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Lead Stories: Thursday, August 28, 2008

World Points Standings:
Women’s Long Distance

Posted June 17th, 2008 at 10:00 AM by Jesse Squire

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

3000 meters
(includes no-pacemaker championship-type 5k races)
1. Meseret Defar, 68
2. Meselech Melkamu, 42
3. Sylvia Jebiwott Kibet, 38
4. Tirunesh Dibaba, 38
5. Gelete Burka, 35
6. Ejegayehu Dibaba, 32
7. Kim Smith, 28
8. Olga Komiagina, 26
9. Ruth Bisibori Nyangau, 26
10. Grace Momanyi, 21

World Indoor champion Defar is still the best at this distance, but hasn’t yet run against her rival, 5k world-record-breaker Tirunesh Dibaba.

5000 & 10,000 meters
1. Tirunesh Dibaba, 74
2. Gelete Burka, 50
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Photo Gallery: Jamaica International Invitational

Posted May 6th, 2008 at 9:30 AM by Adam Jacobs

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

The sprint events, topped by Usain Bolt’s (Pictured) sizzling 9.76 in the 100m, stole the headlines at the Jamaica International Invitational this past weekend.

To relive the action, check out the following slide show that we put together using photographs courtesy of Getty Images. In addition, official race results for highlighted middle & long distance events can be found below.

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Men’s Olympic Middle & Long- Distance In the Modern Era

Posted March 27th, 2008 at 9:00 AM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Track & Field, Olympics

The Modern Olympic Era

Of the 336 medals that have been awarded thus far in the men’s middle and long-distance track events during the Modern Olympic Era (1896-2004) here are some interesting statistics:

· A total of 42 Countries have won medals in these events.*
· Kenya (no surprise) has won the most medals, having won 43.
· USA is a close 2nd with 42.
· Finland (yes, Finland) is 3rd with 41.
· Great Britain is 4th, having won 35.
· Ethiopia rounds out the top 5 with 15 medals.**

· Finland can claim the most gold medals with 21. Kenya is 2nd with 15, followed closely by the USA and Great Britain with 13 each.
· In the silver-medal count, it’s Kenya (17), then United States (13), then Great Britain (12), then Finland (11). France rounds out the top 5 with a total of 9 medals.
· The top 5 in the bronze-medal count are: United States (16), Kenya (11), Great Britain (10), Finland (9) and Sweden (7).
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Gerry Lindgren: The Self-Proclaimed “Wimp” Who Revolutionized Running

Posted March 25th, 2008 at 1:34 PM by Stephanie Lowe

Section: News & Results, Motivation, Track & Field, Olympics, Special Features, Interviews, College, High School

Despite protests of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, President George W. Bush recently stated that there will not be a boycott from the United States. According to CNN, Bush believes the Olympics “should be about the athletes and not necessarily about politics.”

Former U.S. Olympian Gerry Lindgren, 62, agrees. He thinks China will benefit from hosting the Games.

“I think they need to leave politics out of it,” he said. “China has made some great strides forward in the last few years.”

Lindgren recalls backlash of the 1980 U.S. boycott of the Moscow Olympics. He did not plan to compete in Moscow, but he knew how disappointed the U.S. team was to miss out on the Olympic experience. Lindgren said he was upset with former President Jimmy Carter’s decision and said the Olympics should have been “the only avenue in the world that wasn’t political.”
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Greatest American Middle- and Long-Distance Track Runners of All Time

Posted November 10th, 2007 at 11:00 AM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

In an earlier post I wrote about my obsession need to think about my favorite sport – Track & Field (specifically, middle- and long-distance events) – even during the off-season.

I went to my favorite statistics site, alltime-athletics.com, to gather some statistics for analysis. This time around, I want to take a look at American middle- and long-distance track events. What single American has run the most world-class times of all time in events ranging form 800m to 10000m? In the past ten years? In 2007? In each event? Some of the answers might surprise you.
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Best Track & Field City in the World?

Posted November 10th, 2007 at 8:30 AM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

The Track & Field off-season is a little rough on us trackies. At least we can console ourselves with the fact that the indoor season is just a couple of months away. We can also take comfort in knowing that the statistics for the current season are just sitting there, waiting to be analyzed. Middle-distance is my specialty, so I will be crunching the numbers for those event over the next few weeks.

I was curious to know what city in the world is the “best” city for watching a world-class middle-distance event. I’m sure the readers of The Final Sprint will also want to know about the long distance track events, too, so I have also included those in this analysis. I went to my favorite statistics site, alltime-athletics.com, for the facts.
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Why you won’t see a world record in the upcoming World Championships or Olympics

Posted August 10th, 2007 at 3:53 PM by Jimson Lee

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, SoundOFF, Columns

When was the last time you saw a world record in a World Championship or Olympics Games in a middle distance or long distance event?

Sprinters take advantage of the Championship atmosphere, the multiple rounds, and faster tracks to set their world records.

You have to go back to Alberto Juantorena’s 1.43.50 800 meters at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. If you count Commonwealth Games, then Filbert Bayi’s 3.32.16 1500 meters in 1974 at Christchurch, NZ. (more on that race later)

Unfortunately, we can thank the rabbits for destroying that opportunity.
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Is the World catching
up to the Kenyans?

Posted August 9th, 2007 at 8:50 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

With headlines such as “Current Crop of Runners Not Up to Task” and “Change Tact[ics] Or Sink”, recent articles published by Kenyan journalists have been harshly critical of Kenyan distance running. Among other concerns are that Ethiopian and Eritrean athletes are closing the gap. But are these reports accurate?

Not according to statistical evidence, which shows that Kenyan running is as dominant as ever – if not more so. I broke down the statistics into all the middle-distance and all the long-distance performances from 1997-2006. I grouped all elite (world-class) performances for middle-distance (800m, 1500m, Mile, 3000m and 300m SC) into one chart and all elite performances for distance (5000m, 10000m) into another chart. I also broke it down even further, analyzing the top 100 performances of all time for both the middle-distance and the distance categories.

The Kenyans have dominated both the middle-distance and the distance categories, both in the elite and the top 100 of all time performances. In fact, in the middle-distance category, Kenyan runners have run more top 100 all time performances tham the rest of the world combined.
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