by Larry EderHaile Gebrselassie has a knee injury, and he will have to rest for the next 4 weeks. Which means, no Tokyo marathon this coming weekend. The little emperor fell on a rock during training and hit his knee, which will take a month to recover. He next races April 17 at the Vienna Marathon.
Gebrselassie is considered by many to be the greatest distance runner of his time, with wins at the 1996 and 2000 Olympic 10,000 meters, wins at the 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999 World Champs, along with 24-25 world records or bests from 1,500 meters indoors to the hour run!
2010 was a mercurial year for him, as he saw some successes, but had to drop out of his first run at ING NYCM marathon and also their spring half marathon in the Big Apple.
Haile, when his knee was fine: 2010 Dubai Marathon, photo by PhotoRun.net. 
Haile out of Tokyo
TOKYO (JPN): Legendary Haile Gebrselassie will not start in the Tokyo
Marathon this Sunday. The world record holder on the marathon fell
during a training. He unluckily fell on a rock and bruised his knee. He
will not be recovered in time for Sunday race as it will take about four
weeks to recover. Gebrselassie is very disappointed as he was really
eager to show the world that he came back well after his injury and
sudden retirement in New York. “I am really disappointed as I felt great
in training and I was ready to show something special again. I am sorry
for my Japanese friends and fans. But I will come to Japan again,” he
was quoted. His next target is Vienna half marathon on April 17 and Bupa
Great Manchester Run later in May at 10 km. Favorites for Sunday in
Tokyo are so Yemane Tsegay, Hailu Mekonnen from Ethiopia and Kenyans
Gideon Ngatuny and Paul Biwott.
Last international meet before Paris
METZ (FRA): Last international indoor meeting before the Euro Champs in
Paris is the event in Metz, France on Friday. In the men´s 1500 m
Kenyans Shadrack Korir, Bethgel Birgen will clash with fresh Russian
champion Vyacheslav Sokolov. Sprints will have also good fields. In the
women 60 m Veronique Mang and Christine Arron are the top stars, in the
400 m Muriel Hurtis. Russian Irina Makarcheva runs the 800 m. In men
events at 60 m Martial Mbandjock, Ronald Pognon and best Austrian Ryan
Moseley are the top names. At 60 m hurdles Garfield Darien who missed
the national championships will test his shape. Legendary Roman Sebrle
will test his shape at 60 m hurdles and in shot put.
Rupp in, Merritt out
ALBUQUERQUE (USA): Before US nationals some top names scratched from
National Indoor Championships but interesting addition for the 3000 m
race is fresh 5k indoor record holder Galen Rupp. His duel with Bernard
Lagat will be one of the highlights of the event. On the negative side
is the withdrawal of second fastest hurdler Aries Merritt who false
started on Tuesday in Stockholm. Dusty Jonas will not be in high jump,
Garrett Heath in the 3000 m and Russell Brown is out of the mile.
A. Kiprop added to Melbourne
MELBOURNE (AUS): Olympic 1500 m champion Asbel Kiprop has confirmed his
participation in the 1500m at the Athletics Australia Grand Prix
meetings in Melbourne and Sydney. The Melbourne field will also include
New Zealand’s Nick Willis, US miler Alan Webb and Australian Jeff
Riseley who beat Kiprop last year in Melbourne. On March 3 the Melbourne
meet will also start the 2nd year of IAAF World Challenge series.
BERCY NEWS
PARIS (FRA) : Ahead of the European indoor championships in Paris,
triple European sprint medalist Myriam Soumaré confirmed she is excited
about the championships and ready to break her personal best time.
Soumaré said she is not informed about her competitors and also doesn’t
want to know what the French national 60m record is. The athlete aims at
enjoying the championships and didn’t set any specific goals for
herself writes athle.com.
STOCKHOLM (SWE): High jump Barcelona silver winner Emma Green will not
try to jump at this weekend´s national championships and so will miss
also Paris. “The risk to jump and beeing not totally healthy is too
big,” said her coach Yannick Tregaro. Green injured during her first
jump at Hustopece meeting on January 29. She already trains, but is
unable to exercise the full approach.
BRUSSELS (BEL): Sigrid Van den Bempt (1500m) and heptathlete Thomas Van
der Plaetsen are the latest additions to the Belgian team for the
European indoor championships. Vanden Bempt ran the standard this week
in Stockholm, while 20-year old Van der Plaetsen received his invitation
for the heptathlon from European Athletics. The full Belgian team will
be announced on Monday.
OTHER NEWS
BERLIN (GER): Early as never before the BMW Berlin-Marathon has sold out
its 40,000 entries. Just one thousand bib numbers are left, all of them
are charity entries for 142,195 Euro, of which 42,195 Euro are
substituting childhood poverty in Germany (via “RTL Spendenmarathon”, a
charity organized by TV company RTL). One year ago the marathon had sold
out on April 20th. Organizers are informing.
PARIS (FRA): Former hurdler Linda Ferga-Khodadin (34) who was European
indoor champion 2000 is nowadays busy working as an agent. The world
indoor bronze winner 2004 in Budapest is having in her team one of the
current brightest stars triple jumper Teddy Tamgho. The indoor world
record holder switched agents after 2010 and ended his cooperation with
Rene Auguin.
CHRISTCHURCH (NZL): Brian Roe points out that the loss of the QEII
stadium track and warmup track due to liquefaction after the earthquake
in Christchurch, is the second track in Oceania to be lost to natural
disasters this year. The Track at the University of Queensland in
Brisbane is very close to the Brisbane River and was completely washed
away in the recent floods – just one week after being re-surfaced.
BERLIN (GER): Denise Hinrichs underwent surgery on her knee after she
sustained a rupture in her knee ligaments when throwing at a shot put
meeting in Nordhausen. The surgery went well and Hinrichs hopes to be
back in training within a couple of weeks confirms leichtathletik.de.
BIRMINGHAM (GBR): The Birmingham city council has dropped the idea of
charging residence to watch training sessions of Olympic athletes
staying in the city ahead of the London Olympic Games. The Jamaican and
United States athletics teams will be based in Birmingham in the weeks
leading up to the Olympics and will train on tracks at the Alexander
Stadium and Birmingham University reports The Telegraph.
ROME (ITA): Mario Pescante, the vice-president of the International
Olympic Committee (IOC) and former Italian sports minister, has been
confirmed as President of Rome’s bid to host the 2020 Olympics and
Paralympics. Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi offered his full
support to the bid. Rome last held the Olympics in 1960 and this is
their first bid since they were the favourites to host the 2004 Games
but were beaten by Athens writes Insidethegames.
MANAMA (BRN): The Bahrein Athletics Association has announced a 13
strong squad for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Spain on
March 20th. The team will be headed by double world champion Maryam
Yusuf Jamal. The athletes have been split into two groups for their
ongoing training camps in Kenya and Ethiopia writes The Gulf Daily News.
NEW DELHI (IND): A number of leading Delhi Commonwealth Games officials,
including the two closest aides of chairman Suresh Kalmadi, have been
arrested in connection with a 24 million dollar contract awarded to
Swiss Timing writes Insidethegames. Organising committee Secretary
General Lalit Bhanot and the director general, VK Verma, are accused of
financial irregularities linked to the Games. These are the latest and
most high-profile arrests in the ongoing investigation into allegations
of corruption over last year’s multi-billion dollar Commonwealth Games
in Delhi.
AUCKLAND (NZL): A fundraising event in Wellington, organised to raise
money for earthquake victims in Christchurch on Saturday, will feature
beside Olympic silver medallist Nick Willis also America’s top milers
Alan Webb, Will Leer and Brandon Bethke as well as Britian’s Lee
Emanuel. The program includes a men’s elite mile, men’s 800m, men’s and
women’s 1500m and men’s and women’s long jump.
LONDON (GBR): It is very unlikely the 2012 British trials will be held
inside the Olympic Stadium says UK Athletics. Due to logistical issues,
including preparation for the Olympic opening ceremony, British athletes
will most likely not compete at the Olympic stadium ahead of the
Olympics. The first test event inside the Olympic Stadium is set to be
the 2012 British Universities (BUCS) championships confirms the BBC.
LOS ANGELES (USA): Agencies are informing that new NCAA president Mark
Emmert has made it clear that under his watch, college athletes will not
be compensated as though they were professionals. “They are
student-athletes. They are not our employees, they don’t work for us,”
he said. “They are our students, so we don’t pay them.” He was quoted.
GRAND PRARIE (USA): One of top US sprinters Marshevet Myers who also
improved her old long jump record recently closed the indoor season and
will not compete at the nationals. “Looking back on my indoor season, I
really feel good about my accomplishments. I set some high standards for
myself and thankfully, God saw fit to allow me to reach my goals while
showing me some areas where I could improve. In fact, training is going
really well so far as I head into the outdoor season that is quickly
approaching. I feel great and look forward to each workout because I
know that each one gets me closer and closer to my goals – not to
mention the fact that the weather has been great here recently,” she
said on her blog. Myers plans to start with relay competitions in
spring, first is planned for March 19 at TSU Relays in Houston. Myers
(formerly Hooker) is Beijing 200 m fifth placer and has 10.93 and 22.34
personal bests from 2008.
PRETORIA (RSA): World champion Caster Semenya wants to run 400 m and
1500 m in the second leg of the Yellow Pages Series on Friday in
Pretoria. “It’s going to be a hectic season but I’m ready to continue
doing well,” she was quoted.
RESULTS
OTROKOVICE (CZE, Feb 23): Ukrainian 60 m champion Roman Bublyk clocked
new meet record at the international event here at unusual 40 yards with
4.54. The event continues on Thursday.
YALTA (UKR, Feb 23-24): During Ukrainian Winter Throwing Championships
Sergiy Regeda achieved in U17 category (5 kg) solid 73.64 m. In women
hammer on Thursday Moldova´s sisters were the best. Zalina Marghieva
71.61 and Marina Marghieva 70.37. As third with national title Natalya
Zolotukhina 67.50.
AARHUS (DEN, Feb 23): Martin Krabbe clocked at sprint meeting 5.90 in the 50 m.
