August 13, 2016 Homepage Archive

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Archived Homepage For August 13, 2016

Quote Of The Day

“Three basic things. I did my training, especially 5,000 and 10,000. Number two, I praise the Lord. God has given me everything, every blessing. My doping is my training. My doping is Jesus. Otherwise, nothing. I am crystal clear.”

– Almaz Ayana speaking yesterday after running 29:17.45 to win the 2016 Olympic 10,000m and break Wang Junxia‘s “controversial world record.” *Discuss

Men’s 10,000: Farah Is Golden Again

LRC Mo-nificent: Mo Farah Survives Fall & Repeats As Olympic 10,000-Meter Champion updated with post-race comments Farah survived a fall, some team tactics from the Africans and a brave final effort by Tanui, but came out on top once again. 27:05.17 over Tanui’s 27:05.64 as Tamirat Tola held off Yigrem Demelash for the bronze. Galen Rupp was 5th; Geoffrey Kamworor was a non-factor in the end, finishing 11th. Recap and analysis to come. Video highlights

Post-Race Reaction from Galen Rupp, Zane Robertson (Kiwi record), Mo Ahmed (last place), and more.

MB:Mo Farah Defends His Olympic 10,000 Title, Blowing By Paul Tanui In The Final Meters

All Your Non-Distance Friday Action

LRC Michelle Carter Unleashes An American Record (20.63m) On Her Final Attempt To Stun Valerie Adams For Olympic Shot Put Gold Medal32 years ago in Los Angeles, Carter’s dad Michael earned Olympic silver in the shot put. His daughter did him one better tonight in Rio, coming through for gold in the final round under the most pressure imaginable.
*Michael Carter Says “There’s No Comparison” Between Being Olympic Champ And Super Bowl Champ (Shot > Super Bowl)

*Other (At Bottom Of Shot Article): Women’s 100m Round 2, Men’s 400m Round 1, Heptathlon Day 1.
*The Guardian:Jessica Ennis-Hill Leads After Heptathlon Day 1 As Greg Rutherford Survives Scare In LJ Ennis-Hill leads by 72 points as Greg Rutherford almost didn’t get a mark after fouling his first two jumps.
*Jessica Ennis-Hill Vs. Katarina Johnson Thompson: Event-By-Event, Who Is Stronger?

Mid-D Prelims

LRC Women’s 1,500 Prelims: Genzebe Dibaba Gaps The Field As Does Dawit Seyaum As All Three Americans Advance We break down the 1st round of the women’s 1,500 for those of you that were out on a Friday night.

LRC Men’s 800 Prelims: Look Out World, David Rudisha Is “Almost Close” To His 2012 Form; Clayton Murphy Scrapes Through, Boris Berian Advances And 2012 Silver Medalist Nijel Amos Goes Home Rudisha looked great, leading all qualifiers with his 1:45.09 as Murphy ran 1:46.18 behind him but only made the semis on time. Amos faded badly and was only seventh in his heat in 1:50.46 while American Charles Jock (6th in heat 4) was also among the casualties.
*MB: Clayton Murphy draws the Heat of Death for 800 semis – Rudisha, Kszczot and Souleiman!!! What should he do?

More Doping News

Why Not Ban Him For Life?Italian Racewalker Alex Schwazer Gets 8-Year Doping Ban Schwazer will not be stripped of the World Racewalking Team Champs gold he won in May, which means Aussie Jared Tallent was denied yet another gold medal ceremony.
Russian Paralympic Commitee President Appeals To Thomas Bach To Help Overturn Their Ban From Rio
NY Times:In the Olympic Pool, Contempt For Drug Cheats Rises To The Surface

General Rio News

Bomb Scare Causes Basketball Game To Begin With No Crowd A controlled explosion was carried out on a backpack left in a bathroom.
Former US Air Force Captain Accuses Rio 2016 Organizers Of Hiding The Truth About Attack On Media Bus Security officials claimed the attack was only rocks thrown at the bus, but the former Air Force captain who was on it says she recognized the sound of gunfire.
Photo Of North And South Korean Gymnasts Taking A Selfie Together Hailed As “Capturing The Olympic Spirit”
NY Times:“Many Soldiers, Few Signs, Long Lines: The Rio Games Beyond the TV Screen” The author writes that things look safe at a glance, but locals will tell you differently.
LA, Paris, Rome And Budapest Warned After Breaking IOC Bidding Rules They broke rules by inviting media to their national hospitality houses during the Rio Games.
IOC Officials Insist They Have “Absolutely No Regrets” About Awarding Rio The 2016 Games However, vice president John Coates admits that they are the “most difficult … we have ever encountered.”

US Road News

Tonight:Leo Manzano Takes On Kyle Merber And Johnny Gregorek At The West Chester Mile Men’s field also has Jack Bolas, Mac Fleet and Kirubel Erassa while the women are lead by Lauren Johnson, Nicole Tully, Rachel Schneider and Ashley Higginson.
*BBTM Prediction Contest
August 21:Stephen Sambu And Diane Nukuri Face Deep Field As They Try To Defend Their New Balance Falmouth Road Race Titles Sambu faces US 10K Olympian Leonard Korir, World marathon silver medalist Yemane Tsegay, Sam Chelanga, Abdi Abdirahman and Aaron Braun. Nukuri is up against Betsy Saina, Kim Smith, Sara Hall, Neely Spence Gracey and Aliphine Tuliamuk-Bolton.
Incidents Like The Boston Bombing And Hurricane Sandy Have Seen Insurance Rates For Big Races Double In The Last Several Years The NYRR’s insurers had to pay out $15 million after Hurricane Sandy cancelled the 2012 race while the BAA’s paid $138,000 in losses from the bombings.

The Wait Is Over

LRCFantasy Track And Field At Its Finest: The $200,016 LRC Running Warehouse Rio Track And Field Prediction Contest Is Here!

The Olympic track and field action start on Friday. It's time to get down to business. Enter our fantasy track and field contest. Free and so simple that a non-track fan could win it.

Rio Jumps And Throws

Good Read:GB Discus Thrower Jade Lally Has Bounced Back From Being Controversially Left Off The 2012 Olympic Team After not being selected despite being qualified, Lally vowed she’d never give the selectors an excuse to leave her out.
New Zealand Shot Putter Jacko Gill Will Throw Through A Broken Foot In Rio Gill was told his Olympics were over, but has been training “three times harder than he ever has,” even throwing in a moon boot.
Video Interview From Rio With Pole Vaulter Lexi Weeks Weeks thinks it’s “special” that her first time leaving the country is for the Olympics.
Meet U20 Silver Medalist Kurtis Marschall, Australia’s Next Great Pole Vaulter After looking up to Steve Hooker and other Aussie vaulters, Marschall has inherited a special Twitter account that has been passed down from one Aussie PV great to the next.
4 Years After Winning Olympic Gold, Renaud Lavillenie Is Still The Man To Beat Lavillenie says he started pole vaulting at seven years old as his dad has been a pole vaulter.
Video Interview From Rio With Chaunte Lowe Aside from competing, Lowe is mentoring 15-year-old World junior 100H bronze medalist Tia Jones.
Raven Saunders’ Old High School Will Have A Watch Party For Her When She Competes In Rio
USATF Quick Event-By-Event Rundown Of Team USA Women’s Roster

Olympic Distance News

Meet Pascal Dobert, One Of The Unsung Heroes Behind Evan Jager And The Bowerman Track Club SteeplersJerry Schumacher‘s assistant coach Dobert and Evan Jager talk about how Jager’s fall and fast time in Paris last year put negative pressure on him and lead to his poor race at Beijing Worlds.
*Podcast Q&A With Evan Jager
First Impressions Q&A With Eliud Kipchoge, Who Feels He’s Fortunate To Have Had The Same Coach (Patrick Sang) His Entire Career Talking about his childhood, Kipchoge says he never had any toys, but had a pet dog named Simba.
Clayton Murphy Getting A Lot Of Attention And Support Back In His Hometown Of Piqua, Ohio
NPR Does Q&A With Brenda Martinez, Who Talks About Starting Track At 5 Years Old And Her Family’s Financial Struggles When She Was A Kid Talking about Rio, Martinez says, “I’m going to treat it like a business trip. I’m not here to have a good time. I’m here to represent the U.S.”
This Year, Evan Jager Has Emphasized Running Fast Through Barriers And Water Jumps Rather Than Slowing Jager says last year he “just assumed … speed was speed” and would translate well to the steeple, but he’s realized it’s different with the barriers.
Runner’s World:Army Puts Kenyan Athletes On The Fast Track To Citizenship And The Olympics Four of four US Army runners at the Trials made the US team for Rio.
Molly Huddle Talks About The US Trials And Shares Her Top Tips For Running A Great 10K Huddle sometimes trains with her husband, former Notre Dame mid-d runner Kurt Benninger. Huddle says that as a miler he can always outkick her “even if he’s really out of shape.”

Russia, Doping And Swimming

US’s Lilly King Takes Dig At Russian Doper Yuliya Efimova’ Says It Was “Incredible Winning A Gold Medal Knowing I Did It Clean”
Angry Michael Phelps Backs King’s Comments On dopers being allowed back into the sport, Phelps said, “That pisses me off.”
Michael Phelps: “It Breaks My Heart” To See Dopers Compete One French swimmer said previously-banned Chinese swimmer Sun Yang “pisses purple.”
Doping Comments By Aussie Swimmer Cause Tension Between Australia And China

Lunatic Who Tackled Brazil’s Vanderlei De Lima During 2004 Olympic Marathon Is Furious That He Lit The Rio 2016 Cauldron Irish priest Neil Horan claims that he apologized to de Lima, but never got a response and that de Lima wouldn’t be famous without him.

Non-Olympic News

Oscar Pistorius Taken From Jail To Hospital With Wrist Injuries His brother denies that he intentionally hurt himself.
Multiple Time Olympic Trials Qualifier And Mt. Washington Road Race Winner Dave Dunham Goes Mountain Running Naked (NSFW)

Rio Sprint Stuff

Will He Make It To Rio?40-Year-Old Sprint Star Kim Collins Misses His Plane Flight To Rio Collins tweeted that it’s “almost impossible” to get a new flight.
GB’s Dwain Chambers Describes What It’s Like To Race Usain Bolt “There’s a sense of excitement from the crowd – a tangible sense of anticipation for what’s to come.”
Bustle.com Asks If LaShawn Merritt Too Busy For Dating? If he is, this is in contrast to 2010, when he apparently dated at least regularly enough to warrant taking “male enhancement” products.
Athletics Weekly Profile On Scottish 400 Hurdler Eilidh Doyle (Child), Who Is In The Shape Of Her Life Ahead Of Rio The World Champs 6th placer actually started her career off as a cross-country and 800 runner.
What Are The Diets Of Usain Bolt, Tyson Gay And Justin Gatlin Like? While Bolt is famous for having allegedly eaten “100 chicken nuggets a day” at the 2008 Games, he has gotten much stricter over the years.

LRC USA x 2: Both Beris Berian and Clayton Murphy Advance to Men’s 800 Final — Reaction and AnalysisA great day for the Americans as Brandon McBride went home.

Saturday Rest of Meet:Elaine Thompson Wins Anticipated Women’s 100m, Jeff Henderson of US Wins Long Jump on Final Jump, Jessica Ennis Hill Upset by Nafi ThiamTori Bowie got silver in the 100, Brianne Theisen-Eaton got bronze in the heptathlon, and earlier in the dayChris Harting, the younger brother of defending champ Robert, won the discus.

Getting You Ready For Sunday LRC Day 3 Friends And Family Preview: Usain Bolt Goes For The Three-Peat, While Three Great Champions Will Battle It Out For The 400m Title We believe track and field is much more enjoyable if you understand what is going on, so print out this preview and give it your non-track and field obsessed fans so they can enjoy Sunday’s action.

Depressing You On A Saturday Night LRC Unbelievable: University Of Virginia Rehires Convicted Doper Martin Maric And Gets Rid Of Coach Who Produced The Program’s 1st-Ever NCAA Shot Put Champion How did the University of Virginia track and field program decide to reward its throws coach Kemal Mesic – the man who guided Filip Mihaljevic to a bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships and the NCAA shot put title in June – the first field event title in UVA history? By getting rid of him and replacing him with convicted doper Martin Maric.

2016 Rio Track Full Schedule / Results TV & Streaming *Running Warehouse Prediction Contest

MB:2016 Rio Olympics: Official Day 2 Live Discussion Thread

LRC Women’s Steeple Prelims: Emma Coburn’s Medal Chances Go Up As All Three Americans Make The Final updated with quotes from Coburn We’ve got you covered if you decided to sleep in on a Saturday morning.

Saturday Preview LRCDay 2 Friends And Family Preview: Mo Farah Goes For Greatness In The Longest Event On The Track While Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Attempts It In The Shortest

8:27pm ET LRCMen’s 10,000 Preview: Mo Farah Vs. Geoffrey Kamworor In A Rematch Of Epic Proportions Farah could join running immortals Nurmi, Zátopek, Viren, Gebrselassie and Bekele as the only men to win two Olympic 10,000 titles.
*Mo Farah Would Be “Devastated” If He Left Rio Without Winning Two More Gold Medals Farah on life changing 2012: “I couldn’t go outside. I wore a hoodie and sunglasses to see my family. … I couldn’t be Mo walking down the street any more.”
*Jos Hermens In Wall Street Journal: “Mo is lucky there’s not an athlete like (Geb or Tergat) that he has to compete against.”

Sunday Morning 8:30am ET LRC Women’s Marathon Preview: Americans Cragg, Linden & Flanagan Are In The Shape Of Their Lives – Can One Of Them Medal? Jemima Sumgong & Helah Kiprop Go For Kenya’s First-Ever GoldShalane Flanagan has set an American record during her buildup. Desi Linden says she’s never been in better shape. And Amy Cragg won the Trials. Do they have a shot at a medal?

Complete Olympic Coverage In Our 2016 Rio Special Section

Register-Guard: 38 Rio Track Athletes Entered In 23 Events Representing 10 Countries Either Live In Oregon Or Are UO Alumni

USATF Event-By-Event Rundown Of Team USA Men’s Roster

Doping News From Rio

Kenyan Coach Sent Home After Posing As An Athlete And Giving A Urine Test Apparently sprints coach John Anzrah was staying in a hotel and borrowed Kenyan 800 runner Ferguson Rotich‘s accreditation to access the Olympic village when he was stopped for a random out-of-competition drug test meant for Rotich.
BBC:According To Rotich’s Agent, Anzrah Was Just Trying To Get A Free Meal
*MB: Why is Ferguson Rotich not immediately banned?
Bulgarian Steeplechaser Silvia Danekova Provisionally Suspended After Testing Positive For EPO In Rio
*MB: Steeplechaser first to test positive
Yelena Isinbayeva To Run For President Of Russian Athletics Federation Based on her behavior in the wake of the Russian drug scandal she definitely doesn’t get our vote. If Russia really wanted to turn things around, they’d elect Vitaly and Yuliya Stepanov.
Kenyan Official Michael Rotich Held By Police After Doping Bribery Allegations The Sunday Times and ARD recorded Rotich asking for a bribe to give Brits advanced notice of out-of-competition tests in Kenya.
WSJ:“Lilly King Won’t Stay Quiet” The 19-year-old deserves credit for speaking out about Russian dopers being in Rio.
Chinese Swimmer Chen Xinyi Fails Doping Test Taken Before Rio Chen finished 4th in the 100 butterfly.

US Distance News

Galen Rupp Has Dropped His Mileage And Done Speed Workouts With Matt Centrowitz To Get Ready For The Final Kick In The 10,000Alberto Salazar says Rupp “would get killed at the end of the 10K” if he didn’t improve his speed, but also said that Rupp is way better than himself, Dan Browne, and Mo Farah in the marathon.
Good Read:Jared Ward Tapering And Having A Ball In Rio And Dreaming Of A Medal If The 2:0x Guys “Mismanage” The Race Ward has been hanging out watching some other Olympic events as he does an extreme taper going down from 120 miles per week to 70 and 35 in the two weeks before his race.
Recommended Listen:Great Podcast Interview With Matt Centrowitz Sr. Centrowitz gives an entertaining interview as he talks about his son, the Trials, drugs and more.
Worth A Look:When They Were Young: DyeStat Photo Gallery Of US Olympians When They Were In High School See a younger Kate Grace and Galen Rupp with Alberto Salazar.
Good Podcast Interview With Kate Grace Grace says this year she worked on her “ability to push (myself) to the edge” and becoming the “kind of athlete who really loves the grind.”
Video:Kate Grace Shares 3 Small Changes That Helped Her Make A Breakthrough In 2016 Grace says she used to have only workouts and easy days, but now “every mile has a purpose.”

More Olympic News

Media Bus Attacked With Three Injured While Traveling Between Olympic Venues According to passengers, the bus came under fire which broke the glass windows, although officials say it’s unclear if it was bullets or rocks.
Brazil Judge Rules In Favor Of Peaceful Political Protests At Rio 2016 Venues This after spectators were thrown out for wearing T-shirts criticizing the Brazil president.

Doping Updates

The Guardian:“IOC’s Response To Russia Doping Nothing More Than A Confused Mess” The tension between Russia and the rest of the world has materialized in the swimming pool in the opening days of the Games with some likening it to the Cold War.
Russian Swimming Doper Yulia Efimova Hits Back At Critics: “I Thought The Cold War Was Long In The Past” Efimova was booed when she entered the venue and has been openly criticized by gold medalist Lilly King, Michael Phelps and others.
Ukraine Javelin Thrower Oleksandr Pyatnytsya Stripped Of His 2012 Olympic Silver Medal After Testing Positive In Sample Re-Test Belarus’ hammer thrower Pavel Kryvitksi and two Turkish weightlifters were also caught in London 2012 / Beijing 2008 re-tests.

Non-Rio Upcoming Action

Thursday Night:Leo Manzano Takes On Kyle Merber And Johnny Gregorek At The West Chester Mile Men’s field also has Jack Bolas, Mac Fleet and Kirubel Erassa while the women are lead by Lauren Johnson, Nicole Tully, Rachel Schneider and Ashley Higginson.
Kim Conley Will Have No Rest After Rio As She’ll Immediately Fly Back To Flagstaff To Start Training For Her Marathon Debut In NYC Conley’s already been thrown a marathon curve ball as she’s lost a week of training since the Rio 5,000 is a week later than the 10,000, which was her goal before she lost her shoe and DNFed at the Trials.
Dafne Schippers To Run Brussels 100m After Rio

General Doping News

Italian Steepler Jamel Chatbi Out Of Rio After National Anti-Doping Tribunal Defies Court Order By Suspending Him For Missing Three Tests The Moroccan-born Chatbi has previously served a 3-year doping ban for steroids.
Usain Bolt Calls For Faith Ahead Of Rio 2016 “We’re weeding out the bad ones. We’re going in the right direction.”
Yelena Isinbayeva Traveling To Rio To Campaign For Election To The IOC Athletes’ Commission This after her appeal to the Swiss Federal Court to overturn the CAS decision was rejected.
Vitaly Mutko Calls Russian Ban From Paralympics “Beyond Belief” Mutko added, “I don’t understand what it’s based on.”
The Guardian:Let’s Hear It For The Paralympics

Two Athletes Angry They Won’t Be In Rio Crush It At Beach To Beacon

LRC Maine Native Ben True (28:17) Becomes First American To Win TD Beach To Beacon 10K; Mary Keitany Blasts 30:45 Course Record After Olympic Snub True and Keitany were frustrated to be left off their respective Olympic teams and both athletes responded by earning historic wins in Cape Elizabeth, Maine on Saturday morning. True led a U.S. 1-2 as Dathan Ritzenhein (28:27) was second with sub-27:00 Kenyan William Malel Sitonik (28:31) third in his road race debut. Emily Sisson (32:20) was the top American woman in fourth.
*MB: Ben MF True 1 and Ritz 2 at Beach 2 Beacon. 1st American win ever.
*MB: Ritz is totally pumped after Beach to Beacon: “I think I can have a really special race in New York.”

Sir Walter Miler MB: Lauren Johnson (4:25) And Kyle Merber (3:54) Win As Drew Hunter (3:57.15) And Mikey Brannigan (3:57.58) PR It’s a Paralympic WR for the autistic Brannigan. *Meet Home

Russia Banned From Paralympics

In Bold Move International Paralympic Committee Issues Blanket Ban On Russia Athletes From The 2016 Rio Paralympics IPC head Philip Craven said the Russian “medals over morals mentality disgusts” him.
*2nd Article
Russia To Work “Immediately” On CAS Appeal Over IPC Suspension
Russian Federation Head And Lawyers Say Swiss Federal Supreme Court Appeal Against CAS Decision Unlikely To Help Yelena Isinbayeva And Sergei Shubenkov Get Into Rio
In Denial? Shubenkov Expects Court To Rule In His Favor In Appeal Against CAS Decision

More Rio

LRC LetsRun.com Goes To Rio: Tanks, The Most Powerful Man In Rio That You’ve Never Heard Of, Brazilian “Queueing” And Fiji! Jon Gault recounts LRC day 1 on the ground and his first Olympic experience.

LRC From 1 To 60: We Rank The 2016 US Track And Field Female Olympians In Terms Of Their Gold Medal Chances From Brianna Rollins (big favorite) to Abbey D’Agostino (huge underdog), we’ve got you covered.

LRC From 1 To 60: We Rank The 2016 US Olympic Track And Field Male Olympians In Terms Of Their Gold Medal Chances From Ashton Eaton (big favorite) to Conor McCullough (huge underdog), we’ve got you covered.

Day 1 Preview LRC The Friends And Family Guide To Day 1 Of Track & Field At The 2016 Summer Olympics

Overall Preview LRC The Friends And Family Guide To Track & Field At The 2016 Summer Olympics: Bolt’s Swan Song, Hyperandrogenism & Everything Else You Need To Know To Get Ready For Rio The track and field action in Rio starts tomorrow. Do you not know what’s going on but want to learn? Read this.

Event Previews: Fri 10:10am ET LRC W 10,000 Preview

Starts Friday: LRCW 1,500 Preview: Kenyan Record Holder Faith Kipyegon Faces WR Holder Genzebe Dibaba; Can An American Medal For The 1st Time In History? EPO was allegedly found at the hotel where Dibaba and her coach were staying in June, but she will still compete in Rio. Also watch for World Indoor champ Sifan Hassan and British sensation Laura Muir. Can Simpson, Rowbury or Martinez medal?

Starts Friday: LRC M 800 Preview: David Rudisha Goes For The Repeat In A Wide-Open Event; Clayton Murphy & Boris Berian Shoot For First U.S. Medals Since 1992 No man has repeated in the 800 at the Olympics since New Zealand’s Peter Snell in 1960 & 1964. Defending world champ Rudisha enters as the world leader and favorite, but he’ll be challenged by Kenyan Trials champ Alfred Kipketer, 2015 Worlds runner-up Adam Kszczot, France’s Pierre-Ambroise Bosse and many more.

Sat 8:25pm ET LRC M 10,000 Preview: Mo Farah Vs. Geoffrey Kamworor In A Rematch Of Epic Proportions Farah could join running immortals Nurmi, Zátopek, Viren, Gebrselassie and Bekele as the only men to win two Olympic 10,000 titles. Kenya’s Geoffrey Kamworor will try to stop him after coming up just short in Beijing last year. Plus can Galen Rupp medal in part one of his 10k/marathon double?

Non-Distance Rio Previews

Starts Friday LRC M400 Preview: With World Champ Wayde van Niekerk And Olympic Champs LaShawn Merritt And Kirani James, The Stage Is Set For A Classic Olympic Final The Big Three have claimed every global title since 2008 and their matchup in Beijing last year produced the first race in history with three men under 44 seconds. Could they go faster this year – and challenge Michael Johnson‘s WR of 43.18?

Starts Friday LRC Heptathlon Preview: Will Jessica Ennis-Hill Win Another Gold? Or Will Brianne Theisen-Eaton Join Ashton As A Gold Medalist? Or Will The Future Of The Sport Arrive? The women’s multi should be a dandy in Rio. Who will emerge on top?

Starts Friday LRC MLong Jump: Can Great Britain’s Greg Rutherford Hold Off The Americans And Join Carl Lewis As A Two-Time Olympic Champion? With a win, world champ Rutherford would join Carl Lewis as the only men with multiple Olympic long jump titles. His competitors include training partner and last year’s runner-up, Fabrice Lapierre of Australia, world leader Jarrion Lawson of the U.S. and U.S. champ Jeff Henderson.

Starts Friday LRC W 100m: What A Final This Could Be, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Goes For History Vs. Five Others With A Shot For Gold It should be a tremendous women’s 100m final as five women have broken 10.80 this year and that doesn’t even include Dafne Schippers.

Friday 9:00pm ET LRC WShot Put Preview

Starts Friday LRC Men’s Discus Preview: Can 4-Time Global Champ Robert Harting Defend His Title Or Will Reigning World Champ Piotr Małachowski Spoil Harting’s Celebration? Journalists aren’t supposed to cheer in the press box but we tell you why we’re rooting for Robert Harting in this one.

Starts Friday LRC Women’s Hammer Preview: Will World Record Holder Anita Wlodarczyk Win Two Gold Medals In 1 Competition? The WR holder Wlodarczyk could have two gold medals to her name if Russian 2012 champ Tatyana Beloborodova is banned after she came up positive in London 2012 retests.

International Distance News

After Breaking Kelly Holmes’ British 1,500 Record, Laura Muir Is Looking To Follow That Up With A Medal “I’m honored to have broken the record and I just hope I can do it justice really.”
Seb Coe Admits The IAAF And IOC Were “Surprised” By CAS’s Ruling That Allowed Caster Semenya To Compete Without Hormone Treatement The IAAF will be talking to CAS about it over the next year, but that will be too late for the women who miss out on a medal in Rio.
As Jo Pavey Gets Ready For Her Fifth Olympics, She Reflects Back On Her Previous Four Games
Kenyan Marathon Men Ready To Rumble In RioEliud Kipchoge, Stanley Biwott and Wesley Korir did their last hard pre-Olympic workout (a 16K run) on Tuesday.

Olympic Sprint Stuff

In Bizarre Press Conference, Usain Bolt Gets Rapped To By A Norwegian Journalist And Dances With “Scantly Clad” Samba Dancers(includes video) Bolt revealed that Glen Mills called Bolt’s 19.89 win in London “one of the worst races [he’s] ever run” and talks about having to buy a TV in Rio since there wasn’t one in his room.
*NBC:Usain Bolt Had Too Much Fun At His Press Conference
*TheTelegraph:Usain Bolt Circus Begins With DJs, Cocktails And A Troupe Of Samba Dancers
The Wall Street Journal:Usain Bolt’s First Opponent At The Rio Olympics Is Boredom Bolt got to Rio on July 27th for the Jamaican pre-Olympic training camp and his snapchats have shown the lack of action.
Wayde Van Niekerk Says It’s Been An Amazing Experience Being At The Olympics And Carrying South Africa’s Flag In The Opening Ceremony He’s also happy to have his family with him, adding, “A few years ago – or even last year – we couldn’t afford something like that and now I have 10 family members joining me.”
Sydney McLaughlin’s High School Will Host A Viewing Party During Her Rio Race There will be food, beer and wine available for purchase. So a step up from most US track meets.
USATF Q&A With Sprinters Morolake Akinsun (4 X 100) And Ashley Spencer (400H) Spencer said her mom “won’t stop crying” and she tears up anytime someone says “Rio” or “Olympics” or “Ashley.”

Week That Was

LRCWTW: Mikey Brannigan Leads The PR Train In North Carolina, Ryan Gregson Nears His PR And WADA Chief Craig Reedie Gets Criticized

More News From Rio

What Are The 10 Most Endangered Olympic Records In Rio? Several distance records make the list, including the women’s 800 with Caster Semenya very likely capable of the 1:53 mark.
NY Times:Rio Security Forces Of 85,000 Take On Battle Against Street Crime Crime has still been a problem, however, with notable examples being an attempted mugging of the chief of security for the opening ceremonies and a stray bullet landing in the equestrian arena’s media tent.
NY Times:Apparently The Brazil Fans Have Been Extremely Loud, Event At Times When They’re Not Supposed To Be A ping-pong player said she wasn’t used to the cheers during the match, adding that “It was just weird.”
Brazil Police Arrest Two British Firm Employees For Selling Rio Tickets On The Black Market They were caught with more than 1,000 tickets valued at up to $10 million.

Latest Doping Scandal

Sunday Times And German ARD Tape Record Kenyan Team Manager Asking For $13,000 Bribe And He’d Give Brits 24-Hour Notice Of Out-Of-Competition Doping Tests In Kenya We didn’t need a tape recording to tell us the OOC testing in Kenya wasn’t very effective as Reid Coolsaet had already told the world he was called at 8pm the night before OOC tests in Kenya and told where to report at 6 am. However, the fact the Kenyan Olympic team manager is involved is very disturbing. *AFP Article

General Olympic News

IAAF Event-By-Event Previews
LA Mayor Says A Donald Trump Presidential Victory Could Hurt LA’s 2024 Olympic Bid Chances
Good Read: Washington Post:“By ‘Packaging’ The Olympics, NBC Insults Viewers And The Athletes Themselves” NBC chief marketing officer was quoted saying viewers (especially women) are “… less interested in the result and more interested in the journey. It’s sort of like the ultimate reality show and miniseries wrapped into one.”
89 Collegians From 54 Programs Will Represent 27 Countries In Rio The programs producing the most Olympians is Georgia and Texas A&M (6). Arkansas and Texas(5) and Florida State (4) aren’t too far behind.
What Are The “Best” And “Worst Olympic” Sports? Track only comes in at 5th on this list with volleyball #1 and equestrian on bottom.
Moroccan Olympic Boxer Arrested In Rio On Charges Of Sexually Assaulting Two Workers At The Olympic Village

HUGE Doping News

Must ReadHead Of WADA’s Investigation Into Russian Doping Absolutely Rips WADA And IOC – Says WADA Chief Craig Reedie Never Asked Him Once About The Investigation Former DEA superstar Jack Robertson held nothing back in a Q&A with ProPublica and the BBC: “The action the IOC took has forever set a bar for how the most outrageous doping and cover up and corruption possible will be treated in the future … The people in charge are basically raping their sports and the system for self-interest. Sport is seriously broken.”