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Steve Burke, the CEO of Comcast has been quoted as saying, in TVweek.com, that due to cost cutting, NBC may get out of the Olympic TV business! So, the worst kept rumor in the TV business may be true!  How will this affect our friends at Universal?

More details on this one to come!

KEITANY
4 GLOBAL MARKS

RAS AL KHAIMAH (UAE, Feb 18):
Kenyan Mary Keitany (29) clocked at 5th edition of RAK Half Marathon
excellent world record 1:05:50. She improved the former mark of Lornah Kiplagat
1:06:25 from World Championships in Udine 2007 by 35 seconds. She also clocked
en route one world record and two world bests. For 20 km her split 1:02:36 is
better than existing global mark of Lornah Kiplagat from her record run in Udine (1:02:57). Fastest 10 miles (world best) were
also registered with Keitany timed at 50:05. Clearly better than the 51:43
(Teyiba Erkesso in 2007) recognised by road races statisticians at ARRS and
also as 50:39 of Linet Masai in Amsterdam 2009. At 8 km she had 24:30 better than
Paula Radcliffe´s 24:38 from 1999 Balmoral. With a slight breeze coming from
the east, but in conditions that were otherwise perfect (approximately 17C at the start), she looked
relaxed and with a stated target tempo of 3:08 per kilometre, she was clearly
way ahead of schedule before half way. With the home straight almost a
kilometre long, on making the final turn she could see the finish and pushed
hard for home. Keitany who will earn 75 000 USD (25 for first place and 50 as
world record bonus) is 2009 World Half Marathon champion and debuted in
marathon last fall as third in New York 2:29:01. Next target for Keitany is
April London Marathon. This are also first road world records of 2011. Second
and third were Ethiopian runners Dire Tune 1:08:52 and Mare Dibaba 1:08:57.
Fourth Rose Kosgei 1:09:04 ahead of Agnes Kiprop 1:09:10 for Kenya. Sixth
place for Hilda Kibet of Netherlands
with European leading time 2011 1:09:35 ahead of Turkish Sultan Haydar who
debuted with 1:10:01. French marathon record holder Christelle Daunay was 9th
(1:11:13) ahead of experienced Hungarian Aniko Kalovics (1:13:34).  Their team-mate Deriba Merga won the men´s
race in world leading 59:24 after very fast pace (13:37, 27:31, 41:44 at first 15 km). Remaining two podium
places for Kenyans: second Bernard Kipyego 59:44 and third Leonard Langat 59:52
(life-time best). Favorite Patrick Makau ended 12th (1:03:51). Merga also
clocked en route 21:51 at 8 km,
also a world best (formerly 22:02 Kenyan Peter Githuka in 1996).

BOLT IN
GERMANY

MUNICH
(GER): Sprint world record holder Usain Bolt is in Germany until Sunday. He undergoes
a medical check-up at specialist doctor Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt before
his summer season. German media are reporting that it is a routine check, Bolt
said he is in good shape and wanted to be sure before his competitions will
begin. He is doing specific core training under the hands of FC Bayern Munich fitness coach
Thomas Wilhelmi and met with football players of Bayern Munich. “I know
Muller-Wohlfahrt since I was 16 years old. He is the best,” said Bolt about his
connection to the doctor of German National football team and multiple national
champion Bayern Munich. Bolt confirmed his season begins most probably early
May at Kingston IAAF World Challenge Meeting, the Diamond League circuit starts
for him in Rome
on May 26.

ISINBAYEVA
OUT OF STOCKHOLM

STOCKHOLM (SWE): Pole vault star Yelena
Isinbayeva is changing her plan. She will not compete in Stockholm
on February 22 at XL-Galan meet (IAAF Indoor permit) in order to prepare for European
Indoor Championships in Paris.  The decision was based on the opinion of
coach Vitaliy Petrov and Yelena herself as she needs to work on technical
details in order to improve her shape before Paris. The main goal of Isinbayeva is to win
in Bercy. On the other hand women´s 3000 m race is shaping up. Meseret Defar plans
to attack her own world indoor record and will have a tough company. Her
country-rival Sentayehu Ejigu, US Shalane Flanagan, European Champion Alemitu
Bekele of Turkey, current world leader Olesya Syreva of Russia and former world
leader Mercy Njoroge from Kenya.

LAST
CHANCE FOR COMBINED EVENTERS

LAUSANNE (SUI): This weekend as already
informed by EME NEWS most of European countries will stage its national
championships. This weekend also looks to be the last possibility to get
combined event marks in order to qualify for Paris based on 2011 results. Five such places
are available for both men heptathlon and women pentathlon. In current rankings
for men Czech multi-events star Roman Sebrle leads the order with 6117 points
ahead of Russian Vasiliy Kharlamov (5965), Austrian Dominik Distelberger
(5951), second Russian Aleksandr Kislov (5949) and Belgian talent Thomas Van
der Plaetsen (5901). In women´s heptathlon the ranking before the weekend is as
follows: Antoniette Nana Djimou of France 4540, Grit Sadeiko of Estonia 4422
ahead of Czech Zuzana Hejnova 4406, another Estonian Kaie Kand 4383 and Latvian
Aige Grabuste 4369.

OTHER NEWS

BRUSSELS (BEL): Olympic high
jump champion Tia Hellebaut and her husband/coach have not excluded she might
make a comeback to high jumping after giving birth to her second daughter. When
announcing her pregnancy in August last year Hellebaut already told Belgian
media she would not make any predictions about her future career.

NIJVERDAL (NED): 800 m European medalist
Yvonne Hak is the favorite to win the short cross national title this weekend
at the Dutch cross country championships. Hak will face opposition from Lesley
Van Miert. Both athletes won gold and silver in the 3000m at last week’s Dutch
national indoor championships.

BIRMINGHAM
(GBR): As a publicity stunt ahead of the AVIVA Grand Prix in Birmingham
on Saturday, Kelly Sotheron and Mark Lewis Francis invited Jamaica’s Lerone Clarke and America’s David
Payne to a unique experience. The group of athletes was given a Balti cooking
lesson at the famous Shilma Pinks and then had an amicable competition between
the groups. Clarke and Payne were narrowly beaten by hosts Sotherton and Lewis
Francis after the head chef declared their chicken to be “slightly more tender”
writes Trackalerts.com.

BELFAST
(IRE): 2006 World indoor champion Derval O’Rourke has withdrawn from this
weekend’s Irish indoor national championships in Belfast. The athlete insists her absence is
“purely precautionary” after she sustained a minor groin injury in training
last week. O’Rourke already had to pull out of Karlsruhe last weekend and now
will also be missing from the Birmingham Grand Prix and the Irish national
indoor championships confirms the Irish Times.

AMSTERDAM (NED): For the first time in over a
month Dutch runner Adrienne Herzog has commented on the ongoing doping case
‘Operacion Galgo’. To Dutch media she said she continues to fight the sick
rumours about her alleged doping abuse and has hired a lawyer to defend her
case. The Dutch Athletics federation is in close contact with the Spanish
athletics federation to follow up on the case.

LOS ANGELES (USA): Tvweek.com informs that Steve
Burke, the new CEO of NBC Universal, indicated in the latest Comcast earnings
announcement that the future of the new Comcast subsidiary will include
cost-cutting that may mean NBC will no longer broadcast the Olympics, reports
StudioBriefing.net. Burke commented about sports telecasts in general, but
specifically mentioned that the network lost more than $220 million on the
Vancouver Olympics, adding that the company may not be willing to bid for the
Games in the future.

LONDON (GBR): IAAF President Lamine Diack
claimed Sebastian Coe could easily succeed him to the most powerful position in
world athletics but added that a number of other candidates, including
Ukrainian pole vault legend Sergey Bubka, could also take on the role writes
Insidethegames. Coe is the London 2012 chairman and one of four vice-presidents
of the IAAF.

LONDON (GBR): London 2012 chief
executive Paul Deighton has warned they are working alongside the Metropolitan
Police to make life “very difficult and very painful” for anyone trying to sell
counterfeit tickets for the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics. The London
Police’s new Operation Podium unit, set up specially for London 2012, has
already made 32 arrests in the seven months since it was set up in connection
with fake tickets and after releasing the schedule for the Olympics earlier
this week, organisers are concerned hundreds of bogus websites will emerge when
the official tickets go on sale on March 15 reports Insidethegames.

JOHANNESBURG (RSA): Suspended Athletics South
Africa president Leonard Chuene says he will return to the courts to fight the
findings of a disciplinary inquiry panel. “Despite these naked attempts by
Sascoc/ASA to dismiss us, we have absolute confidence in our case and believe
that we will be exonerated and justice will be done,” Chuene and his colleagues
said in a joint statement released via their lawyers who are willing to take
the case to the High Court reports supersport.com. In more news about Athletics
South Africa it appeared  that South Africa’s
top track official resorted to lies and threats to ensure Caster Semenya was
allowed to run at the 2009 world championships after questions were raised
about her gender. It was the South African Olympic Committee who released the
documents to back up their decision to suspended Chuene as president of
Athletics South Africa.

OTTAWA
(CAN): Athletics Canada
has set up a new series of meets under the name ‘The National Track League’s’
(NTL). The inaugural edition will feature over 300,000 dollar in prize
money.  NTL is a point based grand prix
style series and in 2011 will make stops in Edmonton,
Halifax, Toronto,
Vancouver, and Victoria over the course of 15 days end of
June and early July. Athletics Canada
will launch the official NTL website within coming weeks.

LJUBLJANA
(SLO): Slovenian pole vault record holder Tina Sutej will not compete at
European Indoor Championships because of her college duties during the indoor
season in USA.
She so far this year improved her national indoor record to 447 cm.

TOKYO (JPN): Brett Larner
informs that double World Championships marathon medalist and two-time Olympian
Reiko Tosa has withdrawn from her planned comeback run at the Feb. 27 Tokyo
Marathon due to an injury to her right leg. According to Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo
head coach Shigeharu Watanabe, Tosa has been experiencing discomfort since her
return to racing at the Jan. 30 Osaka Half Marathon. Tosa gave birth to her
first child, a daughter, last April. The Tokyo Marathon was to be her return to
the full marathon distance after an absence of two years.

MOUNTAIN VIEW (USA): US record holder Chris Solinsky
confirmed for trackandfieldnews.com before his Australian trip:  “I’m probably more ready to race now than
usual. After Melbourne,
I might do a 10K just to get the A-standard for the Olympics. But then I’ll
just train and get ready for the nationals and the Worlds. I may not be racing
a lot, but the ones I do run hopefully will be pretty good.” Of the Australian
5000, Solinsky said, “We want to get the standard [13:20.00] out of the way,
then head back into training. We have realized that doing the big-strength
volume like we have for the last few years, then we can come and race off
that.” And about views for summer: “For myself, I’m looking more at the 5000
this year, because I don’t think I could survive a 10,000 in Daegu. So go in
a shorter distance to work on racing tactics, then get ready for longer
distances next year. I know the 10 is where my strength is and the climate in England will be
better for us in the 10,000. But races like indoor mile or the 5000s this year…
ultimately, everything I do is preparation for the 10,000 in London.”

WARSZAWA (POL): Polish
athletics is remembering today that two years ago suddendly the hammer olympic
winner Kamila Skolimowska died during a training camp in Portugal. Today a special mass will
be held in one of Warszawa´s churches. Foundation with her name is collecting
donations in order to help young and upcoming or injured athletes. For
September 20 is planned second edition of Kamila Skolimowska Memorial meeting
not only with hammer throw but also other events in Warszawa.

RESULTS

SUMY (UKR, Feb 18): Pavlo Oliynik won men´s
steeple during last day of Ukrainian Indoor Championships with 8:47.18. It was
the top mark of the short programme of the ultimate day.

STAIKI (BLR, Feb 17): Solid
hammer winning results at Belarus Winter Throwing Championships. Valeriy
Svyatokho achieved 73.54 and Elena Matoshko 70.63.