by Larry EderAutobiographies are everywhere. To stand out in this genre, however, the juicier the stories, the more like reality TV ( a genre this writer can do without), the better the book will sell.
My guess is, the publisher of Dwain Chambers autobiography, which has been serialized in British media, is quite happy, as the controversy over the book has given it headlines in the UK. Chambers has harsh comments on several prominent athletes, managers and former athletes. There is the distinct possibility that the IAAF could ban him for causing damage to the image of the sport. However, I find it about 50/50. Such a ban would only give the book more airplay and popularity. Watch closely folks, as this could be a hot one!
EME NEWS (MAR 19, 2009)
Usain Bolt News
PARIS (FRA) : Usain Bolt will be the star of the Areva Paris Saint-Denis Golden League meet on July 17. It is not known yet whether the Jamaican, will race the 100m or 200m. Bolt may compete in other 1-2 meetings in his post Jamaican Trials and pre World Championships period. In Paris also a 4×100 m relay with Jamaican Team is planned to be staged. The organisers are hoping to come close to the spectators world record 70 253 in 2007 from ISTAF in Berlin.
MANCHESTER (GBR): The fastest man will run in 150 m race on a specially constructed, four-lane, straight 225 m long Mondo track in the early evening. He will run actually twice: first in a heat and again one hour later –assuming he qualifies– in a final. Mark Lewis-Francis and Simeon Williamson are the first British sprinters to accept invitations to compete against him on May 17. Lewis-Francis, an Olympic relay gold medallist in 2004, will be making his comeback after missing last season with an achilles injury. But Dwain Chambers suffered another blow after organisers of the city centre race in Manchester said that they would not invite the Briton.
KINGSTON (JAM): Three-time Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt is donating three signed pairs of his signature gold shoes to charity. Jamaican media are informing. The famous footwear will be auctioned to benefit the New York-based Jamaican charity, Children of Jamaica Outreach (COJO) Inc. The sneakers, donated by Puma are part of a limited edition produced to commemorate Bolt’s world record run of 9.72 seconds, set at the Reebok Grand Prix at the Icahn Stadium early last year, prior to his history-making performance in August at the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China.
BERLIN (GER): The head of the sport’s governing body Lamine Diack said Olympic champion Usain Bolt would need to break his own 100 meters world record to win the race at this year’s world athletics championships (to be held in Berlin on August 15-23), Reuters inform. “Whoever wants to win the 100 meters in Berlin will likely have to run under (the world record) 9.69 seconds. This terrific blue track can offer that,” the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) president told Bild newspaper.
Amman News
MADRID (ESP): Spanish senior men’s team for World Cross Country Championships in Amman is likely to be the strongest European team in that race. It’s interesting that the three senior women’s medallists from the Spanish championships last weekend (Rosa Morató, Iris Fuentes-Pila and Nuria Fernández – all experienced internationals and the last one being the fastest woman over 1500m in the world this year) have all turned down selection. Men: Alemayehu Bezabeh, Carles Castillejo, Ayad Lamdassem, Javier López, Manolo Penas, José Luis Blanco. Women: Alessandra Aguilar, Jacqueline MartÃn, Judit Plá, Diana MartÃn, Cristina Jordán. Junior Men: Mario Mola, Antonio AbadÃa, Jaime Villa, Aitor Fernández, MartÃn Ortiz. Junior Women: Sandra Mosquera, Tania Carretero, EstefanÃa Tobal.
RABAT (MAR): Morocco will send 24 athletes, a team in each category, to the World Cross-Country in Amman. 4 of the six men (Anis Selmouni, Ahmed Baday, Mourad Maaroufit and Brahim Beloua) were part of the team that clinched silver at the 2007 World Championships in Mombasa.MEN : Chaker Boujettaoui, Anis Selmouni, Mohcine Mobsit, Ahmed Baday, Mourad Maaroufit, Brahim Beloua. WOMEN: Bouchra Chaabi, Maria Laghrissi, Laila Hmattou, Hanane Ouhaddou, Salima Alaoui Alami, Siham Hilali. JUNIOR MEN: Adel Rached, Youssef Nasser, Hicham Sghini, Yahia Mekkaoui, Azeddine Afroune, Mahjoub Daza. JUNIOR WOMEN : Fatima El Ouazzani, Hafida Benjilali, Yamna Mbarki, Habiba Hamam, Hayat El Omari, Fatima-Zahra Ouhris.
PARIS (FRA): France has unveiled a list of 10 athletes for the World Cross-Country in Amman. After the first four eligible athletes (including French champion Driss El Himer) turned out their selection, having their sights on the road, the federation has decided to build a team based on young athletes who have shown promising results at the European XC championships in the past few years.MEN: Mokhtar Benhari, Hassan Hirt, Denis Mayaud, Yohann Durand, Morhad Amdouni , Benjamin Malaty. WOMEN: Elodie Olivares. JUNIOR MEN: Simon Denissel, Vincent Boucena. JUNIOR WOMEN: Clémence Calvin
MONTE CARLO (MON): IAAF writes, that the battle for honours at the Championships in Amman is set to be more competitively open than has been the case at these championships for most of a decade. With the dominant, multiple title winning Ethiopians Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba sidelined by injury, the only previous individual senior champions who will be racing for further World Cross Country honours in the Jordanian capital are Zersenay Tadese (ERI) and Gelete Burka (ETH). The former was famously the vanquisher of Bekele in 2007 and was bronze medallist last year, while the latter, a junior winner in 2005, was the last champion of the now discontinued senior women’s short course race (2006). Qatar’s World 3000m Steeplechase champion Saif Saaeed Shaheen, 2009 Kenyan champion Moses Mosop who was World XC silver medallist behind Tadese in 2007, compatriot Leonard Komon the runner-up in Edinburgh 12 months ago, and Asian 10,000m record holder and XC champion Ahmed Hassan Abdullah of Qatar are among the others challenging for the senior men’s crown. The Netherlands’ European champion Hilda Kibet is another entered for the women’s senior race along with former World Junior XC champions Meselech Melkamu of Ethiopia (2004) and Kenya’s Linet Masai (2007 who was the senior bronze medallist last year, Bahrain’s Asian XC champion and World 1500m title holder Maryam Yusuf Jamal, and Kenyan champion Florence Kiplagat.
MONTE CARLO (MON): The team contests in Amman will be just as keenly fought as the battle for individual titles in the four races which make up the programme on Saturday 28 March. While we can assume, writes IAAF, that in Amman squads from much of east and north Africa and a few Arab nations will once again engage in their annual battle for glory, the team contests at the World Cross Country Championships over recent years have brought plenty of bounty for other nations in competitions which otherwise have been dominated by African born runners. Benita Johnson (2004), Paula Radcliffe (2001/2002) and Sonia O’Sullivan (1998) have been the most recent athletes individually to upset the domination but overall the team battles – which are decided upon the lowest aggregate of points achieved in each race – have provided much more fruitful territory at the World Cross Country Championships. In the women’s junior and senior races the Japanese have been especially good at reaping team success with a large number of bronze and the occasional silver medal. During the last decade countries such as Australia, Canada, France, Great Britain and NI, Ireland, Portugal, Romania, Russia and the USA have also been successful in the hunt for minor team medals. Amman should be no different with young and talented junior squads especially from Australia, Britain and USA, along with the ever consistent Japanese seriously contesting team honours alongside their African born opponents. Most notably Australia’s junior men’s line-up is led by their 1500m sensation Ryan Gregson, and USA’s junior squad likewise can count on another Miler German Fernandez, now the quickest junior indoors there has ever been. Asami Kato of Japan who was 15th last year in Edinburgh will lead her country’s junior women’s challenge, and while Britain’s World Junior 1500m champion Stephanie Twell will contest the senior women’s race, it is worth remembering that in her last race as a junior in December’s European XC championships, Twell led home a British sweep of the first six places in the junior race.
OTHER NEWS
PRAGUE (CZE): Organisers of Prague Half-Marathon (Saturday March 28) are aiming for IAAF Gold Label in future. All three main races (marathon, half-marathon, 10 km) organised in Prague on road have so far the silver mark. In provisional start list main names are from Kenya. Two male runners with sub one hore bests Stephen Kibiwott (59:44 last year in Lille) and Matthew Koech Kipchirchir who clocked this year as fifth in Ras Al Khaimah 59:54. Also in the list one of the best European long distance runners Austrian Gunther Weidlinger who is in preparation for marathon debut in Vienna. Women star will be the course record holder Caroline Kwambai with 1:09:45 best. Her event best is 1:10:08 from 2006. Men course record of Patrick Ivuti is 1:01:00 from 2007.
RABAT (MAR): The Moroccan federation removed Said Aouita from his job as national technical director only five months after starting the job. Aouita’s relations with FMA president Abdeslam Ahizoune had been deteriorating recently according to Moroccan media. The dismissal was decided during a meeting of the federation’s executive board but the reasons for the quick split were not released officially. It is not the first time Aouita had his duties terminated abrubtly. In 1994, the Moroccan federation had put an end to his contract after six months in the job. Aouita later worked for Qatar and Australia, but each time the collaboration ended in difficult circumstances, Aziz Daouda informs.
NEW ORLEANS (USA): The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced the NCAA Division I National Indoor Track and Field Athletes of the Year. After the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships these athletes were honored: Women’s Track Athlete of the Year, Jenny Barringer (3000m); Women’s Field Athlete of the Year, Destinee Hooker (high jump); Men’s Track Athlete of the Year, Galen Rupp (3000, 5000m); and the Men’s Field Athlete of the Year, Ashton Eaton (heptathlon).
JOHANNESBURG (RSA): The winner of the silver medal in the long jump at last year’s Olympic Games in Beijing, Khotso (Godfrey) Mokoena is having a quarrel with his coach Angus Pohl. As supersport.co.za informs, money plays a big role in this broil. “Godfrey is refusing to pay me 10% of his bonus money. I am entitled to it because I spent between three and five hours daily for six months to prepare him for the Games,†said Pohl, who had this kind of deal with the athlete. Mokoena who is also World Indoor Champion did not want to comment.
LONDON (GBR): The IAAF council could discuss Dwain Chambers’ controversial autobiography and whether it brings the sport into disrepute at a meeting in Berlin this weekend. The disgraced sprinter could be banned from competitions if the governing body decide to take action, though they could also judge there is no case to answer after lawyers studied the content of the book. It is understood the legal team will reveal their findings to the advisory board on Friday afternoon and only then will a decision be made whether it should be passed to council members to discuss at the meeting on Saturday or Sunday. The serialisation of drug cheat Chambers’ book in a national newspaper suggested there were grounds for disciplinary action after criticisms of Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu, IAAF vice president Lord Sebastian Coe and his former manager John Regis. Writes David Martin.
BERLIN (GER): Organisers of opening meet of last Golden League season, the DKB-ISTAF in Berlin (June 14) presented today the German European Indoor Champion in High Jump Ariane Friedrich as their first star. Her clash with Croatian world champion Blanka Vlasic should be one of the highlights of the meeting. Meeting Director Gerhard Janetzky also informed, that Russian Pole Vault queen is supposed to compete at all Golden League meetings with the aim to attack the one million jackpot. On the other side Friedrich already said she will pass the events in Oslo and Rome because of the World Universiade in Serbia (athletics July 7-12). The organisers are hoping for a “World Championships in one day†as the blue track of Berlin Olympic Stadium will later in August host the most important sporting event of the year. The goal for the number of spectators is 50 000.
CARSON (USA): World champion Tyson Gay still did not set his schedule for summer 2009. It is because a knee injury because of which he lost six weeks of training at the beginning of the year. Gay said he hurt his left knee while training last November, trying to get in shape after a disappointing Beijing Olympics in which he didn’t win a medal and didn’t even make the finals in his signature event, the 100 meters. Because he’s the defending world champion in the 100 and 200, he has an automatic spot at the worlds this year. But he still must compete at US Trials, but must not be in top three. Agencie are informing.
KINGSTON (JAM): A clash of dates on the IAAF Calendar is the main deterrent against the proposed two-leg challenge meet between track and field powerhouses Jamaica and the United States. Informs Jamaica Observer. President of the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA), Howard Aris said that the suggested dates in the month of May contained in an official correspondence from USA Track and Field (USATF) on Tuesday cannot work. “Part of the problem is that some of the dates that are being considered will clash with (IAAF) Area Permit Meets in this (NACAC) area and in South America, and therefore the next step has got to be USTAF, who are the initiators of this series of competitions, having to clear that with the IAAF,” Aris said. The Observer understands that the proposed dates in May would clash with the Ponce Grand Prix (Area Permit Meet) set for Puerto Rico on Saturday, May 16, as well as Gold Meeting Caixa Fortaleza (Area Permit Meet) in Brazil on May 20. The letter to McCook indicated that the meets would feature male and female athletes in the 100, 200 and 400 metres; 100/110m hurdles and 400m hurdles; long jump and the 4×100, 4×400 and sprint medley relays. The dates of the potential challenge meets are proposed for May and June. “We’re very clear that we would not be having any meet this year that would challenge the Jamaica Invitational Meet (set for May 2) in terms of our ability to organise two such competitions around the same time in Jamaica. We wouldn’t be happy with that. If there is some other way to accommodate it we’re prepared to discuss that with USA Track and Field later on this week,” Aris explained.
RESULTS
BRISBANE (AUS, Mar 19): World Champion and Olympic Shot Put gold medalist Valerie Vili of New Zealand achieved the best result during first day of Australian Championships with 20.22 m effort, the second best mark in the world this year. Australian Olympic silver medalist Sally McLellan clocked 11.40 (+0.1) in 100 m heats. Four-time Australian title winner Joshua Ross was fastest qualifier in men 100 m with his heat win in 10.43 (0.0). Tim Wroe was the best in 400 m heats (46.21). In the absence of World Champion Jana Rawlinson who is once again troubled by injury (to her calf), Melbourne’s World Indoor 800m title holder Tamsyn Lewis has switched to the 400m hurdles with 58.92 heat win (she already clocked 57.90 end of February) and got also 52.39 in 400 m flat first round. Olympic finalist Youcef Abdi won the steeple in 8:38.65 and Alwyn Jones was the best in triple jump with a fifth round leap of 16.83m (+0.8). Dane Richter was the fastest man at 400 m Hurdles (50.64) as Chris Rawlinson did not participate.
Special thanks to Alfons Juck, EME News.
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