by Larry EderPat Porter, a man who won eight consecutive US cross country titles, father of two, husband of Trish Porter, high jumper, was killed in an aircraft crash on the 26 July. Porter was piloting the plane which crashed upon take off. On board the plane were Pat’s son and a friend of his son.
Trish Porter announced the tragedy at a press conference. She noted that she had texted Pat just before take off and he was in a good mood.
Pat had a great sense of humor. A very talented athlete, he made several covers of our publication, American Athletics, featuring his cross country battles.
Pat Porter was a ferocious cross country runner. Coached by Joe Vigil, Porter took great training at high altitude and became one of the best cross country runners in the world.
Please keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers.
Ad honoring Pat Porter and Lynn Jennings, two of US best cross country runners ever, circa 1991
EME NEWS (JUL 27, 2012)
El Moutawakel, Bubka and Fredericks elected
LONDON (GBR): Top news for IOC officials from athletics. IAAF Council Member Nawal
el Moutawakel as IOC Vice President, IAAF Vice President Sergey Bubka was elected
into the IOC Executive Board and IAAF Council Member Frankie Fredericks as individual
IOC member. Sir Craig Reedie was elected vice-president of the International Olympic
Committee (IOC), making him the first Briton to hold position on the most powerful
body in world sport for nearly half-a-century. In a flurry of votes as the 124th
IOC Session continued in a Park Lane hotel in sunny London, Morocco’s Nawal El
Moutawakel was also elected vice-president, the first Muslim woman to hold the
position. The gold medallist in the 400 metres hurdles at the Los Angeles Summer
Games in 1984 and head of the IOC Evaluation Commission for the 2012 Games in the
process that eventually saw London chosen as host city, El Moutawakel said she was
“very honoured” and would continue to “promote the Movement with the same passion”.
Seven IOC members in all were elected to positions on the ruling Executive Board.
They were: C K Wu from Taiwan, René Fasel from Switzerland, Patrick Hickey from
Ireland, Claudia Bokel from Germany, who was also elected this week as the new chair
of the IOC’s Athletes’ Commission, Spain’s Juan Antonio Samaranch, son of the former
IOC President, Ukraine’s Sergey Bubka, still the pole vault world record holder,
and Guatemala’s Willi Kaltschmitt. Five new IOC members were elected: Namibia;s
Frankie Fredericks, the former sprinter succeeded by Bokel as Athletes’ Commission
chair, China’s Lingwei Li, Japan’s Tsunekazu Takeda, Belgium’s Pierre-Olivier
Beckers and Djibouti’s Aisha Garad Ali. The IOC also chose the Malaysian capital
of Kuala Lumpur as host of the 2015 IOC Session. Informs insidethegames.
Flagbearers
LONDON (GBR): Athletics will be well represented among the Flag bearers. News came that
also World record holder David Rudisha will be there for Kenya, discus giant Virgilijus
Alekna for Lithuania, high jump gold medalist Tia Hellebaut for Belgium, another
Beijing winner Irving Saladino for Panama, sprinter Marc Burns for Trinidad and
Tobago and 2003 World champion in 100 m Kim Collins for St. Kitts and Nevis.
Already earlier informations said that Usain Bolt will bear the flag for
Jamaica, Caster Semenya for South Africa, Tabarie Henry for US Virging
Islands and Murielle Ahoure for Ivory Coast.
OTHER NEWS
LONDON (GBR): British running legend Sir Roger Bannister (83), the first man to run a
mile in under four minutes, has become the overwhelming favourite to light the Olympic
Flame at the London 2012 Opening Ceremony after a series of huge bets were placed on
him to receive the prestigious honour.
ROMA (ITA): Italian high jump record holder Antonietta Di Martino will not take part
in the Olympic Games in London and her absence will be sadly missed by Italian athletics.
Di Martino has been sidelined by a serious knee injury on her take-off leg and underwent
surgery on meniscus at the Villa Stuart clinic in Rome on Wednesday The surgery was
successful but the recovery time will take 3-4 months. “We followed the rehabilitation
process after the injury sustained during a training camp in Tenerife in April and we
were working hard in Formia but the injury go worse because a knee problem flared up.
It is a major setback for Antonietta. She is religious and she is aware that there are
more serious problems in the world,” said Massimiliano Di Matteo, husband and coach
of Antonietta Di Martino.
LONDON (GBR): In 1990, Serbian high jumper Dragutin Topic broke the world junior record
and became the European champion in his event while still a teenager. Turn the clock
forward 22 years and he is preparing to compete in a record-equalling sixth Olympic Games.
Writes Athletics Weekly. The only male track and field athlete to have competed in six
Games so far has been the Angolan distance runner Joao N’Tyamba, who was on the start
line of various events from 1988 to 2008, but is absent from London 2012. However,
Topic and the Spanish walker Jesus Angel Garcia are set to match that feat in the
coming days. The women’s record for Games longevity in athletics is held by sprinter
Merlene Ottey who has competed in seven Games, firstly for her native Jamaica and later
for Slovenia. “I’m aware that I’m about to do something special and it’s great,” said
41-year-old Topic from his training base in Germany. “I’m so proud of it. But I am not
only jumping in London, I am also there as the coach to my wife Biljana who is in the
triple jump.”
BOGOTA (COL): IAAF informs that Kenyan Peter Kirui, sixth at 10,000m in the 2011 IAAF
World Championships, appears as the main protagonist of the 13th edition of the “Media
Maratón de Bogotá” – an IAAF Gold Label Road Race that will take place in the streets of
the Colombian capital on Sunday 29 July. Kirui should be adapted to the 2600m of altitude
of Bogotá where his target will be the course record of 1:02:24 set by compatriot Geoffrey
Mutai in 2011. However, their main adversary could be Ethiopian Feyisa Lelisa, the
bronze medalist at the 2011 World Championships in the Marathon, who has ran 59:22
this season at Half Marathon (in Houston) and has a Marathon personal best of 2:05:23
(Rotterdam, 2010). Another dangerous Ethiopian could be Yemane Ahdane Tsegay, winner of
the 2012 Rotterdam Marathon in a PB of 2:04:48. The field in the women’s race is
highlighted by 21-year-old Ethiopian Abebech Afework, who has a best of 1:10:30 at
Half Marathon from 2011.
ROMA (ITA): Another Italian meet beeing in the European Classic category was cancelled.
That is the Terra Sarda meet planned for September 1 in Sardina.
SAD NEWS
SEDONA (USA): News outlets in the American Southwest are reporting that eight-time USA
cross country champion Pat Porter was killed when a plane he was piloting went off a
runway in Sedona, Ariz., and burst into flames yesterday (Thursday). Porter, a
two-time Olympian at 10,000m who finished in the top-10 at the IAAF World Cross
Country Championships four times, was 53. Porter was born in Wadena, Minn., and
went to Evergreen High School in Evergreen, Colo. He ran for Adams State College
in Alamosa, Colo., under coach Joe Vigil. Porter’s best times on the track were
7:51.00 for 3000m, 13:33.91 for 5000m and 27:46.80 for 10,000m according to the
respected statistics site, Tilastopaja.net. But Porter did his best running over
hill and dale, winning eight consecutive national cross country t
itles from 1982 to
itles from 1982 to
1989. Informs Race Results Weekly. Porter was married to former high jumper Trish
Porter (born Trish King) who finished second at the 1988 USA Olympic Trials and
jumped in the Seoul Olympics. She had a personal best of 196cm. The couple have
two children, son Connor (15) and daughter Shannon (11).
RESULTS
WATFORD (GBR, Jul 25): In a mixed race Emily Gorecka clocked 8:59.05
in the 3000 m.
