Fallout From Caster Semenya Decision

• Caster Semenya ADDED To Doha Diamond League 800m Field Tomorrow is her last chance to race before the IAAF’s testosterone rules go into effect. Discuss: Semenya ADDED to 800 field in Doha. How fast will she go?
• Caster Semenya Hints At Possible Retirement With “Cryptic” Tweet She tweeted, “Knowing when to walk away is wisdom. Being able to is courage. Walking away with your head held high is dignity.” However, that could mean walking away from the legal battle rather than the sport.
• Seb Coe “Really Grateful” To CAS  “It’s pretty straightforward. Athletics has two classifications, it has age and gender. We are fiercely protective of both and I am really grateful the court of arbitration has upheld that principle.
• Athletics South Africa Considering Approaching Swiss Federal Tribunal To Appeal CAS Decision Athletics South Africa went so far as to say CAS had “opened the wounds of Apartheid.”
• The Guardian Runs Through The Behind-The-Scenes Play-By-Play Of The Semenya’s CAS Case An interesting synopsis of how each side’s legal team tried to frame the debate.
• Reuters: Caster Semenya At Career Crossroads With Little Time To Choose Direction Semenya either needs to start taking testosterone lowering medication or move up to 5000m.
• BBC: “Nobody Has Truly Won – One Side Has Just Lost Less Than The Other”
• The Guardian Opinion Piece: “CAS tried to provide a clear verdict on Caster Semenya but left a tangled mess” Andy Bull argues that CAS came down on one side of the debate, but its ruling had “enough holes and caveats” that the dispute will continue.

Some London Marathon Leftovers

• Mo Farah Turns Down Marathon Spot At 2019 Worlds; Could Still Return To The Track He could also just skip worlds altogether and focus on a fall marathon.
  *Charlotte Purdue And Callum Hawkins Lead Team GB’s World Marathon Team Both Hawkins and Purdue moved to #3 on the UK all-time lista after their performances in London.
• Athletics Weekly: “Eliud Kipchoge remains focused after fourth London Marathon win” “I am a man who doesn’t like celebrations. I think celebrations ended yesterday at the finish line.”
• Mo Farah HIts Haile Gebrselassie With A $11,700 Compensation Bill; Geb Calls Farah His “Enemy” Geb tels a little more from his side of the story. Says Farah still hasn’t paid his $2700 bill and that four of the employees who were detained quit.
  * Mo Farah Says He Didn’t Want To Take The “Limelight” Away From London With Battle With Haile Gebrselassie “I’m one of those people, I like to get things off my chest. It’s become a bit too much but I stick by every word I said.”
• “Big Ben” Runner Has His Costume Stolen After London It wasn’t a total loss though as he got a mention on Good Morning Britain by Piers Morgan who offered up $1300 for the return of the costume.
• Mo Farah Says He Wasn’t “Distracted” By The Halie G Conflict And It Didn’t Affect His Race
• Pre-Race Video: Mo Farah Gets Thrown Off “World Record Pace” Treadmill At London Expo Farah was just goofing around, but maybe a bit more gutsy (or foolish?) than most pros would have done right before a huge marathon race.

2019 London Marathon *TV & Streaming *Tracking & Results *Pre-Race Podcast

LRC Final Eliud Kipchoge Runs 2:02:37, Shatters London Course Record To Win 10th Straight Marathon Eliud Kipchoge continues to redefine what we thought was possible in the marathon.

LRC Putting Eliud Kipchoge’s Marathon Greatness In Perspective No matter how you look at it – win rate, average time, or world ranking – Kipchoge is WAY better than anyone else in history.

LRC Mo Farah Speaks On Haile G & Jama Aden As His Coach Gary Lough Criticizes Media Coverage: “I Don’t Think It’s Fair” Mo Farah said he doesn’t regret anything he’s said this week and his coach Gary Lough went a step further, criticizing the media for feeding “off Haile’s lies.” “Haile was president of the Ethiopian federation. He let Jama Aden coach Genzebe Dibaba. So why’s he coming out and saying stuff like this?”

• Mo Farah When Asked To Beat Eliud Kipchoge: “I think just let him retire. I’ve run 2.05, I was hoping to improve but 2.04 is not enough for Eliud, is it?”
• Mo Farah Undecided On Whether He Wants To Run The 10,000 Or Marathon At 2019 Doha World Champs
• BBC Video Interview With Mo Farah – “I’m disappointed in myself.”
• Funny Video: Guy Runs London Dressed As Big Ben And Can’t Get Through The Finish Line

Non-Penn/Drake Track Action

• Caster Semenya Completes 1,500/5,000 Double At South African Nationals She won the 1,500 in 4:13.61 a day after she beat Dominique Scott in the 5,000 with 16:05.97.
  *MB: Caster Semenya Beats Dominique Scott To Win South African 5,000 Title In 16:05.97 The time was at 5,000 feet altitude and coverts to 15:36 according to the NCAA conversion.
  *Wayde Van Niekerk Backs Caster Semenya In Her Battle With The IAAF “She’s fighting for women in sports, in society and I respect her for that.”
• Armand Duplantis Clears World-Leading 5.94m In LSU Invy Pole Vault 
• Kenya’s Daisy Jepkemei Runs 3,00m World Lead With 8:52.16 At Brazil IAAF World Challenge Meet Other winners were Alfred Kipketer (1:47.16) in the 800, Michael Kibet in the 1,500 (3:38.85), Nigeria’s Chukwuebuka Enekwechi (21.77m) in the SP and a South American U20 400H record by Alison Brendom Alves dos Santos (48.84).
• Czech Decathlete Jan Dolezal (8117 Points) And US Heptathlete Annie Kunz (5971 Points) Win IAAF Combined Events Challenge In Lana, Italy *Day 1 Recap
• IAAF’s Weekend Track Recap: Shaunae Miller-Uibo OPENS SEASON With 49.05
• MB: High Schooler Matt Boling- 19 yr old white dude – runs 9.98 (4.2 m/s) It’s the fastest 100m ever by any US high schooler but if you convert it to still conditions it’s worth 10.16.

The 125th Penn Relays *Results *TV & Streaming

Saturday

• Georgetown Men Win 1st Wheel In A Long Time In 4 X 800
• Indiana Women Win 1st-Ever Relay At Penn In Women’s 4 X 800 Monmouth’s Allie Wilson (2:02.29) and Penn’s Nia Akins (2:02.33) had the best splits.
  *Morgan McDonald And Wisco Win 4 X Mile (Barely) They were way back but Oliver Hoare got them back in it on leg #3.
• South Carolina Wins College Women’s 4 X 400 To Cap Off Best Penn Relays In Over A Decade They won 3 COA events.
• St Jago Ends 12-Year Drought With 4 X 100m Upset Win

Friday

• Morgan McDonald And Oliver Hoare Show They Are The Best In NCAA As Wisco Wins 1st DMR At Penn In Over 100 Years
• Penn Coach’s Son, Sean Dolan, Finishes 2nd In Boys Mile Canada’s Foster Malleck got the win.
• Hyped Field For Boys 3,000 Fails To Live Up To Expectations
  *MB: If Penn Relays 3k champ Eldad Mulugeta wasn’t American, people would think he’s really old
  *MB: Defending Penn Relays HS 3k champ scratches because it rained?
• Penn Relays has switched order of boys 4 x 800 and 4 x mile this year 4 x 800 is now first.
• Wisconsin Football Superstar Jonathan Taylor Made His Collegiate Track Debut At Penn Taylor, who has rushed for more than 4,000 yards in two years, ran the 4 x 100 and Wisco only beat his studly HS team’s time of 42.41 by 0.41.
• Holmwood Tech Gets Revenge On Hydel, Wins Girls 4 X 400 (3:37.20)
• Edwin Allen Girls Set 4 X 100m Record (43.62) At Penn They also won the 4 x 800 in 8:54.02.

Thursday

• Penn Women BLOW It Open Early, Then Hold On And Win Women’s DMR At Penn Relays In 10:59.44 It’s the first distance relay title for a women’s Ivy League school ever. Thanks to Nia Akins (3:22.73) and Uchechi Nwogwugwu (52.22), they had more than a 10-second lead on the eventual 2nd and 3rd placers after two legs. Notre Dame’s Jessica Harris had the leg of the day (4:28).
• Victoria Starcher Breaks Mary Cain’s Penn Relays Meet Record, Wins In 4:38.19 According to a message board poster, she’s now the fourth US girl under 4:40 on the year.
• Philly.com: Indiana Freshman Maddy Pollard Saves Best For Last In Penn Relays Shot Put Pollard won with a big 16.41m on her last throw.
• DyeStat.com’s Day 1 HS Recap From Penn

Asian Games Conclude In Doha

• IAAF Final Day Recap: Bahrain’s Salwa Naser Completes 200/400 Double At Asian Games Naser ended the week with five medals with golds in the 200, 400, 4 x 400, mixed 4 x 400 and a bronze in the 4 x 100. India’s P.U. Chitra defended her title in the 1,500 with 4:14.56 to beat out Bahrain’s Gashaw Tigest (4:14.81).
  *JRN: Japan Saves The Best For Last With Three Golds On The Final Day Japan won gold in the men’s LJ, women’s 100H and men’s 4 x 400.
• Day 3: Bahrain And China Continue Their Dominance At Asian Champs Bahrain’s Shitaye Habtegebrel ran a championship record 31:52 to win the 10,000 while Winfred Mutile Yavi ran 9:46 to complete the steeple/5,000 double. China got golds from Li Ling in the PV (4.46m) and the women’s 4 x 100 (world-leading and MR of 42.87).
  *JRN: Keisuke Ushiro Wins Decathlon Gold At Asian Games Japan also got a hard-fought silver from Hitomi Niiya in the 10,000 (31:22).

Interesting Read: Israeli Star Lonah Chemtai Salpeter Writes About The Search For Gender Equity In Running And Growing Up In Kenya Without Electricity

Previous Haile Vs. Farah News

LRC Haile Gebrselassie Fires Back At Mo Farah, Accuses Him Of “Disgraceful Conduct,” Says Sir Mo Was Reported For Attacking A “Married Athlete” In Hotel Gym We were expecting a titanic clash between distance legends in London – just not these two. Haile G also said Mo Farah refused to pay his $3,000 room bill and that Farah avoided a criminal charge for the alleged attack only after Gebrselassie’s intervention.

• Sean Ingle Reveals The Assault On The Married Athlete Was Physical, Not Sexual, In Nature And Haile G says he did so much for Farah that Haile was even afraid to return to his own hotel as he was afraid of an employee uprising. “He should know five workers from our hotel were in prison for three weeks – only for Mo Farah.”
• Mo Responds To Haile With Statement: It reads in part, “Mo disputes all of these claims which are an effort to distract from the situation, where members of his hotel staff used a room key and stole money and items from Mo Farah’s room.”
• LRC Mo Farah Really Wants You To Know He Was Burglarized At Haile Gebrselassie’s Hotel Farah lost a sentimental watch, two phones and over $3,200 in cash and was upset with Gebrselassie for not doing anything or responding to his many text messages.