by Larry EderReuters did a story during the Olympics on how Valerie Adams, the potential gold medalist, and now the actual gold medalist, was left off the New Zealand team. Just a little bit of journalistic discovery and one finds that there have been issues with NZOC before.
EME NEWS (AUG 24, 2012)
Majewski beats Storl
THUM (GER, Aug 24): At 9th throwing meet in Thum, Germany Tomasz Majewski did not allow any revenge and won the shot put with 20.93. Olympic silver winner David Storl was only third 20.67, still beaten by Canadian Dylan Armstrong 20.73. Other events had German winners. Martin Wierig in discus (63.36), Thomas Rohler in javelin (80.02) and Christina Schwanitz in women shot put (18.89).
Top duels again
BIRMINGHAM (GBR): Top duels will happen again at next Samsung Diamond League meeting. Carmelita Jeter and Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce will fight again in women 100 m. All London medalists will be there in men´s 110 m hurdles and Aries Merritt will have something to say after his false start episode in Lausanne. All three major players from high jump battle at Athletissima will fight again, Mutaz Barshim with Ivan Ukhov and Robbie Grabarz. In the women 800 m Pamela Jelimo will have another chance to run against Mariya Savinova. Home public waits on Mo Farah in 2 miles and Greg Rutherford in the long jump (against Christian Taylor, Will Claye and Mitchell Watt). Detailed preview will follow on Saturday.
First sub 10 in Slovakia? Harper in shape, world junior record attempt
DUBNICA (SVK): The jubilee 10th Athletics Bridge in Dubnica, Slovakia (EA Classic) on Sunday will see top throwing clashes and in total 6 olympic winners from London (and in summary 16 medalists). Olympic winner Tomasz Majewski of Poland will face in shot put Canadian Dylan Armstrong who missed the podium in London. In hammer London gold medalist Krisztian Pars will meet with Poland´s Pawel Fajdek who was throwing far in qualification but could not manage technically. Also in the field other olympic finalists Lukas Melich, Oleksiy Sokyrskyy and Kiril Ikonnikov with Szymon Ziolkowski. Women hammer is promising first clash since London of all 3 medalists Tatyana Lysenko, Anita Wlodarczyk and Betty Heidler. Organizers are also hoping for fast 100 m with the aim to register first ever sub 10 in Slovakia. First two members of Jamaican world record golden team Nesta Carter (last night 3rd in Lausanne with a sub 10) and Mike Frater are the top favorites along with another Jamaican Lerone Clarke, Trinidad bronze olympic medalist Keston Bledman and British semifinalist from London Dwain Chambers. Another highlight should be the 100 m hurdles women with olympic silver winner (and top shape from Lausanne) Dawn Harper. She is a known person at this meet with event record 12.57 from 2009. She will face a group of solid sub 13 runners headed by 2008 olympic medalist Priscila Lopes-Schliep (her team-mates Phylicia George and Nikkita Holder), US Kristi Castlin and Austrian Beate Schrott. Men 1000 m will see a world junior record attempt (2:15.00 Benjamin Kipkirui from 1999) by olympic bronze winner Timothy Kitum and another top Kenyan junior Abraham Kipchirchir (improved to 1:43.13 this year). Also in the field US olympic fourth placer in the 800 m Duane Solomon. In the 800 m which will be also held another young Kenyan Edwin Melly could deliver first sub 1:46 of the meet. Women distance race of the day will be the 1000 m showing currently most popular Slovak athlete Lucia Klocova (olympic 8th placer in the 1500 m) with the aim to attack very old national record 2:43.45 from 1977. Klocova will face experienced Russian Yulia Chizhenko, Russian European medalist Irina Maracheva and Canadian Diane Cummins with US Brenda Martinez. Women 100 m will see a battle of three relay medalists from London. US Jeneba Tarmoh vs. Jamaican Samantha Henry-Robinson and Ukrainian Khrystyna Stuy. Also in the race fast Jamaican Sheri-Ann Brooks and Laverne Jones-Ferrette from US Virgin Islands. Women steeple should see Slovak All-comers record as Kenyan Lydia Chepkurui clocked 9:14.98 in Stockholm last week and Ukrainian Svitlana Shmidt is European medalist from Helsinki, coming from Ethiopia former world junior record holder Almaz Ayana. Star of women high jump is London bronze winner Svetlana Shkolina of Russia and in the men pole vault Briton Steve Lewis who confirmed top shape last night in Lausanne with 580 clearance. Czech world leader Vitezslav Vesely will have a warm-up competition before Diamond League final in Zurich in javelin trying to improve his own meet record of 82.89 m. Best Slovak walker Matej Toth will show his abilities in the 3000 m track walk and European medalist Aleksey Tsyapik of Belarus is the triple jump favorite.
OTHER NEWS
MADRID (ESP): Spanish media are informing that FermÃn Cacho, 1500 m Olympic champion in Barcelona 92, and Martin Fiz, world marathon champion in Gothenburg in 1995, will form a tandem for the elections for president of the Spanish Athletics Federation.
CHEBOKSARY (RUS): Cheboksary is considering to bid for European Team Championships in future. European Athletics evaluation commission visited the city, informs Rusathletics.com. The capital of Chuvashya thinks about years 2014 and 2015. For the first mentioned year Braunschweig and Ostrava are bidding, for 2015 so far only Ostrava. EA Council will decided on November 2-4 in Bucuresti.
MOSCOW (RUS): Legendary Russian jumper Tatyana Lebedeva said she is also thinking about ending her career after 2013 World Championships which will be held in Moscow. “I know that also Natalya Antyukh, Yelena Isinbaeva and Yuriy Borzakovskiy are considering to end their careers after Moscow, I might be with them, but Im not sure. I will decide in October,” said Lebedeva.
AUCKLAND (NZL): New Zealand’s Sports Minister Murray McCully has launched an investigation into the administrative mix-up that nearly prevented Valerie Adams competing at London 2012. She was originally omitted from the starting list for the shot put before being added in time to compete where she originally won the silver medal before being upgraded to the gold after Belarusian Nadzeya Ostapchuk, the woman who won originally, was stripped of the title following a positive test for anabolic steroids. Adams claims that, combined with problems over her accommodation in London and an ill-fitting competition uniform, it pushed her “over the edge”. She had demanded an inquest and McCully has now met with Adams’ manager Nick Cowan, members of the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC), and Alex Baumann, the chief executive of High Performance Sport New Zealand, to discuss the issues. Informs insidethegames.
BRUSSELS (BEL): Belgian decathlete Hans Van Alphen has confirmed he will compete in the long jump at the Samsung Diamond League meeting in Brussels. Van Alphen managed a fourth place at the London Olympic Games and will be one of the home stars of the meeting.
AMSTERDAM (NED): Dutch agent Jos Hermens has critised the Ethiopian athletics federation in the Frankfurter Algemeiner Zeitung and stated that the official in the federation are not up to date with new developments and have not been able to train athletes properly. Hermens pointed out that projects such as the Oregon Project by Nike work and that they have been trying to set up the same type of camps in Ethiopia and Kenya.
PARIS (FRA): French upcoming pole vault talent Emile Denecker has missed out on most of the 2012 season due to a back injury but told athle.com that he is confident to return even better in 2013. Denecker is hoping to qualify for the European indoor championships and the world outdoor championships on top of performing at his best at the European U23 championships.
AACHEN (GER): A strong field of Germany’s top pole vaulters is announced for the street vault in Aachen on September 5th. Among them are Olympic stars Bjorn Otto and Raphael Holzedeppe. Also Matle Mohr, who holds the meeting record with 590, and Karsten Dilla will be present this year confirms leichtathletik.de.
LAUSANNE (SUI): In yet another attempt to get her athletics career back on track, Susanna Kallur has had a metal spike inserted in her shin, according to Swedish press reports writes European Athletics. Kallur has not competed seriously for two years despite repeated attempts to get back on track. This time the shin has been reinforced with a 33cm long titanium spike. “It’s not very pretty right now, but this is where the road back really starts,” Kallur wrote on Twitter. Kallur will be on crutches for another 6 weeks and then can she begin with some light exercise in the swimming pool or on an exercise bike.
NAIROBI (KEN): World and Olympic 800 metres champion David Rudisha will receive Sh2 million (24,000 dollar) prize money from Safaricom for breaking the world record at the recent London Olympics. This is in addition to the Sh1 million that the company promised gold medallists before the Games writes
LAUSANNE (SUI): Steve Hooker has bounced back from his Olympic disappointment with fifth place in the men’s pole vault at the Lausanne Diamond League meeting. Hooker, who had signalled his intention to regain form on the European circuit following his London disappointment said he was happy with his effort. “I feel like the old me on the runway and I can’t tell you how much I enjoy being out there with the guys,” he said to theage.com.
LAUSANNE (SUI): While in Lausanne, Olympic shot put champion Valerie Vili will hand over her silver at the International Olympic Committee headquarters in Lausanne, and find out about getting the gold that was taken by disgraced rival Nadzeya Ostapchuk. “It’s been a roller-coaster ride for me since London. It’s been not the easiest,” the 27-year-old New Zealander acknowledged as she hopes to receive her gold medal as soon as possible according to ESPN.
KAZAN (RUS): A delegation from the International University Sports Federation (FISU), led by its secretary general Eric Saintrond, has arrived in Kazan for the latest four-day inspection visit ahead of next year’s eagerly awaited World Student Games. Some 13,000 athletes from over 170 countries will take part in the Universiade next year reports Insidethegames.
PARIS (FRA): French Athletics Federation decided to bid for European Championships 2018.
RESULTS
STOCKHOLM (SWE, Aug 24): Nil de Oliveira clocked at Swedish Championships 10.42 (0.0) in winning the 100 m. Michel Torneus leaped to 780 in the long jump and Leif Arrhenius achieved 20.03 in the shot put. European 400 m Champion Moa Hjelmer won the 100 m in 11.66 (-0.2). Angelica Bengtsson cleared 427 in the pole vault and marathon record holder Isabellah Andersson won the 10 000 m in 33:16.67.
KRISTIANSAND (NOR, Aug 24): First day of Norwegian Championships saw Ezinne Okparaebo winning the 100 m in 11.70 (-0.1). Erik Tysse was the best in the 5000 m walk 19:08.89 and European champion Henrik Ingebrigtsen won his 800 m heat in 1:54.72.
LAHTI (FIN, Aug 24): At Finnish Championships Visa Hongisto clocked 10.54 (0.0) in the 100 m and Oli-Pekka Karjalainen achieved 73.21 in hammer.
