by Larry Eder
MILLS THE BEST COACH IN THE WORLD
KINGSTON (JAM): After watching his Racers Track Club athletes romp to five medals out of six in male sprints at the Olympic Games in London a few weeks ago, club president and head coach Glen Mills is making no bones about the effectiveness of the programme, giving credence even to his own merit as the best sprint coach in the world. Writes Jamaica Gleaner. „This is our greatest year at the Olympics. The last Olympics, the club relied on the exploits of Usain, but this year we were able to not only get his exploits, but to add significantly to it and to achieve some superlatives which underline the quality of our programme at the club. And if I may say so, it’s undoubtedly the best sprinting programme in the world,” said Mills. „The credential of the athletes speaks for itself. I have been checking the history books, but I don’t know of any coach who has gotten five of the six medals in Olympic sprints,” he offered, before a wry smile and chuckle. The best sprint coach in the world.
OSTAPCHUK 1 YEAR
MINSK (BLR): Disgraced Belarus shot putter Nadezhda Ostapchuk was handed a one-year ban after testing positive for a banned anabolic steroid that cost her Olympic gold. The sentence was lenient because Ostapchuk was completely in the dark that she had doped, according to Alexander Vanhadlo, the head of Belarus’ anti-doping agency. Vanhadlo said that Ostapchuk’s coach, Alexander Yefimov, was the only person responsible for the violation of the doping code and was banned for four years. „Yefimov confessed that he added the banned drug metenolone into Ostapchuk’s food because he was worried by her unimpressive results ahead of the Olympics,” Vanhadlo told the press.
DUNN 2 YEARS
NEW YORK (USA): US athlete Debbie Dunn has been banned for two years after testing positive for a banned steroid at the US Olympic trials in June, the US Anti-Doping Agency said. Dunn was first alerted of a positive test result in July shortly, after the US Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon. She accepted the ban.
BOLT WILL NOT SEEK THE WC FOR 100 M
KINGSTON (JAM): Usain Bolt will not seek a wild card entry in the 100 meters at next year’s world championships, hoping instead to secure a spot via the Jamaican trials, the six-time Olympic gold medalist said on Tuesday. The triple world record holder said he would defer the wild card honor for the Moscow event to defending world 100m champion and training partner Yohan Blake writes Universal sports.
OTHER NEWS
GLASGOW (GBR): Paralympics champion Oscar Pistorius will soon be able to add an honorary degree to his 2012 medal haul. The South African, nicknamed the Blade Runner, will be made a doctor of Glasgow’s University of Strathclyde in recognition of a year of „outstanding sporting success” the university announced.
LONDON (GBR): UK Athletics will announce Charles van Commenee’s successor as head coach as early as Thursday after confirming Telegraph Sport’s revelations on Monday that the Dutchman would be leaving his post when his contract expires at the end of December. UK Athletics to replace head coach Charles van Commenee with internal candidate.
INDIANAPOLIS (USA): A familiar face at USA Track & Field has taken on a new role as the organization announces Jim Estes as its new Director of Events. Estes has served as USATF Associate Director of Marketing and Long Distance Running Programs since 2005. In his new role, he will oversee the awarding of USATF championship events and execution of USATF-owned properties.
AUCKLAND (NZL): Valerie Adams’ London 2012 Olympic gold medal has been retrieved from Belarus and the New Zealand Olympic Committee confirmed the gold medal “has been received in good condition by the IOC”. Preparations are underway for a presentation ceremony in Auckland next week according to 3news.co.uk.
TALLINN (EST): European indoor champion in 2009 Ksenija Balta and her coach Andrei Nazarov will prepare for next season in warm conditions. As Estonian media are informing after her injury from February 2011 and long recovery process Balta and her coach decided to go for more convenient in climate and place. Spain was chosen because of well-known conditions and familiar training places for Estonian athletes. They already traveled to Spain last week.
EUGENE (USA): The Prefontaine Classic again ranked as one of the best invitational track & field meets in the world in 2012. With the Samsung Diamond League season now concluded, the Pre Classic–the 4th stop on the elite circuit of 14 meets–finished No. 1 in the number of London Olympic gold medalists competing. Organizers write. The Eugene SDL meet proved to be an essential stop on the way to London, as it can claim the most 2012 Olympic gold medalists of any invitational meet in the world – 21 gold medalists from the 2012 Olympic Games competed at this year’s Prefontaine Classic. Meet organizers are already working to present the 39th annual Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field on May 31-June 1.
KINGSTON (JAM): Usain Bolt was honoured Tuesday for his accomplishments at the London Olympics, where he won the gold medal in the 100m and 200m races, and set an Olympic record in the 100m. He also took home gold in the men’s 4×100 relay. “I went out there and I did my country, myself, my fans and everybody who was looking forward to me doing great things proud, and I am very happy with myself,” he said. “I am very pleased with my performance — I think I did pretty well.” Bolt was speaking at his eponymous Usain Bolt’s Tracks and Records in Kingston. “Usain Bolt has become the most celebrated athlete in track and field in history,” said Jamaica Sports Minister Natalie Neita-Headley, who was on hand for the press conference. Bolt also received praise from Opposition Leader Andrew Holness and British High Commissioner to Jamaica Howard Drake. Jamaica media are writing.
ERDOS (CHN): IAAF writes that the 2012 IAAF Race Walking Challenge comes to an end in Inner Mongolia, China, in the city of Erdos on Friday. In the men’s race the two London medallists from the 20km race will be the top favourites for the 10km win in the final. 21-year-old Wang Zhen won the final two years ago in Beijing clocking a 37:44 Asian record and world junior best at the age of 19 and then finished in second place in La CoruÅ„a last year. The biggest threat to Wang comes from the Olympic champion Chen Ding, who also holds the world youth best 39:47.20 in the 10 000 m track walk. Maybe the next bet should go to another Chinese, Cai Zelin, who finished fourth in the London 20km. The other two host country athletes in the race are Li Jianbo, seventh in the London 50km and the winner of the La CoruÅ„a IAAF Race Walking Challenge 20km this season; and Si Tianfeng, who grabbed the bronze in the London 50km race. The best competition comes from Mexican Éder Sánchez and Australian Jared Tallent. Outside threat to the medal podium might come from Japanese Yuki Yamazaki, who showed some of his speed early in the London 20km race, Russian Pyotr Trofimov or Slovak Matej Tóth, who finished eighth in the London 50km, but after winning three 20km races this season. In the women’s race we should see the first Chinese winner since the IAAF Race Walking Challenge was moved to the 10km distance in 2009. Russians have grabbed all three wins since, including a surprise by Tatyana Sibileva in Beijing 2010. But Liu Hong, who finished second in both 2010 and 2011, and Olympic bronze medallist Qieyang Shenjie are in such form that others will have a hard time chasing them in this competition. The third Chinese in the race, just 18-year-old Lu Xiuzhi, can’t be forgotten either. Others to mention are the 2008 Olympics bronze medallist from Italy, Elisa Rigaudo, 30-year-old Spaniard Beatriz Pascual and Ana Cabecinha of Portugal. The impressive fields continues with Russian Tatyana Korotkova, Portugal’s InÄ™s Henriques, Australian Claire Tallent and Ireland’s Olive Loughnane.
KINGSTON (JAM): „It really meant a lot to us coming back to this warm reception,” silver sprint medalist Yohan Blake said, adding that London was special for him. „Coach Mills has been wonderful. Over the years he said to me, ‚Yohan, you’re going to be great.’ He made me cry. ‚The Beast’ has a soft part to him,” he added. Meanwhile, Mills told the Jamaica Observer that the 1-2-3 finish by athletes coached by him in the Men’s 200m was the highlight of the Olympics for him. Warren Weir recalled the day of the 200m final. „Before the finals Usain came to me and said, ‚1-2-3, let’s do this,’ so I just went out there, held my form, kept a clean mind and did it,” Weir told the Observer. „When I crossed the finish line I thought I’d got it, but I wasn’t sure. When I realised I got it, man, it was crazy; emotions everywhere.” Weir told the Observer that he would be moving forward from here because he now has a target. „We’re going at the same pace. It only means the work gets harder for me and nothing changes.” Writes Jamaica Observer.
NEWCASTLE (GBR): Team captains at the street match USA vs Great Britain on Saturday will be olympic champions Greg Rutherford and Christian Taylor. Double olympic winner Mo Farah runs the Great North CityGames men’s invitational two mile. In the women field 2011 world champion Jenny Simpson.
EUGENE (USA): Changes at University of Oregon. Vin Lananna will transition into a larger role that will benefit the entire University of Oregon and TrackTown USA, while Robert Johnson will be elevated to head track and field and cross country coach, University of Oregon Director of Athletics Rob Mullens announced. Lananna will now be able to focus his time and energy pursuing large-scale national and international track and field events for our community and ensuring that Hayward Field remains the premiere outdoor track venue in the United States. Johnson, who recently finished his seventh year at Oregon and his third as associate head women’s coach, has helped lead the remarkable resurgence of a women’s program that has won three straight NCAA Indoor national titles and four consecutive Pac-12 championships. Johnson becomes just the sixth full-time track and field coach in the history of the Men of Oregon, one of the most storied collegiate track and field programs in the nation, and the seventh for the Duck women. He follows in the steps of coaching legends Bill Hayward (1904-47), Bill Bowerman (1949-72), Bill Dellinger (1973-98), Tom Heinonen (1975-2003, women) and Lananna (2006-12), among others. Informs trackandfieldnews.com.
BERLIN (GER) : German discus talent Anna Rüh has succesfully udergone surgery on her right knee. The world junior champion and Olympic finalist was operated by the same doctor that worked on Robert Harting last year and announced the surgery had gone very well reports leichtathletik.de.
LAUSANNE (SUI): European Athletics has announced the nominations for the 2012 European Athlete of the Year and European Athletics Rising Star Awards. The online poll to choose the winners is now open, with voting taking place on the European Athletics website until 26 September 2012. The award winners will be decided by votes from the general public, media, European Athletics Member Federations and an expert panel.
MEDELLIN (COL): Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos Calderón has signed all the Government guarantees needed for MedellÃn’s bid to host the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games. MedellÃn is bidding against Buenos Aires, Glasgow, Guadalajara, Poznan and Rotterdam, with the IOC due to announce the host city at a meeting next June reports Insidethegames.
MONTE CARLO (MON): Olympic and world winner Veronica Campbell-Brown said for IAAF about her ending of the season: „Lausanne marked the end of my competitive 2012 season. I have turned my focus to correcting the medical challenges that confronted me and looking ahead to the 2013 season.”
PHILADELPHIA (USA): Runnersworld.com informs that Dathan Ritzenhein, prepping for the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 7, will tune up by racing in Sunday’s Rock ‚n’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon. The class of the field at the Rock ‚n’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon could be Simon Biwott of Kenya, who has a best of 59:44 for the distance and won the 2012 Paris Marathon in 2:05:12. Scott Bauhs, whose 1:01:30 in Houston in January is the quickest half marathon by an American in 2012, is also entered.
VALLADOLID (ESP): 2007 world medalist in the 800 m Mayte Martinez announced at age of 36 her retirement after again having difficulties with an left knee injury. She will remain linked to the athletics on the school level and also plans to become a mother.
MOSCOW (RUS): New athletics child is born. In this sporting family Oksana Spasovkhodskaya (51.78 at 400 m in 2008) gave birth to a daughter. Father is world medalist and multiple Russian champion in the triple Igor Spasovkhodskiy.
RESULTS
CHENNAI (IND, Sep 11): The second day of the 52nd National Open championships of India witnessed Railway athletes made clean sweep in three events while the team’s Manikandan (10.60 secs) and Manisha Dhankar (11.77) romped home with the tile of fastest man and woman of the meet. In high jump, Olympian Sahana Kumari improved her one-year-old meet mark by 1 cm when she cleared 184. Renjith Maheswary, who had a disappointing outing in London Olympics, proved his critics wrong by taking the triple jump with a leap of 16.72m. It was his fifth title in the Open Nationals in his top event.
PLZEN (CZE, Sep 11): European champion Jirina Ptacnikova showed his class at 3rd Plzenska latka special pole vault meet on the city square. Organised in her hometown and by her father and former sprinter Frantisek Ptacnik. She cleared new meet record 462 and tried at 470. Michal Balner was the best man with 550 clearance.
ADLER (RUS, Sep 9): Ivan Grigoryev won the decathlon at Russian Combined Events Team Championships with 7692 score. Kemerovo region won the male teams ahead of St. Petersburg and Roston region. Women heptathlon winners was Aleksandra Butvina with 5796 points. In female teams St. Petersburg won over Kemerovo region and Krasnodar.
