"She should not let them take away her medal. She is a woman and that's it, full stop. A gender test cannot take away from you who you are."

- India's Santhi Soundarajan talking to Time Magazine about Caster Semenya. Soundarajan lost her Asian Games 800m silver medal in 2006 after failing a gender test and now runs a sporting school for kids from poor backgrounds. Definitely a Recommended Read.

Olympics Day 16 - AthleticsLRC Ritz Speaks USATF held a teleconference with Dathan Ritzenhein Tuesday afternoon and we quickly give you the highlights. We tell you what Ritz had to say about new coach Alberto Salazar and what event Ritz will focus on for 2012. Plus we tell you what Ritz's next race will be. Is an American 10k record run a possibility?
More: Indy Star: Bob Kennedy Not Concerned He Isn't Record Holder Any More Kennedy says it's "the closing of one chapter and the opening of another" and for his sake let's hope it's true as the same day the record fell his wife filed papers to run for mayor of Indy. *Denver Post: Ritzenhein" American Track Idol *Grand Rapids Press: Ritz Reaches Goal of 5k AR *Oregonian: Excerpts from Teleconfernece *USATF: More Excerpts

LRC
The Week That Was
This week we analyze Dathan Ritzenhein's 12:56 and try to tell you, "I told you so." We also argue that the IAAF would catch more drug cheats if they put the LRC community in charge and, lastly, we try not to forget Anna Willard and/or Shannon Rowbury.

Sept. 1 Recommended Read #1: Brief Chat With Kevin Hanson About Desireé Davila Kevin Hanson, who was so excited he lost his breakfast during Desireé Davila's amazing 2:27 11th place at Worlds, takes the reader through her running history. Amazingly, only one American woman has run faster than Davila in the marathon at a younger age, and that was Joan Benoit. Also, every time Davila - whose boyfriend has served as her only training partner leading up to Berlin - has put on a USA jersey, she has PRed.
Sept. 1 Recommended Read #2: India's Santhi Soundarajan Was Disqualified For Being A "Man" In 2006 - Says Nobody Fought For Her Time Magazine did a great job finding Soundarajan, whose disqualification left her, in her words, "physically and mentally totally broken."

IAAF Golden League Full Zagreb Results *Blanka Vlašic Jumps 2.08m *Vlašic Message Board Thread And Video Here Her 2.08 is the 2nd-best jump ever behind the 2.09m World Record, and apparently she almost jumped 2.10m, too. 2.08m is just under 6'10". Speaking of record-breaking women ... in case you missed it, Yelena Isinbayeva broke the women's pole vault WR 5.05m with a 5.06m (16'7") in the Weltklasse on Friday (of course, we overlooked everything but Ritz). That was the 15th time she has broken the record. *Zagreb Top Results: Cantwell 22.16m Shot Put Sets WL, Vlašic Jumps 2.08m
Oh, you were wondering about distance? Evan Jager ran 3:43 in a 3:36 race won by Belal Mansoor Ali.

Gateshead Results Gateshead was hit by rain and few of the times were fast. Lisa Dobriskey won the 1,500m easily after Erin Donohue made a move to the front with 400m to go. Americans had a great day overall, as Leo Manzano won the 1,500m, Christy Wurth-Thomas won the 800 closing in 58 over Berlin medalist Jenny Meadows, Nick Symmonds won the 800 and the sprinters did their job and picked up the winners' paychecks in mostly really slow times. The big upset was in the 3k, where Bernard Lagat couldn't kick with Ugandan Berlin 5k 4th-placer Moses Kipsiro, as Chris Solinsky was back in 6th. Kenyan 5k world champion Vivian Cheruiyot got the better of 10k champ Linet Masai in the 3k.
*More From Gateshead: Tyson Gay Wins 100m Into Big Headwind He's having groin surgery after the season.

2 IAAF Meets Are Monday

Aviva British Grand Prix *Start Lists/Results *MBoard Thread Here
Great Women's 3k, Tyson Gay & 12 Berlin Champs Highlight Aviva British Grand Prix
Plus the late addition to the meeting - Berlino!!! The women's 3k is unreal as it has the double Olympic Tirunesh Dibaba versus Kenya's 5k and 10k world champs, Vivian Cheruiyot and Linet Masai. Lots of Americans also are running, including Vessey & Willard in 800,  Manzano & Lukezic in 1,500, Solinsky & Lagat in 3k and Tyson Gay in 100.
*Lisa Dobriskey Within Sight Of Kelly Holmes' 1,500 Mark ... 3:59.50 Isnt Quite 3:57.90
*Gay Tad Bit Sore But Not Ruling Out All-Comers Record
*Idowu & Ennis To Lead British Charge
*Tyson Gay Believes 9.5 Is Possible For Himself
*Tyson Gay Wants To Win & Keep Pressure On Bolt

Croatia *Start Lists/Live Results
Blanka Vlašic's Homecoming/Melaine Walker & Lashinda Demus Rematch In 400 Hurdles In Highlight Of Croatia Meet
Evan Jager & Lopez Lomong will race in the 1,500.

Post-Zürich News

1st Post-Race Video Interview Of Ritz Surfaces
*Hard To Believe - Anna Willard #3 All-Time On US Outdoor 1,500-Meter List Not listed is Jacobs' 1,500 indoor time.
*Kenyans Show Form In Zürich
*A Look at How Jamaicans Fared In Zürich New 110 hurdles record was set, but Stewart exited $1 million race.

Athletics Kenya Head And Paul Tergat React Negatively To Decision To Make World XC Every Other Year Event Their reaction to the fact that Kenyans and Ethiopians dominate is a great one - other countries should train harder.

Ian O'Riordan Column:  "Berlin restored a lot of people's faith and interest in the sport ..." But will it all go to waste?

LRC: Dathan Ritzenhein Breaks Bob Kennedy's American 5,000m Record In Zürich Amazed? So are we.
More:
USA Today On Dathan Ritzenhein With Quotes From Salazar And Praise For Brad Hudson

*Oregonian Article With Quotes From Ritz And Salazar And Praise For Hudson From Salazar
Salazar said, "Brad Hudson made the cake. I'm just putting the frosting on it." We agree, as fitness doesn't change that quickly on its own, although Ritz has been sleeping at 12,000 feet in an altitude tent. Ritz: "I don't know if I believed I could do it. I thought maybe three or four years from now. This is definitely the biggest moment of my career so far. I got in a race. By the end I was closing on everybody ... even Bekele."

RRW: "I never thought of myself as a 5-K runner, I've always thought of myself as a 10-K and marathon runner ... I might stick around the track for a while ... I still can't believe it. I never thought it would be the 5-K. Marathon, 10-K, maybe, anything but the 5-K."

Recent/Upcoming Record Attempts
*Haile G To Race Duncan Kibet In Berlin On September 20 Geb has the WR at 2:03:59 and Kibet, thanks to the unbelievable Rotterdam Marathon in April '09, is the = second-fastest marathoner of all time with a 2:04:27. Maybe this will keep Rojo from blasting Geb for not racing anyone.
*4 x 1,500m World Record Attempt Taking Place In Brussels If the Kenyans send out a decent team they could smash this 32-year-old record (14:38) set by the Germans, including Wessinghage.
*World Record? Princeton's Slovenski Brothers Clear 10' Pole Vaulting Off Unicycle Then they swallow fire and walk a tightrope over a pool of sharks.
*Ritz's Blog From August 31

We Agree: Usain Bolt Says Kenenisa Bekele Deserves More Credit The great sprinter says the great distance runner deserves a lot more attention and fame.

Your Tax Dollars At Work ... Paying For Runners
*Bank Of America Spending A Fortune In Advertisements For The BoA Chicago Marathon At least our bailout money is being used to support running!
*Briton Jenny Meadows Hopes For Lottery Upgrade After World Championship 800m Medal She's been living off of 15,000 dollars of funding a year.

Rat Study Demonstrates That Runner's High Can Have Withdrawal Symptoms At least that's what the headline says. The article is confusing. We'll see if you can figure it out.

Bolt Running 200m At World Athletics Final In Greece Bolt will be running in Brussels (200m), Greece (200m), China and South Korea before, we assume, calling it a season in October.

Economists' Take On The Cost Of Running And Why Running Is Worth It Is running actually a cheap sport like everyone says it is?

American Road Race Results From The Last Weekend Of August

*Chris Thater 5k Results From Binghamton NY The locals managed to break up the Africans pretty well this year on the super-fast Thater Memorial course.
*Tesfaye Bekele Wins Spirit Of Columbus Half Marathon In 1:00:38 That's a big-time performance with some solid names behind him.
*Hood To Coast Unofficial Team Results Team Brooks Beast won in just under 17 hours.

NY Times: Are Minimalist Shoes Taking Off?

Sad News: Former NCAA Champ And Olympic Bronze Medallist David Laut Gunned Down Outside His House Checking on a noise out back, he was senselessly shot.
*Editorial: A Senseless Killing *Investigation continues

Veterans Win Hokkaido Marathon As Woman's CR Is Set (2:25:10) Daniel Njenga faded in the heat but held on for a win in 2:12 as Kiyoko Shimahara won the ladies event. *IAAF Recap

Bolt Watches Real Madrid's Opening Match, Says He Can Run Faster In 100 And 200

Great LetsRun.com Offer 10% Off AND Free Shipping From RoadRunner Sports Click Here

Caster Semenya Returns Home To Big Celebration

Video Of Caster Semenya's Homecoming It's also embedded to the right.
*ESPN's Mary Buckheit: "Caster Semenya is being treated unfairly."
*Guardian: "Caster Semenya is a hero - but in South Africa being different can be deadly for a woman."
*AP: "South African villagers praise world champion."
*South African Column: Finding The Words For Caster Semenya
*South Africa To Name Stadium After Semenya

Good For Her: New Zealander Liza Hunter-Galvan Admits She Was A Doper "There's not a lot more to say. It's an awful mistake and I deeply regret it." Although we wouldn't call it a "mistake."
*2nd Article On Doping With Quotes From Peter Snell
*Blog That Just Rips Galvan To Pieces
*MBoard Thread Of Year: LetsRun.com Message Boarders Realized Galvan Was A Cheat Back In 2005

Recommended Read: Amazing ESPN "Outside The Lines" Article On Flo Jo, Husband Al Joyner And Their Daughter Mary Unless you're a speed reader, it might take you an hour to read, but it is a powerful story.

Get Your Waffles Out Of The Attic: Cross-Country Season Starts Soon

Recommended Read: Interview With York High School Coach Joe Newton Newton touches 'em all in this fascinating read, including Abraham Lincoln and his former houseguest Arthur Lydiard. He says he never uses a computer and the key to coaching is saying each of his 225 runners' nicknames every day at practice. If you're a coach, you should read this article.
*More From Dyestat:
Eastern XC Runners Need To Know: How Is The Van Cortlandt Park Construction Coming? The question we're asking is will the HEPS be at VCP or not? Construction seems to be moving at the pace of the tortoise, not the hare.
*Dyestat's Top 25 HS XC Programs On Men's And Women's Side Are you ready for some football high school cross-country!?

Running Survey For Running Community
An Oregon runner working on his master's thesis needs runners to take his survey. The requirements are that you are over 13 years of age and run with a group or team. We figured our readers could help him out and he'll share the results. To take the survey click here.

Semenya Returns Home To A Celebration

Recommended Reads

One for the Mind: Running Within
One for the Soul: Best Efforts

From The Boards: Bolt's WR Progression

Sports Videos, News, Blogs

Bolt On Cover Of Sports Illustrated

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Berlino - GMOAT - (Greatest Mascot Of All-Time) In His Finest Berlin Moment

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