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Lead Stories: Thursday, August 21, 2008

In Quest for Double Olympic Gold, Lagat has El Guerrouj on His Side

Posted April 19th, 2008 at 10:30 AM by Bob Ramsak

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics

As he sets out on his quest for double Olympic gold this summer, Bernard Lagat will have plenty of supporters. Among them is the man whose achievement he’ll be hoping to emulate in Beijing: world record holder and reigning double Olympic champion Hicham El Guerrouj.

“Bernard proved in Osaka, thanks to determination and passion, that he can do it,” El Guerrouj, the finest middle distance runner of his generation, said of his long-time rival, last fall.
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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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TFS News Briefs: 3/10/08

Posted March 10th, 2008 at 12:30 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

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

USA Reigns Supreme in World Championships Medal Count
Team USA, even with many of its top athletes not in attendance, still took away a total of 13 medals, more than any other nation at the 12th IAAF World Indoor Championships held in Valencia, Spain from March 7-9, 2008. These included 5 gold, 5 silver and 3 bronze. Russia was a close second with 12 medals, including 5 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze.
Read more at: [IAAF]

IHT Dismisses Worlds As “For Connoisseurs Only”
An article in the International Herald Tribune dismissed the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships as being “for connoisseurs only.” With The US contingent being “B Team USA” and still winning the meet, the writer probably has a point. Imagine if Wariner, Gay, Felix, Richards, Webb and Tegenkamp had been there.
Read more at: [IHT]

Mottram Focused On Edinburgh
After a disappointing 5th-place finish at the world indoors, Aussie Craig Mottram is now focused on redeeming himself at the World Cross-Country Championships to be held later this month in Edinburgh, Scotland. Mottram’s coach, Nic Bideau, said that “the focus is the cross-country. I mean he hadn’t done the preparation for a race like that, which was a sprint home.”
Read more at: [Melbourne Herald Sun]
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USATF Comments on the Retirement of Maurice Greene

Posted February 5th, 2008 at 10:30 AM by Jeremy Sussman

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics

Three-time World Outdoor 100m champion and 2000 Olympic 100m and 4×100m gold medalist Maurice Greene announced his retirement from track and field Monday in Beijing, China.

Recognized as one of the greatest sprinters of all time, Greene won the 100m, 200m and 4×100m relay gold medals at the 1999 World Outdoor Championships in Seville, Spain. In so doing he became the second sprinter ever to defend the 100m world title and the first to ever to accomplish the 100m/200m sprint double at a World Championships. The 1999 World Indoor champion at 60 meters, Greene owns the world record in that event, and his former world 100m record of 9.79 seconds set June 16, 1999 in Athens, Greece, remains the American record.

The 2000 Olympic Trials 100m winner and Olympic gold medalist, Greene also won the 100m at the 2004 Olympic Trials, and later won the 100m bronze medal at the Games in Athens, where he also won a silver medal in the 4×100m relay.
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Johnson Visits Aspire Youth Sporting Facility in Qatar

Posted January 30th, 2008 at 9:15 AM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Record breaking Olympians Sir Steve Redgrave and Michael Johnson took time out from the 2008 Commercialbank Qatar Masters, Presented by Dolphin Energy, to visit the ASPIRE Academy for Excellence – and were immediately impressed with the ultra-modern facilities.

The two sportsmen – who between them amassed ten Olympic gold medals – were taken on a guided tour of the facilities by Prof. Dr. Dieter Hackfort, Dean ASPIRE & Director QESA Department who briefed them on the aims and function of ASPIRE before explaining the workings of the sport psychology aspect of the Academy in which they were especially interested.

Redgrave, who won five consecutive rowing golds, and US sprinter Johnson – winner of gold at 200m, 400m and 4×400m relay – toured the complex as part of their visit to Doha as guests of Commercialbank.

And the American admitted it was an eye-opening experience. “We don’t have anything like this in the US as most young people play sport anyway and there is an automatic natural process of selection,” he said.
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Slovenia’s Ceplak Edges Closer to Two-Year Doping Ban

Posted November 20th, 2007 at 2:10 PM by Bob Ramsak

Section: News & Results, Drugs In Sports

Olympic 800m bronze medallist Jolanda Ceplak of Slovenia edged closer to a two-year doping ban today after the nation’s athletics federation rejected any doubts about the validity of the athlete’s positive test for EPO last June.

“All doubts about the tests’ accuracy have been disproved,” said Peter Kukovica, president of the AZS, Slovenia’s athletics federation, announcing the unanimous decision by the federation’s anti-doping commission.

The 31-year-old Ceplak, the world indoor record holder in the 800m, tested positive for the banned blood booster EPO after an out-of-competition test in Monte Carlo on June 18. The B sample test confirmed the A sample finding, resulting in a provisional suspension by the sport’s international governing body, the IAAF, on July 26.

In September, the anti-doping commission was unable to reach a decision in the case, pending an additional investigation. Expert testimony since from two noted biochemists and the Slovenian athletics team doctor has dispelled any possibility of testing irregularities, Kukovica said.
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Billy Mills to Welcome Youth Athletes at Junior Olympics

Posted November 16th, 2007 at 3:28 PM by Adam Jacobs

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

Olympic legend and National Track & Field Hall of Famer Bill Mills will be the special guest of honor at the 2007 USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships, USATF announced Friday. More than 3,000 athletes will compete at the event, to be held December 8 at Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence, Kansas.

The 1964 Olympic 10,000-meter champion and University of Kansas graduate, Mills will provide the young athletes attending the Junior Olympic Championships with an inspirational talk during the opening ceremonies. Mills will sign autographs and will be on-hand race day to support USATF’s young athletes.

“We are truly honored to have Mr. Mills attending the Junior Olympics and hope the young athletes can learn from his wonderful life story,” said USATF Missouri Valley President Gilbert Castillo, whose Association is hosting the Championships. “He’s not just a national hero, he is a local legend who is greatly admired by a wide range of people.”
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Olympic Gold Medalist
Robert Taylor Dies

Posted November 15th, 2007 at 8:30 PM by Martin Kennedy

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

According to the Associated Press, two-time Olympic medalist Robert Taylor died Tuesday at a hospital in Missouri City, Texas, after becoming ill Monday at the school where he was a teacher. He was 59.

One of the finest sprinters of his era, Taylor won a gold medal in the 4×100m relay and a silver medal in the 100 meters at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany.

“Robert had one of the greatest personalities,” friend Terry Henson of Tyler, Texas, told the Tyler Morning Telegraph. “His ability as an athlete was unmatched. He never really got his just due on how great an athlete he really was.”

Porter Robinson, who helped coach Taylor at Texas Southern, told The Associated Press that Taylor had “great, great talent.”
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NYC MARATHON 2007:
Elite Athlete Profile:
STEFANO BALDINI

Posted November 4th, 2007 at 8:15 AM by thefinalsprint.com

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Olympics

One of the all-time greats, Stefano Baldini’s record indicates he is perhaps the best ever at peaking for the big championship races. The Italian won the 1996 World Half-Marathon Championships gold, the 2001 and 2003 World Championships Marathon bronze, the European Marathon Championships gold in 1998 and 2006, and Olympic marathon gold in 2004.

The winner of the 2004 Abebe Bikila Award, presented by New York Road Runners, Baldini is coached by Lucio Gigliotti, who guided Gelindo Bordin to Olympic gold in 1988. He holds the Italian national marathon record (2:07:22).
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Maurice Greene Featured in New Book by Todd Gallagher

Posted November 1st, 2007 at 7:30 PM by Jeanie Rebb

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

2000 Olympic gold medalist Maurice Greene is among the celebrity athletes making an appearance in a newly published book by Todd Gallagher, Andy Roddick Beat Me With A Frying Pan.

The book is one man’s mission to settle, once and for all, some fifty different sports debates, no matter how ridiculous. Gallagher gets answers from A-list names in every major sport, from Greene to LeBron James to Jason Giambi to Mike Tyson, and many others.

In the chapter, “What kind of a handicap would it take to beat an Olympic sprinter?” Gallagher’s editor takes on Greene in a footrace. The hitch: the editor gets a more than 30-meter head start and runs more than half the 100-meter race on a moving walkway.
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