byLarry EderYes, there was news besides 40,827 runners in real,-Berlin on Sunday around the
world of athletics and besides a new world marathon record!
OTHER NEWS
BARCELONA (ESP): Spanish 800 m world medalist Mayte Martinez had her right foot operated a second time this August and is recuperating at the moment. Martinez had had problems with her right foot (plantar fasciitis) since four years. This year, it had gotten worse, so she had to renounce on the Olympics because training was no longer possible. Now her principal aim is to recover and to recuperate totally, she dreams of training and competing again soon.
PARIS (FRA): The French federation has selected seven athletes for the world half-marathon championships on October 12 in Rio de Janeiro. MEN: Abdellatif Meftah (if he gets clearance from the Moroccan federation, PB 1:02:32), James Theuri (PB 1:01:36), Fabrice Jaouen, Julien Moreau and Thibaud Nael ; WOMEN: Yamna Oubouhou, Christine Bardelle.
NAIROBI (KEN): Olympic marathon champion Samuel Wanjiru has asked to be withdrawn from the Kenyan team for the World Half-Marathon Championships to be held in Rio de Janeiro on Oct 12, citing fatigue. He’ll be replaced by Turin marathon winner Stephen Kibiwot.
KIGALI (RWA): The Rwandan team for the World Half-Marathon championships is made of Dieudonné Disi (6th in 59:32 last year), Sylvain Rukundo, Alexis Nzeyimana and Gervais Hakizimana on the men’s side while Angéline Nyiransabimana will compete in the women’s race.
PARIS (FRA): French quartermiler Leslie Djhone, who injured his hamstring 20m into the Olympic final where he finished 5th (45.11), is ready to make a fresh start after getting over big frustration. “In any other race, I would have stopped, but at the Games, it’s impossible. I gave all I had. To finish 5th in those conditions was even amazing. But the race itself was astounding. Maybe because that day, the temperature went down by 10 degrees” Djhone declared in an interview to the Républicain Lorrain. After wanting to quit athletics the day of the final, Djhone will get back to training with the aim to break the European record set by Thomas Schönlebe in 1987 (44.33). Djhone’s PB is 44.46 from 2007.
AKRON (USA, Sep 27): Sara Slattery won U.S. Women’s 8-K Championship in Akron, Ohio. For the 26 year-old athlete, who won the Pan Am Games 10,000m title in 2007, it was her first ever U.S. open title on any surface. She clocked 25:54 ahead of Amy Rudolph (26:01) and Molly Huddle (26:06). Slattery earned 7500 USD for her victory in what was the seventh stop on the 2008 USA Running Circuit (USARC) for women. Informs Race Results Weekly.
LONDON (GBR): Female athletes are at a “disadvantage” to their male counterparts because many of their world records are out of reach, says Olympic 200 m champion Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica for BBC. “Everybody wants to watch a world record,” Campbell-Brown told BBC Sport.
“The men enjoy all the glamour because they’re capable of breaking world records. Women don’t have that luxury.” Campbell-Brown said it was not for her to decide if any of the world bests were tainted by doping but acknowledged that serious doubts exist over the legitimacy of many women’s records.
Used with permission of Alfons Juck, EME News.
