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I was asked about some comments on the CEO issue, watch for those on Thursday, September 16. I need some time to digest and check with some of the key players in
our sport.

I am trying to find all the columns on the Logan situation and will be posting them.

In the end though, for the federations, it is all about the wins and records.

LOGAN IS OUT

INDIANAPOLIS (USA): USATF will
hire a new CEO after the board of directors voted for new leadership.
Current CEO Doug Logan was in position for 2,5 years but after taken
a performance evaluation the board decided they needed new leadership in
order to move the sport forward the USATF writes in a press release. Logan
still had three years left in his contract and reportedly is owed 1.8 million
dollar. „I know I’ve made people uncomfortable, maybe some people have reached
their threshold. I knew with the agenda I came to work with, this end
was entirely possible.” Logan was quoted in The Washington Post. Chief
Operating Officer Mike McNees will take over the day-to-day leadership while
the board commences its search for a new CEO. Des Moines Register writes
that Logan’s ouster could be a concern for Drake University, which tried
to put its best foot forward for Logan during June’s USA Track and Field
Championships in Des Moines. Drake wants to host the 2016 U.S. Olympic trials,
but lost potentially one of its biggest supporters in Logan. The Chicago
Tribune is reporting that USATF will have to give Logan a substantial
payoff, possibly in the neighborhood of $1 million, unless there is cause for
firing him. Logan is owed almost $2 million for the remaining years on his
contract that was to have expired in December of 2013. Logan, who had alienated
some in the volunteer-based organization with his outspoken, slash-and-burn
style, is best known for the independent report he commissioned after Team
USA’s disappointing performance at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing that levied
heavy criticism throughout the organization. He also set a public goal of
winning 30 medals at the 2012 Summer Games in London. The U.S. track and field
team won 23 in
Beijing. Stephanie Hightower said the USATF board will meet in Indianapolis the
first weekend in October to consider a proposed hiring timeline and other
recommendations from a personnel committee. By mid-October, she said,
a search for a full-time CEO likely will be underway. Logan, the
former commissioner of Major League Soccer, assumed the helm of USATF after
former Washington attorney Craig Masback left the organization to take an
executive post with Nike, a USATF sponsor.

USAIN IS DOWN-UNDER

SYDNEY (AUS): Sprint world
record holder Usain Bolt has touched down in Sydney and may even stretch out
his famous legs at Wednesday´s night’s Athletics Allstars meet at Sydney
Olympic Park. Writes The Australian. Bolt suggested on his arrival at Sydney
Airport that he might run the anchor leg of a celebrity 4×100 m relay,
alongside cricketer Brad Haddin, boxer Danny Green and retired sprinter Melinda
Gainsford-Taylor. “I will probably a run a relay but I don’t
think I will be doing anything serious,” he said. Bolt is primarily on
a promotional tour of Australia, to launch a new Gatorade product
that has been named in his honour. He was sipping from the bottle of his
sponsor’s product as he faced the media pack at the airport. Flanked by a Jamaican
posse, Bolt signed a few autographs then was whisked away to his hotel in
a black Audi. Wednesday meet will feature for example Dani Samuels or
Fabrice Lapierre in serious pre-Commonwealth Games competition.

OTHER NEWS

MONACO (MON): Steve Hooker
looks forward to representing his country at the Commonwealth Games in India
and is very satisfied with how his past season has developed he wrote in his
IAAF online diary. Hooker especially mentioned the crowd and atmosphere at the
IAAF Continental Cup in Split and the extra motivation he felt when competing
for Asia-Pacific. Hooker will also jump this weekend at Great City Games in
Newcastle.

AMSTERDAM (NED): Tariku Bekele
has been announced as one of the favorites for the Dam tot Damloop in Amsterdam
on September 19th. Bekele will replace Sileshi Sihine, who had to withdraw from
the race. Previously announced were Moses Masai and Dutch top athletes Koen
Raymaekers, Rens Dekkers and Patrick Stitzinger. In the women’s race Lornah
Kiplagat and Hilda Kibet will toe the starting line.

ABUJA (NIG): Former world
junior champion and Nigerian relay member Uchena Emedolu has been banned by the
Nigerian national sports commission. Emedolu allegedly dropped the baton on
purpose at the 2008 African championships “One cannot understand why Uchenna
Emedolu decided to frustrate his teammates at the championships. The dropping
of the baton was not just once” Director General Patrick Ekeji was quoted in
Vanguard Nigeria newspaper.

KINGSTON (JAM): Fast sprinter
Yohan Blake wants to improve his start and then beat Tyson Gay. He said that
for Trackalerts.com. „I had a wonderful season in 2010. I did well on
the circuit with positive influence from Usain Bolt,” said Blake who is part of
coach Glen Mills Racers TC and improved to 9.89 and 19.78 this summer. „I need
to work on my start and then I can get him,” said Blake about potential
duel with fastest US sprinter. On the other side he expects tough races also
within the domestic scene. With Usain Bolt as title defender in both 100 m and 200 m Jamaica will still be
able to send to Daegu three more sprinters in each race. The end of June Trials
will be so very hot races with likes of Asafa Powell, Nesta Carter, Mario
Forsythe, Michael Frater, Steve Mullings and world junior champion Dexter Lee.

NAIROBI (KEN): Eliud Kipchoge
has been called up to replace Edwin Soi in the 5000m at the upcoming
Commonwealth Games in India. African champion Soi has pulled out citing fatigue
after competing in both the African championships and the Continental Cup in
Split. 60 Kenyan athletes have moved into a training camp near Nairobi on
Monday in preparation of the Games, in addition Kenya is entering relay teams
for such a global event for the first time since Barcelona 1992 writes The
Daily Nation.

LAUSANNE (SUI): Sweden’s
Gunilla Lindberg will be head of the International Olympic Committee‘s (IOC)
Evaluation Commission that will assess the three cities bidding to host the
2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, it was announced, writes
insidethegames.biz. The 63-year-old, who was the IOC vice-president from 2004
and 2008, has been chosen because of her vast experience earned working on
Coordination Commissions for five Olympic Games and her role with the
Evaluation Commission for the 2006 Turin Olympic Winter Games. She will head an
11-strong panel that will visit Munich, Annecy and Pyeongchang in that order
between February 8 and March 5 next year before producing a report that is
due to be published a month before the IOC Session in Durban on July 6,
2011, where the host city to follow Sochi will be chosen.

CHORZOW (POL): Polish media are
informing that construction has began on a 43,000 sq metre roof to cover
the Silesian football stadium in Chorzow, south western Poland – the biggest
such construction in Europe. The stadium will be able to seat 55,000 spectators
and will be the largest facility in Poland. The owners of the stadium have
already applied to host the European League final in 2013 and were thinking
about to bid for the World Athletics Championships in 2015, but later withdrew.
For athletics important is that the stadium will have a track.

MOSCOW (RUS): More post-season
athletics weddings in Russia. European 800 m champion Mariya Savinova married last
Friday with middle distance runner Aleksey Farnosov. They plan their honey-moon
in Croatia, both belong to one group of coach Vladimir Kazarin. On Sunday
olympic relay gold medalist Yulia Gushchina married with former 400 m runner Ivan Buzolin who
now works for Russian Athletics Federation. Their next destination is Portugal
for the honey-moon.

MADRID (ESP): Top spanish
middle distance runner Reyes Estevez (4th in Barcelona, but has world medalist
from nineties) announced he will try at steeple distance in future. At age of
34 he tried in past years also 10
000 m and road races, but never a 3000 m steeple race.

PARIS (FRA): Surprise European 200 m winner Myriam Soumare
of France will resume her training later this week. She ended the season after
Weltklasse Samsung Diamond League final in Zurich and plans for indoor races in
2011. The main objective in winter will be European Indoor Championships in
Paris next March.

ATHENS (GRE): Greek media are
informing, that high jump world medalist Kyriacos Ioannou of Cyprus was
included into the team for Commonwealth Games in India. He lost some time of
preparation due to injury and subsequently could not jump in Barcelona. He
achieved 230 in
July at Athletissima in Lausanne. His participation in India is anyway still
under doubt because of a personal matter. In next two weeks the final
decision will be made. At 2006 Games in Melbourne he won a bronze medal.

SOFIA (BUL): Double World
Junior Champion in 100/200 m Tezdzhan Naimova of Bulgaria will have her two
years doping ban ending on September 29. She said for Bulgarian media she is in
full training and plans to compete during indoor season next year. Naimova was
banned in 2008 for tampering and attempted tampering during the doping control
end of June that year.

MAYAGUEZ (PUR): The Caribbean
Business website reported that Puerto Rico’s Racheal Marchand has been stripped
of her silver medal in the 5000m and bronze medal in the 10,000m for failing
a doping test. Marchand tested positive for the blood booster EPO
(Erythropoietin) at CAC Games, but she denied wrongdoing. „This is an error and
I’m going to pursue this to the end,” Marchand said. Marchand ran for the
University of Iowa in the NCAA ranks, finishing third at the NCAA Division
I Indoor Championships in 2009 at 5000m. Informs RRW.

EINDHOVEN (NED): Eight Kenyans
with sub 2:08 bests will headline the men´s field for Eindhoven Marathon (Oct
10). The fastest is Paul Biwott with 2:07:02 in Amsterdam 2009, but the fastest
this year is Alfred Kering who posted 2:07:11 as second in Paris in spring.
Great history is behind the name of Patrick Ivuti who won in past Chicago and
Prague marathons. Other names Isaac Macharia, Charles Kamathi (former track
world champion), Felix Keny, Nicolas Chelimo and Stephen Kibiwott. Women also
will have fast runners in the start list. Ethiopian Atsede Habtamu won last
year Berlin in 2:24:47, Anne Kosgei is last year Venice winner (2:27:46).
Interesting debut for 10
000 m 1997 world champion Sally Barsosio from Kenya at
age of 32 years. Informs RRW.

BATON ROUGE (USA): World Indoor
Hurdles Champion, Lolo Jones just completed another successful campaign. Now it
is time for a rest and to begin mapping her plan for capturing the next
global title on offer, the IAAF Outdoor Championship. It is stated in
a release published by trackandfieldnews.com. „You can’t help but be
disappointed by not winning the Diamond League”, said Lolo. „Look, I am in
this thing to win every chance I get to race. The competition is fierce in
our event. Not a single one of the girls in a race expects to come
out second. I think every meet the women in the hurdles provided the best
entertainment for the fans. The stakes are a lot higher next year with
a World Outdoor Championship on the line. I want that title. So,
I have to be as ready as I have ever been. Training this go around is
going to be important. Going back to fundamental things and fixing every flaw
is critical. I had a great indoor season and a pretty good
outdoor one. I’m not satisfied. I won’t be until I can have
a great season from the start to finish. That’s what I’m shooting for in
2011.”

LAUSANNE (SUI): The
International Olympic Committee (IOC) has awarded broadcast rights for the
London 2012 Olympic Games to Grupo Albavision, it was stated in a release
by IOC. Grupo Albavision has acquired free-to-air television broadcast rights
and radio rights in Bolivia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Uruguay. In August,
Grupo Albavision provided coverage on the same platforms in these territories
for the inaugural Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games.

RESULTS

TEHRAN (IRI, Sep 12): At 3rd
round of Iranian Club Champs Ehsan Hadadi achieved 65.90 in discus. Solid
also the 220 in
high jump by Keivan Ghanbarzadeh and new national walking record 1:27:33 at 20 km for Ebrahim Rahimian.
Informs Heinrich Hubbeling.

ZIELONA GÓRA (POL, Sep 12):
Euro medalist Przemyslaw Czerwinski cleared 540 in pole vault at 48th
edition of Vintage meeting. Karolina Tyminska in preparation for Talence this
weekend leaped to 616 in
long jump.

CHORZÓW (POL, Sep 12): World
record holder Anita Wlodarczyk got another 70+ mark with 71.54 win here in the
hammer throw.

PRETORIA (RSA, Sep 11): At
altitude national CC champions were Steven Mokoka winning the 12 km in 37:32, Juan Van
Deventer the 4 km
(12:04) on the men side. Malawi´s Mirriam Thole was the best in the women 8 km (29:05) but the title
went to Lebo Phalula as second (29:39). The 4 km women winner was Mapaseka
Makhanya (14:56).

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