LaShawn Merritt Is New King Of 400 Meter Mountain
By Jimmie R. Markham | August 21, 2008
After his sub-par performance in the Olympic 400m final, Jeremy Wariner no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt. Many people questioned his judgment in firing his longtime coach Clyde Hart at the beginning of an Olympic season. I defended his decision all season in hopes that his inconsistency had less to do with his decline and more to do with LaShawn Merritt’s ascent. Once Wariner defended his Olympic title, the doubters would be silenced.
But no longer. It’s obvious now that something was not right, that something had changed, either in his mental game or his training. For years he had followed a certain routine under Hart’s tutelage and he had succeeded in doing so. Suddenly that routine was gone and he had an inconsistent season for the first time in his career. It doesn’t take a PhD to put two and two together and conclude that the coaching change had something to do with his inconsistency. The ironic part of this story is that he fired Hart to save some money. Now, without the gold medal, he may have thrown away much more money in endorsements than he saved in coaching expenses.
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Beijing Men’s 800m Semi-Final All Wet
By Jimmie R. Markham | August 21, 2008
Take a look at the table below showing the names of the athletes who did and did not qualify for the final of the Beijing Olympics Men’s 800m Run. I’ve marked the qualifiers in bold and I’ve sorted the list in ascending order by PR to show you that PR had nothing to do with making the final today. In the soggy conditions the best middle-distance runners in the world found today, adaptability and smart tactics had everything to do with it. It’s mind boggling to think that three of the five sub 1:43 guys who raced today did not make the final.
| Athlete | NAT | Mark | SB 2008 | PR | |
| Wilfred Bungei | KEN | 1:46.23 | 1:44.90 | 1:42.34 | Q |
| Yuriy Borzakovskiy | RUS | 1:46.53 | 1:42.79 | 1:42.47 | |
| Abubaker Kaki | SUD | 1:49.19 | 1:42.69 | 1:42.69 | |
| Yusuf Saad Kamel | BRN | 1:44.95 | 1:42.79 | 1:42.79 | q |
| Mbulaeni Mulaudzi | RSA | 1:46.24 | 1:43.26 | 1:42.89 | |
| Yeimer López | CUB | 1:46.40 | 1:43.07 | 1:43.07 | Q |
| Amine Laalou | MAR | 1:46.74 | 1:44.27 | 1:43.25 | |
| Gary Reed | CAN | 1:45.85 | 1:43.68 | 1:43.68 | Q |
| Abraham Chepkirwok | UGA | 1:49.16 | 1:43.72 | 1:43.72 | |
| Antonio Manuel Reina | ESP | 1:46.40 | 1:46.15 | 1:43.83 | |
| Alfred Kirwa Yego | KEN | 1:44.73 | 1:44.01 | 1:43.89 | Q |
| Mohammed Al-Salhi | KSA | 1:47.14 | 1:44.83 | 1:43.99 | |
| Belal Mansoor Ali | BRN | 1:46.37 | 1:45.95 | 1:44.02 | |
| Nick Symmonds | USA | 1:46.96 | 1:44.10 | 1:44.10 | |
| Mohammad Al-Azemi | KUW | 1:47.65 | 1:45.79 | 1:44.13 | |
| Ismail Ahmed Ismail | SUD | 1:44.91 | 1:44.34 | 1:44.34 | Q |
| Nabil Madi | ALG | 1:45.63 | 1:45.62 | 1:44.54 | Q |
| Fabiano Peçanha | BRA | 1:47.07 | 1:45.64 | 1:44.60 | |
| Boaz Kiplagat Lalang | KEN | 1:45.87 | 1:44.68 | 1:44.68 | |
| Michael Rimmer | GBR | 1:48.07 | 1:44.68 | 1:44.68 | |
| Sajad Moradi | IRI | 1:46.08 | 1:45.14 | 1:44.74 | |
| Nadjim Manseur | ALG | 1:45.54 | 1:44.75 | 1:44.75 | q |
| Manuel Olmedo | ESP | 1:45.91 | 1:45.20 | 1:45.13 | |
| Marcin Lewandowski | POL | 1:47.24 | 1:45.89 | 1:45.52 |
Topics: Middle Distance, Olympic Games | No Comments »
Looks Like Hyleas Fountain Will Upgrade Her Bronze Medal To a Silver
By Jimmie R. Markham | August 20, 2008
Now that Lyudmila Blonska of the Ukraine has tested positive for steroids after winning the silver medal in the heptathlon at the Bejing Olympics, it appears that American Hyleas Fountain will get to trade in her bronze medal for a silver. Blonska’s "B" sample is being tested today and there will be a hearing tomorrow to iron out this latest doping mess. If the "B" sample matched the "A" sample then Blonska would be disqualified, expelled form the Games and probably be banned for life since this is her 2nd positive.
This incident renews the calls for a lifetime ban for a first offense or at least a tougher sentence of 4 years. Blonska apparently wasn’t deterred by a two-year suspension, so a four-year ban is probably the way to go. Most athletes can’t come back from a four-year ban and compete at their previous level, especially if they’re no longer juicing.
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Happy Birthday, Usain Bolt!
By Jimmie R. Markham | August 20, 2008
Usain Bolt got the two best birthday presents a track & field athlete could possibly imagine: a world record and a gold medal. The 22 year old Jamaican (his birthday is actually tomorrow, but, since it’ll soon be tomorrow in Beijing, who’s counting?) did what was said couldn’t be done: he beat Michael Johnson’s 200m world record of 19.32 by 2/100ths of a second.
Topics: Olympic Games, Sprints/Hurdles | 1 Comment »
Men’s 5000m Heats: Ruthless Rules Of Engagement Cause More Notable Casualties In Beijing’s War Of Attrition
By Jimmie R. Markham | August 20, 2008
The qualifying rules for the three heats of the men’s 5000m are ruthless: the top 4 from each each plus the next 3 fastest runners advance to the final. Here are the weather conditions at race time: 79°F Clear. Humidity: 74%. Wind: SE 9 mph. Chance of Precip.: 20 %. Let’s see how the heats play out in this soupy humidity. Here we go:
Heat One: Matt Tegenkamp should buy Alistair Ian Cragg (IRL) a pint or two for doing all of the heavy lifting in round one. Cragg took the field through 1000m in 2:45.6 and the 2nd 1000m in 2:45.9. They were on track for an honest sub-3:50 race. Aadam Ismaeel Khamis (BRN) passed the 3000m mark in 8:19.3, the 3rd 1000m having been run in 2:47.7. Then it slowed even further, but not by much. Eliud Kipchoge (KEN) hit that split in 11:08.4, a 2:49.1 for the 4th 1000m, and they were still on track for a sub 14:00. They ran the last 1000m at a sub 4:00 mile pace and Matt Tegenkamp came home first in 13:37.36, followed by Kipchoge (13:37.50), Tariku Bekele (ETH, 13:37.63) and Kidane Tadasse (ETH, 13:37.72). If my eyes weren’t deceiving me, it looked like Tegenkamp busted through a box down the home stretch by splitting it down the middle like a cruise ship busting through a group of sea kayaks and left all the little Africans in his wake. Maybe I was seeing things but it looked pretty cool. Cragg finished 6th, but his 13:38.57 should get him through to the next round.
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Thoughts About the Men’s 800m Heats
By Jimmie R. Markham | August 20, 2008
Wilfred Bungei (KEN, 1:44.90) and Yuriy Borzakovskiy (RUS, 1:45.15) were the auto-qualifiers in heat 1. Absolutely no surprise there.
Abubaker Kaki (SUD, 1:46.98, in photo above, center) ran the first 200m of heat 2 in 25 seconds… and looked like he was jogging! He refused to let anyone pass him. Several men challenged him throughout the race so he visibly switched gears every time to hold them off. What a great job of psyching them out. They all quickly backed down. He went on to win his heat easily. Mohammed Al-Salhi (KSA, 1:47.02) had the best kick and outran Dmitriy Bogdanov (RUS, 1:47.49) for the 2nd qualifying position.
Pawel Czapiewski (POL, 1:47.66) made the first major tactical error of the heats and it may have cost him the semi-finals. He sprinted to the front some 550m into heat 3, nicely shifting gears and looking strong. Then he relaxed too much and let both Michael Rimmer, (GBR, 1:47.61) and Mbulaeni Mulaudzi (RSA, 1:47.64) outkick him in a slow heat.
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Four Looks At The Finish Line Of The Beijing 1500m
By Jimmie R. Markham | August 19, 2008
| Gold (Disbelief) | Silver (Disgust) |
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| Bronze (Joy) | 4th Place (Grim Determination) |
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Deep Men’s 800m Field Gets Ready To Toe The Line
By Jimmie R. Markham | August 19, 2008
Although the 800m dash is becoming respectable again (as far as depth goes), it’s still not anywhere near what we saw in Athens. On the Beijing entry list there are five 1:42 guys, eight 1:43 guys and fifteen 1:44 guys. While that sounds pretty impressive, the Athens Games had one 1:41 guy, six 1:42 guys, eleven 1:43 guys and sixteen 1:44 guys.
That doesn’t mean the going will be easy this time around, though. Yuriy Borzakovskiy, with his recent 1:42.79 performance, seems determined to become only the 4th man in history to defend his 800m Olympic title. Will he be able to hold off teen sensation Abubaker Kaki, who shows a proclivity for running without any restraint whatsoever and has never lost a race in his short career? Kenyan turned Bahraini Yusuf Saad Kamel should be right in the mix to give both men plenty of trouble.
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Most Expensive Walk In History
By Jimmie R. Markham | August 19, 2008
Heh. You’ve gotta love the race walkers. They work so hard but get absolutely no respect. Until now, that is. They got an $800,000 custom Mondo surface for the Beijing Olympics. Tracy Sundland, a USATF manager said to some of the walkers, "you’ll never have this much money spent on a walking event in history."
Topics: Jumps, Olympic Games, Race Walks | No Comments »
Will Men’s 5000m Be Yet Another 4000m Jog/1000m Dash?
By Jimmie R. Markham | August 19, 2008
Get this: eighteen men on the start list for tomorrow’s 5000m heats have PR’s that are faster than the Olympic record of 13:05.59 which was set by Said Aouita way back in 1984. That includes three Ethiopians (world-record holder Kenenisa Bekele, his little bro’ Tariku Bekele, Abreham Cherkos), three speedy Kenyans (Eliud Kipchoge, Thomas Pkemei Longosiwa, Edwin Cheruiyot Soi), a plucky Australian (Buster Mottram) who thinks that African distance runners can be beat, a pretty dangerous Ugandan (Moses Kipsiro) and even a couple of guys (Bernard Lagat, Matt Tegenkamp) who are a part of the American distance resurgence.
Most Olympic 5000m finals are tactical affairs. Take for instance the 2004 Games. The first 1000m split was 2:58.5, on pace for an embarrassing 14:52 finish. The next 1000m split was a respectable 2:37.5, a pace which would have yielded a final time of 13:07. The 3rd 1000m split was a serious 2:34.9, on pace for a scintillating 12:54.5. The fourth 1000m found the runners putting on the brakes again. The split at the 10 lap mark was 2:37.7, which would have been good for a final time of 13:08.6. Finally, it got down to the 1000m race it really was all along. The final 1000m was run in an unseemly 2:25.8, which would have translated to a 12:08.9 final time had some super human been able to run that pace for twelve and a half laps.
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