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TFS News Briefs: 3/28/08

Posted March 28th, 2008 at 4:27 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Cross Country, Track & Field, Olympics, TFS News Briefs

TFS News Briefs
Cragg Out-Psyching Himself Or Others?
Here’s a head scratcher: Going into Sunday’s IAAF World Cross County Championships, Ireland’s Alistair Cragg says he’s “in shape” but he “admits that he hasn’t a snowball’s hope in hell” of winning. Since any fan of Craig Mottram knows that the Aussie believes one shouldn’t bother entering a race unless he believes he can win, Cragg is either attempting some over-the-top psyching out of his opponents, or else he’s already lost and might as well DNS. We’ll find out which one it was on Sunday. (See the next news brief for what is perhaps the larger issue.)
Read more at: [Irish Independent]

Europe Africa Pundit Rants About the “Emasculation” Of European Distance Runners
Where have all the good times gone? It seems that the glory days of European world domination in cross-country are long behind that continent. Long-gone are the days when Pekka Päivärinta (FIN, 1973), Erik De Beck (BEL, 1974), Ian Stewart (SCO, 1975), Carlos Lopes (POR, 1976), Léon Schots (BEL, 1977), John Treacy (IRL, 1978-1979) allowed Europe to dominate at the worlds. What happened? The Africans, that’s what. A Kenyan, an Ethiopian or a Moroccan has won the world championship in cross-country for 21 years running.
Read more at: [The Herald, UK][GBAthletics]

Some More Mind Games, This Time From Kipsiro
Ugandan harrier Moses Kipsiro, regarded as the favorite going into Sunday’s IAAF World Cross County Championships, is playing his own mind games, saying, “I will try my best. I pray to God that I get a good result.” Attaboy, Moses! Be that little train that could!. I’ll bet your best will be much better than you’re making it out to be.
Read more at: [AllAfrica.com]

“Recession” In South African Track & Field
Despite having 15 athletes who have top-5 world rankings, the South Africans seem to be underachieving. Only 8 have managed to get Olympic qualifying marks. A representative from Athletics South Africa calls it a “recession.”
Read more at: [Mail & Guardian Online]

Bryan said:

I don’t understand Mottram’s “don’t enter a race unless you think you can win it” mentality. That’s ridiculous. Sometimes the big race comes at an unfortunate time, and the best you can do is run your best.

Great athletes don’t worry so much about the final place as their execution, their effort, their preparation, and whether they can learn from the experience. I recommend he go read Ryan Hall’s recent blog post. Ryan’s approach is the one I would recommend to aspiring champions.

As for Kiprono, he knows he’s not the favorite if Bekele and Tadese are in the race. Can he win? Sure. Should he treat winning or losing as his only measure of success in the race? Absolutely not. All he can do is his best. If that’s enough, bonus for him.
March 29th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Jimmie R. Markham said:

That’s just Buster being Buster. I’m just borrowing this quote from baseball for today. (After all, it is opening day!) Aussies have an outlook on life that is peculiar, and fascinating, to many Americans. Here’s an article that was posted today by Michael J. Sedor on our sister site, Summer Olympian. It discusses this very topic of Aussie quirkiness.
March 31st, 2008 at 11:27 am