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Olympic Track & Field Action Has Started *Daily Schedule/Results *Complete T&F Schedule *Entry Lists
Friday's Action *IAAF Event-By-Event Olympic Previews *LRC Check Prediction Contest Scores/Change Picks

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

Saturday 4:15 PM ET Live on NBC (most places): LRC Men's 10,000 Preview: Can Kenenisa Bekele Upset Hometown Favorite Mo Farah And Win An Unprecedented 3rd Olympic Gold? Kenenisa Bekele, Mo Farah and Galen Rupp are all battling history on Saturday, as no one has ever won three Olympic 10,000s, no Brit has ever won and no Yank has won since 1964. Who will defy history? We definitely give Galen a shot not only to medal but to win.


LRC 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

LRC Steeplechase Heats: Evan Jager And Donn Cabral Don't Mess Around As The Olympic Champs From Kenya Make It Interesting The Olympic distance action began well for US fans as two young Americans made the final. The two Olympic champs from Kenya both advanced as well but not without creating a scare as Ezekiel Kemboi ran a bizarre, bizarre race. But in the end, he ended up just where he did last year at Worlds - out in lane 6 or 7 in the front.
*LRC Impressive Day 1 Stats From the 2012 Olympic Games Reese Hoffa, Jessica Ennis and Javier Culson had a fine morning.
*IAAF Event-By-Event Recaps
Update: *Morocco's 1,500 Man Amine Laalou Tests Positive & Is Sent Home

Other Events That Started Friday:
Final Is 4:15 PM ET Tuesday: LRC Men's 1,500 Preview: Asbel Kiprop Tries To Join Seb Coe As A Repeat Champ And do the Americans have a chance?

Final Is Sunday 4:25 PM ET: LRC Men's Steeple Preview: Will Kenya's Record Streak Continue & Can Evan Jager Medal? Kenya's won every Olympic steeple they've run but they've never had a double Olympic champ. Seemingly one of those streaks has to come to an end. Will Ezekiel Kemboi be celebrating like only he and Bolt can? Plus can Evan Jager medal?

Some Doping News And Other International Stuff

• What A Mess: CAS Said He Could Compete, But Spain Still Determined To Keep Steepler Angel Mullera Out Of London After Implication In Possible Doping Mullera claimed the emails were his, but he never followed through on the doping plan. Spain wants him out anyway and said, "Nobody can play around with doping and compete in a Games and even the intent to dope should stop you being at the event. Because doping is not just about testing positive, it's also about putting in doubt whether you or your team are clean." Problem is Spain knew about it for 6 months and didn't do anything until it was leaked to the media." CAS came back with, "A national federation should pursue the fight against immoral practices regardless of any pressure exercised by the media."
• CAS Denies Bid By French Athlete Nour-Eddine Gezzar To Overturn His Ban After He Tested Positive For EPO
• Alistair Cragg Talks About How He Was Close To Giving Up, But Family, A Past Coach And Training Partner Dan Lincoln Got Him Back On Track And To London "I’ve always felt that when two people train together they see each other in their most vulnerable state, opening a window to each other's soul."
• Charles Van Commenee Criticizes Phillips Idowu's Actions And Refers To Him As The "Invisible Man"
• Video: Short Animated History Of Olympic 100m From a British perspective ... which in a word is bitter.
• Irish PVer Has To Fly Alone To Find Airline That Will Carry Her Poles To London

A Look Back At The 1992 Olympic 10k Where Tirunesh Dibaba's Cousin Derartu Tulu And South Africa's Elana Meyer Ran A Historic Victory Lap Together

Bekele's Agent Says He's Ready All summer long, Bekele has looked average in Europe but his agent says he's a changed man. Last year, he transformed himself 19 days after Worlds. This year, he's had 29 to do it since finishing 9th in Paris (in 12:55).

350 Track & Field Olympians Have Collegiate Ties USC, FSU and Auburn lead the way with 12 apiece, although Arkansas has the most current Olympians at 5. The SEC dominates the conference standings as expected. *Discuss

Science, Technology And Doping At The Olympics

• Suspicions Surrounding China's 16-Year-Old Swimming Sensation Continue As She Wins Another Gold With An Olympic Record Time In the press conference, she flatly denied allegations of doping and said those claims were "unfair" and "biased."
• Science Of The Sport Says We Shouldn't Condem 16-Year-Old Chinese Swimmer As A Doper, But We Should Ask Questions "We should be suspicious, because history has shown us up more than once before."
• World Swimming Coaches Association Director John Leonard: "I have heard commentators saying 'well she is 16, and at that age amazing things happen.' Well yes, but not that amazing. I am sorry."
• Drug Testing Saves Lives: The Drug Tester Told American Beach Volleyball Player Jake Gibb He Was Suspended; Then He Said To Call A Doctor Turned out his abnormal levels were from cancer, not doping, and he was able to remove it with surgery. USADA actually saved his life.
• Science Of The Sport Talks About "Technology Doping" Do you ever wonder why swimmers all start ahead of the "WR line" on the TV and then fall way behind? One hypothesis is new improved starting blocks.
• Nature Or Nurture: Are The Fastest Sprinters In The World Born Or Made? Scientists say it's a combination.
• Malcolm Gladwell Talks To The New Yorker About How Many Olympians He Thinks Are Doping
  *MB: Malcolm Gladwell is oblivious to doping in distance running

US Olympic News

• Thank God/Hall's Coach: Ryan Hall Happy To Be Toeing The Olympic Line Feeling Fit, Prepared, And Over His Nasty Bout Of Plantar Fasciitis "To be honest, my build up for this marathon has had many rocky moments, everything from MRIs to plague-like sickness, but through it all I have been able to not miss any workouts and I feel well prepared."
• RR: Meet Staten Island's First Olypmic Medallist - Former 1,500 World Record Holder Abel Kiviat The roommate of Jim Thorpe won Olympic silver in 1912. *NY1 Video On Kiviat
• Kara Goucher And Shalane Flanagan Have Benefitted From Being Training Partners Flanagan: "We chased each other for years in championship races, and were fierce rivals, and our friendship has now evolved to a deeper level. We've allowed ourselves to be vulnerable in front of each other; we know every bump in the road we've had the last 10 months."
• Video: Amy Hastings On Taking Chances In Olympic 10k: "Fourth place is the same as last place so you might as well go for it." "I know I'm the underdog right now in this race ... I might not even be an underdog."
• Lolo Jones Criticized For Gun Tweet
• Tyson Gay: "The Quiet American Ready To Blow The Jamaican Dream Apart"

Negative News From London

• A Common Theme Among Olympic Sports: Journalist Complains About TV Commentators Covering Sports They Know Nothing About We think it's bad when sprinters try to commentate on distance races, but this was how the BBC had track runners commentating cycling. "It was like asking Gazza, Robbie Williams and Snooki from Jersey Shore to judge the Booker Prize."
• Everyone Has A Price: Journalist Has Twitter Account Suspended For Criticizing NBC He didn't technically break any rules, but Twitter has a partnership with NBC Sports. We guess even Twitter can be bought. *Go here for the journalist's side of the story.

It's Official: Paula Is Out

• Paula Radcliffe Officially Pulls Out Of London "The most important thing is, as I always believe, to know that you did all you could in going after those dreams ... However hard today is, finally closing the door on that dream, at least I can know that I truly have tried absolutely everything."
• Learn About Scotland's Freya Murray, The Woman Who Will Replace Paula Radcliffe In The Olympic Marathon She debuted at the London Marathon, where she finished 13th in 2:28:10 behind Claire Hallissey, who earned her Olympic berth that day.

Opening Ceremony News

• London Given Licence To Thrill As Games Begin With A Bang *MBoarder Disagrees: Worst opening ceremony for anything I've ever seen in my life *Cauldron lighting letdown
• Roger Bannister Is Snubbed - Little Kids Light Flame
• Here's The Opening Ceremony Tribute To Terrorism Victims NBC Doesn't Want You To See This was for the July 7, 2005 attacks in London. Meanwhile, the Jewish athletes who were massacred in 1972 get nothing.
• Kenya's President Attends Games For First Time *MB: WTF?! The Kenyan flag was just carried in by a white swimmer?! *White dude carries flag for Kenya

EPO Cheats Out

LRC 1,500 World Leader Mariem Alaoui Selsouli Of Morocco Tests Positive The former EPO cheat has tested positive a second time. Let's just say people who follow the sport day in and day out are not surprised. Perhaps the bigger question is why would an AAM member represent her and Nike sponsor her? Kudos for drug authorities for targeting her for testing.

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."

US High School Record/Incredible World Jr. Results (More On Right Column)

LRC Mary Cain Smashes American High School 1,500m Record The 16-year-old sophomore ran 4:11.01 to smash Jordan Hasay's high school record by nearly 3 seconds to finish 6th at the World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Spain.
On The Boards: MARY CAIN 4:10

Anti-Drug News

• BALCO Scandal Head Victor Conte Says Anti-Doping System Is Flawed, High-Ranking Officials Have A Vested Interest In NOT Cleaning Up The Olympics
• Recommended Read: A Peek Inside At The Top Athletes Looking For An Edge And The Scientists Trying To Stop Them Great article. A little doping science, history, and inside stories all wrapped up into one.
• Do As I Say, Not As I Do: Dwain Chambers Warns Olympic Athletes Of Doping Dangers "World records can be done cleanly. I got worse on drugs. It did not help me in any capacity. It made me a very unsociable person and ruined my career and the image of the sport."

Amateur Hour II

Update: Nike Responds (Like We Thought They Would) "Gaining entry into the Nike box is an informal process and we plan to review our protocol for access for future events." *MB: Mark Block: Nike Responds

LRC Why Was A Man In The Midst Of A 10-Year Doping Ban Enjoying The 2012 US Olympic Track & Field Trials From The Nike Sky Box? If you thought the days of looking the other way at doping were totally over, then you need to read this. Supposed former agent/coach Mark Block, who is in the midst of a 10-year doping ban, was seen by LetsRun.com njoying the Trials in the sky box of the #1 sponsor of both USATF and the Olympic Trials - Nike. All we can say is shameful. *MB: Discuss

2012 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.

From Michigan Roads To Colorado Mountains

LRC Two-Time Olympic Trials Qualifier Sage Canaday Wins The US Mountain Running Championships On His First Time Out We catch up with former Hansons-Brooks marathoner, Sage Canaday, and talk to him about his switch in race focus, decision to leave Hansons-Brooks, and surviving as an unsponsored runner. Runners like Sage embody what could be called the "American running dream," as they put off pursuing what society says is practical or normal, making huge sacrifices to pursue their dreams.

Australian Hurdler's Provocative Pre-Race Dance Generates Thousands Of YouTube Hits
*MB: Michelle Jenneke Warm Up Routine. Oh, My...

2012 US Olympic Trials *Results *LRC Trials YouTube Channel *Photos: Day 1 (10ks), Day 2 (Eaton), Day 3 (100, 400), Day 4 (800), Day 7 (5,000s), Day 8 (W Steeple), Day 9 (200, 110H) *LRC Day-By-Day Coverage *Sunday Oregonian Photo Gallery

LRCThree Best Punch Their Tickets To London As Leo Gets US Title #1 Leo Manzano, the man who had been top three every year since 2006, finally got the win he deserved but even he didn't expect. Manzano chased down Centro to get his first national title as Wheating pulled away from Robby Andrews to get third. *Men's Race Video


LRC World #1 Uceny, World Champ Simpson And Medallist Rowbury Get It Done The Big 3 came through as US #1 Morgan Uceny got her second straight US title with Rowbury 2nd and Simpson third. LetsRun.com recap hopefully coming later. *Women's Race Video
*After Winning The State XC Title As A Freshman, Morgan Uceny Quit Her Junior Year To Focus On Basketball That's what you do when you live in Indiana in a small town of 10,033 that has a high school basketball gym that seats 4,600.

Olympic Track & Field Action Has Started *Daily Schedule/Results *Complete T&F Schedule *Entry Lists
Saturday & Sunday's Action *IAAF Event-By-Event Olympic Previews *LRC Check Prediction Contest Scores/Change Picks

LRC Friends And Family Preview Of Day 2 Of The Olympic Games Track And Field The Olympics are the one opportunity track and field has every four years to expand its fan base. With that in mind, each day, we're trying to present to you an "LRC Friends and Family Guide" to the action - a quick overview of what to expect that day in track and field. We weren't sure if you would like it, but the response to Day 1 was absolutely overwhelming. So share it with your non-track friends.

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.

More Saturday AM News: Men's 400m: LaShawn Merritt Goes Out with Injury
*Blade Runner Cruises to Semis NYTimes
*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

Good Read: SI's David Epstein Takes an In Depth Look at Pistorius and Any Advantage He May Have

Also Starting Saturday:
Final Is 4:05 PM ET Monday: LRC Women's Steeple Preview: Can Anyone Stop Yuliya Zaripova? She's really good but others have joined her in the sub-8:10 range

Sunday 6:00 AM ET: LRC Women's Marathon Preview: Mary Keitany Takes On The Greatest Women's Marathon Field Ever Assembled Even with the recent withdrawal of world record holder Paula Radcliffe, the race still features seven of the 17 women in history who have gone sub-2:20, including the great Mary Keitany. Can anyone challenge her for the win? What about Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher?

Starting Monday:
Final Is Friday At 3:55 PM ET: LRC Women's 1,500 Preview: Is Anyone Favored In This Wide-Open Affair? And What About The Americans? Do Simpson, Rowbury or Uceny stand a chance? And is the favorite Russian Ekaterina Kostetskaya, who went to HS in the US?

Video: US Olympians Can Be Taxed $9,000 For Winning Olympic Medals The US (one of the only countries that doesn't provide athletes government funding) is one of only 8 countries that taxes its Olympians for Olympic winnings.

Asafa Powell Annoyed By "Excessive" Drug Testing, Which Included 3 Tests In 5 Days And Being Woken Up At 10:15PM Well, at least it's good to know London drug testers are doing their jobs.

Some Quick Stuff On US Olympians

• Where Did They Come From? List Of US Olympians And What They Accomplished Back In High School
• What Tunes Do Olympic Athletes Use In Training And Before They Compete? Scientists Say Music Can Help "A large body of scientific evidence points to the effects of music on ease of movement, perception of exertion and even on oxygen efficiency during sport. Music has been shown to improve endurance performance, helping people run 18 percent longer ..."
• Brief Chat With Shalane Flanagan's Really Fast Mom She's a former WR holder for the marathon (2:49:40).
• Blogger On Amy Hastings: "There's something to be said for the comeback. It's never an easy road to take but when [it] happens, it sends a wave of inspiration."

Good News: Verzbicas Out Of Surgery And Tweeting

Track Starts Friday And US Olympians Say They Are Ready

• Q&A With Dathan Ritzenhein "My confidence couldn't be any better. ... I feel ready to run one of the best races of my life."
• Tyson Gay: "There is a lot more [pressure] now because I really feel the missing piece, in my heart, is getting an Olympic medal."
• Andrew Wheating Interview: Evan Jager Says Talking To Michael Phelps Was Like "Talking To A Really Really Hot Girl In High School"
• Jon Gugala Uses Twitter And A June Interview To Try To Decipher Desiree Davila's Current Injury Status At this point she's still entered, but it's up in the air if she'll run or not.
• Compared To Other Decathlon Greats, The 1,500 Is Where Ashton Eaton Separates Himself 1992 gold medalist Dan O'Brien: "It's the [1,500m] event that makes the decathlon unfair. You have nine strength and power events, then you throw in an endurance race. I think for Ashton he's attacked it in a way that we haven't seen athletes do in a long time."
• Coach Says Sanya Richards-Ross Is In The Best Shape Of Her Life

Maggie Vessey Talks About Moving On After Her Disappointing Trials And Racing "B League" Meets In Europe

Random Olympic Stuff

• Good: 8 Badminton Players From China, Indonesia, And South Korea Expelled From Games For Losing On Purpose To Manipulate Next Round Seeding Was good news for the pairs from Canada, South Africa, Russia and Australia, who were out but got back in.
• Losing On Purpose, A Common Theme This Olympics: Japan Soccer Coach Tells His Team To Tie On Purpose To Manipulate Seeding For Next Round US coach says, "I think, you respect the game, respect this wonderful tournament and respect the team ... As a player I would be pissed if my coach said that I shouldn't score. It doesn't exist in my world."
• Philip Hersh Says Carl Lewis, Not Michael Phelps, Is The Greatest Olympic Athlete Ever
• Tunisia Player Gets Slapped By Coach After He Asks For Kobe Bryant's Autograph After They Lost By 47 Points

LRC Plan Ahead: 2012 Olympic Track And Field Schedule Getting to the Olympics is a difficult task. Watching the Olympics while not getting fired at work or having your significant other dump you is almost as difficult. Plan ahead and figure out how you are going to watch the track and field action live while not being fired or divorced by looking at our two versions of the Olympic schedule. *** Updated with links to NBC TV schedules for track and all other Olympic sports.

Non-US Track News

• Great Video: Nick Willis Motivated By Fear Of Failure He says he's more motivated by the desire "to avoid the pain and angst of experiencing failure" than "the allure of the glory and celebration."
• David Rudisha Not Sounding As Confident As Before About WR Attempt In Olympic 800 Final "We expect a lot but for the world record, there are a lot of things to consider, the environment and the weather but the main goal is to win the Olympics."
• Phillips Idowu Expected To Be Healthy Enough To Compete In Games
• Roster Of Track Babes In London Takes Another Hit As Norwegian Hurdler Christina Vukicevic Pulls Out

More Olympic Complaints, Debates, And Conspiracies

• Spoiler Alert: Another #NBCfail Moment: NBC Announces Results Of Anticipated Swim Race Right Before The Tape-Delay Airing
  *NBC Takes Steps To Avoid Spoiling Events For Fans Waiting To Watch Tape-Delays Without Knowing Results
  *MB: A Message from NBC About Its Olympics Coverage
• Twitter Is Getting Out Of Hand: 17-Year-Old's Criticizing Tweet To British Diver Lands Him In Jail

More On Rule 40: A Vicious Cycle: Athletes Can't Support Their Sponsors Because They're Not Olympic Sponsors; Olympic Sponsors Don't Sponsor Athletes Because IAAF Regulations Sanya Richards-Ross: "Only two percent of U.S. athletes are able to tweet about their sponsors because only two percent of athletes have USOC or IOC sponsors."

International T And F

• Not A College Star? Still Dream Big: None Of Japan's Three Marathoners Ever Won A Stage In Japan's Prestigous Hakone Ekiden And only one of three ever even ran on the prestigious 5th uphill stage.
• Pat Butcher's Great Tribute To The Great Accomplishments Of Paula Radcliffe "Even Oscar Wilde may have been stretched to describe the experience of losing three successive Olympic gold medal chances."
• Jamaican Official Describes Usain Bolt's Crazy Mile Walk To The Olympic Stadium During Opening Ceremony Bolt put on a mile-long show for fans and other athletes who all clamored to get photos and autographs. Bolt once again had to make use of his Jamaican thrower bodyguards.

The Eternal Question: Does Sex Affect Athletic Performance? Marty Liquori once said: "Sex makes you happy. Happy people don't run a 3:47 mile." Based on these studies, any effect seems to be psychological, not physical.

A Lot Of Great Advice For All You Future Sports Journalists: The Power & Glory Of Sportswriting "An editor at Sports Illustrated once advised me that the art of the work rested in telling people who already know what happened a story so compelling that they forget everything and, at the end, wish they'd been there."

We Aren't Scared Of Rule 40 Even If Everyone Else Is *Official London 2012 Entry Lists Available

LRC $200,012 LetsRun.com London Prediction Contest The very future of LetsRun.com may be at stake, but our world-famous prediction contest is back and better than ever as it's up a full week before the 2012 Games. Even though every potential sponsor we approached wouldn't touch it out of fear of Rule 40, we have given you what you've demanded - a fantasy contest that we believe is allowed by the US Supreme Court. But because of the cowardice of everyone else, the prizes have been curtailed a bit. If you aren't good enough to win $200,012 for a perfect ballot or $2,012 for a perfect distance ballot, you will be just like the Olympic athletes themselves - competing solely for pride unless you are lucky enough to get top three.
Need Help Making Your Picks?
*London 2012 Athlete Database Tracks the world's top athletes for their 2012 season. Includes this season's entire race results and individual bio pages with career achievements, biographical data, personal bests, twitter feeds, and some interviews.
*IAAF London 2012 Athletics Statistics Book Available For Download

Track And Field Olympic News

• Really Cool: Interactive Graphic Shows How Bad Usain Bolt Would Destroy The Best Sprinter From 1896 And Other Past Olympic Champs
• 2012 Olympic Race Walkers To Appear On Today Show This Morning To "Educate" Us On How To Walk Toddlers everywhere, be sure to tune in.
• Olympic Debate: Is The Olympic Marathon The Ultimate Test Or Have Big City Races Taken Over? We're surprised LetsRun friend Dick Patrick argues on the side of majors. We think the debate is worth having, but the majors rarely get the 3 best Kenyan and 3 best Ethiopians. They may have more like 8 of 10 but not 1-2-3.
• This Proves What We Already Knew - Track And Field Is The Olympics
  Some Aren't Happy That The Symbol Of The Olympics - The Olympic Flame - Isn't Visible To Fans Unless You Are In Track Stadium Well, it's visible if you have track and field tickets, as it's down low in a corner of the stadium.

Recommended Read Learn All About The Life Of 2:18:20 Marathoner Liliya Shobukhova IAAF Once a failed 1,500 runner who struggled to do speed work in -25 Celsius weather with no indoor track within 60 miles, she's now a marathon star.

It's Back: The Week That Was

LRC The Week That Was In Running: July 16-22, 2012 Just so we can remember how to do it, our famed "Week That Was" weekly recap is back after a two month vacation. This week we talk about another third-place tie, how an Olympic champ thinks computers are evil, the declining fortunes of Meb Keflezighi and Deisree Davila and the rising fortunes of Duane Solomon.

Matt Taylor Redefine Running: Time To Ditch The Olympics? For the first time in decades the balance of power is shifting and many bureaucrats are feeling the heat. They're looking for tweaks to a broken system that they hope will appease the peasants. But I'm afraid there's only one way for athletes and fans to permanently tip things in their favor: Move away from the Olympic model. The sport will never progress when every aspect of it revolves around an "amateur" event that takes place every four years and is governed by a legal monopoly granted "perpetual existence."

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 last year's World Champs where the two discuss his required doping for the 2012 season. The Spanish federation was aware of the doping exchange months ago but hadn't acted on it until it was leaked to the press.
  *MB: Spanish steeplechaser's leaked EPO discussion / doping plan for 2012
• Mathew Kisorio (58:46 Philly Half Marathon) Busted
• Interesting Read: Jenny Meadows Says After Losing To Drug Cheat, She Changed Her Training And Got Hurt & Missed Out On Olympics Stunned to have been run down in the last 200m, she figured she needed big changes.
• Pat Butcher: Are The Moroccans The Gold Medallists Win It Comes To Doping? "The Moroccans have long built up an unenviable reputation for doping. They are, of course, not the only nation whose athletes indulge in drug-taking, but for a numerically small athletics country, the band of high achieving athletes caught drug-taking puts them close to top of the doping league."
• Recommended Read From Cycling: Running Needs A Fan To Do This: Fan Writes "An Open Letter To The Peloton" About Importance Of Anti-Doping Whoever writes it, please CC John Capriotti at Nike and the folks at USATF.

Saudia Arabia Sends Women To Olympics

LRC Meet Sarah Attar - Saudi Arabia's First Female Track & Field Athlete The woman who will make history in traditional Islamic attire at the Olympics is a Pepperdine sophomore who runs in shorts during the collegiate season. She's never run an 800 in college, but that's what she'll run in London.
*NY Times: Attar's Family Asked School Website To Take Down Photos Of Her Competing In Singlet And Shorts
*Philip Hersh Says Recent Gender News Isn't Quite As Good As It Seems Still needs to generate change at home.

LRC What Does The Paris 5,000 Mean For Galen Rupp's Medal Chances? Before Friday, only 10 men in history had broken 12:50 for 5,000. Now after on amazing race, 16 guys have done it. Surely this is the end of Galen Rupp's medal chances, right? Wrong. We argue that once one gets over the initial shock of the "6 Guys Under 12:50 In Paris" headline, then one realizes there were plenty of encouraging results in Paris for Rupp. *Discuss

London Diamond League *Day 2 Results *Day 1 Results *Event-By-Event Results

LRC Day 2: Nick Willis Goes For It, The American Mid-D Men Struggle & Molly Beckwith Pulls Upset On Day Full Of Upsets Day 2 was full of a lot of upsets, particularly on the women's side, as Carmelita Jeter, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Sally Pearson, Janeth Jepskosgei, Amantle Montsho and others were upset. The highlight from a LetsRun.com standpoint was wacky men's mile, where Nick Willis had a 3.5-second lead at the bell. It wasn't a good day for Bernard Lagat, an awful day for Leo Manzano, and a day to be remembered for Molly Beckwith, who suffered heartbreak at the US Trials. But the American who had the best day may have been Nick Symmonds - and he didn't even run.
LRC Day 1: Mo Farah, Vivian Cheruiyot Win With Ease As Maryam Jamal Shocks Women's 1,500 Field Mo Farah beat a week field that included training partner Dathan Ritzenhein, the American 1,500m women did not impress, Vivian Cheruiyot kept it going, and Aries Merritt stepped up again, as Tyson Gay came from behind to win.
More: Track & Field Athletes' Association Statement On Nick Symmonds & Lolo Jones Being Barred From Meet *MB Thread

Samsung DL Paris *Results *MB Discussion *LRC Winners Photo Gallery

LRC Paris Recap: A Sensational Men's 5,000, A Troubling Women's 1,500, And David Rudisha's 1:41 Highlight Fans of Galen Rupp, Bernard Lagat, Kenenisa Bekele, Jenny Simpson and Morgan Uceny probably had a hard time watching this meet as the results of the men's 5,000 and women's 1,500 were stunning to stay the least. Plus Tyson Gay vs. Justin Gatlin. Read all about it. *Discuss
*Results Video highlights for US visitiors in player on right.
*LRC Winners Photo Gallery

Down Goes Bolt #2: Blake 19.80 Over Bolt 19.83 Bolt had the lead in this one and ran horribly the last 100. Video here.
*Bolt: "It is not like I was blown away. I know what I need to do to get it right."