There are memories for me, from my childhood, that are as clear as if they were yesterday. Two of my favorite ways to spend time with my father were deer hunting and fishing.   The key element, spending time with my father, was the important portion of both activities . 

We were not big TV sports watchers. We were all about going outside, fishing mostly. I do remember, however, watching the 1968 Olympics, the first one I can remember, at the kitchen table in the house we lived in on Post Port Lane in Bridgeton, Missouri. Dad was making lunch for the five of us, and it was hotdogs, one of our favorites.

I remember  watching Bob Beamon jump. I knew what the long jump was, as we had done it in PE in fourth and fifth grade. I remember just thinking, gosh, that was pretty cool to see a guy jump so far. I also remember Bob Beamon putting his hands to his face, and weeping. I was struck by Mr. Beamon’s athleticism at the age of ten. 

I believe I met Mr. Beamon in 1996, at the Atlanta Olympics. Like the late Al Oerter, I think Bob Beamon is an Olympian with all of the magic of the word.

43 years later, some of Mr. Beamon’s friends celebrated the forty-third anniversary of Bob Beamon’s historic long jump. Bob Beamon, a graphic artist, is now CEO of Art for Olympians.

On October 18, 1968, Bob Beamon leaped into the air and did not come down until he hit 8.90 meters, an amazing world record. Bob Beamon then became an adjective, beamonesque. Beamonesque means, beyond expectations.

At the age of twenty-four, Bob Beamon soared into the sky and came down nearly nine meters later, putting the world record out of reach for twenty-three years!

Forty-three years later, Bob Beamon’s 8.90m jump is still number two on the all time list. 

7 EA INDOOR MEETINGS

LAUSANNE (SUI): The European Indoor Permit meetings
calendar 2012 will consist of 7 events and that is 3 more than in 2011. Newly
in the list is the Aviva International Match in Glasgow on January 28 (GBR-USA-RUS-GER-Commonwealth),
for first time in this category Slovakian high jump meet in Banska Bystrica on
February 8 and former member of this category the Eduard Grigoryan Memorial
what is an international junior meeting in Moscow (February 15). The remaining
four events are Combined Events meet in Tallinn,
Estonia (Feb 3-4), Pedros
Cup in Bydgoszcz (Feb 8, shot put men and pole
vault men and women), 7th PSD Bank Meeting in Dusseldorf
(Feb 10) and Donetsk Pole Vault Stars meeting in Ukraine (Feb 11). Classical senior
one day meeting is from all of them only the event in Dusseldorf. In 2011 All-Athletics.com
rankings Dusseldorf was third best indoor meet
in the world, in the special indoor meetings Donetsk
was the best ahead of Bydgoszcz
and Banska Bystrica (best of only high jump meetings).

BEAMON ANNIVERSARY

NAPLES (USA):
News-press.com informs that on Tuesday night friends and dignitaries celebrated
the 43rd anniversary of Bob Beamon’s feat on Oct. 18, 1968, in the Summer
Olympics in Mexico City
when he jumped the historical 890
cm. Still second best mark ever. “Between time and
space,” Beamon explained. “It becomes hazy. That whole evening, I kept saying,
‘I’ll probably wake up from this dream.” Now CEO of Art of the Olympians,
Beamon (66) is proud to wear a new uniform. “I had been retired for three
days,” said Beamon, formerly the associate athletic director at Chicago State. “I got a call from Cathy Oerter.
She said, ‘Would you like to join us?’ I said, ‘Absolutely.’ She’s truly a
friend.” Beamon’s goals are to develop strong relationships with all Olympic
sponsors, do live shows using video streaming and social media which are
family-oriented, and introduce more Olympians who are artists, singers,
dancers, writers and poets. Beamon himself is a graphic artist who has turned
that medium into necktie designs and writing pens.

KENYA VS. ETHIOPIA AS USUAL

VENICE (ITA): The 26th Venice Marathon will be held
this Sunday. All available 7000 starting places have been sold out immediately
after the entries were opened in May. Another duel Kenya
vs. Ethiopia
is expected in the elite field. Simon Mukun of Kenya
is the title defender from last year (clocked his PB 2:09:35) and was fifth
this year in Rome.
Nicholas Koech has event faster 2:07:23 from last year Prague and will run his first marathon 2011.
Ethiopians are headed by winner of Firenze 2010 and Padova 2011 Tadesse Tolesa
(2:09:02) and Teshome Galana who has 2:07:37 from winning Houston in 2010. Home runners leader is
veteran, 38-years old Danilo Goffi who will run his first marathon of the year.
Ethiopian Harun Makda is women title defender (2:28:08 last year) and improved
this April in Daegu Marathon to 2:27:46 as fourth. Best Kenyan is Helen Kirop
with 2:24:54 best and to mention from European runners Yevgeniya Danilova from Russia and Natalia Cherches of Moldova. Course
records are 2:08:13 by John Komen in 2009 and 2:27:02 by Lenah Cheruiyot in
2007.

NO SUHR AT PAN-AM GAMES

CHINOOK (USA):
The polevaultpower.com website says that US record holder Jenn Suhr will not
compete at Pan-Am Games next week. It is also confirmed indirectly by USATF as
she is no longer listed in the team roster. She had this outdoor season 7
competitions with last one in Zurich
at Weltklasse Meet when winning (472). Suhr was fourth in Daegu at the World
Championships. Her duel with world champion Fabiana Murer from Brazil was
supposed to be one of the athletics highlights of the games. US will have so
Becky Holliday as the only representative in women pole vault. Athletics
programme starts on Sunday October 23 with both 20 km walk competitions (men
and women) and women marathon.

OTHER NEWS

LONDON (GBR): Lord Sebastian Coe passionately
defended the decision to retain the athletics track at the Olympic Stadium
after London 2012 and hit out at critics who claim that the facility will be
under-utilised. Lyeton Orient chairman Barry Hearn is among the leading
sceptics who claim that there is not enough demand to justify keeping the track
in a 60,000 capacity stadium. “There is no lack of demand for top-class track
and field in this country,” the double Olympic 1500 meters champion
told the London Assembly here. Coe claimed that Britain’s
successful annual two-day Diamond League meetings at Crystal Palace
shows there is sufficient interest in the sport. “The capacity there is about
16,000 organisers could probably sell five times that number of tickets. Crowds
of between 50,000 and 70,000 fans regularly international athletics events in
European cities like Paris and Brussels,” says Coe.

NAIROBI (KEN): More than 20 elite athletes have joined
a field of 5500 who had by Wednesday confirmed participation in the 2011
Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon set for November 30 in Nairobi. Informs The Nation of Kenya. On
Wednesday, the event received support from World marathon record holder,
Patrick Makau, while women’s 5,000m and 10,000 World champion, Vivian Cheruiyot
said she will compete in the 10km race. Makau, who is yet to start serious
training after his blistering world record-winning time in Berlin said he would be at the start and
finishing point of the race to encourage younger athletes. Close to 20,000
athletes are expected to register for the event before the November 23
deadline. Going for men’s top prize of Sh1.5 million in the senior men’s race
are 2009 Amsterdam Marathon champion Gilbert Yegon and Philemon Boit, who won
the Brighton Marathon in April. 2009 Standard Chartered Bangkok Marathon
champion, Francis Kiptoo and Wurzburg Half Marathon champion Noah Talam will
also race in the category.

TALLINN (EST): European Athletics informs that former
Olympic decathlon champion Erki Nool and renowned jumping coach Yevgeniy
Zagorulko of Russia (Ukhov,
Chicherova, Silnov) shared their expertise and experiences at the European
Decathlon Conference held in the Estonian capital city of Tallinn earlier this month. Over 75 athletes
and coaches from six countries – Estonia,
Latvia, Belgium, the Netherlands,
Finland and Norway took
part in the two-day conference where the main focus was on the jumps discipline
of the decathlon event. The Conference, a part of the 2011 European Athletics
Summit Series, was hosted by the Estonian Athletic Association.

ADDIS ABABA (ETH): Great Ethiopian Run announced that
registration for the 2011 CBE Great Ethiopian Run 10km (November 27) is sold
out in less than ten days. The rapid sale of places confirms the popularity of
this event, which still holds the title as Africa’s
biggest mass participation race.

BRUSSEL (BEL) : Former Belgian European 60m hurdles indoor champion
Eline Berings is back in training to prepare the 2012 indoor season. The
25-year old underwent surgery earlier this year and has since rehabilitated her
knee. With all troubles now behind her she believes the World indoor
championships and the Olympic Games are her main goals for 2012 she said to
Belgian media.

BERLIN (GER): The video of Betty Heidler’s world
record hammer throw is the most viewed video of the year on leichtathletik TV.
Heidler could count on over 8000 views since throwing her record earlier this
summer.

INDIANAPOLIS (USA): USA Track and Field and German automotive giant BMW
are working together to increase the efficiency of training analysis for
athletes as they prepare for next summer’s Olympic Games in London. The company
has developed a dual-vision camera for movement analysis which records critical
data in real-time and transfers it to an on-site laptop according to wired.com.

MELBOURNE (AUS): Cathy Freeman was named the 2011 legend and inducted
into the prestigious group of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in Melbourne. The two-time
world champion over the 400m relived her Olympic glory from Sydney 2000 as she
took to the stage and admitted that she still hasn’t had chance to get her head
around what those Games did for her. Sydney
and that night is definitely the jewel in the crown of my career Freeman said
on stage.

PORTSMOUTH (GBR): Double World record holder Kenyan
Leonard Patrick Komon is the latest addition to the strong field being
assembled for the Bupa Great South Run on 30 October. Komon the reigning World 10 kilometers and
15km record holder has confirmed his participation in the prestigious IAAF Gold
Label Event over a very quick 10
miles course in Portsmouth where last year Joseph Ebuya
set a UK All-Comers’ record of 45:16. The 23-year-old will certainly have that
target in his sights in a line up which includes fellow Kenyan Abel Kirui who
recently retained his IAAF World Championships Marathon title and Morocco’s
Abderrahime Bouramdane who finished fourth behind him in Daegu. The presence of
Komon and the other overseas visitors should draw the best out of British
runners Chris Thompson the 2010 European 10,000 silver medallist. Scott Overall
fifth in last month’s BMW Berlin Marathon and Andrew Lemoncello, Scotland’s Number
One. Organizers are saying in a release.

BUDAPEST (HUN): Best 100 m men´s race at one day
meetings was held in 2011 in
Eugene at
Prefontaine Classic according to the score 6188 points of All-Athletics.com
website. Second position in this ranking (taking into consideration, results,
wind-speed and quality of the field) has Athletissima of Lausanne 6145 and
third Herculis of Monaco with 6078 points. Close fourth place with 6052 for
Weltklasse 100 m
in Zurich and Jamaican Invitational in Kingston (also 6052
points). Last over 6000 points at one day meetings is Van Damme race in Brussels with 6017
points.