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Lead Stories: Monday, October 13, 2008

TFS News Briefs: 4/04/08

Posted April 4th, 2008 at 1:18 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

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

Tyson Gay “Your Season Starts Now”
The Jamaican tourism board’s current slogan is “Your Vacation Starts Now.” Well, Tyson Gay is paying no heed to that sentiment. He’s headed there to do some work. He will begin his 2008 season at the Jamaica International Invitation meeting on May 3rd, 2008 where he will run a 200m dash.
Read more at: [Xinhua, China]

“Glimmer of Hope” For USA Cross-Country
An article in the UK’s Herald discusses the recent 2008 IAAF World Cross-Country Championships and mentions USA cross-country as “show[ing] a glimmer of hope” in being able to compete against the Africans in future championships. The US is also seeking to host the event in 2010 and has asked the Scots for help in conducting a successful event. My advice? Invite a bunch of Africans.
Read more at: [The Herald, UK]

Sanya Richards: “This is what I’ve been training for all my life”
Sanya Richards is ready to claim the Beijing Olympic Gold in 2008 in the 400m, having suffered a setback in 2007 that caused her not to qualify for the Osaka World Championships in that event. Her coach, Clyde Hart said, “I think she’s probably better (now) than she’s been since I’ve had her.”
Read more at: [USA Today]
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TFS News Briefs: 4/01/08

Posted April 1st, 2008 at 2:53 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

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

Kenya’s Coach Accused Ethiopians Of Fielding Over-aged Ringers
According to an article on Kenya Broadcasting Corporation’s website, Kenyan Head Coach Julius Kirwa is accusing arch rivals Ethiopia of “age cheating.” Kirwas, the article states, had told journalists that the junior Kenyan teams had lost at the IAAF WOrld Cross Country Championships this past weekend because of injuries and “because their major opponents from Ethiopia were much older.”
Read more at: [Kenya Broadcasting Corporation]

Oscar Pistorius Will Have His Day In Court
Double amputee Oscar Pistorius, a South African sprinter who is banned from the Olympics because of an alleged advantage offered to him by his prosthetics, is set to appear before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the highest appeals court in international sport, on April 29th and 30th.
Read more at: [The Canadian Press]

Gatlin To Argue His Case Before CAS
Speaking of appeals by sprinters, Justin Gatlin is set to have his own day in court. The CAS has agreed to hear his case on May 28th and 29th. Gatlin is insisting that he never knowingly took steroids. A lift on his ban could allow him to compete at the US Olympic Trials in June and July.
Read more at: [The Canadian Press]
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TFS News Briefs: 3/31/08

Posted March 31st, 2008 at 2:41 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

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

Reluctant IAAF Hands Jones’ Silver Medal To Thanou
Even though she herself is under a cloud of suspicion, the IAAF said they “had no other choice” but to hand Marion Jones’ silver medal from the 2001 World Championships 100m dash to Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou. Jones lost all her medals last year after confessing to doping.
Read more at: [Google News]

If Only Fan Reaction In the US Were This Rabid
Even though they won both men’s and women’s team titles in the 2008 IAAF World Cross-Country Championships, the Kenyan team returned home to mixed crowd reaction. Since the Ethiopians swept the individual titles, some of the Kenyan fans look at this outing as a failure. Here in the US, our own delegation was greeted with confused looks and people who were heard saying, “cross country? What’s that?”
Read more at: [Kenya Broadcasting Corporation]

The Day The Music Died
If you need more than the sound of your own breathing and footsteps to accompany you while you try to reach that marathon finish line before your glycogen level drops further south than a penguin during mating season, you might be troubled to learn that the IAAF is considering a world-wide ban on mp3 players during competition.
Read more at: [Guardian UK]
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World Cross Country Championships: An African Master Class

Posted March 31st, 2008 at 9:00 AM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Cross Country, SoundOFF, Columns

Just how dominant were the Africans at yesterday’s IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland? Almost absolutely. Embarrassingly so. Of the 166 finishers, the top 18 were either African or African-born. Of the top 50, 88% were African or African-born. Even when we go all the way down to the top 100, Africans still accounted for 63% of the places! Of the bottom 50, only 30% were African or African-born. Figuratively speaking, Africans hardly even left the rest of the world’s cross-country runners table scraps. That’s dominance. Here’s a chart showing just how dominant Africans were in the race:

The African women were nearly as dominant. In comparison to the men’s race, 15 of the top 18 women were African or African-born. Here are the numbers for that race:

The fact that Kenenisa Bekele could stop for a full 15 seconds to put his shoe back on and still beat the first non-African finisher Jorge Torres of the United States by a minute and 25 seconds (not to mention that he beat “African beater” Craig Mottram by a full two minutes and 2 seconds!) shows just how far the rest of the world has to go to catch up with the Africans.
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Despite Obstacles, Bekele Wins 6th 12K World Cross Title

Posted March 30th, 2008 at 1:14 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Cross Country

Seated at the post-race press conference with a pair of medals around his neck, Kenenisa Bekele looked more like a king who had restored order to his kingdom than a man who had just won a muddy and bone chilling cross country race. But the five-time double IAAF World Cross Country Champion had indeed put down a rebellion to clinch his sixth individual 12-K title, foiling a conspiracy which began last Friday at London’s Heathrow Airport.

First, his Ethiopian Airways flight from Addis Ababa arrived far enough behind schedule that he missed his connecting flight to Edinburgh. Tired, he decided to spend the night at the airport, missing yesterday’s pre-race press conference. His Saturday breakfast didn’t agree with him, and his stomach problems only grew as the day wore on.
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Missed Flight Unlikely To Slow Bekele Or African Onslaught

Posted March 29th, 2008 at 10:34 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Cross Country

Five-time double IAAF World Cross Country champion Kenenisa Bekele has yet to arrive here, but his presence is already felt. His flight from Addis Ababa arrived late, allowing him only 30 minutes at London’s Heathrow Airport to connect for his flight to Edinburgh this morning. (Anyone who has been to Heathrow knows that even one hour there is barely enough time to change planes).

But no matter, because the mighty Ethiopian can skip the course tour. He’s already won three invitational races on the Holyrood Park circuit, the last coming less than three months ago.
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TFS News Briefs: 3/28/08

Posted March 28th, 2008 at 4:27 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

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

Cragg Out-Psyching Himself Or Others?
Here’s a head scratcher: Going into Sunday’s IAAF World Cross County Championships, Ireland’s Alistair Cragg says he’s “in shape” but he “admits that he hasn’t a snowball’s hope in hell” of winning. Since any fan of Craig Mottram knows that the Aussie believes one shouldn’t bother entering a race unless he believes he can win, Cragg is either attempting some over-the-top psyching out of his opponents, or else he’s already lost and might as well DNS. We’ll find out which one it was on Sunday. (See the next news brief for what is perhaps the larger issue.)
Read more at: [Irish Independent]

Pundit Rants About the “Emasculation” Of European Distance Runners
Where have all the good times gone? It seems that the glory days of European world domination in cross-country are long behind that continent. Long-gone are the days when Pekka Päivärinta (FIN, 1973), Erik De Beck (BEL, 1974), Ian Stewart (SCO, 1975), Carlos Lopes (POR, 1976), Léon Schots (BEL, 1977), John Treacy (IRL, 1978-1979) allowed Europe to dominate at the worlds. What happened? The Africans, that’s what. A Kenyan, an Ethiopian or a Moroccan has won the world championship in cross-country for 21 years running.
Read more at: [The Herald, UK][GBAthletics]

Some More Mind Games, This Time From Kipsiro
Ugandan harrier Moses Kipsiro, regarded as the favorite going into Sunday’s IAAF World Cross County Championships, is playing his own mind games, saying, “I will try my best. I pray to God that I get a good result.” Attaboy, Moses! Be that little train that could!. I’ll bet your best will be much better than you’re making it out to be.
Read more at: [AllAfrica.com]
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TFS News Briefs: 3/25/08

Posted March 25th, 2008 at 12:44 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

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

Boston Marathon To Be Broadcast Live
VERSUS will broadcast the The 112th running of the Boston Marathon , which is the oldest and most prestigious marathon in the world April 21st, 2008, which is Patriot’s Day. The broadcast runs from 8:00 AM to 3:00PM, Eastern time. Local station WBZ-TV will carry the event for the 28th year.
Read more at: [Runner’s Web]

WCSN To Stream Boston Marathon Live To International Audience
International audiences will have live, online access for the time ever to the Boston Marathon. The 112th running of the oldest and most prestigious marathon in the world will be streamed live on WCSN.com on April 21st, 2008, which is Patriot’s Day.
Read more at: [Boston Herald]

Bernard Lagat: Still Obsessed With Olympic Gold
An excellent feature article in the NY Times finds Bernard Lagat obsessed with winning an Olympic Gold medal that he narrowly missed claiming by just 12/100ths of a second. He weighs in on the drug charges that have dogged him (but from which he was cleared) since 2002, saying, “I’m innocent, but how am I going to prove it?” Lagat also discusses the political situation in his birth country (Lagat is an American citizen) of Kenya, saying, “It’s so sad. You can’t kill a person because he votes for another party.”
Read more at: [NY 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: 3/22/08

Posted March 22nd, 2008 at 12:00 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

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

Preview Of Oregon Preview
Eugene, OR’s Register-Guard, arguably THE track & field newspaper, has a preview of the University of Oregon’s Oregon Preview track & field meet which will serve as the unveiling of the newly renovated Hayward Field, which arguably may be THE track & field stadium.
Read more at: [Register-Guard]

The Man Who Would Be King
Joseph Ebuya of Kenya is profiled in Kenya’s Standard. He is vying to upset the great Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia to become the 2008 world cross-country champion. “I want only gold,” he said. “I know that if we keep up with him from the first minute we have a chance of beating him.”
Read more at: [Standard, Kenya]

Show Me the Money!
Of course we all know that cross-country athletes are in it solely for financial gain, not for the love of the sport. Here’s an article on the IAAF detailing the prize money for the 36th IAAF World Cross-Country Championships which will be held on March 30th, 2008 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Read more at: [IAAF]
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