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Lead Stories: Friday, March 12, 2010

World Points Standings:
Women’s Throws

Posted June 18th, 2008 at 9:00 AM by Jesse Squire

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Rankings, World Standings

Shot Put
1. Valerie Vili, 74
2. Nadine Kleinert, 46
3. Nadzeya Ostapchuk, 43
4. Misleydis Gonzalez, 41
5. Meiju Li, 34
6. Anna Omarova, 31
6. Chiara Rosa, 31
8. Christina Schwanitz, 30
9. Kristin Heaston, 29
10. Cleopatra Borel-Brown, 26

Kiwi Vili dominated the indoor circuit and picked up right where she left off in a late-May meet held in the Beijing Olympic stadium. Ostapchuk has only competed three times this year and Kleinert didn’t do much indoors, otherwise they would be further ahead of the other throwers.
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Prefontaine Classic Preview: Field Events

Posted June 6th, 2008 at 9:33 AM by Jesse Squire

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Continuing with our preview of Sunday’s meet in Eugene, Oregon, here are the tentative start lists for the field events. The IAAF also has a field event preview.

Women’s Hammer Throw
3:10 p.m. EDT (12:10 p.m. local)
Hawyard Field & Pre Classic records: 229′ 1″ / 69.82 meters, Erin Gilreath (USA), 2006

Betty Heidler (Germany)
Superfan World Ranking: #2
PR: 76.55 meters (2006) 2008 best: 72.91 meters
The defending World Champion has thrown over 70 meters five times already this season; her lone loss came at the European Throwing Cup.

Ivana Brkljacic (Croatia)
PR: 74.08 meters (2007) 2008 best: 73.62 meters
Has competed only twice this year (and hence not in my World Rankings), but has put up very big marks both times.
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TFS News Briefs: 3/24/08

Posted March 24th, 2008 at 12:00 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

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

Kenyan Athletes To Restore Country’s Tarnished Image?
Athletes on the world stage, like it or not, are often ambassadors for their nations. It looks like it’s up to the diminutive distance runners of Kenya this time. An article om allafrica.com states that Joseph Ebuya and crew have the “extra burden of restoring the country’s soiled image” at the upcoming IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Read more at: [All Africa]

Speaking of Great Kenyan Runners…
Is Margaret Wangari, who made her first Kenyan world cross-country team last week ahead of even the great Vivian Cheruiyot, the next Kenyan world beater? She certainly seems to have the right attitude, saying that ” As part of the team, I expect to perform well” at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland on March 30th.
Read more at: [Standard, Kenya]

IOC President: Olympic Marathon Bigger Than Haile
IOC President Jacques Rogge was doing some major PR today for the Olympic movement, saying not only that “the Games are far stronger than the individual” (translation: Haile Gebrselassie’s withdrawal doesn’t diminish the Beijing Olympic Marathon. Yeah, right!), but that awarding the 2008 Games to China was a good idea in the first place.
Read more at: [Canadian Press][Reuters]
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TFS News Briefs: 3/21/08
Special NCAA Track & Field Edition

Posted March 21st, 2008 at 12:00 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, TFS News Briefs

2008 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field: Week 1
The 2008 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field season officially kicks off in fine style this weekend with 38 (count ‘em, 38!) meets throughout the country. The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association has links to all of them on their website. Schedules like this one are truly a track junkie’s dream come true.
Read more at: [USTFCCCA]

ASU Opens Outdoor Season At Home
ASU, the 2008 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Champions, will open their outdoor season at home this weekend at the Baldy Castillo Invitational. Both the men’s team and the women’s team won the NCAA national titles last weekend. The meet will be contested on the Joe Selleh Track at Sun Angel Stadium in Tempe, AZ.
Read more at: [Sun Devils]

Oregon Host First Meet At Revamped Hayward Field
The University of Oregon’s historic Hayward Field has had an $8 Million facelift in preparation for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials, and now the Ducks want to show her off to the world. Folks will get their first look at the freshly-reminted stadium by hosting the Oregon Preview on Saturday, March 22nd, 2008. Over 550 athletes from throughout the Northwest will be competing in the meet.
Read more at: [Go Ducks][Hayward Field]
Image courtesy of GoDucks.com.
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Silvester sets American masters record

Posted October 15th, 2007 at 5:46 PM by Martin Kennedy

Section: News & Results, Masters

National Track & Field Hall of Famer Jay Silvester set a M70 American masters record last Wednesday at the Huntsman World Senior Games in Saint George, Utah.

The 1972 Olympic silver medalist and former world record holder in the discus, Silvester’s winning throw of 50.27 meters/164 feet 11 inches smashed the previous record of 48.06m/157-8 set by Wendell Palmer in 2002.

Also at the Huntsman World Senior Games, Linda Cohn shattered the W55 American record in the javelin with her heave of 40.34m/132-4. The previous record of 28.06m/92-1 was set by LaTanya Glass in 2005. Marjorie Fitzgerald broke the W80 American 100 meter record, crossing the line in 18.76 seconds.
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Hill Thurmond welcomes child

Posted June 7th, 2007 at 3:00 AM by Martha Jones

Section: News & Results

Three-time U.S. discus champion Aretha Hill Thurmond recently welcomed, with husband Reedus Thurmond, their son Devon Theoppolis at 7:58 p.m., on Monday, June 4. Devon weighed eight pounds, 14-ounces and was 21-inches long.

Reedus Thurmond is a three-time NCAA All-American and an assistant coach at the University of Washington.

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Renaissance Athlete: Micheline Ostermeyer

Posted March 15th, 2007 at 11:30 AM by Jeanie Rebb

Section: Columns, SPOTLIGHT

It takes so much work and time to train to become outstanding at any endeavor that there are very few people who have risen to the top of the world’s stage in more than one field. At age 26, Micheline Ostermeyer of France won Olympic gold medals in both the shot put and discus, and a third place bronze medal in the high jump.

She was the niece of composer Lucien Paroche, and three months before the Olympic games she graduated with high honors from the Paris Conservatory of Music. She said that piano gave her strong biceps, and a sense of rhythm. She celebrated her victories with a recital of Beethoven at France’s team headquarters and went on to become a famous concert pianist.

Her accomplishments compare with Paul Robeson, who was an All-American football player at Rutgers, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Cornell and a great opera singers.
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