by Larry Eder
BOLSHAKOVA PLANS‪
LANZAROTE
(ESP): 2010 European triple jump bronze medalist Svetlana Bolshakova is
hopeful that she will recover in time for the Olympic Games from her
Achilles injury. Bolshakova, talking to Belgian media at a training camp
on the Spanish island Lanzarote, ruptured her Achilles tendon while
competing in Rabat in June earlier this year but is confident she can
make a successful comeback. She will not compete before June 2012 but
aims at qualifying for the European Championships in Helsinki upon her
return.
REESE DONATES
NEW
YORK (USA): World long jump champion Brittany Reese has been involved
with her community and has purchased over 100 turkeys for Thanksgiving
holiday and donated the food to non profit organizations. Reese and her
family will also work with the Mount Bethel Baptist Church in her
hometown Gulfport to distribute 20 Thanksgiving baskets to deserving
families.
HELLEBAUT CONFIDENT
LANZAROTE
(ESP): Defening Olympic High jump champion Tia Hellebaut is still
confident she is on track for a successful comeback in 2012. Hellebaut
still wants to lose two more kilo’s before returning to competition at
the end of January but stressed that training is going very well. She
confirmed she wants to defend her Olympic title but added that she will
not travel to London if she feels she cannot jump at least 2 meters.
HINRICHS BACK IN TRAINING
BERLIN
(GER): German shot putter Denise Hinrichs is training well following a
serious knee injury that kept her from competing during the summer
season. Hinrichs, who managed 8th at the European Championships in
Barcelona, ripped off the ACL in her knee when competing indoors but is
confident she will be ready for the European championships and the
London Olympic Games in 2012. She is still unsure whether she will
compete indoors writes leichtathletik.de.
SELECTION MEETS IN GERMANY
BERLIN
(GER): The German meetings of Dessau, Rehlingen, Regensburg, Cottbus
and Rhede as well as the throwing meet in Halle will be selection
meetings for German athletes towards the European championships in
Helsinki and the London Olympic Games. DLV sportsdirector Thomas
Kurschilgen is setting high standards for German athletes at these
meetings in order to send the strongest possible German team to the
Olympic Games according to Leichtathletik.de.
WOJCIECHOWSKI WITH INTEREST
LAUSANNE
(SUI): Poland’s world champion pole vaulter Pawel Wojciechowski talked
to Polish local newspaper Express Bydgoski about how his life has
changed since winning his world title. Wojciechowski explained that his
success has surpassed his wildest expectations as he was aiming to win
the European U23 title for this season. The Polish youngster is now
learning to deal with the added attention and media demands but
explained that now he is back in training and more than ever focused on
the Olympic Games.
STEEL WINNING
BRISTOL
(GBR, Nov 13): British distance runner Gemma Steel is hoping to do well
at the European Cross country championships in Velenje on December 11.
The 27-year old Briton impressively won the Bupa Great Birmingham Run
last month, winning over the half marathon course in a personal best of
72:21 reports skysports.com.
Steel won the McCain Bristol Cross Challenge last weekend by 41 seconds
over fellow British international Naomi Taschimowitz and Justina
Heslop. Steel managed 27th last year but is now aiming for a top 10
position in the event.
BAHAMAS NAMES FOR LONDON
NASSAU
(BAH): The Bahamian Athletics Association has named nine male and five
female athletes who have already reached the A standard for the London
Olympic Games. In the men’s 200m Michael Mathieu is the only sprinter
while Demetrius Pinder, Chris Brown and Ramon Miller all reached the A
standard in the 400m. Donald Thomas and Trevor Barry are representing in
the high jump while Raymond Higgs and Leevan Sands qualified for the
long and triple jump. Debbie Ferguson-Mckenzie is still going strong for
the 100m and 200m. With also Anthonique Strachan and Nivea Smith in the
200m. Youngster Shaunae Miller has the A Standard for the 400m and
Bianca Stuart got it for the long jump reports trackalerts.
BOLT WANTS TO BE STRONG
KINGSTON
(JAM): Despite Yohan Blake’s stunning 19.26 performance at the Samsung
Diamond League meeting in Brussels, world record holder for the event,
Usain Bolt, said he will not allow his rival to beat him over that
distance. Bolt added that the 200m is his favourite event and has worked
hard to perfect his 200m run over the years writes trackalerts.
DANISH SWITCH
COPENHAGEN
(DEN): The Danish Sports Confederation (DIF) has abrogated rules
forbidding former doping offenders from representing Denmark in the
Olympic Games, in a move likely to increase pressure on the British
Olympic Association (BOA) to take similar steps. DIF said the decision
was a reaction to last month’s landmark ruling by the CAS that an
International Olympic Committee (IOC) ban on convicted drug cheats was
“invalid and unenforceable” reports Insidethegames.
ST. LUCIA WILL STAGE YCG
CASTRIES
(STK): Castries, the capital of St Lucia, has been chosen to host the
sixth Commonwealth Youth Games in 2017 announces insidethegames. The
competition is a small-scale version of the Commonwealth Games and is
designed for the youth of the 71 Commonwealth countries for athletes
aged between 14 and 18 years old. The first edition of the competition
was held in Edinburgh in 2000 with the Isle of Man successfully staging
the competition earlier this year in September when 800 athletes
competed across 110 events in seven sports.
MERGA AND MASAI
ATAPUERCA
(ESP, Nov 13): The IAAF Cross Country Permit Series got underway on
Sunday with reigning World Cross Country champion Imane Merga of
Ethiopia and Kenya’s Linet Masai taking the win at the 8th ‘Cross
Internacional de Atapuerca’. Merga outsprinted Eritrea’s Kidane Tadese
in the closing 100 metres to grab a narrow one-second victory. Humegnaw
Mesfin from Ethiopia closed the podium some meters after the top two.
Linet Masai delighted the crowd with a solo run from midway to win with a
massive 22-second gap over Ethiopia’s Belaynesh Oljira and Kenyan
Priscah Jeptoo. Ethiopians Ayalew Hiwot and Genzebe Dibaba completed the
top five.
