Congrats to Dentsu, the marketing arm of the IAAF, who signed SINOPEC, the China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, as an official sponsor for the IAAF….new sponsors help support new programs and make the current events less of a drain on the federation coffers…..

VIENNA
(AUT): Legendary Haile Gebrselassie confirmed to run a unique half marathon
chase race in Vienna
on 17th April next year. It will be his first race in Europe after the
Ethiopian decided to continue his career, following his original withdrawal
from the sport in New York
in November. Gebrselassie is scheduled to run at the end of the year in Angola and in
February Tokyo Marathon. The Vienna City Marathon is Austria’s biggest one day sports
event. In 2010 a
total of 32,940 runners from 108 nations had entered the race through the
picturesque capital. While the marathon is the main event there are other races
staged parallel. Among them is the half marathon in which Haile Gebrselassie
will compete. The 37 year-old will not only run the half marathon but he will
also chase the elite marathon runners, who will run on the same course and who
will get a head start. The time difference between the two starts will be
determined nearer to the event. “I look forward to running in Vienna
and expect this to be a thrilling race for the athletes and the spectators,”
said Haile Gebrselassie, who will celebrate his 38th birthday in Vienna on the day after
the event. The world marathon record holder (2:03:59 in Berlin 2008) said that
he would prepare seriously and “as usual I will give my best” to put in a great
performance. “It was probably our last chance to bring Haile to the Vienna City
Marathon and give our spectators the opportunity to see the world’s greatest
long distance runner in action,” explained race director Wolfgang Konrad.

SINOPEC
WITH IAAF

MONTE CARLO
(MON): The IAAF announced the conclusion of a further worldwide sponsorship
agreement with the China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), China’s
largest oil refiner, producer and seller of chemical products. The deal was
brokered by Dentsu, IAAF’s worldwide marketing partner. Under the terms of the
deal that runs through 2015, Sinopec will become the worldwide Official Partner
of the IAAF and its World Athletic Series in the category of ‘oil and natural
gas’. Sinopec is the 7th largest corporation in the Fortune 500 list in 2010. In addition, Sinopec
will directly provide additional financial support to the IAAF for its
Continental Programme joining Samsung and Adidas. This recent initiative has
been introduced to support IAAF’s Area Associations and Member Federations with
the sponsorship of IAAF Official Partners. With this new agreement, the IAAF
now has seven confirmed Official Partners for the 2011 World Championships, Daegu, Korea.

CHARFREITAG
AOY IN SLOVAKIA

LUCENEC (SVK): First ever
Slovak (since independency in 1993) European Champion Libor Charfreitag was
clearly voted Slovak Athlete of the Year 2010. In the poll of
journalists, coaches and officials he recieved 506 points. Second was 800 m runner Lucia Klocova
(fourth in Barcelona) with 399 points just 3 points ahead of 50 km World Cup walking
winner Matej Toth (396). Newcomer of the year title went to long jumper Renata
Medgyesova who improved to 679 and was 7th in Barcelona. She was in the past high jumper
and started new career as mother in long jump. Young athlete of the year was Moncton finalist in
hammer throw Tomas Kruzliak. In the coaches ranks, the duo which leads the
preparations of Libor Charfreitag was voted as best: Dave Wollman in Dallas and Libor Charfreitag sr. in Slovakia. In a
nice ceremony in the city of Lucenec
hammer IAAF Continental Cup winner Charfreitag expressed his wish for 2011 and
that is to medal in Daegu.

SHOT
PUTTERS IN BELARUS

MINSK (BLR): Belarus Athletes of the Year
2010 were announced by the national federation. The awards ceremony will be
staged on December 23. In
women category the trophy goes to shot put European gold medalist and World
Indoor Champion Nadezhda Ostapchuk. Also in men´s category number one is shot
putter and European winner from Barcelona Andrey Mikhnevich. Hurdler and
sprinter Aleksandr Linnik was the best male in junior category and hammer
thrower Yelena Novogrodskaya in girls ranks. Teams of the year were women at 10 000 m who were third at
European Cup 10 000 m
and men throwers who won European Cup Winter Throwing. Coach of the year is
Aleksandr Yefimov who leads the preparation of Ostapchuk.

MURER
NUMBER ONE IN BRAZIL

RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Pole vault world indoor
champion and Samsung Diamond League winner Fabiana Murer won the highest award
in Brazilian Sports. She was awarded Brasil Olimpico prize during a special
ceremony held by National Olympic Committee. Her trainer Elson Miranda was named
coach of the year. Male winner of the award was voleyball player Murilo. Two
more athletics representatives got awards, in youth categories the medalists
from Youth Olympic Games long jumper Caio Cezar Fernandes and pole vaulter
Thiago Braz da Silva.

OTHER NEWS

NAIROBI (KEN): IAAF World athlete of the year
David Rudisha has married his longtime girlfriend Elizabeth Naayu. The couple
made its vows both at the district commissioner’s office and through the
traditional Maasai marriage rituals. Moses Tangui, Rudisha’s usual pacemaker,
was his best man writes nation.co.ke.

LAUSANNE (SUI): European cross country
champion Jessica Augusto and Torino Marathon winner Ruggero Pertile have been
voted European athletes of the month November. Augusto managed to win the
European title at home in Albufeira while Pertile won the 24th edition of the
Torino Marathon in 2:10.58.

MELBOURNE (AUS): 400m runner
John Steffensen will be ineligible to compete in any competition for the next
three months as he breached the Athletics Australia by-law that prohibits
insulting or improper behaviour that will bring athletics into disrepute.
Steffensen had criticized Athletics Australia and its selection procedure on
numerous occasions and was sentenced by an independent panel. Steffensen will
be eligible to compete again from February 16 2011 confirms Athletics
Australia.

NORDHAUSEN (GER): Top three
best shot putters in the world will compete at the special indoor meet on
January 21 in
Nordhausen. World champion Christian Cantwell with Reese Hoffa and Cory Martin
will throw in Germany.
They will also compete as US Team against Germans (Ralf Bartels, Marco Schmidt,
David Storl). Not totally confirmed is the participation of Storl, if not
available Andy Dittmar is ready to compete. Women competition will see home
Denise Hinrichs with Italian Chiara Rosa, French Jessica Cerival and Dutch
Melissa Boekelman.

LONDON (GBR): Paula Radcliffe recognizes she
is out of the public eye since being out of the sport for over a year following
the birth of her second child. However, the marathon world record holder said
for The Express that she has big plans to win the 2012 Olympic Marathon and
will be back in the spotlight when the time is right. “There will be no
‘unknowns’ about the London Olympic marathon, I know the food, I know the
streets, I know what the support is going to be like, I have all that
preparation in me. There is always pressure, it comes from yourself. That’s not
going to be any different because it’s an Olympics in London.” Radcliffe was quoted.

NEW YORK
(USA):
World indoor champion at 3000
m Bernard Lagat will clash with world indoor champion at
1500 m
Deresse Mekonnen in the Wannamaker Mile at the 104th staging of the Millrose
Games on January 28. Lagat surpassed the achievement of Ireland’s
Eamonn Coghlan and became “Chairman of the Boards” when clinching a record
eighth victory at the Madison
Square venue this year and is eager to extend his
purple patch. Fastest woman of 2010 at 100 m Veronica Campbell-Brown will headline the
“USA
versus Jamaica Challenge,” where three Americans will race against three
Jamaicans in both the men and women’s 60-metre sprints. Points will be awarded
according to place, and the scores of the two races combined. Additional
athletes in the 60m fields will be announced in early 2011.

EDINBURGH (GBR): Mo Farah and
Chris Thompson following their best ever track seasons will switch their
attention to winter campaigns when competing at the Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross
Country in the New Year. They will spearhead the British team chasing honours
in the Men’s International Team Challenge on January 8.  Their appearances for the Aviva Great Britain
and Northern Ireland senior team will see them contest what promises to to be a
high calibre competition against exceptionally talented United States and
European Select squads.

OSAKA (JPN): Russian 7th placer from this
years NYC Marathon Lyudmila Petrova with best of 2:21:29 from 2006 will head
the international invited runners group for Osaka Women´s Marathon on January
30. Another Russian veteran will also compete, Svetlana Zakharova who was
recently second in Honolulu.
Mexican record holder Adriana Fernandez will also run. From Europe also to note
Italian Anna Incerti, Romanian Adriana Pirtea and Ukrainian former European CC
Champion Tetyana Holovchenko. Home challenge will be led by Yumiko Hara with
Tomo Morimoto and Yukiko Akaba.

KARLSRUHE
(GER): European high jump indoor champion Ariane Friedrich confirmed her
appearance at the BW-Bank Meeting in Karlsruhe
on February 13 (IAAF Indoor Permit). It will be her third start at the meeting
and also third start of the indoor season after Hustopece and Stuttgart. Already earlier confirmed were
other German stars, European champions Verena Sailer with Christian Reif.
Friedrich jumped in Europa Halle in 2009 after great duel with Blanka Vlasic
meet record 205 cm.

LONDON (GBR): Pat Butcher´s blog at www.globerunner.org is called Salah
Amaidan’s Run to Freedom.

LONDON (GBR): UK Athletis writes, that
golden-girl of British athletics, Jessica Ennis, was once again on our screens
last night after being nominated for the coveted BBC Sports Personality of the
Year award for the second successive year. Despite just missing out on the top
prize, the nomination came on the back of a whirlwind two years for the
heptathlon star, which saw her win back-to-back World and European titles on
top of a record-breaking gold medal performance at the World Indoor
Championships. Ennis has already confirmed her participation at the Aviva
International Match in Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall ISA
on January 29 and also the Aviva Grand Prix at the NIA in Birmingham on February 19.

OOSTENDE
(BEL): The Belgian 4x400m team has been named Belgian sports team of the year
during a nationally televised show. Team captain Cedric Van Branteghem picked
up the prize. European 400m champion Kevin Borlée narrowly missed out on
winning the prize of sportsman of the year when the prize went to cyclist
Phillip Gilbert. European triple jump bronze medalist Svetlana Bolshakova also
came in second after tennis champion Kim Clijsters who was voted sportswoman of
the year for the 8th time in her career.

PARIS (FRA): Double European
bronze medalist Véronique Mang explained in an interview with athle.com that
she is very excited about the European indoor Championships at home in Paris.
The French athlete holds a personal best of 7.21 at 60 m but believes she will be
able to improve on the time. She also thinks the French success in Barcelona will extent to
the European indoor championships at home.

KINGSTON (JAM): Fast sprinter Asafa Powell
was named among the top 10 most popular Jamaican personalities of 2010 by The
Jamaican Gleaner. The Newspaper described Powell’s early season as phenomenal
and hailed his performances on the track as well as his personality off the
track.

LONDON
(GBR): Jama Aden, who guides the career of Sudan’s Abubaker Kaki, has been
named the 2010 Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Sports Excellence, which
awards the best coach in the Arab sporting world. Under Aden’s direction, Hamza Driouch, a
16-year-old Qatari, earned silver in the Singapore Youth Olympics, while
Mohamed Al-Garni got a bronze in the IAAF World Junior Championships 1500m
writes Insidethegames.biz.

EGMOND (NED): Sportscompany Le
Champion has announced some of The Netherlands best athletes for the 39th
edition of the PWN Egmond Halve Marathon on January 9th. In the men’s race
Michel Butter, Patrick Stitzinger, Koen Raymaekers and debutant Khalid Choukoud
will take on each other. The women’s race promises a clash between Hilda Kibet,
Linsday Marrewijk and Miranda Boonstra.

BOLZANO (ITA): The 36th edition of Bo-Classic
race on December 31 is having another top entry. Double European champion Mo
Farah will run against Kenyan favorite Edwin Soi and multiple European CC
winner Sergiy Lebid of Ukraine.
Kenyan Silas Kipruto, who finished fourth in the Half Marathon World
Championships is also among the top favorites. Last year Farah was third. Farah
was also named track and field athlete of the year by British Olympic
Association in the mean-time.

MOSCOW (RUS): European
champions Olga Kaniskina (20
km walk) and Aleksandr Shustov (high jump) were voted
into top ten of Russian Sports Persons of the Year 2010. There is no specific
order in this poll of Russian Sports Journalists. The ceremony will be held in
February.

MADRID (ESP): More than 350
track coaches signed a statement to support clean sport in Spain and asked for
continued research and investigation to get final solutions connected to
Operation Galgo. They expressed their view to reject all doping practices in
all sports in the country. The coaches expressed unconditional support for all
initiatives to be taken, both legal and federal, to eradicate doping in both
athletics and in sport in general. All coaches who signed the petition can be
found at Spanish Federation website.

LANGENTHAL (SUI): Swiss
sprinter Fabienne Weyermann ended her career at age of 25. She was 60 m specialist and qualified
for two European Indoor Championships and one World Indoors. She said she
missed the necessary motivation to continue. Even a relay project towards
European Championships 2014
in Zurich
could not change her decision. Her best was 7.39 from 2007.

NAIROBI
(KEN): African Athletics United facebook writes:  Our colleague Norman Katende informs that
Uganda Athletics Federation’s organising secretary Faustin Kiwa is among the
people who were injured in a bus blast in Nairobi.
He was on his way back from the East Africa University Games. He’s been
admitted in Kenyatta
Hospital in a stable
condition.

RESULTS

DORTMUND (GER, Dec 19): 2006 Euro winner Bram
Som started the indoor campaign with 1:49.73 time at the 800 m.

ADDIS ABABA (ETH, Dec 19):  Half
marathon runner Lelisa Disasa and
newcomer Hiwot Ayalew were impressive winners of the 28th edition of the
MOHA
Addis Ababa Cross Country Championships. Writes IAAF. Desisa clocked
34:43 at 12 km and Ayalew 26:56 at 8 km. Junior winners were
familiar names Emebet Anteneh (6
km, 19:54) and Yenew Alamrew (8 km, 23:07).

LISBOA (POR, Dec 19): In
Christmas walking event Vera Santos clocked at 5 km 22:04 ahead of
Lithuania´s Kristina Saltanovic (22:16).

AARHUS
(DEN, Dec 11): In late addition the improvement of  2009 World Youth medalist in high jump.
Janick Klausen cleared at local meet his overall best and national U23 record 222 cm.

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