by Larry Eder
One of the biggest surprises in Daegu was the lack of medals by the men’s U.S. 400 meter hurdle squad. The man who took the gold, Dai Greene, who had also won the 2010 European Championships at 400m hurldes as well well. Greene told British media that he believes more British athletes should consider Greene’s focus. Dai Greene admits that he wants a third gold medal to go with his gold medals from the 2010 Europeans and 2011 World Championships. Greene is focused on adding another gold to his collection. Only time will tell, but Mr. Greene has to know that he has a huge bullseye on his back now that he has won major championships two years in a row. More than most, Dai Greene knows that only a few things matter: get one’self to the championships, run the rounds well so one gets into the final, and then, run a great race in the final!
Kenya wins
CHIBA (JPN, Nov 23): Due to the qualities of two teenagers – Patrick
Mutunga Mwikya and Edwin
Mokua – who run two 10km stages, Kenya won the 2011 Chiba
International Ekiden on the national holiday in Japan.
It was Kenya’s first victory in Chiba Ekiden since the race turned
to men/women mixed race in 2007. Twelve teams – ten national teams
along with JPN Collegiate team and Chiba Prefecture team – contested
six stages marathon distance Ekiden. The men ran 5Km first stage
(fastest Kenyan Longosiwa 13:36),
10Km third stage (28:08 Mwikya) and 10Km fifth stage (Mokua 27:43),
while women ran 5Km second
stage (Nishihara of Japan 15:17), 5Km fourth stage (Kobayashi 15:46)
and 7.195Km sixth stage (Niiya 22:36). Kenya clocked 2:04:40 ahead of
Japan 2:04:59, Japan College 2:07:26, Russia 2:07:56 and USA fifth
2:09:06.
Borzakovskiy no for Istanbul
MOSCOW (RUS): Daegu bronze winner and former olympic gold medalist at
800 m Yuriy Borzakovskiy plans 3-4 indoor competitions. But will not
compete in Istanbul at World Indoor Championships. “We want not to
repeat mistakes from past years with my coach Vyacheslav Yevstratov and
after short indoor season we will start our olympic preparation in the
right time,” said Borzakovskiy from his training camp in Kirgizstan. “I m
healthy and currently in good training,” said Borzakovskiy who plans
not only for London 2012 but also for Rio de Janeiro 2016 (will be 35 at that time).
Award for Shobukhova
MOSCOW (RUS): Russian runner Liliya Shobukhova has won the AIMS/ASICS
Athlete of the Year Award. She becomes the first Russian athlete to win
the coveted award, following on from last year’s winner Mary Keitany.
ASICS Russia’s Marketing Manager, Natalia Lapochkina, presented
Shobukhova with the Golden Shoe Trophy during a short handover ceremony
in Moscow. Shobukhova who recently turned 34 won the World Marathon
Majors series and improved at Chicago marathon to 2:18:20. The
AIMS/ASICS World Athlete of the Year Awards were founded in 1992 and are
decided each year from nominations made by the 310 member races of
AIMS. Informs AIMS website.
OTHER NEWS
ADDIS ABABA (ETH): Leichtathletik.de informs that olympic winner and
world record holder Kenenisa Bekele is building close to Addis Ababa a
big Sports and Recreation facility. Not only running track but also golf
course and football field should be part of it. It is not known yet
whether Bekele will compete in next months in the CC races or indoors.
LONDON (GBR): Reigning Bupa Great North 10Km road race champion Louise
Damen faces
an uphill task if she is to realise her ambition of competing in
next year’s Olympic Games Marathon. Damen who achieved the UK
Athletics qualifying mark of 2:31 when running 2:30:00 at the Virgin
London Marathon in April
was hoping to run even faster in Japan last weekend to stake her
claim for early selection next month. But the 28-year-old suffered a
major setback when unable to cope
with the hot and humid conditions she dropped out of the Yokohama
Women’s International Marathon between 10 and 15 kilometres on
Sunday. Paula Radcliffe with Mara Yamauchi are the top two to be
selected as of now. That will effectively leave Jo Pavey (2:28:24),
Claire Hallissey
(2:29:27) and Damen (2:30:00) fighting for the remaining spot which
will be revealed following the 2012 Virgin London Marathon next
April. Informs David Martin.
LONDON (GBR): London 2012 have unveiled the designs of the retro Games
Maker uniform which will be worn by around 70,000 volunteers and 6,000
London 2012 staff during the Games along with the uniform which will be
worn by around 4,500 technical officials. The uniforms will be a visible
presence for the millions of spectators who will be coming to London
and the UK next year, while they fulfil all the necessary practical
criteria for a diverse range of Games Makers, London 2012 staff and
technical officials to undertake the varied roles that will be required
during the Games.
MONTE CARLO (MON): IAAF informs that the dedicated competition website
for the IAAF World Indoor Championships, Istanbul, Turkey (9 – 11 March
2012) has opened fully on Wednesday. Along with essentials such as the
Timetable, Qualification Standards, Approved Implements, you will find
snap-shots about the history of the World Indoor Championships and of
athletics in Turkey which begin our written editorial build-up to
Istanbul 2012.
CHARLOTTESVILLE (USA): Race Results Weekly writes that in an unexpected
move, the University of Virginia’s head coach and director of track and
field and cross country, Jason Vigilante, has resigned, university
officials announced yesterday. Vigilante, who coached middle distance
stars Robby Andrews and Lance Roller, had been with the college since
2008. Originally from Morristown, N.J., Vigilante competed for North
Carolina State during his collegiate career, but was not an outstanding
athlete (in 1997 he finished 105th at the USA Cross Country
Championships). He turned to training athletes in 1997, and became best
known as a coach when working at the University of Texas where he
started as an assistant coach, and was promoted to head cross country
coach and was responsible for guiding the development of the school’s
middle distance runners, including Olympian Leo Manzano. Earlier this
year, “Vig” started coaching miler Alan Webb who relocated from
Portland, Ore., to Charlottesville. There was no word yet on how his
resignation from Virginia would affect his relationship with Webb.
and preparing for the 2012 season. Vos had ruptured a muscle at the
world championships in Daegu and was forced to give up after only two
events. With the injury fully healed Vos is back in his training
location in Birmingham, he reports on his website.
Ethiopia with a group of about 30 Ethiopian athletes. Bekele is hoping
to prepare in the best possible way for the European Cross Country
championships in December and is aiming to win the Belgian cross country
circuit Lotto Crosscup. The Belgian was born in Ethiopia and later
moved to Belgium reports Het Laatste Nieuws.
BERLIN (GER): Ethiopian Eleni Gebremedhin might take on the German
nationality and represent Germany. Gebremedhin is married to a German
and lives and trains in Germany. She hopes to be able to run for Germany
as soon as 2013 reports leichtahletik.de.
BERLIN (GER): With 2011 being a highly successful season for German
athletics DLV director Thomas Kurschilgen told leichathletik.de that
2012 might bring Germany’s strongest team in 10 years. With only two
medals in 2004 and one medal in 2008 Kurschilgen believes his team is
able to perform much better in London.
GAINESVILLE (USA): Fast sprinter Jeff Demps (21, best of 10.01) said
that if he’s drafted by an NFL team he’ll likely bypass trying to make
the U.S. Olympic team in 2012. “Coming up, the Olympics wasn’t there. I
was always a football guy that watched football. When I started running
in high school that’s when I started thinking about track,” he said for
floridatoday.com.
LONDON (GBR): World champion 400m hurdler Dai Greene believes his fellow
Team GB athletes would do well to adopt his attitude as they target
future success. The 25-year-old believes some athletes have
underachieved in their disciplines, either because they just don’t set
their sights high enough or because they crumble in the face of pressure
and expectation he said for the Daily Mail. Greene is hoping to add
another gold medal to his tally from the London Olympic Games.
LONDON (GBR): BBC informs that Jamaican sprinter Steve Mullings is
determined to prove his “innocence to the world” following a life ban
for a second doping offence. “Myself and my attorneys are focusing our
time and energy on proving my innocence to the world,” Mullings said for
BBC. It is expected he will appeal at the CAS.
LONDON (GBR): The London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) announced
that Blade Runner Oscar Pistorius has become the latest ambassador to
join London 2012’s international sports legacy programme, International
Inspiration. Gold medallist and world-record holder Pistorius has
recently visited International Inspiration projects in Tanzania,
witnessing the impact that the programme, which uses sport and play to
engage young children, is already having. During his trip he also helped
launch the programme’s partnership with the Laureus Sports for Good
foundation.
STOCKHOLM (SWE): Researchers at Linköping University have been tasked
with establishing how common sexual harassment is within Sweden
athletics, in the wake of revelations by Olympian Patrik Sjöberg that he
was abused by his coach. The team of researchers, who will conduct the
study by contacting 500-600 people on the web and by mail, have been
commissioned by the Swedish Athletics Federation. Champion high jumper
Patrik Sjöberg has been critical of the Athletics Federation which he
accuses of not having taken the problem seriously. The former high jump
world champion caused a media storm earlier this year with revelations
in his autobiography admitting that he had been sexually abused by his
former coach Viljo Nousiainen reports thelocal.se.
KINGSTON (JAM): Jamaica Observer informs that Howard Aris, the man who
presided over the most successful period in Jamaica’s track and field
history, was laid to rest at the Dovecot Memorial Park, St Catherine.
Glowing tributes flowed at the thanksgiving service – unveiled in a
purple and white-themed setting of Aris’ alma mater, Kingston College –
at the National Indoor Sports Centre (NISC) for the former Jamaica
Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) president. Warren Blake,
newly installed president of the JAAA, who also read a message from
International Association of Athletics Federations President Lamine
Diack, said Aris’ shoes will be hard to fill. Some of those who were in
attendance included: athletes – Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, Shelly-Ann
Fraser, Sherone Simpson, Kaliese Spencer, Marvin Anderson; politicians –
Robert Pickersgill, Phillip Paulwell, DK Duncan; and administrators –
Grace Jackson, Don Quarrie, Bert Cameron, Deon Hemmings, Juliet
Cuthbert, Davian Clarke, Alfred Francis, Edward Hector, Ali McNab, David
Mais, Lydel Wright, Ajani Williams and Captain Horace Burrell.
