by Larry EderUsain Bolt is not planning to run indoors. He is just too darn tall for indoors. I remember Edwin Moses trying to run on the SF Indoor track about 1977, and he just had a miserable time! What would be great for the sport is if Usain showed up at a few meets and talked to kids. He is a huge global star and such a presence could do a lot for the sport.
It is one of the reasons why I admire some of the footwear companies and sponsors for bringing their athletes to various events. Dathan Ritzenhein was at B of A Chicago, and was kind enough to give us an interview at our RN Race Director Party. The race directors had a nice time and it just added to the event!
EME NEWS (NOV 22, 2008)
Bolt no indoors
MONTE CARLO: The fastest man on earth Usain Bolt is not planning to compete indoors. “I m too tall to run the 60 metres,” he said. Concerning his plans for next year he said he might follow the same schedule as in Beijing at the World Championships in Berlin. That means to double and run 100 m and 200 m. As his 400 m plans is concerned, he said that in 2010 he might try to run fast times at the distance. In 2012 the longer sprint could be an option. He spent his dinner with parents and is looking forward to the evening of Sunday with a quote: “Anything is possible.”
Isinbayeva wants to achieve 5 metres indoor
MONTE CARLO: Pole Vault queen Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia wants to achieve her first five metres jump next indoor season. She plans four competitions and at each the aim is to improve her own world indoor record. As already confirmed before she will not jump at European Indoor Championships in Torino.
Robles still seeking for the perfect race
MONTE CARLO: Olympic winner and world record holder Dayron Robles of Cuba is still aiming for his perfect race. “For me the best race of the last season was Paris, I was running there relaxed and good. During the world record race in Ostrava I was trying hard,” he said. For the indoor season 2009 he plans to compete in Europe, starting in Sweden with Goteborg on Jan 29 and Malmo Feb 3. His last race will be in Prague on Feb 26. The goal is to break the world indoor record of 7.30, last season he clocked 7.33.
Campbell-Brown did not arrive
MONTE CARLO: Olympic 200 m winner Veronica Campbell-Brown will be missed at World Athletics Gala due to visa problems. Arriving from overseas are for example US olympic winners Stephanie Trafton Brown or Bryan Clay. From past stars Jackie Joyner-Kersee with husband/coach Bobby are also in along with Henry Rono. From current olympic winners for example Barbora Spotakova or Andrey Silnov came to Monte Carlo on Saturday from Europe and Wilfred Bungei and Nancy Lagat from Kenya.
Liu Xiang with questionmark for Berlin
MONTE CARLO: Former 110 m Hurdles world record holder and current world champion Liu Xiang made an interesting public appearance in Monaco, his first since Olympic Games. He confirmed he will undergo a surgery at the end of December in Houston, USA. After that a six months rehabilitation process will start. His participation at the World Championships in Berlin is so under questionmark.
WAF in Rabat
MONTE CARLO: IAAF council decided about hosts of three future events. The 8th IAAF World Athletics Final will be on September 11-12, 2010 in Rabat, Morocco. After Monte Carlo, Stuttgart and Thessaloniki it will be the fourth site to host the event, and first outside of Europe. The 2010 World Half Marathon Championships will be held in Nanking, China (Oct 9) and 2011 World Youth Championships in Lille, France.
Managers to undergo a examination
MONTE CARLO: IAAF Athletes Representatives will undergo in future an examination process. IAAF wants to have a new licensing system for agents. New Regulations could be in force for 2010 season.
New WAT going on
MONTE CARLO: The new World Athletics Tour concept (with new Golden League and Challenge League) got another boost with having three possible investors for future. There is still the chance it could work for 2010 season, with next IAAF council meeting in March in Berlin to confirm the details. The investors interested are marketing agency, one country investor group and banking group. In total they are possibly ready to invest 20 millions USD per year. IAAF Golden League working group will discuss the possibilities (and events for 2009) early December and IAAF Advisory Board in February.
Anti-doping rules
MONTE CARLO: IAAF council also agreed on all changes in the anti-doping rules to make it into compliance with the World Anti-doping Code of WADA by January 1, 2009.
Shorter into Hall of Fame
HONOLULU (USA): Olympic marathon gold medalist Frank Shorter will be inducted into the Honolulu Marathon Hall of Fame, race organizers announced.
Shorter, 61, has never won the Honolulu Marathon, America’s third largest after New York and Chicago, although he ran the race 19 times. Nonetheless, Shorter has attended the event dozens of times and worked as a broadcaster and promoter of the race. He also signed autographs tirelessly as part of the race’s Legends of Running program. Race Results Weekly informs. The Honolulu Marathon Hall of Fame includes the races best marathon runners and event organizers, including race champions Benson Masya, Jimmy Muindi, Mbarak Hussein, Patti Dillon, Carla Beurskens, and Ibrahim Hussein. Shorter will be inducted in a public ceremony at the Honolulu Marathon Expo at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu on Thursday, Dec. 11.
Saladino thinks about the world record
COLON (PAN): Long jump Olympic champion Irving Saladino announced he’s going back to Brazil this week-end to start his preparation for the 2009 season, during a visit to construction workers building the Panama-Colon highway. He added that one of his goals is to break the 8.95m world record. “If I manage to do it next year, then I will for sure be a serious contender for the ‘Best Athlete of the Year’ title. His target in the long run is to keep his title and bring a second Olympic gold medal from London in 2012. “Then I shall retire and focus on having a family”. Saladino was recently rewarded with a 25,000 USD cheque from construction company Odebrecht Panama and with 20,000 USD from Cable & Wireless Panama for his feat in Beijing, Dia a Dia informs.
Robinson the president
KINGSTON (JAM): Patrick Robinson, a Jamaican judge serving at the United National International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia for the former Yugoslavia has been elected President of that Tribunal. He is also the author of the book, Jamaican Athletics – A Model for the World (published in 2007), which seeks to explain the reasons for Jamaica’s high quality performances in global athletics over the past sixty years.
NCAA II Championships
SLIPPERY ROCK (USA, Nov 22): Seattle Pacific University’s Jessica Pixler, a junior, easily won her second consecutive NCAA Division II Cross Country title, on the 6 km course at the Cooper’s Lake Campground in Slippery Rock, Pa. The race was held in very cold conditions on a snow covered course, and blowing snow greeted the runners at the start of the race. Pixler, twice the NCAA D-II indoor champion at the mile, more than doubled her 13 second winning margin from last year’s race, beating Slippery Rock’s freshman Neely Spence by nearly half a minute. Pixler was clocked in 21:00 (unofficial), 28 seconds up on Spence, the daughter of 1991 IAAF World Championships Marathon bronze medalist Steve Spence, who outsprinted Shannon Payne of the University of Colorado/Colorado Springs in the final 200m. The Adams State Grizzlies won their sixth straight team title with 79 points.
Chico State’s Scott Bauhs ended his collegiate career with a bang today, overcoming cold and windy conditions to win the NCAA Division II Cross Country men title. Bauhs, who made the U.S. team for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships last year, opened up an early lead with Adams State’s Aaron Braun, last year’s runner-up at these championships. Running on a snow-covered and frozen course Bauhs waved to the crowd as he cruised to finish in 30:25. Braun held on for second, and Queens University’s Michael Crouch finished a distant third. Braun, however, got the satisfaction of leading the Grizzlies to the team title, beating their Colorado rivals Western State by 21 points. Bauhs’s Chico State finished third. Race Results Weekly informs.
Special thanks to Alfons Juck for his fine coverage of our sport!
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