Wallace Spearmon: 19.90 or better six years in row, Haile’s Back!, by Alfons Juck,

Haile wants to run again
ADDIS ABABA (ETH): Global Sports Communication confirmed Sunday reports
from Ethiopia. Haile Gebrselassie is back. After an emotional and sudden
retirement last week at the press
conference in New York, Haile Gebrselassie took some time to think
things over. Coming
back to Ethiopia, he was overloaded with heartwarming reactions from
all
over the world. Many people, also close to Haile, asked him to come
back on his
decision, says the release of GSC. The running legend has decided to
continue his career and get
the focus back on the Olympic marathon in London 2012. “When my knee
is better again I will start focussing on my next race.
Thank you again for all your support!,” said Gebrselassie on his
twitter. His next scheduled race is the Tokyo Marathon in February next
year.

Top sprinters – what they are doing?
SPRINTERS WORLD: Three of the current best sprinters of the planet
did not met on the circuit in one race in 2010. But they ran against
each other one time. Usain Bolt beat Asafa Powell in Paris and lost to
Tyson Gay in Stockholm and Gay beat Powell in Gateshead.  Bolt started
his training in excellent way in Kingston early last month and is this
week in Europe for promotional reasons. He watched on Sunday Milano
football derby, visited Ferrari headquarters in Maranello (also driving
on fast cars) and continued to France. There he will recieve on Tuesday
the Sports Academy Grand Prix 2010 Award. He will do a number of
interviews and photo shoots in Paris (Canal+, L´Equipe, Men´s Health
etc.) and will spent Wednesday in Munich. Tyson Gay also started his
training for 2011 earlier than in past years and his agent Mark Wetmore
informs that he is healthy after some years with difficulties at this
time of the year. Gay is one of the finalists of IAAF World Athletes of
the Year poll and will be in Monte Carlo over the weekend. Third in the
party Asafa Powell also started some weeks ago his training for 2011 and
was a special guest over the weekend in Atlanta at the wedding of
Trinidad´s sprinter Marc Burns. All three do not plan races during the
coming indoor season.

Not only Gala
MONTE CARLO (MON): IAAF informs that the eyes of the athletics world
will be on the Principality of Monaco during the next eight days. As
well as the staging of the 2010 World Athletics Gala, Monaco will be a
hive of administrative work, with a two-day sitting of the IAAF Council
(Friday and Saturday) one of 16 meetings which concern the governing and
organisation of the sport. The main decisions should concern IAAF World
Championships 2015 (Beijing as the only candidate) and other IAAF World
Athletics Series events.  The Gala will not only celebrate the best
athletes of 2010 but also give the IAAF family the opportunity to mark
other outstanding achievements via a number of other awards and honours
including those for the Rising Star, Coach of the Year, World Journalist
etc. The Gala’s 600+ guests, who will include many of the world’s top
athletics stars, past and present, will be entertained this year by
Kassav, the zouk band formed in Paris in 1979, whose Caribbean creole
mix of carnival inspired dance rhythms has led to the releasing of over
20 albums. Gatherings of various IAAF Commissions, the Advisory Board, a
coordination meeting concerning Daegu 2011, the IAF Council and various
meetings of the Samsung Diamond League are among those that will be
staged before, during, and immediately following the weekend.

Greene and Shobukhova

LAUSANNE (SUI): European Athletics announced that British hurdler David
Greene and Russian marathon runner Liliya Shobukhova have been voted as
the European Athletes of the Month for October. Portugal’s Hermano
Ferreira, who produced the second best time by a European over the half
marathon this year when clocking 61:24 to take the title at the European
Champion Clubs Cup in Torres Vedras, was voted second in the men’s poll
while Russia’s Aleksey V. Sokolov, who produced the third best time by a
European in the marathon this year clocking 2:10:31 at the Dublin
Marathon, came third. The British duo of Louise Hazel and Jo Jackson
finished second and third respectively in the women’s poll. Hazel took
full advantage of the absence of world champion Jessica Ennis and
produced a lifetime best score of 6156 points to take gold for England
at the Commonwealth Games. She also set individual personal bests in the
hurdles, 200 metres, long jump and javelin. Jackson produced a Games
record of 1:34:22 to take the 20km walk gold for England in Delhi.

O´Rourke is the AOY in Ireland

DUBLIN (IRL): Hurdler Derval O´Rourke was named the Athlete of the Year
in Ireland and was also given the Track Athlete of the Year award after
winning silver at European Championships in Barcelona. In a year in
which 27 other Irish records were set, Robert Heffernan took the race
walking award, long-jumper Kelly Proper was the Field Athlete of the
Year and Mark Kenneally won Cross-Country/Road Athlete of the Year.
Sprinter Ailis McSweeney won the ‘Most Inspirational Performance’ award
for breaking Michelle Carroll’s 32-year-old Irish 100m record. Awards
were given at the Woodies DIY/Tipperary Crystal national athletics
awards dinner in Crown Plaza of Dublin. O´Rourke intends to compete
during the coming indoor season with the aim to suceed at European
Indoor Championships in Paris. She is world indoor champion 2006.

OTHER NEWS


BERLIN (GER): Some of sport’s greatest living legends from around
the globe, including Edwin Moses, will converge on
Germany this week for the 2010 Laureus World Sports Academy Forum.
Informs insidethegames. Stars such as Marcus Allen, Kapil Dev, Emerson
Fittipaldi, Sean
Fitzpatrick, Dawn Fraser and Tanni Grey-Thompson will be joined by
Marvin Hagler, Kip Keino, Franz Klammer, Alexy Nemov, Morné du
Plessis, Hugo Porta, Mark Spitz, Daley Thompson and Steve Waugh at
the event. The forum, which will focus on how sport can fight global
social
problems, is being held in Berlin from Tuesday until Wednesday), and
will then move on to Milan, Italy, for its second
phase later in the week.

GOLD COAST (AUS):  Gold Coast Mayor and legendary runner Ron Clarke has
warned that some of the facilities being planned for the city if its
bid to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games is successful are
unneccessary.  Clarke, one of history’s greatest-ever runners who competed in three
Commonwealth Games, winning four silver medals, has claimed that the
Gold Coast already has facilities good enough to host the event and
that they should model it on the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, which
he claims were the most successful in history. Clarke has expressly questioned the need for the four proposed
indoor sporting complexes earmarked for Coomera, at least two at
Carrara and one at Robina, next to Skilled Park. Informs insidethegames.

BRUSSELS (BEL): Father and coach Jacques Borlée hopes that his son
and European 400m champion Kevin Borlée will soon make the
transition to the 800 m. Jacques Borlée believes Kevin could be a
better 800m runner than the 400m athlete he is today, Kevin however,
made clear he wants to stay in the 400m for a little longer. Borlée
also added that twin brother Jonathan Borlée (44.71) has huge
potential to still improve on his best time and connect with the
world’s best he said for Belgian media.

MONACO (MON): In her IAAF online diaries Allyson Felix describes she
has been back into training for the 2011 season and is focusing on
conditioning, weight room and long runs. She also won’t do any
indoor meets unless it is for training. She also mentions she wants
to manage her racing schedule for 2011 very strictly as it will be a
long season.

 
SYDNEY (AUS): On Athletics.com.au Steve Hooker described the 2010
season as being very different with major championships at the start
and the end of the season and says he had a lower-key approach to
the season. Hooker will attack the 2011 and 2012 season with more
intensity and desire and mentioned he gets strong motivation from
European young talents Renaud Lavillenie and Malte Mohr.

KINGSTON (JAM): Olympic 100m champion Shelly-An Fraser has
underlined her commitment to the MVP track club and her coach
Stephen Francis in an interview with Carribeansportsnetwork.com. “I
am with Stephen Francis and MVP Track Club 100 per cent. They are
the reasons why I have been able to achieve all I have at this
point, they are the force behind me in everything and I have no
intention to change camp,” Fraser noted in the interview. The
athlete is currently suspended for a positive drugs test until
January 2011 but is looking forward to coming back in next season.

GUANGZHOU (CHN): Hurdles star Liu Xiang has decided not to live in the
athletes village when he arrived to the Asian Games on Monday. The 2004
olympic gold medalist will stay near Guangzhou”s posh central businnes
district on the Pearl River”s Erping Island as he undergoes fine tuning
before his races, Nanjing”s Modern Express said. His heats are
scheduled for November 22 and finals two days later.

VATICAN CITY:  Pope Benedict XVI has warned athletes not to strengthen
their bodies “at all costs” or through illegal substances. Benedict said
Monday that sports, when done with passion, can help develop ethics and
a taste for “healthy competitiveness.” But he said during an audience
at the Vatican with a group of ski instructors that an athlete’s body
“cannot be considered an object” or be “worshipped.” Instead, it should
be respected and not treated like a “tool to be strengthened at all
costs, maybe even using unlawful means.” AP informs.

ADDIS ABABA (ETH): 35,000 runners are expected to take part in this
Sunday’s 10th Anniversary of the Great Ethiopian Run here. This
indicates a slight increase from last year when 33,000 runners took part
in the biggest road race in Africa. This year’s event is sponsored by
Ethiopian Airlines and is named Ethiopian Airlines Great Ethiopian Run.
Main race is the International 10k run, which attracts big names. The
race’s ambassador is Haile Gebrselassie who has been instrumental in the
success of the event-managing organization. Informs Ethiosports.com.

LONDON (GBR): The agency responsible for success of UK one day meetings
Fast Track spreads international wings with New Hong Kong Office,
informs Sportcal.com.

BARCELONA (ESP): The European Athletics Championships Barcelona 2010
have published a Final Result Book of last summer’s top athletics
event.  To download from www.bcn2010.org under the news/publications
section.

STATS


T&FN stat of the day: Wallace Spearmon is the only 200-meter runner ever to record a 19.90 or faster 6 years in a row.

Unbeaten in 2010 in championship events are: Tyson Gay 100 m (5 finals),
Usain Bolt 200 m (2), David Rudisha 800 m (12), David Oliver
110 m Hurdles (15), Ashton Eaton decathlon (3), Stanislav Yemelyanov 20 km
walk (3). On the women side Veronica Campbell-Brown 200 m (4), Allyson
Felix 400 m (4), Tirunesh Dibaba 5000 m (3) and Jessica Ennis heptathlon
(2). Counting only finals and for races from 10 000 and longer only
three or more wins counting. In terms of real long winning season the headliners are Rudisha and Oliver. 

RESULTS


MONTEREY (USA, Nov 14):  Kenyan Macdonald Ondara beat training partner
Kiprotich Kirui in a
close contest on the men’s side of 8th Big Sur Half Marathon in
1:03:20 and 1:03:23. Ethiopian women’s winner Belainesh Gebre,
paced by her boyfriend Ezkyas Sisay, smashed Jen Rhines’s course
record and also set a personal best 1:09:43. Informs RRW.

PANAMA CITY (PAN, Nov 14): South American Road Circuit ended with 10 km
race won by Colombian Jason Gutierrez in 30:33 ahead of Cleveland Forde
of Guyana (31:28). Brazilian Antonia Bernadete Lins won also the third
race of the series in 36:54 ahead of  home Andrea Ferris (37:12) who is national record holder at 1500 m and 2:02 800 m runner.

—