USA Wins DecaNation Title *Full Results
Team USA Wins DecaNation Title; Russia Takes 2nd And Germany 3rd This is an annual scored track meet between US, France, Russia, England, China, Germany, Spain and South Africa. Alysia Montano and Nick Symmonds won the 800s, Shannon Rowbury the 1,500, and Bridget Franek the steeple. *IAAF Recap
Post-Olympic US News *Olympic Daily Schedule/Results *LRC Check Prediction Contest Scores
- Doug Logan: "Project 30 Was A Huge Success" Logan made reference to the bitterness between Lolo Jones and Dawn Harper/Kellie Wells when he said, "Other than the unsavory drama surrounding our female 100m hurdle finalists, team members appeared to comport themselves with dignity and good sportsmanship on and off the track."
- LRC Summary of Significant Track & Field Stats from 2012 London Olympics From the six Olympic record to the 4 world records to the 4 fastest times to not make the final. We've got you've covered thanks to ace Ken Nakamura.
- Nasdaq Chief Exec Robert Greifeld Chairs The USATF Foundation And Wants To Make Track More Popular Greifeld: "Sitting there as a lifelong track fan and to be in a stadium where there are 80,000 screaming people for the sport that you love, you say, 'well why can't this happen more often?'"
- Nike Exec Says T&F Needs To Take Advantage Of Olympic Momentum To Gain More Fans He said track should try to emulate what the IPL did with cricket in India.
- Amy Hastings Has Left Mammoth Track Club And May Join Hansons-Brooks Distance Project *MB: Mammoth- another one bites the dust?
- Chaunte Lowe Starts New Career As High School Trigonometry Teacher
- Julie Culley: "You almost get tainted being around so many Olympians ... it's almost like, 'oh, is it really that cool to be an Olympian?'"
More Post-Olympic News: A Lot Of Athletes "Went Missing" In London
- Eritrean Steeplechaser/Flag Bearer Seeks Asylum In UK To Flee Repressive Regime Where He Was Forced To Be A Solider
- A Congo Athlete And Three Coaches Add To The List Of Athletes Who Have "Gone Missing" In London
- Rule 40 Rests For Another 4 Years: Expect To See A Lot More Olympians In Ad Campaigns Now That The Olympic Blackout Period Is Over
- British Colunist On The Night Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis, And Greg Rutherford All Won Gold For The UK "This was the greatest night in the history of British athletics. It was probably the greatest day in British sport."
- NZ's Valerie Adams Might Have To Wait A Long Time Before She Actually Gets Her Hands On Her SP Gold Medal After Beijing, Nick Willis had to wait 18 months before his bronze medal was finally upgraded to silver.
- Yohan Blake: "My time will come to take over from Usian Bolt."
- Jamaica's 110 Hurdles Bronze Medallist Is Going Pro And Signing Contract With Puma But he'll continue to go to school at the University of West Indies and be coached by the head coach there.
- Paralympics: Columnist Says Oscar Pistorius, Not David Beckham, Should Be The Face Of The Paralympics
Goodbye, London
Getting High Praise in the Email Inbox:
LRC Mediocre Great Britain: You Lived Up To Your Name "For a country where pessimism is now part of the national consciousness, the Olympics were a resounding success. Not okay, not pretty good, but truly Great ..."
*IAAF's 12 Highlights Of London 2012
*London Athletes Face Post-Olympic Blues It now even has an official name: Post-Olympic
Stress Disorder, or POSD.
Stephen
Kiprotich Returns Home And Gets $80,000 Check, Hero's Welcome And the govt. will build his parents a new house.
Good Read: Everyone In Uganda Was Resigned To To Another Olympic Failure, But Kiprotich Was Determined To Save Them The week before the marathon, he posted on facebook: "Am coming with the weapons to save our country."
More London Leftovers:
- Bolt's Latest Endorsement Offer: 1% Stake In Shutl And "All The McNuggets He Can Eat" For Helping Them Set The WR For Fastest E-Commerce Delivery
- Extremists Target Tunisian Steeple Silver Medallist For Her Uniform Being "Too Revealing"
- Russia Giving Audi Luxury Cars To All Olympic Medalists
- RunBlogRun: After Having Their Oldest Team Ever, The US Is Ready For A New Generation Of Men's Marathoners
- Tomorrow Night: Olympic HJ Silver Medalist Erik Kynard Will Be On Late Show With David Letterman
- Latino Activist And Freelance Writer Explains Why He Thinks It's Okay Leo Manzano Waved The US And Mexican Flag At The Olympics
- Running Times Q&A With Tirunesh Dibaba She says in 2011 when she was injured she spent a lot of her time watching her sisters and husband train.
- UK Sport Planning To Spend More Than £500 Million Funding Olympic Sports Over Next 4 Years To Try To Improve GB Medal Haul For Rio 2016
- Should It Have Been NYC 2012? During Olympics New York City Had More Tourists Than London
- Shannon Rowbury: "That is something that definitely eats at me. I don't think there's a place for a convicted drug cheat in a major championship."
- Valerie Adams Opens Up About Her Strained Relationship With The New Zealand Olympic Committee
Edward Cheserek's HS Coach Might Not Let Him Race This XC Season If He Doesn't Do Well On His SAT
2008 1,500 Olympic Bronze Medallist Mehdi Baala Ending His Season Due To Injury
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 The 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
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
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.
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 Photos
LRC 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
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.
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 THREAD
Today: Stockholm Diamond League Meet *Start Lists/Results *Watch Live (2 pm ET)
Latest Stockholm: LRC No More Steeples This Year: Evan Jager Tell Us His Goals For Stockholm & The Rest Of The Season The American record holder in the steeple is running the flat 3,000m on Friday in Stockholm. What's his goal? He tells us and also says there will be no sub-8:00 steeple this year as he's done steepling for 2012.
LRC Goodbye, London: Track & Field Action Resumes With DN Galan Stockholm Diamond League Meet Stockholm may not have Usain Bolt, but it's got a slew of recent Olympic champions competing, nine to be exact: Sanya Richards-Ross (women's 400), Felix Sanchez (men's 400 hurdles), Valerie Adams (women's shot), Thomasz Majewski (men's shot), Brittney Reese (women's long jump), Yuliya Zaripova
(steeplechase), Jenn Suhr (women's pole vault), Anna Chicherova (women's
high jump), Sandra Perkovic (discus), Will Claye (triple jump) and Taoufik Makloufi (men's 1,500, running the 800). A big focus will be the return of Morgan Uceny versus six London 1,500 finalists and Duane Solomon and Evan Jager trying to win their first DL highlight the distance events. *IAAF Preview
LRC Sanya Richards-Ross, Jenn Suhr, Valerie Adams, Anna Chicherova, Tomasz Majewski At 2012 DN Galan Press Conference The Olympic champions addressed the media and talked about their golds and what is next.
Update: Makhloufi
Is Running In Stockholm
*Sanya Richards-Ross Really Wants The One-Carat Diamond That Goes Along With Breaking A Stadium Record
*Fall Keeps Uceny Out Of 1,500 The fall caused her hips, spine and shoulders to get out of alignment and emotionally she's still struggling.
*Could Christian Taylor Get Jonathan Edwards' TJ WR? Taylor's best is 17.96 and the WR is 18.29m.
*Sally Person Was Slated To Run Stockholm And Zurich DL Meets, But Says She's Mentally Worn Out And Has Decided To End Her Season
*21-Year-Old Olympic Finalist Laura Weightman Excited To Race Again
RR: Part 3 Of 3: "It Should Be Mathematical: One Couple, Two Dreams, .04 Seconds Amazing conclusion to the article that was QOD yesterday. *Part 1 *Part 2
Dathan Ritzenhein Visits Chicago As Member Of 2012 Chicago Marathon Field To Speak With Local High Schoolers He also threw out the first pitch for the Astros/Cubs game. Suffice to say that it did not help the Cubs.
Kenya Welcomes Home Rips Their Olympic Heroes
- Kenya Minister For Sport Is Critical Of Kenya's Performances In London Speaking on the marathon, he said, "You could see they were talking during the race. They were behaving as if you are helping their Ugandan rival in an Olympic race."
- Kenyan Team Coach Says He Blames The National Olympic Committee Of Kenya For Team's Poor Performances In London He said NOC-K held a grudge over the disagreement on athlete departure dates and purposely blocked athletes' doctors and trainers from having access to the Olympic village. *2nd Article
- Results Of Kenya's Inquest Into Team's "Poor Olympic Showing" To Be Made Public
- Pamela Jelimo Blames Tactical Error Of Going Too Early For Why She Failed To Medal
- Not Everyone Is Unhappy: Despite Government Disappointment, Team Kenya Arrives Home With A Cheer And A Dance
- Kenyan Jav Thrower Julius Yego Happy With Making Final In London And Now Is Looking Forward To Worlds Next Year
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 mentioned. *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
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
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.
Olympic Track & Field *Daily Schedule/Results *Complete T&F Schedule *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.
- 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
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 ?
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."
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 - 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: LRC World Champion Yuliya Zaripova Becomes Olympic Steeplechase Champion Zaripova was a deserving championas she led fromto start to finish, getting rid of her challengers with a blistering last lap. The US's Emma Coburn PRed to finish night as Bridget Franekstruggled. *Discuss*Updated: Americans Emma Coburn And Bridget Franek React On Their First Olympic Final
W 1,500 1st Round: LRC Jenny Simpson Survives A Big Scare As Three Americans Advance And Genzebe Dibaba Goes Home (link fixed) A letup at the line is what seemingly saved the reigning world champion Jenny Simpson from bombingout in the first round. The #4 seed Genzebe Dibaba did go home.
*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."
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.
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
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.
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.
Non DL Weekend Action
- Bring Back The Mile Interview With AJ Acosta Who's Running The Live Well Liberty Mile In Pittsburgh Asked if he saw Leo Manzano's silver medal race, AJ responded, "I did get a chance to see that. I’m looking forward to seeing him get a future gold medal and Matthew [Centrowitz] getting a future bronze medal. It’s definitely an exciting time."
- Scotty Baughs, Jeffrey Eggleston & Ethiopian Tesfaye Sendeku Highlight Elite Field For Sunday's San Diego's America's Finest City Half Marathon
The Only Thing Worse Than Cheating Is Cheating And Then Lying About It
- SF Giants Star Melky Cabrera Tests Positive & Admits It "My positive test was the result of my use of a substance I should not have used."
*MB: A Doper I Respect: SF Giants Star Melky Cabrera Tests Positive & Admits It - And The Opposite Of That: French Distance Runner Gives Worst Doping Excuse Ever After Testing Positive For EPO After A Half Marathon She claimed heavy rainfall had caused water to stream over hidden medical waste somewhere near the course and the EPO-laced rainwater splashed onto her shorts, thus contaminating her urine. She got a 2-year ban, but with a story like that, they should have gone for 4.
- Nadzeya Ostapchuk Says Valerie Adams Is The Cheat, Not Her She has voiced many crazy conspiracy theories such as doping was the real reason Adams was left off the start list, not an administrative error, and that she's been framed by her former coach.
- No Shame: Belarus Olympic Committee Will Seek Reinstatement Of Ostapchuk's Medal
London Games Are Over But Track Is Not: DL Schedule
- 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 200 Includes Ryan Bailey, Wallace Spearmon, And Adam Gemili Jenn Suhr headlines PV.
*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
- David Rudisha And Usain Bolt Headline List Of Olympic Medalists At Zürich DL Meet
- 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.