THORKILDSEN STOP FOR TWO WEEKS

OSLO (NOR): Javelin world champion Andreas
Thorkildsen must have a break from athletics for at least two weeks. Norwegian
media are informing. He pulled his groin during fifth attempt in Shanghai last Sunday at
the Samsung Diamond League meeting and did not throw his last attempt. He must
so cancel his participation at 50th jubilee Ostrava Golden Spike Meeting on May
31 and uncertain is also his participation at the Bislett Games at home in Oslo
on June 9. “It’s a boring situation, and of course it is annoying to be injured
when the season barely started. I just need to be patient and follow the
medical advice I get and exercise properly to get the fastest possible return.
In first place I need to be injury-free as soon as possible. But I hope I can
manage until the Bislett Games,” Thorkildsen was quoted.

TOP THROWS IN HALLE

HALLE (GER): Saturday´s 38th edition of Halle
Throwing Meeting (Hallesche Werfertage) will see some top clashes. In women
hammer European champion Betty Heidler, with current world leader Kathrin
Klaas, Slovak Berlin medalist Martina Hrasnova and Olympic medalist Zhang
Wenxiu of China.
In men hammer Slovak European Champion Libor Charfreitag will compete against
best German Markus Esser and former world champion Szymon Ziolkowski of Poland. In
discus world champion Robert Harting will be there against Lithuanian hero
Virgilijus Alekna. Women discus will see Nadine Muller against Li Yanfeng of China. Javelin
stars Christine Obergfoll and Eurowinner Linda Stahl will fight for top
position. In men´s javelin Barcelona
silver winner Matthias De Zordo is the top name. Canadian record holder Dylan
Armstrong throws against Ralf Bartels in men shot put and Nadine Kleinert is
the top name of women shot put.

MALACHOWSKI FOR CZECH FIXTURE

TURNOV (CZE): 12th edition of Ludvik Danek Memorial (1972 Olympic discus
winner) will have reigning European champion Piotr Malachowski as top name.
Also competing in Turnov on May 24
in the top event of the day will be Hungarians Robert
Fazekas and Zoltan Kovago. Also throwing Croatian Roland Varga and Czech
improvement of the year Jan Marcell (already twice 66.00 m exactly).
Interesting on Marcell is the fact that he studied Nuclear Engineering and is
an expert around Nuclear energy and so ready to discuss details for example
about Fukushima
stories.

DEFAR AGAINST VIVIAN AND LINET AT
BISLETT

OSLO (NOR): Now the first competition of the last
top female distance runner is revealed. It was known when Kenyans are opening,
later Tirunesh Dibaba was added so the last remained. Ethiopian olympic and
world winner Meseret Defar will run the 5000 m at ExxonMobil Bislett Games in Oslo on 9 June, the fifth
stop of this year’s Samsung Diamond League series. Defar will return to Norway’s famous
stadium where she established the 5000m World record in 2007. Her time of
14:16.63 took a staggering eight seconds off the record she had established in New York the previous
year. Against her reigning world champion Vivian Cheruiyot, the 10 000 m world gold
medalist Linet Masai. Other Ethiopians in the race include Sentayehu Ejigu and
Meselech Melkamu. Only Tirunesh Dibaba from top elite will be missed in this
race, she is running the weekend before at Pre Classic in Eugene and will clash there with both best
Kenyan runners. That means after Eugene and Oslo a clear picture
about the situation in women long distance track scene will be available.

OTHER NEWS

BEIJING (CHN): Asian Grand Prix 2011 circuit will be
staged within next days in China.
It starts in Jiaxing on May 22, continues in Kunshan on May 26 and ends in
Wunjiang on May 29. Competing will be Chinese top athletes along with the best
from India and also for
example Iran
(discus thrower Ehsan Hadadi or middle distance runner Sajad Moradi).

DAKAR (SEN): Senegalese long jumper Ndiss Kaba Badji
will be out for at least 3 months following a knee injury. Kaba Badji is going
to miss the IAAF world challenge meeting in Dakar and will only be able to return to
training in July. It remains unsure whether he will be able to jump in Daegu
during the IAAF World Championships reports allafrica.com.

MOUNTAIN VIEW (USA):
Track and Field News published its predictions for US Team in Daegu. They think
Tyson Gay and Walter Dix will qualify in both sprints. In the 100 m the third should be
Mike Rodgers and in the 200 m
Wallace Spearmon. TFN is predicting that former gold medalist Justin Gatlin
will be fourth in both 100 m
and 200 m
at the trials and that would secure him a relay berth.

AUCKLAND (NZL): Athletics New Zealand has announced the
appointment of Scott Goodman as the sport’s new Performance Director. Goodman
was based at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra from 1990 through to 2010 in roles with the
Australian Coaching Council,the Australian Sports Commission, the Australian
Paralympic Committee and Athletics Australia. Goodman’s experience to
international level in coaching and team management stretches nearly 20 years,
notably coaching duel Commonwealth Games Hammer Gold Medallist and Olympian,
Stuart Rendell and currently also coaches Australia’s National Hammer Champion
and 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games representative, Tim Driesen. .Goodman joins
Athletics New Zealand at a time when the sport’s high performance programme is
better resourced than ever before.

ROME (ITA): Andrew Howe adds his name to the starting list of the 31st
edition of the Compeed Golden Gala International meeting, the third leg of the
Samsung Diamond League on Thursday 26th May at the Olympic Stadium in Rome. The Italian star,
who made his seasonal debut on 9th May in Pavia
with a solid 45.70, will take part in a 200 meters race which
was added to the timetable of the meeting for him. Howe will take on US Shawn
Crawford and Britons Christian Malcolm and Leon Baptiste. It will be a tough
test for Howe who is fully returning to his best form. Informs DL website. His 200 m best is 20.28 from 2004
when he as junior won the U19 World Championships on Italian soil in Grosseto. And last year
in September at Notturna in Milano he came close to that time with 20.30.

NEW YORK (USA):
Insidethegames confirms that Dick Ebersol, a hugely influential figure in
Olympic broadcasting, has resigned from NBC just as the race for the new United States
television contract begins to reach its climax. Ebersol, who was chairman of
NBC Sports for 22 years, resigned some five months after Comcast Corp took
control of NBC Universal amid reports that he was not happy with the new
management. The 63-year-old Ebersol will officially step down from NBC at the
end of next month, which means he will not be involved in the company’s
broadcast of next year’s Olympics in London
nor the negotiations that are set to take place for the new contract covering
Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016. Richard Carrion, the IOC member who is handling the
auction, revealed that he had already been contacted by NBC to assure him that
Ebersol’s resignation did not lessen their determination to retain the Olympic
broadcast contract. Ebersol has been replaced by Mark Lazarus, a former
high-ranking executive at Time Warner who joined NBC last December.

LONDON (GBR): London 2012 have received 1.8 million requests for tickets
for the Olympic men’s 100
meters final which is expected to see Jamaican superstar
and reigning Olympic champion Usain Bolt face off against American rival Tyson
Gay. The 1.8 million fans aiming to attend the blockbuster session at the
Olympic Stadium in Stratford
on August 5 next year are competing for just 40,000 seats as half of the 80,000
capacity venue is blocked for sponsors, the media and VIPs, including
International Olympic Committee (IOC) members. Applicants will find out by 24
June whether they have got any of the 6.6 million Olympics tickets available
but what not be informed of what tickets they have received despite having the
money taken from their account beforehand. The price of Olympics tickets ranges
from £20 ($33) to £725 ($1,179) for the showpiece 100 meters final and
reach up to £2,012 ($3,270) for the opening ceremony on July 27 with people
likely to check their bank accounts for a clue to what tickets they have been
allocated. Informs insidethegames.

NEW YORK (USA): The New York City Marathon
won the award Sports Event of the Year at the Sports Business Awards night. The
ING NYC Marathon 2010 was chosen from a stellar list of nominees including the
2011 NBA All-Star game, the 2010 NCAA Final Four, and the 2011 Winter X Games.

WARSZAWA (POL): Olympic and world champion in walking Robert
Korzeniowski wrote a book about his career and life called “My road to
mastery”. The 43-years old hero of Polish sports was in the past year sports
director of Polish Public TV broadcaster TVP and is currently working on his
business. He was also among candidates for European Athletics Council elections
in April in London
but did not succeed.

OLHAO (POR): The 9th European Cup of Race Walking in Olhaõ, Portugal,
on Saturday promises superb display of walking in one day. Five cracking races
start with the men’s 50k at 7.30am and ready to thrill those watching a
promenade like never seen before on the coastal town. Will Russia won all events, will home women achieved
something special, individuals like Trond Nymark of Norway or Slovak Matej Toth are
planning to mix the cards? These are the questions for the day. Ireland also
sends the best ones Robert Heffernan with Olive Loughnane. Elisa Rigaudo
returns after baby break on the international stage.

RESULTS

OSLO (NOR, May 19): Top Norwegian female sprinter Ezinne Okparaebo
started at Opening Games meet at Bislett Stadium with 17.84 (-2.1) at 150 m. Spanish guest
Concepcion Montaner leaped to 644 (+1.4) in long jump. Tormod Hjortnes Larsen
posted 33.96 in
the 300 m.

TUCSON (USA,
May 19): Briton Roald Bradstock set a world age 49 best of 74.73m in Tucson at throwing meet.
It was his best throw for 11 years. Stephanie Brown-Trafton won women discus
with 61.19 and Indian Vikas Gowda the men´s discus (63.51).

SAVONA (ITA, May 18): Italian Silvia Salis improved
her hammer best at a throwing meet to 71.93 m.