by Larry Eder
Vlasic will travel
SPLIT (CRO): Blanka Vlasic will travel to World Championships and
will try to defend her high jump gold medals from Osaka and Berlin.
“Recently my day was split in two parts. First half I lived with not
attending the World Championships and the other half with the idea to
go. In the second part of the day I laughed more than in the past two
months. That has prevailed,” said Vlasic on her website from an
emotional press conference.
Mullings confirmed
KINGSTON (JAM): Relay world champion Steve Mullings has confirmed he
has tested positive
for the banned diuretic furosemide and could now face a life ban
from athletics. The B-sample which was tested in Montreal also had a
positive result. “They say it was in my urine. That’s a drug that has
to be
prescribed,” Mullings said for Reuters. The 9.80 sprinter from June 4
in Eugene (this results will stand) said he is not sure about asking
for a hearing in the case. He has for that 14 days time.
Dwyer 20.20 at 200 m
SHENZHEN (CHN, Aug 19): Jamaican sprinters again ruled during 4th day of
athletics at World University Games. Rasheed Dwyer clocked impressive
life-time best 20.20 (-0.3) to win the 200 m. Second Thuso Mpuang of
South Africa just close ahead of another Jamaican Jason Young (both
20.59) and fourth European U23 medalist Briton James Alaka 20.68. World
finalist Anneisha McLaughlin equalled her best to win the women deuce in
22.54 (+0.7) beating US Tiffany Townsend 22.96 and Russian Anna
Kaygorodova 23.16 (personal best). US wins in the hurdles, national
champion Jeshua Anderson at 400 m hurdles in 49.03 and NCAA Champ Nia
Ali at 100 m hurdles with 12.85 (-1.3, faster 12.79 +0.5 in semis).
Turkey celebrated two gold medals. Binnaz Uslu won the women steeple in
life-time best 9:33.50 (ahead of Russian Lyudmila Kuzmina 9:44.77) and
Fatih Avan the men´s javelin with 83.79 (beating Ukrainian Roman Avramenko
81.42). Two national records headlined the women hammer. Zalina
Marghieva of Moldova won with 72.93 and second Eva Orban improved
Hungarian top mark to 71.33. Bronze for European U23 Champion Bianca Perie
of Romania 71.18. Russian Aleksandra Kiryashova cleared 465 to win the
pole vault over Slovenian record holder Tina Sutej 455. Spanish gold at
20 km walk when Julia Takacs got 1:33:51 over Russian favorites Tatyana
Shemyakina 1:34:23 and Nina Okhotnikova 1:35:10. Olga Kurban of Russia
leads the heptathlon after first day (3715), Briton Gianni Frankis was
the fastest in men´s 110 m hurdles heats (13.66, +0.2) and Kenyan Fred
Samoei was the best in 800 m heats (1:46:23).
DAEGU NEWS
AUSTRALIA: World lead hurdler Sally Pearson, and Sean Wroe, who won a
400m
bronze at the Summer Universiade overnight, will headline
Australia’s relay teams in Daegu. Guiding the women’s 4x100m relay
team is Sharon Hannan, who this
morning highlighted how well the team of Pearson, Melissa Breen,
Laura Whaler, Charlotte Van Veenendaal and Hayley Butler are coming
together in readiness for the sound of the start gun. The women’s
team is joined in the athlete village by the men’s
4x100m relay team of Anthony Alozie, Liam Gander, Isaac Ntiamoah,
Matt Davies and Aaron Rouge-Serret. Hannan describes the layout as
outstanding after spending near on a week in the facility
already.”The village is absolutely extraordinary, it’s first class,”
Hannan
continued. In the men´s 4×400 m team Wroe has as teammates Steven
Solomon, John Steffensen, Ben Offereins and Tristan Thomas. Wroe’s
teammates from the Summer Universiade Caitlin Sargent and
Anneleise Rubie will join Lauren Boden, who will also compete in the
women’s 400m hurdles, and Caitlin Pincott on the start line for the
women’s 4x400m relay.
ST. KITTS: Former world champion (2003) Kim Collins leads the team of
his country for Daegu. The 35-year-old Collins will run the 100m and
200m, and will be joined by Brijesh Lawrence, who will also run the
200m, Antoine Adams, Delwayne Delaney and Jason Rogers on the 4x100m
team.
FRANCE: To honor the late Pierre Quinon who killed himself Wednesday,
the French athletes will wear a black crepe pinned to their shirts
during the World Championships in Daegu.
KENYA: The Nation informs that Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki was on
Friday full of admiration and respect for the world’s greatest athlete,
800 metres record holder David Rudisha, as he presented the national
flag to Kenyan teams headed for various international assignments. The
president cheerfully greeted the world champion-designate and had an
animated chat with him during a ceremony at which the Head of State saw
off Kenya’s teams to the World Championships in Athletics, All Africa
Games and Youth Commonwealth Games at State House, Nairobi.
IAAF: The MPC and IBC Opening Ceremony was held at Daegu Stadium on
Friday. Aside the competitions in Daegu Stadium and on the streets of
the host city which the world will marvel at, the administration of the
sport also comes under the spotlight. In the week prior to the
championships, the members of the present IAAF Council meet at the Hotel
Inter-Burgo for their last session (Mon 22) before elections for the
executive body take place on the first day of the 48th IAAF Congress
(Wed 24/Thu 25) which is held at the EXCO Convention Centre. The
Congress Opening Ceremony takes place the evening before (Tue 23) at the
Ballroom of the IB EXCO Hotel, a day on which the six Area Associations
of the IAAF also hold meetings. On the conclusion of the first day of
Congress discussions, an IAAF Press Conference (Wed 24) is hosted by
IAAF President Lamine Diack. The Technical Meeting of the IAAF World
Championships is held in the EXCO Convention Centre after the conclusion
of Congress on the afternoon of Thursday 25 August. As is traditional
on the day prior (Fri 26) to the start of the IAAF World Championships,
the new IAAF Council meets the Executive Board of the International
Olympic Committee (IOC), with a joint press conference given by the
Presidents of the IAAF and IOC, Lamine Diack and Jacques Rogge,
following that meeting at the Hotel Inter-Burgo. On Friday evening (26)
the Local Organising Committee of Daegu 2011 hosts a ‘Welcome Night’, in
Duryu Park, while on the following day the Official Opening Ceremony of
the IAAF World Championships takes place in Daegu Stadium, ahead of the
evening session of competition. A second IAAF Council meeting is held
on the morning of the last day of the championships (Sun 4), while at
the end of the final session of competition at the stadium there is an
Official Closing Ceremony, including the traditional handover of the
IAAF flag to Moscow 2013, the next hosts of the IAAF World
Championships, which is followed by a Final Banquet at the Athletes’
Village. Informs IAAF.
GLOBAL SPORTS: Jos Hermens, owner of the management agency Global
Sports Communication, and his team will be travelling to Daegu next week
with a group of 75 international top athletes. The group has a variety
of 15 nationalities and consists of famous World and Olympic Champions
as well as new talents for the future. Traditionally a big group of
athletes come from Ethiopia and Kenya. From Kenya, Olympic Champion
Brimin Kipruto proved his shape, when he ran only 1 hundred of a second
above the world record on the 3000mSC. Training partner Eliud Kipchoge
will be participating on a world championship level for the 5th time on
the 5000m. Abel Kirui, the current world champion on the marathon, will
defend his title on the famous distance. From Ethiopia, running legend
Kenenisa Bekele will be defending his title on the 10.000m together with
countrymen Sileshi Sihine they will go for the medals. Meselech
Melkamu, winning silver at the 2009 world championships, will be aiming
for the gold this time on the 10.000m Last year Hermens announced his
cooperation with the Chinese Athletics Association. A big group from the
Asian country will be travelling to Daegu, with former world and
Olympic champion Liu Xiang starting on the 110mH. Irving Saladino the
world and Olympic champion on the longjump, is eager to make up his
three faults on his last world championship in Berlin. Maryam Jamal,
running for Bahrein, will be aiming for her 3th gold medal on the
1500m. Medal hopes Jesse Williams (USA) in high jump and LJ van Zyl
(RSA) on 400mH will be aiming for their first medal on world
championship level.
PACE SPORTS: Pace Sports Management of Ricky Simms will have 23 athletes
in Daegu headed by Usain Bolt but also with Mo Farah, Linet Masai,
Vivian Cheruiyot and Philips Idowu. In total athletes from five
countries, among them four title defenders.
TOP ATHLETICS: This group of Alfons Juck will have 15 athletes in Daegu. Ten from
Czech Republic (for example 400 m European indoor champion Denisa
Rosolova, javelin talent Petr Frydrych and all-time hero Roman Sebrle in
decathlon), 3 from Slovakia (including hammer European Champion Libor
Charfreitag) and one athlete each from Poland and Jamaica.
GERMANY: Two athletes were recently cancelled from German team. Triple
jumper Katja Demut because of an heel injury and walker Andre Hohne
because of muscular problems at the hamstring.
USA: Regarding Jeremy Dodson’s arrest, the Boulder DA and the Boulder
Police Dept. arrested the wrong person. Jeremy’s I.D. was lost and
apparently, an unidentified person has used it. The conduct of that
person caused the DA to (swear out) issue an arrest warrant. Mr. Dodson
looks forward to cooperating with the Boulder DA and the Police
Department during the discovery process in this matter. We are confident
that after this process, the facts above will come to light and a
criminal complaint/information will not be filed against him. Informs
Law Office Vince Ewing, Dodson representatives. Says trackandfieldnews.com. Dodson is member of US
Team for Daegu for the 200 m race and improved this year to 20.33 at the distance.
SPAIN: Spanish team lost three more athletes in the team named on August
12. They are walker Benjamin Sanchez, hurdler record holder Josephine
Onyia and sprint relay member Estela Garcia. Already earlier Sergio
Sanchez (5000 m) withdrew from the championships. The team has now 44
athletes in total (27 men and 17 women).
CANADA: The Canadian team is currently in Changwon City, South Korea
preparing, “Our final phase of training is going very well. We are
acclimating to the heat and humidity, simulating the Daegu schedule in
training, and beginning our taper to ensure full readiness when
competition starts later next week,” said Head Coach Alex Gardiner. The
first group of athletes will make the trip from the final preparation
camp into Daegu on August 24. Gardiner adds, “Jessica Zelinka is
looking better than ever, Jim Steacy has surpassed his Beijing form and
the men’s relay team is sharpening their exchanges. We’re calm,
confident and committed to leaving nothing in the tank with each
performance.” Athletics Canada informs in a release.
OTHER NEWS
LAUSANNE (SUI): London 2012 Organizing Committee Chairman and IAAF Vice-presidential
candidate Lord Sebastian Coe says that once the London Olympics are
over he intends to dedicate the next ten years of his professional
life to athletics. Lord Coe spoke to La Gazzetta dello Sport’s Gianni Merlo in an
interview which also focussed on the recent civil unrest in London.
LONDON (GBR): The Telegraph writes that David Howman, the chief
executive of the World Anti-Doping Agency,
believes that one in 10 athletes are cheating with the 2012 London
Olympics less than a year away. “Statistically the numbers of people
being caught is between one to
two per cent, that’s the numbers of positives against the number of
tests. But the number of people doping are in the double digits,”
said Howman from Wada headquarters in Montreal. However, Howman says
for Telegraph the real issue in the drug testing world is not
the stimulants and masking agents, but the tried and true variations
of blood doping (erythropoietin or EPO) and human growth hormone
(HGH).
ZANDAM (NED): Road world record holder at 10 km and 15 km Kenyan Leonard
Patrick Komon signed for the 27th Dam to Damloop at 10 miles on
September 18. Komon will chase the course record 44:45 of Kenyan Paul
Koech from 1997.
GAINESVILLE (USA): Florida Today writes that Florida senior running back Jeff Demps has a little different
perspective on the opportunities athletes could have. He could have
signed a contract for millions of dollars to run pro track but
elected to remain a football player for one more season. Jeff Demps stays in school, has insurance policy
on his legs.
ADDIS ABABA (ETH): Good news from Haile Gebrselassie training. “I feel
good in training and have some more time to take enough rest.
This weekend it is 5 weeks before Berlin, I will be ready!,” the
legendary runner posted on his twitter. His next race is the Berlin
Marathon on September 25.
ELSTAL (GER): On September 9 the DKB Duels meet will have its second
edition after debuting in 2010. Team Germany will fight against Team
International in five events. Using special rule “best of seven” (each
round the winner gets one point) in each event will bring interesting
competition. The events will be hammer, javelin and discus. It is
expected that Betty Heidler, Christina Obergfoll, Nadine Muller, Robert
Harting will compete. The event is held in historical stadium within the
Olympic Village for 1936 Games in Elstal which is celebrating 75 years
of existence.
