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Lead Stories: Friday, August 29, 2008

TFS News Briefs: 3/29/08

Posted March 29th, 2008 at 1:45 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

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

Coe Blames Athletes and Coaches, Not Federations, For Cross-Country’s Decline
A report in UK’s Guardian continues the recent discussion about the decline of European decline in cross-country. IAAF President Lamine Diack called Germany’s one-woman delegation (Susanne Hahn) “shameful.” (However, I must say that mad props should go to Hahn!) IAAF VP Sebastian Coe, the unparalleled middle-distance runner who won 4 Olympic medals and set 11 world records (8 outdoors/3 indoors), blamed the individual athletes and coaches, whom he said “don’t see it… You rarely find anyone at a European level now who sees a correlation from cross country to track.”
Read more at: [Guardian, UK]

African Showcase In Edinburgh
Speaking of cross-country, the 11th hour until the big race is upon us. At 9:45am Sunday morning (EST) (9:05 for the women’s race) the Africans will toe the line in Edinburgh, Scotland to take their 22nd world championship in a row at the 36th IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Among the favorites are 2006 winner Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele, defending champ Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea, Moses Kipsiro of Uganda and a whole host of Kenyan runners, including Gideon Ngatuny. The lone non-African contender is Craig Mottram of Australia. In the women’s race, Tirunesh Dibaba hopes to join Bekele in an Ethiopian sweep.
Read more at: [IAAF][Peninsula On-line, Qatar]

Speaking of Mottram…
That’s all we can do because he’s certainly not doing any speaking for himself. He has initiated his usual pre-race lock-out of the media in order to prepare for the race. Benita Johnson, Mottram’s teammate and training partner, has joined him in the media ban. The Sydney Morning Herald states that the media ban is “self-imposed,” but taskmaster coach Nic Bideau must have a major say in the decision. Bideau told the media that “the interviews might make [Mottram] more famous and get him more sponsorship deals, but it’s not going to help him run better.”
Read more at: [Sydney Morning Herald][More Mottram]
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