Caster Semenya will be running in Dakar, Senegal on May 28, and then heading to the Nike Prefontaine Classic on June 4, per EME News. More details to come…..USOC announced that Nike has renewed contract and will outfit U.S. Olympic & Paralympic teams for 2012, 2014, and 2016. Watch for press release later tonight!

WORLD JUNIOR INDOOR RECORDS
PROPOSED

DAEGU (KOR): First day of IAAF Council meeting in Daegu was devoted to
the study of 105 Technical Rule changes which, for the first time, are being
considered by Council, rather than Congress, for consideration and, if
approved, introduced on 1 January 2012. 11 of these rules, which were
considered particularly important, were studied in detail and despite this new
procedure, it was agreed that four of them will be forwarded for consideration by
delegates from the IAAF Member Federations at the IAAF Congress in Daegu. These
rules relate to proposed changes in age group categories and world record lists
(junior indoor and women’s road running). Informs IAAF.

NETHERLAND ANTILLES ATHLETES FOR
NETHERLAND OR ARUBA

DAEGU (KOR): In Mid-January 2011, the IOC Executive Board accepted that
the Netherlands Antilles Olympic Committee no longer existed, as the IAAF had
done with regard to the Netherlands Antilles Athletics Federation. The IOC also
established a transitional provision which would allow the former AHO athletes
to compete in the London 2012 Olympic Games. With regard to the eligibility of
former AHO athletes to compete in the Daegu World Championships, the Council
agreed that athletes having competed for AHO would be eligible with immediate
effect to compete for either the Netherlands
or Aruba (in line with the policy announced by
the IOC for the London 2012 Olympic Games). IAAF says in a release.

DATES FOR COMPETITIONS

DAEGU (KOR): News in competition
section. Timetable and entry standards
were approved for 14th World Indoor Championships in Istanbul (March
9-11, 2012). Timetable was
also approved for World Race Walking Cup in Saransk, Russia
for May 12-13, 2012. Dates were set for World Youth Championships in
Donetsk in 2013 (July 10-14) and for World Championships 2015 in Beijing
(August 22-30). Council was very
satisfied to hear that, after considerable lobbying efforts by leaders
from
athletics including Lamine Diack and Seb Coe, the London Olympic Stadium
will
retain its track in post Games’ legacy mode.? The Technical Delegates
have
agreed on the Marathon Course, which will start and finish on The Mall
near Buckingham Palace. Qualification standards will be
discussed on Tuesday. In the 2011 IAAF World Challenge circuit it was
approved
that Rio de Janeiro
meeting will be held on May 26 and Rieti will be trying to move to
September 18
(for the moment September 11 the same date as ISTAF of Berlin). IAAF
adds.

BIGGEST INTEREST FOR HALF MARATHON WORLDS

DAEGU (KOR): IAAF informs that for future competitions IAAF recieved
letters of intent. For the 2017 World Championships from London,
Budapest, Doha
and Spain (Barcelona
or Seville).
For World Indoor Championships 2014 Zagreb and
Sopot in Poland.
For IAAF Continental Cup 2014 from Morocco. For World Junior
Championships 2014 Nassau, Kazan
and Eugene.
Biggest interest is set for 2014 World Half Marathon Championships as it comes
from Denmark, Cardiff, Mexico
(Chihuahua or Guadalajara),
Cheboksary, Belgrade
and New York.

MIKITENKO IS READY

GELNHAUSEN (GER): 2008 and 2009 London
marathon winner Irina Mikitenko is ready for this years edition on Sunday. “We
had good training recently and also the last session on Sunday was ok, it shows
I m ready,” she said for leichtathletik.de. Her training results are reported
to be better when she clocked her fastest 2:19:19. “I do not want this
comparisons, that was in the past, now we have different situation. For me the
most important is that my body tells me that I m fit enough,” said Mikitenko.
She is having in her career 6 finished marathons, two each in Berlin,
London and Chicago.
The fastest is Berlin 2008 with 2:19:19.

KLISHINA THINKS WR IS POSSIBLE

MOSCOW (RUS): Talented long jumper and European
indoor champion Darya Klishina said for Sport Express that to improve the
existing world record of Galina Chistyakova 752 from 1988 is possible. “I do
not have the same opinion as another legend Heike Drechsler who said this
record will stay forever. I think it is possible to jump more. But everything
would need to be in place, good wind, excellent conditions. There are records
which were also considered forever but now we have Ivan Ukhov attacking the
marks of Javier Sotomayor for example,” said Klishina. Best mark of blonde
athlete who also wins the attention of photographers is 703 from last year,
Russian junior record.

SOUMARE AND MANG PLAN TO DOUBLE

PARIS (FRA): Top French female sprinters Myriam Soumare and Veronique
Mang want to double at summer IAAF World Championships in Daegu. Soumare had a
training camp in Caribbean after being 7th at European Indoor Championships in Paris in the 60 m. Her bests are 11.18 and
22.32 and was winner of bronze and gold last summer in Barcelona in the 100/200 double. Mang has
bests 11.11 (silver in Barcelona)
and 22.92. Her coach Olivier Marchand said by the time of French Championships
end of July she might be ready for 22.50 in the longer sprint. She is currently
training at home in Eaubonne. French media are informing.

SEMENYA FOR DAKAR
AND EUGENE

DURBAN (RSA): “I was a little bit disappointed with my 800 time but I
was happy with what I ran in the 1500,”
World champion Caster Semenya said for agencies after her South African
Championships double over the weekend. As EME NEWS already reported she will
internationally begin in Dakar at IAAF Challenge
Meet on May 28 and then will head for Prefontaine Classic in Eugene on June 4. She still has the final
race of Yellow Pages series next week in South Africa.

MARATHON
FLASH-BACK

STATS: Rotterdam
now has the best top ten results average 2:05:07. Second Berlin
2:05:10 and third London
2:05:31. Wilson Chebet became the 24th runner to go under 2:06 for the marathon
in Rotterdam.
In Paris Benjamin Kiptoo became the 75th runner to dip sub 2:07 in the history
of marathons. After 2:05:33 in Rotterdam Vincent Kipruto has top five career
results 2:06:11 average and that is fourth best behind Haile Gebrselassie,
Tsegaye Kebede and Sam Wanjiru. Informs Ken Nakamura.

DAEGU (KOR): Both winning times as reported on Sunday were course
records. In total 15 000 runners participated in all races. Second in men´s
race Moroccan Abdellal Falil improved at age of 35 to respectable 2:08:18.
Third Leonard Mucheru also lifetime best 2:08:53. Best European was Russian
Aleksey Reunkov as 10th with personal best 2:12:16. Title defender Yeshi
Esaiyas of Ethiopia
was second this year with excellent personal best 2:26:04 in women category.
Third Alemitu Abera another PB 2:26:33. Here best European Russian Yelena Sokolova
11th 2:36:21. Fast times give also hope for the World Championships race later
in the summer.

PARIS (FRA): French Half-marathon record holder Abdellatif Meftah who
debuted in Paris Marathon with 2:10:53 as 10th set a new plan. He wants to run
the New York Marathon in autumn. Former karate champion and current French
minister for sports Chantal Jouanno clocked 4:30:47. Respectable time for her.

ROTTERDAM (NED): Kenyan-born Dutch representative Hilda
Kibet qualified with her 2:24:27 personal best also to London 2012 Olympic
Marathon.

BUDAPEST (HUN): In latest All-Athletics.com rankings 2011 in marathons after the
weekend Rotterdam is second and Paris
third, still first place reserved for Dubai.
In special men ranking Rotterdam
is number one ahead of Paris and Ohtsu. In women ranking Dubai
and Yokohama remained 1-2, third is Paris. More at www.all-athletics.com.

OTHER NEWS

AUSTIN (USA): Following his anchor leg at
the Texas Relays Jeremy Wariner said he’s remotivated in his career and ready
to chase after more gold medals. “Physically I’m great. Getting that first
quarter out of the way is good,” said Wariner who also admitted he found it
difficult to have the right mental focus needed to keep winning every year.
Wariner and his former coach Clyde Hart reunited in 2009 and Wariner says he
feels like he’s ahead of schedule as he builds toward the world championships
later this year writes Sports Illustrated. Next week he plans his first
individual 400 m
at Michael Johnson Classic in Waco.

TOKYO (JAP) : Tokyo will bid for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games
in the hope that it will be a “big catalyst” for Japan’s recovery from last
month’s earthquake and tsunami, Shintaro Ishihara promised today after being
re-elected as the city’s Governor for a fourth time writes Insidethegames. The
Japanese capital had already signalled that it planned to launch a bid for the
Games but there were fears that they would have to abandon their campaign after
the disaster last month.

LONDON (GBR): The South Korean Olympic Team has
selected the Brunel
University as its
location for their London Olympics pre training camp. A Memorandum of
Understanding was signed by Park Yong-sung, the President of the Korean Olympic
Committee (KOC), and Chris Jenks, the Brunel University Vice-Chancellor
Professor. It will see the athletes take advantage of the University’s world
class sports facilities, including its world-class indoor athletics centre,
outdoor sports park and state of the art gym.

LAGOS (NIG): Nigerian ex-Olympian sprinter Tina
Iheagwam has called on the Nigerian state and federal governments to improve
the welfare of athletes to enhance their performance. Iheagwam spoke up at the
occasion of the U-16 and U-18 Athletics Championship in Lagos and added that the governments focus on
football caused the sport of athletics harm reports the Nigerian observer.

LONDON (GBR): Olympic fans will have their enjoyment
of the London
Olympic and Paralympic Games enhanced by a sophisticated package of digital
imagery. Crystal CG International, the exclusive supplier to London 2012, will
breath new life into the rules and tactics of sport, using unique 3D graphic
technology supplied by an in-house team of creative experts. The cutting-edge animation
was used during both the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the Beijing Games as
well as the successful FIFA World Cup bids of both Russia
and Qatar
confirms Insidethegames.

AUSTIN (USA): Alex Austin, son to 1996 Olympic high jump gold medalist
Charles Austin, placed second at the Texas Relays with a jump of 203 (second),
in what was only his 5th competition overall.

LONDON (GBR): Colin Jackson said to The Guardian
Britain should be “embarrassed” if it did not grab the chances offered by next
year’s Olympic Games. During a visit to Wimbledon
the former world champion hurdler said the games were a chance to help young
people get active. “The most important thing is that children see sport at a
high level, then they realise they’re capable of doing it themselves.” Jackson also picked
British athletes Greg Rutherford and Dai Greene as outside tips for success in
2012.

TRENTON (USA):
Carl Lewis might make a jump to politics as Democrats are in talks with the
nine-time Olympic track and field gold medalist about a potential state Senate
candidacy in South Jersey’s 8th Legislative
District. His agent, nor the athlete himself, has been willing to comment on
the situation according to nj.com.

MOUNTAIN VIEW (USA):
World CC Champion Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot was named March Women Athlete of the
Month by Track and Field News. Top American is also a distance runner Shalane
Flanagan, top collegian sprinter Lakya Brookins and HS athlete the distance
runner Aisling Cuffe.

MELBOURNE (AUS): 2008 World indoor champion at 800 m Tamsyn Lewis is set to
double at this week´s 89th Australian Championships (15-17 April). She will
contest 400 m
and 800 m
in Olympic Park of Melbourne.

MOSCOW (RUS): Russian Federation informed about
some changes in the 2011 Calendar. Team Championships will be held in Sochi on May 24-25, All-Russian competition for juniors in
Krasnodar on May 17-18 and national marathon
championships U23 in Moscow
on May 14.

AUSTIN (USA): Next five editions of Texas
Relays will have its date one week earlier than this year. The 2012 version is
planned for March 28-31.

RESULTS

MESA (USA,
Apr 8): Three-time Olympian discus thrower Suzy Powell has launched her
comeback after an ankle injury kept her from competing in 2010. At the Mesa
College Classic Powell managed a throw of 63.28, the 34-year old holds at
American record with 67.67 reports modbee.com.

KOKUSAI (JPN, Apr 10): Kenyan Bitan Karoki achieved first years sub 7:50
in the 3000 m
at the university meet with 7:49.43. Informs Brett Larner.

PERTH (AUS, Apr 8): Pole vaulter Sergey Kucheryanu
of Russia who aims for Australian citizenship cleared 560 cm at a local meet.

PIRACICABA (BRA, Apr 10): Olympic long jump winner
Maurren Maggi leaped to 653 (+1.6) at a local meet in Sao Paulo area. Joao Vitor achieved South
American junior record at 110
m hurdles 13.68 (+0.5, junior height).