finishes In Decathlon And TJ Includes athlete quotes.
Gators Christian Taylor And Will Claye Go 1-2 In Triple Jump 2nd medal of Games for Claye as he got bronze in the LJ.
NYTimes: Day Of Drama In London
-
More Thursday:
- US Relay Hero: Manteo Mitchell Breaks Fibula In First 200 Of 4 X 4 Leg, But Keeps Running To Get Team Into Final "It hurt so bad but I didn't want to let those three guys down."
*MB: What a Patriot: US's Manteo Mitchell Split 46.1 Despite Breaking His Leg 200 Meters in 4 x 400!! - Jamaican Zero: Jamaican Paper Criticizes Coaching Decision That Lead To Their 4 X 4 DNF In The Semifinal They put in Jermaine Gonzales even though he had done horribly in the open 400 heats, complaining of a hamstring injury and openly saying he did not want to run the relay.
- Javelin: Kenyan Jav Thrower Julius Yego Not Content With Just Getting The Olympic Experience He's the first African to make the Olympic javelin final and his NR throw has him currently sitting in 6th.
- Barbora Spotakova Becomes Only Second Woman To Defend Her Olympic Javelin Title
- IAAF Full Thursday Recap
Follow-Up From Previous Days' Events
- BBC Piece: What has gone wrong with Kenya's runners? This was written before Kenya went 1-3 in the 800, but is still relevant.
- 100: Tyson Gay Reflects On Running His Best Race Of Season But Still Missing Out On An Olympic Medal But Also Having One Shot Left With the Relay "I'm really really looking forward to getting a medal in the 4 x 1 relay. That's my goal. I'm going to stay focused and try and do that. If I do that, it'll definitely fill a small place in my heart."
- 1,500: Video Interview With Nick Willis The Day After A Disappointing Final Always a class act.
- 100H: Shaquille O'Neal Called Lolo Jones After 100H Final To Give Her A Pep Talk
- 110H: Liu Xiang Will Need Surgery On Ruptured Achilles Tendon Which Knocked Him Out In The First Round
*Jamaica's Surprise 110 Hurdles 3rd Placer Still Not Satisfied With The Result He was only ranked 8th in the World coming in, won Jamaica's first sprint hurdle medal, and set a NR ... it doesn't get a whole lot better than that. - Science Of The Sport Examines Jamaican Dominance In The Short Sprints And Asks Why The IOC Doesn't Set A Schedule That Allows For The 800/1,500 Double Makes the point that the Seb Coe vs. Steve Ovett double used to be a highlight of the Games.
- HJ: Some Interesting Quotes From Russia's HJ Champ Ivan Uhkov "I only accepted I had won once the American had his third failure. You cannot divide up the skin of a bear that is still alive. I had to watch and wait."
Wednesday
Allyson Felix Wins 200 Gold As USA Crushes It With 7 Medals & 3 Golds Brittney Reese also won gold as did Aries Merritt.
The meet was "was
slipping away" from the US when everything got turned around with a ton of medals. Lashinda Demus had to settle for silver despite running 52.77. *USATF
Release On Historic Day
*Layden: Allyson Felix finally strikes gold on banner night for US track and field
*After Coming Up Short 4 Years Ago, Allyson Felix And Brittney Reese Come Through For Gold In 200 And LJ In 2012
110H: Aries Merritt Is
On Fire - PRs At 12.92 As US Goes 1-2 Jason Richardson was a little disappointed he got silver.
Epstein: Merritt quest perfectionism pays off with gold medal in 110m hurdles
Reuters: After showing great promises as jr. world champ, Merritt arrives on center stage
LJ: After Four Straight World Titles, Brittney Reese Gets Long-Sough- After Olympic
Gold
*Reese Celebrates With Mom Who Told Her To Turn Down Basketball Scholarship For College & Focus On Track
Tuesday:
A Great Read: LRC Men's
1,500m Reaction, Leo Manzano Talks About His Medal, Matt Centrowitz
His Near Miss, Makhloufi, Kiprop, Willis, More LRC gives you all the athlete reaction from the crazy men's 1,500m, which saw Leo Manzano take home the first US Olympic 1,500m medal since 1968. Leo says he felt awful but his prayer was answered; Centrowitz says he was running for gold and wouldn't change a thing; Asbel Kiprop praises Leo; Nick Willlis is amazed by Makhloufi's recovery but embarrassed by his own showing. What happened
to the Kenyans?
What about Nick Willis? What about Makhloufi's injury? *LRC Leo Photo Gallery
Race Recap: LRC 1,500 Final: Taoufik Makhloufi Dominates As Leo Manzano Surprises With Silver (updated) Makhloufi's last 300 was just way better than everyone else's, as anyone that tried to go with him paid a big price. Leo Manzano had the next-best last lap as he went from 10th to 2nd as Matt Centrowitz just missed a medal by .04. *IAAF Recap
*Deadspin: Algerian Runner Booted From Olympics For Quitting A Race Reinstated After Getting A Doctor's Note
*Taoufik Makhloufi: The Man Who Won Olympic Gold After Being Thrown Out For Not Trying An honest assesment of the DQ situation and questioning the rules around it.
Tuesday PM: LRC 800 Semifinals: Americans Nick Symmonds And Duane Solomon Advance To The Final The 800 semis produced two Americans in the final, as Solomon and Symmonds got in as time qualifiers. The big names showed up in force, as the top five seeds all advanced to the final. David Rudisha won his heat, but Mo Aman had the fastest time of the day. Brit Andrew Osagie surprised even himself.
Tuesday AM: LRC Olympic Women's 5,000 Heats: Molly Huddle And Julie Culley Make Final As Favorites Advance It was a great day for the American women. Two PRs and two women to the final, as Tirunesh Dibaba began her quest for Olympic history by doubling as 5,000/10,000 Olympic champion.
LRC: Tuesday AM: Liu Xiang's Olympics (And Career?) Over With the same bib number as on Beijing, Liu Xiang left the track with an Achilles injury. This time it was after smashing the first hurdle. Then in a display of sportsmanship, he hopped on one leg the entire length of the stadium and kissed the final hurdle in his lane as if to say goodbye.
News Off And Away From The Track
- Past Australia Marathon Great Robert de Castella Calls On AOC To Tame The Olympic Village "Zoo"
- US Wrestler Brings Marijuana Issue Out Into The Open She talked openly about it and how her and teammates try to time it right so they avoid testing positive. As a defense, she said, "It's better for you to be a pothead than it is to be an alcoholic. It's better for you to be a pothead than it is to be a crackhead. ... You don't go on rampages and do all kinds of crazy stuff when you are just a stoner. You just chill."
- Seven Cameroon Olympic Athletes Have Disappeared And May Attempt To Seek Asylum In Britain
- German Weightlifter Drops 432lb Barbell On His Neck
- Gold Medal Swimmer Admits To Cheating By Using Extra "Dolphin Kicks" He said, "It's not obviously - shall we say - the moral thing to do, but I'm not willing to sacrifice my personal performance and four years of hard work for someone that is willing to do it and get away with it."
- Italian Racewalker Fails Drug Test And Is Pulled From Games
- IOC Defends Sponsorship Rules Amid US Athlete Protest
Monday
400 Final: 19-Year-Old Kirani James Wins Grenada's First Olympic Gold In The 400 Luguelin Santos took silver and Lalonde Gordon bronze. Kirani James is Mr. Clutch at age 19. Incredible.
*Grenada Prime Minister Declares National Holiday To Celebrate Kirani James' 400 Win
SI: US 400m Dynasty Comes To An End
*MB: Kirani James 43.94!!!!
RR: Felix Sanchez Weeps Tears Of Joy And Dedicates 400H Win To His Grandmother, Who Passed Away After The First Prelim In Beijing 2008 He ran with a photo of him and his grandma tucked under his jersey and "Abuela" scrawled in black pen on the straps of his spikes. When he won, he honored his grandmother
by kneeling in the middle of the track and kissing her photo.
*Yahoo PhotosLRC Taoufik Makhloufi (One Of The 1,500m Favorites)
Kicked Out Of Olympic Track Meet Reinstated Makhloufi's
performance in the
1,500m semifinal on Sunday was absolutely stunning but not as stunning as what happened 15 hours later. Less than 24 hours after the race, he was disqualified from the meet for not giving an honest effort in the 800m round 1 on Monday. After an appeal, he has now been reinstated. *Discuss
More 800: LRC The Americans React - Nick Symmonds & Duane Solomon Are Still Dreaming Of Medals As The 36-Year-Old Khadevis Robinson Fails To Make Final Yet Again KD has represented the US 9 times and has never made an outdoor final. We catch up with a disappointed Robinson as well as Duane Solomon and Nick Symmonds, who both won their heats and want to medal.
800 1st Round Race Recaps: LRC Duane Solomon Looks Like A 1:43.44 Guy As He Dominates His Heat As He And Nick Symmonds Advance To The Semis
*David Rudisha Rules Out Going For His Own WR At The OlympicsLRC Men's
1,500 Semis: After A Stunning, Stunning Win In Heat 1 - Do We Have A New Favorite? Algeria's Taoufik Makhloufi's win in heat 1 over reigning world and Olympic champion Asbel Kiprop came so quickly and was so dominant that former 1,500, mile and 2,000 world record holder Steve Cram couldn't believe what he was seeing. Is it too good to be true? Or is something wrong with Kiprop (and the others in his heat)? In the end, the major players all advanced,
including two Americans,
three Kenyans and Nick Willis. Is Andrew Wheating's season now done?
*Kiprop: "I have a slight strain with my hamstring but there's nothing to worry about."
*Discuss
*Or Is It An Achilles?
Saturday
LRC Men's
10,000m: Mo Farah Gets It Done As Galen Rupp Gets Historic Silver Mo Farah powered home to win Britain's third track gold medal of the night and first long-distance gold in 104 years, as his training partner Galen Rupp got America's first men's flat long-distance track medal since 1964 with silver. The bronze went to Ethiopia's Tariku Bekele, as he held off his brother, Kenenisa.
More On Rupp's Historic Day:
- RR: Tim Layden: "Farah, Rupp Solidify Brotherhood With Historic Finish In Olympic 10k" Sports Illustrated
- Kenenisa Bekele On Rupp And Farah: "I knew they were dangerous, but I can't stop them." Oregonian
- MB: FARAH WINS! RUPP SILVER. SALAZAR SEALS HIS LEGACY!!!
- I Cried Watching Rupp Get Silver
- Oh my GOD what is Rupp going to do in the 5000??????
- RUPP COULD HAVE WON IT
- Cam Levins nowhere to be seen on final lap
- What happened to Ritz
Friday
LRC Women's
10,000m: Tirunesh Dibaba Makes The Case For Being The Greatest Ever The Tirunesh Dibaba/Vivian Cheruiyot dual did not live up to the hype, as Dibaba was simply stunning the final 500 meters, crushing the field to assert her claim to best female distance runner ever. Sally Kipyego
got second, Vivian Cheruiyot third. Afterwards, Dibaba said she wants to run a marathon next year.
*MB: Dibaba!!? wtf *OFFICIAL WOMENS 10 000M THREADLRC 1,500
Round 1: The Favorites And All 3 Americans Advance But Not Without Some Intrigue Andrew Wheating has been doing more swimming than running, Nate Brannen has been just running, Nick Willis is/was planning for the final, Asbel Kiprop is trying to save energy, and Nixon Chepseba nearly fell. It doesn't matter. All of them are in the semifinal. LRC recap,
analysis, and post-race athlete reaction.
*Nick Willis Fitter Than When He Got Silver In Beijing He says he's been so excited it's been hard for him to sleep more than 6
hours a night.
*MB: Chepseba has been reinstated to the 1500m *NBC snubs Wheating!!! *The Official Men's 1,500m Thread
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."
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
*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.
*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."
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 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.
Australian Hurdler's Provocative Pre-Race Dance Generates Thousands Of YouTube Hits
*MB: Michelle Jenneke Warm Up Routine. Oh, My ...
Start Your Wednesday Off Right With Some Good Links
- Great For Some Laughs: Mo Farah Running Away From Things You won't regret clicking this.
- Recommended Read: It Should Be Mathematical: One Couple, Two Dreams, .04 Seconds Part 1 in a 3 part series about Ian Dobson and Julia Lucas from a reporter who spent some time interviewing Dobson during the US Trials. LetsRun.com and the Message Boards get mention. *Part 2
- Incredible Read: Cyclist Who Once Doped But Now Has A No-Doping Team Writes In NY Times About Why He Once Doped "If you just said no (to doping) when the antidoping regulations weren’t enforced, then you were deciding to end your dream, because you could not be competitive. It's the hard fact of doping. The answer is not to teach young athletes that giving up lifelong dreams is better than giving in to cheating. The answer is to never give them the option. The only way to eliminate this choice is to put our greatest efforts into antidoping enforcement."
- Inspirational Story: Talented Runner Makes Return To The Roads After Being Told By 3 Doctors He Has Hip Dysplasia And Would Never Run Again
Support A Great Cause: 10-Man Team Will Attempt To Break 1,000-Mile Relay WR In Memory Of Penn State PVer Who Died Competing In 2002 The Kevin Dare Foundation provides college scholarships to severely injured or ill high school student athletes. Penn St. alum Ryan Foster among those running. *Website
More Olympic Drug News
- Nadzeya Ostapchuk Calls Olympic Doping Test "Nonsense" And Says She'd Be An Idiot To Take Such An Outdated Drug So Close To Competition Valerie Adams: "I say good riddance. ... I think that everyone that looked at Ostapchuk probably had a few concerns about her masculinisation."
*Head Of Belarus's Anti-Doping Agency Tries To Imply That The Positive Might Have Come From Medication Or Dietary Supplements - List Of Athletes Kicked Out Of London Games For Doping, Drunken Disorderly Conduct, Sleeping With Their Wife, And More Syria's 400m hurdler Ghfran Almouhamad tested positive after she had already failed to advance in the heats.
Apparently France Isn't Very Good: PV Champ Renaud Lavillenie Was France's First Track Gold Medal In 16 Years
The Blame Game Has Begun - People Need Explanations For So-Called Olympic Failures
- South Africa - Was Semenya Trying?
South African Sports Minister Of Theory That Semenya Wasn't Trying: "This is a beerhall talk."
- Semenya: "I tried my best."
- Recommended Read: Ross Tucker Weighs In On Semenya - It May Have Looked Like She Didn't Try, But She Was Running Faster Throughout Than The Semi!!!
- Ethiopia: Ethiopian Media Wondering How They Could Lose To A Caucasian In The 10,000
- Kenya: Kenyan Media Still Trying To Make Sense Of Team's Supposed London "Flop" - Some Blame Kip Keino
- Kenyan Sports Minister Is Disgusted With Team's Showing "It was a fiasco. The performance was terrible," said the man about the country that nearly doubled Ethiopia in terms of medals won.
- LRC Kenya Wins Middle Distance & Distance Medal Count At The 2012 Summer Olympics
- NZ: John Walker Doesn't Hold Back On Nick Willis: "He got beaten by bunnies. The guys are not even in his league, not as good as him, not as fast as him." If that wasn't enough, he added, "He should have been in the top three."
- Was Willis Suffering From "Adrenal Exhaustion?"
- After 1,500, Nick Willis Said He's Still Improving At 1,500 & Will Stay There - Doesn't Want To Move To Altitude To Focus On 5k
- Jamaica Coach: "Blame Me" For 4 X 400 Mishap As "I Picked The Team" Don Quarrie decided to go with Jermaine Gonzalez, who pulled up injured. "I'm the one who signed off on the decision and made the final call."
- Gonzalez's Coach - He Wasn't Injured Beforehand
- After Failing To 3-Peat In 200, VCB Says She Wants A 5th Olympics In Brazil
- China: *Liu Reutrns To China And Says He Wants To Compete Again
- Liu Xiang Had "Very Successful" Surgery On Ruptured Achilles
- At Least They Are Happy In Uganda: Kiprotich Mania Hitting Uganda - People Are Sending In Money To Reward Star - So Far 18 Million Is Raised 18 million Uganda shillings - which is just more than $7,000 dollars.
- Ugandan Media Wondering How In God's Name Did Kirpotich Win The Marathon
Important Weekend Action That We Missed
Russian Women Compete In High Heels Over 50m For $3,000
Post-Olympics News
- You May Have Hated The Tape Delay, But NBC Doesn't Care
NBC Network Draws Best Audience Ever If you are keeping score, LetsRun.com also smashed its own traffic numbers.
MB: when will a producer with a clue cover the marathon for NBC? - BBC: What's next for British Athletics and Charles van Commenee? In the jubilation over the gold medals led by Mo Farah, people forgot that van Commenee promised to resign if they didn't win 8 medals and Britain only won six.
- London Media: The Rest Of The World - Not Just Us - Have Declared 2012 To Be The Greatest Olympics Ever
- A List Of All 75 National Records Set In Olympic Track & Field Action
- For Second Time In A Row, Spanish Track & Field Team Wins Zero Medals The increased doping controls are working, we guess.
- Lord Colin Moynihan To Step Down As Chairman Of The British Olympic Association
- Team GB Says They'll Do Even Better In Rio In 2016
The Olympics Are Over - Now It's Time To Start Counting The Doping Positives
And So It Begins
Women's
Shot Put Champion Stripped Of Gold For Steroid Positive - Valerie Adams Is Now The Champ
*Adams: "I am speechless with this news." Wouldn't it be great if we could somehow find out how many gold medallists really were doping?
*Willis Hopes Adams Gets "A Gold Medal Ceremony At Eden Park"
*The Positive Won't Take This Back: RR NZ Press Has Been Slamming Adams For Failure For Days Adams was ripped for "not wearing her normal 'game face' when the competition began."
*Colombian 400 Runner Also Officially Busted He didn't compete but was busted in pre-Games testing.
Falmouth Was Sunday *Results *Race Website
Stanley Biwott Outkicks Defending Champ Lucas Rotich To Win Falmouth Road Race; Chris Solinsky Makes His Return To Racing By Finishing 29th Sam Chelanga was 9th; Luke Puskedra was the first American in 11th. Margaret Wangari won the women's race over Wude Ayalew and Emily Chebet as Stephanie Rothstein
was the first American in 6th.
*MB: Solinsky 29th at Falmouth
*David Torrence Wins Falmouth Mile In 3:55.79 Over Jordan McNamara As Top 6 All Go Sub-4 Brenda Martinez won the woman's race in 4:26.76 as Gabriele Anderson was 2nd. (scroll down for article)
Olympic Track & Field Action Has Started *Daily Schedule/Results *Complete T&F Schedule *Entry Lists *Watch Live
*IAAF Event-By-Event Olympic Previews *LRC Check Prediction Contest Scores/Change Picks
Saturday: W 800: LRC The World Champion Is Now The Olympic Champion As Mariya Savinova Wins Comfortably Over Caster Semenya (updated) Russia's Mariya Savinova came from way back to win the gold comfortably in 1:56.19 and retain her global superiority. Caster Semenya had a blazing last
100 to grab the silver, but waited
way too long to kick to challenge for gold. Defending champ Pamela Jelimo led with 200 to go, but faded badly and was the first outside the medals.
*David Epstein: "Silver Medal in 800 meters Offers Little Clarity in Semenya Speculation" Talks about speculation as to how Semenya came out of nowhere again to get silver and points out how those who objected to her in the past (such as Savinova) seem to be fine with her now that she's losing.
-
Saturday Relay Action:
- Bolt Is 6-For-6: Usain Bolt And Jamaica Make History With A New 4 X 1 World Reocrd (36.84) Bolt gets his back-to-back triple crowns. The US was second, actually equalling the old WR, but still well beaten by Jamaica. *IAAF Event Report
- Tim Layden: "In a Games filled with memorable moments, few resonate like Bolt"
- It Was A Disappointing Games For "White Lightning" Christophe Lemaitre This article was from before the 4 x 1 final, but we doubt he's any happier, as France just missed a medal.
- MB: Tyson Gay
got destroyed by Blake
*We Hope This Is A Troll: Ryan Bailey blew it and cost the U.S. a Gold Medal in the 4x100 He got the baton on the anchor dead even with Bolt. - US Women Win 4 X 4 Relay With Fastest Time In 19 Years Allyson Felix gets her 3rd gold medal of the games, Sanya Richards-Ross her 2nd. Richards-Ross said, "By the time I got the stick, it was basically a victory lap." *MB: ALLYSON FELIX JUST SPLIT 48.8
Friday
W 5,000: LRC Meseret Defar Stunningly Stops The Coronation Of Tiruneh Dibaba The script was all set. Tirunesh Dibaba was to complete the "Double Double" and become the first women track athlete with four individual golds. Only thing was, the person making history ended up being Meseret Defar.
*Reuters Defar's golden focus pays dividends Defar said she's had great health and says she changed training to prepare for a tactical race. The religious Defar says she feels "born again."
*Defar Says She Will Now Move Up To The Marathon She's ran one half before in 67:45. Dibaba has said she's making the same move, so their rivalry isn't over yet.
*AP Recap
The Bolt Show
- Philip Hersh Criticizes Bolt's Self-Proclamation To "Legend Status" Hersh: "If it were the Last Supper, Bolt would take the seat in the middle. He turned amusing self-aggrandizement into annoying self-apotheosis."
- RR: WSJ Says Don't Try To Deny It, You Loved Every Minute Of Bolt's Celebration "You like this stuff or you don't; a fancy end-zone dance is definitely not everyone's favorite thing, and I'm sure it's pushed some fans away from the game. But these are the kind of people who hate pizza and scream at dogs."
- Seb Coe: "Bolt was good, Rudisha was magnificent." Coe: "[Rudisha] had the balls to go in there and think 'I am so much better than anyone else that I could [run a world record]' ... It was the performance of the Games, not just of track and field, but of the Games."
- USA Today: Michael Phelps And Usain Bolt, Who's Better? Sebastian Coe would say David Rudisha.
- NY Times On Usain Bolt: "Once You're A Legend, Then What Do You Do?"
Other Olympic And Non-Olympic News
- Paula Radcliffe Has Been In Tears Over Olympic Heartbreak As She Prepares For Foot Surgery
- No DMR? IAAF Create New World Relays Competition They list events as 4 x 100, 4 x 400, 4 x 200, 4 x 800 and 4 x 1,500, but say nothing about a DMR. We're not sure how you can have a relay meet without a DMR.
- NY Times Asks If Race Walking Should Be Thrown Out Of The Games Since All The TV Coverage Makes It Obvious They're "Cheating" We wouldn't miss it.
- Belgian Cyclist Out Of Olympics After Appearing In Photos Being Carried Into A Cab While Passed Out Drunk But he wasn't in the athlete village, disturbing anyone or - as far as the article says - making a scene or causing trouble. Seems like an overreaction to make him miss the closing ceremony.
Thursday
800 Could Be Was Epic:
LRC David Rudisha Becomes A Legend By Winning Gold With A World Record In The Greatest 800 Race In History updated David Rudisha went after in London and delivered, as he became the first person to break 1:41 in the 800. The rest of the field went after
Rudisha and delivered as well as 7 of
8 runners PRed in a truly epic race where places 1-8 set new all-time best time-for-place marks. Duane Solomon and Nick Symmonds became the 2nd
and 3rd Americans to break 1:43 and amazingly neither medalled.
*MB: Rudisha
1:40.91 WORLD RECORD!!
*Epstein: How low can Rudisha go in 800?
*Science Of The Sport Analyzes The Olympic 800 Final And Rudisha's Race Strategy
LRC Duane Solomon And Nick Symmonds React To Their Historic Olympic 800s That Leave Them Short Of The Medals The sub-1:43 club has two more Americans. Unbelievably both of them will leave London without medals. Nick Symmonds ran faster in the final than he thought was humanly possible for him.
*IAAF Article On Rudisha's WR 17-year-old Kenyan Timothy Kitum, who got bronze, said, "[Rudisha] told me he was going to go fast for the line. He advised me not to follow him and to go for silver. That's why (Mohammed) Aman failed. That was our plan."
*Usain Bolt & David Rudisha: Olympic Stars United In Greatness The 800 was crazy; British runner Andrew Osagie's 1:43.77 was enough to get him 4th all-time UK and would have won any of the past three Olympic finals ... but here it got him last.
*Ultimate Track Showdown: Bolt Vs. Rudisha Over 400 Both have hinted they'd be up for it. Props to whatever meet organizer makes this happen. *MB: More
Dominant: Bolt or Rudisha ?
LRC USA's Alysia Johnson Montano Makes Olympic 800m Final So did all the other big names, including Pamela Jelimo, Janeth Jepkosgei, Caster Semenya and Mariya Savinova, setting up a great final on Saturday.
A MUST-READ BEFORE THE 800 FINALS - LRC Johnny Gray Guaranteed Duane Solomon Would Medal One Month Ago!! You've got to read this article.
LRC visitor
Silver Lumsdaine sat down with Gray on July 12th after Solomon had recently completed a crazy-fast 700/300 workout back when everyone else thought Solomon should be happy to be in London. After the workout, Gray predicted Solomon would medal. Gray says Solomon did the 700 in 1:27.72, which is 1:40.26 800 pace. *MB: Discuss
*A Great Read Kenya's David Rudisha is favourite for 800m, thanks to an Irish Brother
*WSJ.com On Rudisha: "He is the most dominant track-and-field athlete at the Olympic Games."
Thursday AM: Dream Of Bolt, Rudisha & Pistorius In 4 X 400 Ends Jamaica dropped out, Kenya tripped and finished last and South Africa didn't finish either, but they were at least put into the final on appeal. *Kenyan Paper: 2012 Misery Continues *MB Discussion
*Eaton Leads By 222 After 8 Events
*MB: Eaton Continues To Excel In Decathlon
1,500 Aftermath: Kenya's Nixon Chepseba Offered Himself To Kenyan Teammates
They should have had him or the injured Kiprop sacrifice themselves, as Kiplagat wasted a ton of energy.
Wednesday PM: LRC Women's 1,500 Semis: Jenny Simpson & Hannah England Go Home As Morgan Uceny And Shannon Rowbury Advance To Final Uceny
and Rowbury automatically qualified for the final but the dream of an
Olympic medal will have to wait for 4 more years for last year's gold
and silver medallists. America's world champion Jenny Simpson finished last in her heat and then made no excuses afterwards. Rowbury gave credit to Leo Manzano for inspiring her.
*LRC: Catching Up With Some Of The Leading Foreigners In The 1,500 We give you additional thoughts from Aregawi, Kostetskaya, Jamal, Weightman and Dobriskey.
Wednesday AM: LRC M 5,000m Round 1, All 3 Americans Advance And Medal Chances Increase As Gebrhiwet Injured, Soi Out It's a new era. For the first time
since 1932, America has three runners in the Olympc 5,000m final as Galen Rupp, Bernard Lagat and Lopez Lomong all made it. One of them, not the one you'd expect, talked about winning it. Their odds got
better as Hagos Gebrhiwet revealed he is injured and Edwin Soi went out.
W800 1st Round: LRC Race Recap: The Big Names That Start, Including The Three Americans, Advance As Sarah Attar Makes History The big names that took to the track all advanced, including the three Americans, including an injured Geena Gall and Alysia Montano, who had the fastest time of the day. But the day belonged to the two slowest runners of the
day,
one of whom was Pepperdine's and Saudi Arabia's Sarah Attar. Ethiopian star
Fantu Magiso was a big-name DNS.
LRC Column/Editorial: Sarah Attar Makes Olympic Track And Field History For Saudi Arabia In 800m, But Is It Enough?
Imagine the outrage if the South African delegation made its black
athletes walk behind the whites and told them to not give interviews or
mingle with whites."It's time for the IOC to stop supporting sexism. Gender discrimination
should be treated no differently than racial discrimination. ... How about for a start, the Saudi women come out first at the closing
ceremonies? Come out before anyone else enters the stadium, that would
be a step in the right direction."
*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.
*Alberto Salazar Says Mo Farah And Galen Rupp Are Feeling Recovered And Ready For 5k
*Allyson Felix Looking For Redemption In 200 As All 3 Americans Advance To The Final
*Usain Bolt And Yohan Blake Prepare For The 200 Showdown In What They Both Consider Their Best Event
*Asafa Powell Won't Compete In Jamaican 4 X 1 Due To Injury He's out for the rest of the season, but plans on being back in 2013.
Tuesday:
100 Hurdles: Sally Pearson Wins Gold In Olympic Record As US Athletes Take Spots 2 Through 4 Dawn Harper took silver and said, "I feel like I kind of shut some people up. You got to talk about Dawn a little bit." Kellie Wells was 3rd, Lolo Jones 4th.
*RR: Tim Layden: Jones Misses Glory In 100 Hurdles While Manzano Wraps Historic 1,500 "Because of the compressed nature of multiple-gold medal nights in the Games, it is not uncommon for journalists to find themselves stuck in the basement, watching history on a tiny screen while collecting quotes from athletes who performed in earlier events. It is unavoidable. Yet this moment was far more instructive."
*Lolo Jones Leaving The Olymipcs "Broken-Hearted" Again
*Pearson: "I didn't realize how close Dawn was until the end. I said in my head, 'Please don't let this happen. I need this.'" *IAAF Quotes
*Google's New Olympics Doodle Lets You Compete In Hurdles Go here to play the game.- HJ: Russia's Ivan Ukhov Wins HJ Gold As US's Erik Kynard Gets Silver And Jesse Williams A Disappointing 9th Ukhov's come a long way since trying to high jump drunk at a meet back in 2008.
*Top-Ranked UK HJer Robbie Grabarz Finishes In A 3-Way Tie For Bronze Tied with Canada's Derek Drouin and Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar. - Discus: Robert Harting Celebrates Discus Gold By Doing Lap Of Honor And Going Over Hurdles Set Up For The 100H Final He also ripped his shirt; officials tried to stop him. Definitely a discus thrower we'll remember.
IAAF Full Tuesday Recap - TJ: After All The Drama, Phillips Idowu Fails To Make TJ Final
- Shot Put: Nadzeya Ostapchuk Defeates NZ's Valerie Adams To Get Shot Put Gold For Belarus
*Valerie Adams Admits Having To Deal With Her Name Being Omitted From Official Start List Stressed Her Mentally As She Failed To Defend SP Title - USATF: All Expected US Athletes Move Through Tuesday Qualifying Rounds Smoothly
Monday
W Steeple:*Updated: Americans Emma Coburn And Bridget Franek React On Their First Olympic Final
*MB: What was Jenny Simpson doing?
More Monday Results:
USA! Jen Suhr Wins Gold, Denying Yelena Isinbayeva Her 3rd Consecutive Olympic PV Title; Michael Tinsley Gets The Surprise Silver In The 400 Hurdles Cuba's Yarisley Silva also beat Isinbayeva to take PV silver. In the w400H heats, all three Team USA athletes advanced to the Wednesday night final.
*30-Year-Old Isinbayeva Considering Rio Games "My plan was to get a gold medal here in London and then retire but I don't want to retire with a bronze medal so maybe I will think about Rio so at least I can get my gold medal there in Rio and then decide."- All Three US Women Advance In First Round Of 100m Hurdles Includes US athlete quotes from all events.
- Defending Olympic 400H Champ Melaine Walker Goes Home Early
- IAAF Full Day 4 Recap
Sunday
M Steeple: LRC Ezekiel Kemboi Wins Second Olympic Steeplechase Title - Is He The Greatest Steeplechaser In History? Kemboi blitzed everyone in the last 300 and had time to finish out in lane eight once again before doing his now-patented victory dance. Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad
took silver as he did in 2008 and Kenya's Abel Mutai won bronze. Defending champ Brimin Kipruto was tripped with 700 to go and heroically tried to rally, but ended up fifth. Evan Jager and Donn Cabral were 6th and 8th.
*Ezekiel Kemboi Says His Track Career Is Over Now And He'll Be Switching To The Marathon
100 Final: BOLT: Tim Layden: "In many ways, this one was better." (link fixed) If you ever thought there was a better short sprinter in the world think again. Usain Bolt delivered on the biggest stage once again in the gretest 100m final ever. All 8 men would have broken 10.00 but Asafa Powell, the man who has gone sub 10 more than anyone else in the world, pulled up before the finish.
LRC Man Throws Beer Bottle That Nearly Hits Usain Bolt, Gets Beaten By Female Judo Champ
*Lightning Strikes Twice: Usain Bolt Defends His 100m Title With A 9.63 Olympic Record Yohan Blake was second and Justin Gatlin just outleaned Tyson Gay for 3rd. Ryan Bailey was 5th.
*MB: Bolt 9.64 OR!!!! *Justin Gatlin! UGH *Bolt pauses interview to show respect to the USA anthem
*Asafa Powell Pulls Up In 100 Final With Injured Groin And Jogs In For Last Place
W Marathon: LRC Tiki Gelana Wins 2012 Olympic Marathon As Shalane Flanagan And Kara Goucher Finish 10th
And 11th The star-studded field featured Mary Keitany, Edna Kiplgat, and Liliya Shobukhova, but in the end it was the marathon's new star Tiki Gelana who got the win. American Shalane Flanagan was 10th and teammate Kara Goucher 11th. LRC analysis, recap and more from London.
*Kara Goucher After Marathon Finish: "Honestly, I haven't felt that kind of pain since I had a baby. I'm serious." Flanagan said all the turns really broke her rhythm and "trashed her legs."
*IAAF Marathon Recap *MB: OFFICIAL WOMENS MARATHON THREAD
- Women's 400 Final: Sanya Richards-Ross Gets Gold, GB's 2008 Champ Christine Ohuruogu 2nd World champion Amantle Montsho was 4th.
*SRR Comletes Climb To Top SI.com
*BBC: Ohuruogu's Disappointed To Lose Her Olympic Title And Leave Only With The Silver - M 400 Semis: US Olympic History: This Will Be The First Time In Olympic History The US Hasn't Had A Man In The Olympic 400 Final Bryshon Nellum was the first out of the final and NCAA Champ Tony McQuay was 3rd out (includes recap of other US performances and quotes from Day 3).
*Oscar P Fails To Make 400m Final He did, however, exchange racing bibs with World Champ Kirani James. - TJ Final: GB's Yamilé Aldama 5th In TJ; Kazakhstan's Olga Rypakova Takes Gold
- IAAF Day 3 Full Recap
- Saturday Leftover: Jessica Ennis Video: Says She's Passing On The Opportunity To Run The Open 100m Hurdles Even though the 12.54 she ran on Friday would be good enough to win most previous Olympic Games.
More Saturday Stuff
Jessica Ennis, Mo
Farah And Greg Rutherford
Get Gold On Britain's Greatest Olympic Night Ever 80,000 fans got what they wanted - gold for Britain. Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis delivered as promised and the bonus was Greg Rutherford's gold in the long jump on a special night for Britain.
- IAAF Full Day 2 Recap - All Events
- Heptathlon: UK Poster Girl Jessica Ennis Wins Olympic Heptathlon Russia's World Champ Tatyana Chernova got the bronze and defending Olympic Champ Natallia Dobrynska was a DNF.
- LJ: Greg Rutherford Gets LJ Gold For UK With The Shortest Winning Jump In 48 Years Will Claye got the bronze for the US.
- Women's 100: Fast Final As 6 Go Sub-11: Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Repeats, Carmelita Jeter Takes Silver, Veronica Campbell-Brown Bronze The US also took 4-5 with Tianna Madison and Allyson Felix.
- LRC Women's Olympic Steeplechase First Round In The Books: (Super-Pumped) Franek And Coburn Make The Final The favorites made the final despite a fall and so did Americans Bridget Franek and Emma Coburn. The joys of the Olympics came out when Franek learned she had made her first final.
- One Day, Three Golds For Hosts GB
- Men's 100m Round 1: Ryan Bailey Outpaces Bolt, Blake, Gay
- Former World Champ Kim Collins Reportedly Doesn't Run Because He Visited His Wife In A Hotel Room
- Dwain Chamber Happy WIth Warm Welcome From UKers As He Wins His 100 Heat In 10.02
- Men's 400m: LaShawn Merritt Goes Out With Injury
- Blade Runner Cruises To Next Round NYTimes
*Oscar P's Fitness Trainer Didn't Realize Oscar Was An Amputee For 6 Months
*Good Read: SI's David Epstein Takes An In-Depth Look At Pistorius And Any Advantage He May Have - Science Of The Sport On Oscar P's Advantage
- 400H: SA's World Champs 3rd Placer LJ van Zyl Out In Heats Of 400H
- US News: Recap Of US Performances From Saturday Finals And Quotes From Athletes
*US Gets Athletes Through To Finals In m100, m400, wPV, wSteeple (Includes Quotes)
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.
- 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 - 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
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.
London Games Are Over But Track Is Not: Stockholm Diamond League Is Friday
- Entry Lists For Stockholm DL: Deep Fields With Lots Of Medallists And Americans In w1500, wSteeple, m3,000, and m800
*MB: Makhloufi predictions for Stockholm - They're Re-Running The Olympic 100m Final On Aug. 23: Lausanne DL: 7 Of 8 Men's 100m Finalists Highlight
- Aug. 26: Birmingham DL Is August 26th: Greg Rutherford And Christian Taylor Go Head-To-Head In LJ
- Sep. 7: Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Justin Gatlin, Christophe Lemaitre Will Highlight Brussels DL September 7th
- Sep. 16: Mo Farah Moving Up: Farah And Haile G To Race Bupa Great North Run Half Marathon
- Oct. 28: WR Holder Patrick Makau To Race Frankfurt Marathon On October 28th This is the course where bronze medallist Wilson Kipsang just missed the WR by 4 seconds.
Saturday Photo Gallery: Usain And Mo
Goodbye London 2012 - Closing Ceremony Photos Gallery
LRC Asks Carmelita Jeter & Jason Richardson About Mark Block
Latest: Britain's Sunday Herald Picks Up Block Story & USADA Says "There is an investigation going on."
*Pat Forde Of Yahoo Sports Picks Up On Controversy
LRC Carmelita Jeter And Jason Richardson Answer Questions About Banned Agent Mark Block LRC's Weldon Johnson asked Jeter and Richardson about
their association with banned agent Mark Block. Jeter and Richardson, to their credit, didn't dodge the questions. To say there was tension in the air is an understatement. *Discuss
*Associated Press Picks Up Story: US sprinter Carmelita Jeter defends friendship with suspended agent Mark Block
*The Guardian Picks Up Story: "A wonderful night for the USA's athletics team turned sour when Carmelita Jeter was questioned about her links with the controversial former coach, Mark Block."
*NY Daily News *Daily Mail *San Diego Tribune
Day 8 Olympic Photo Gallery: Women's 4 X 100 WR, Uceny Falls, Women's 5,000m Final
Day 7 Olympic Photo Gallery: Rudisha And Bolt

Day 6 Photo Gallery: Allsyon Felix, Aries Merritt, Brittney Reese, Women's 1,500m Semis
Day 5 Photo Gallery: Leo 1,500m Silver, Men's High Jump, Men's 800m Semis, Men's Discus Final

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

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

Women's Olympic Marathon Photo Gallery

Non-Olympic News
- Julia Lucas Recovering From Trials Disappointment By Hitting Up The Road Circuit On the Trials, she said, "Running a safe race would have meant that I would be in London. Of course I would rather be in London. I just got mad watching that race and I went into my own race saying that I wasn't going to run in a tentative and what I considered dishonorable way. I was going to go after it. I think that for the top three women at the Trials to go is the right thing. And Kim Conley deserved to go because she got third. So do I wish I had run it differently? Yes, I wish I could have won the race. Do I wish I would have intentionally slowed the pace in order to get fourth and still go? No. That's the opposite of what I love about the sport."
- Mathew Kisorio Admits Doping He also claims EPO use is widespread in Kenya.
- Chris Solinsky To Coach At University Of Portland
More Bolt And 100m News
- Usain Bolt: "This one means more because a lot of people were doubting me saying a lot of things that a lot of people could beat me."
- Olympic 100m Final Lego Style
- The Telegraph: "Athletes Striving To Be Faster, Higher, Stronger ... And Drunker After Events Start To Finish" This one isn't actually about Bolt, but it probably will be after his events are done.
- "Weird" Olympic Stadium Security Rules Frustrate Bolt
- *MB: Bolt takes 41 steps vs everyone else's 44...
- Afghanistan's Only Female Athlete Happy To Have Had Olympic Experience www.telegraph.co.uk She ran 14.42 in the first round of the 100.
Day 2 Photo Gallery: Olympic 10,000m Final Photo Gallery

You Might Want To Update Your LRC Prediction Contest: Tirunesh Dibaba Confirms She Will Race Olympic 5,000
Mark Block Talks About His "Mistake"
LRC Mark Block Gives His Side Of The Story The banned agent talks to flotrack and says he travels to track meets across the globe as a form of therapy, says he technically he still can coach athletes (yet is never asked if he actually does), says he went into the Nike VIP suite - where he felt at home - at the Olympic Trials because it was cold, and feels as if he's paid a steep price for his mistake of ten years ago. He never tells or is asked what his "mistake" was - namely the doping of his world champion wife. We obviously disagree with his take on things and tell you why.
Day 1 Friday Photo Gallery: Women's 10k And Men's Shot Final, Round 1 Steeple, 1,500
Day 1 US Non-Distance: Reese Hoffa Gets US's First Track Medal With A Bronze In The Shot Put 2008 champ Tomasz Majewski repeated to win over David Storl. US's Christian Cantwell and Ryan Whiting were 4th and 9th. All US runners advanced in the first rounds of the w100, w400, and m400 hurdles. Carmelita Jeter won her heat in 10.83.
The Conscience Of The Sport
LRC What Are Carmelita Jeter And Jason Richardson Doing With Mark Block? All year long, two of the America's three individual track World Champions
from last year have been traveling the globe and associating with convicted doper Mark Block. Whether it's
been dinner in California, a walk to the track in Jamaica or a pre-meet stretch in China, Jeter and Richardson haven't been shy about continuing to associate with someone deeply involved in the BALCO scandal, who is currently supposed to be banned from the sport for ten years. All we want to know is "Why?"
LRC We Rank The US Mid-D And Distance Olympians' Odds For A Medal
No one has the guts to rank all the US Olympians in terms of their medal hopes but us. While we're a little fearful of the athletes' reactions, we think the piece is very positive, as for the first time in recent memory, if not ever, the US men have a legitimate medal contender in every event. *Discuss
Help Out A LRCer Who Has Terminal Cancer: Help Cancer Guy
RIP Oregon Track Clasic Founder Paul Banta
Craziest Sports Video Ever - Worth A Watch
A Legend Passes Too Young
LRC Eight-Time US Cross-Country Champion Pat Porter Dies In Plane Crash Updated: We've added a great photo of Porter with 3-time World XC Champ Lynn Jennings.
*Authorities: "There are no indications as to what may have caused this accident." Porter and his 15-year-old son and a neighbohood friend have perished.
Usain Bolt The Video Game Is Out
LRC Usain Bolt The Video Game For Iphone/Ipod - Q & A With Friend Of LRC Matt Taylor Bolt!, the Usain Bolt Iphone/Ipod free video game was released yesterday. We talk to LRC guest columnist Matt Taylor, who was
instrumental in the game coming
to
fruition.