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Lead Stories: Tuesday, October 7, 2008

TFS News Briefs: 8/26/2008

Posted August 26th, 2008 at 11:37 AM by Jesse Squire

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

ÅF Golden League Down to Two for Jackpot
Friday’s Zurich Weltklasse meet, the second-to-last event in the Golden League series, will have the remaining two athletes contending for the $1 million jackpot. Kenya’s Pamela Jelimo and Croatia’s Blanka Vlasic are undefeated in the series. Jelimo broke her own World Junior Record at the Beijing Olympics, while Vlasic suffered her only defeat in over a year. The meet, known as “The Olympics In One Night” due to the strength of the competition, will be carried on ESPN Classic on Friday afternoon. IAAF

Catherine Ndereba Confirms She Didn’t Know She Was Behind
Her agent tells Runner’s World’s Amby Burfoot that she lost sight of eventual marathon champion Constantina Tomescu-Dita when she made her break, and excessive security kept the information from being relayed to her. She never tried to close the gap because she thought her group was leading the race. Runner’s World

Coach deserves Texas-sized blame for Games
In a searing editorial, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette lays blame for Olympic disappointments at the feet of head coach Bubba Thornton due to his forcing legend John McDonnell off the US staff. That McDonnell was the coach at Arkansas while Thornton is at rival Texas had nothing to do with their analysis, of course.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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“Soft” and “Hard” Records in Track & Field

Posted September 29th, 2007 at 8:00 AM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

I love manipulating statistics, so it’s no surprise that my two favorite sports are track & field and baseball. Now that the 2007 track & field season is over, I thought it would be interesting to try and determine which world records are soft (easy to break) and which are hard (either not so easy to break or impossible to break based on current dope-detection methods that weren’t available when some of the records were set).

But how does one go about accomplishing such an arduous task? I tried trusty old Google (Yes! I actually succeeded in not using the word Google as a verb this time!), but to no avail. People obviously don’t have as much spare time as I do, because I couldn’t find a single documented method for determining whether a track & field record (or any sports record, for that matter) is soft or hard. I know they’re out there because I catch wind of it all the time: “so and so’s record is soft so it’s bound to be broken this season.” Are these pundits simply going by feel, or are they, like your humble correspondent, taking the time to actually crunch the numbers so that they can offer solid evidence for their claims?
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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

muscle recovery man praying kneeling track runner breather 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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