EME NEWS (AUG 15, 2013)

LEMAITRE ENDS THE SEASON

MOSCOW (RUS): French sprinter Christophe Lemaitre will not run anymore this season after injuring his thigh when crossing the finish line of the men’s 100m final. He is already showing improvement, no longer needing crutches, and is getting treatment twice a day from the French federation’s staff. He will stay in Moscow until the end of the World Championships to support the French team and to avail of the federation’s medical assistance. On assessing his performance in the 100m Lemaitre says that his 10.00 semi-time indicates that he is back to his best level. The 23 year old said “I’m quite proud to have contradicted everyone by reaching the 100m final”. He showed his surprise at the huge amount of support that he received from the Muscovites, “I didn’t expect to be so widely recognised and appreciated in Moscow. I’d never been to Russia before. As such I hadn’t imagined that I would inspire such a reaction from the public. It’s a nice surprise”.

BLAKE IN MOSCOW

MOSCOW (RUS): Czech Federation spokesman Michal Prochazka won the Media 800 m race in 2:00.81 (his PB is 1:53.93) and was presented the award by Jamaican 2011 100 m World Champion Yohan Blake. He is at the champs as guest of his sponsor adidas and informed that will be ok to start the preparation for next season at usual October date.

BOLT BEST OF ALL-TIME

PARIS (FRA): Usain Bolt is the best sprinter of all-time. 30 experts voted for L´Équipe including Sergey Bubka, Sebastian Coe, coaches Glen Mills, Stephen Francis and runners themselves like Bolt, Kim Collins, Ato Boldon, Donovan Bailey etc. Bolt got 89 points ahead of Carl Lewis 41, Jesse Owens 31. Next in order Bob Hayes 11, Maurice Greene 10 and Tommie Smith 5. With two points the rankings is finished by Jim Hines and Donovan Bailey.

THURSDAY ACTION MORNING

MOSCOW (RUS): The 21.51 by Ryan Whiting is the second longest (behind 21.57 by Italian Alessandro Andrei from 1987) throw in the qualifying round of shot put at World Championships. In high jump qualification 192 was enough to qualify. In both events no major failures. Men javelin saw Keshorn Walcott out and 3 standards (Pitkamaki, Thorkildsen and surprise Egyptian Al Rahman). Vesely produced a huge foul, will be ready for the final. Women 800 m saw fast times (9 sub 2 minutes) and 200 m fastest 22.59 by Allyson Felix.

OTHER MOSCOW NEWS

MOSCOW (RUS): In 1980 Matt Centrowitz was denied a chance to compete in the Luzhniki stadium due to a US Boycott of the Moscow Olympic Games. 33 years later Matt’s son, Matthew is representing the USA in the 1500m at the Luzhniki Stadium in the World Championships. If Matt had got the chance to compete at the Olympic Games he would have been one of the favourites for a medal. Matthew was 4th at last year’s Olympics and third at the last Worlds and now has the chance to win a medal for the Centrowitz family. Matt was not able to travel to Moscow due to work commitments. He is the track and cross country coach at American University in Wash
ington and has to host potential recruits this week. Informs Yahoo.com.

ST GEORGES (GRN): The Minister of Sport and Youth in Grenada, Patrick Simmons has told Kirani James “let not your heart be troubled” reports trackalerts.com. He added that he has “no doubt in (his) mind that Kirani will continue to be a beacon in the sport of track and field and a model athlete and individual for the many young people who admire him”.

LAGOS (NGR): This is the explanation. Nigerian 400m Hurdler, Ajoke Odumosu left the starting blocks before the gun was fired on two occasions in her heat, the second of which was deemed a false start by officials. Odumoso was suffering from an injury and was forced to compete in the event in order to avoid sanctions, reportsvanguardngr.com.

PORT OF SPAIN (TRI): Trinidad and Tobago sprinter Aaron Armstrong was reported to have withdrawn from the World Championships following two missed out of competition dope tests. However trinidadexpress.com reports that this is not the case. Armstrong produced an email from the IAAF that confirmed that he was no longer on the testing pool of athletes and therefore could not have missed any tests.

ROMA (ITA): Italian High Jumper Alessia Trost has lengthened her run up since the indoor season to sixty feet but remains on seven steps, reports adnkronos.com. She won the European u23 title in Tampere and says that she is not at the World Championships for a “picnic” but to perform well as she is nearing the form that saw her jump over 2 meters indoors. Trost says she is finding it hard to adjust to the extra attention that has come as a result of her good jumps.

MOSCOW (RUS): Dutch 110m Hurdler Gregory Sedoc has left hospital after spending two days there after suffering from vertigo following his semi-final, reports nusport.nl. No disturbing issues were found during the medical investigations. Sedoc said that he was still “very tired” but that everything was o.k.

OSLO (NOR): Karoline Grovdal of Norway qualified for the 5000m final despite suffering from a very painful injury, reports vg.no. The 23 year old has been struggling with a bone injury and was unsure if she could run the heats, saying that she was in so much pain before the heat that she shed a few tears.

LOS ANGELES (USA): After leaving college, US 800m runner Brenda Martinez was rejected by two different running groups before she joined up with Joe Vigil who has coached top American marathoners Meb Keflezighi and Deena Kastor, reports latimes.com. Vigil coaches the 25 year old Martinez mostly through email and phone calls. Martinez has run personal bests of 4:00.94 and 1:58.18 this season and will compete in the women’s 800m in Moscow as one of the favourites for a medal.

MOSCOW (RUS): Olympic silver and World bronze medallist in the 400m, Luguelin Santos of the Dominican Republic says that Felix Sanchez the two time Olympic 400m hurdles champion was his inspiration as a young athlete, reports spikesmag.com. At age 9, Santos witnessed Sanchez competing in front of 30,000 people that were all chanting his name. It has been one of Santos’ dreams since then to experience such a moment.

LONDON (GBR): Olympic Champion Greg Rutherford failed to qualify for the Long Jump final in Moscow which drew criticisms from his British rival Chris Tomlinson which was directed at the British Athletics selection policy, reports independent.co.uk. He suggested that Rutherford’s selection was based on media profile rather than current form. Neither jumper achieved the A standard for Moscow meaning that only one could be selected. Rutherford was selected even though he had ruptured his hamstring at the Paris Diamond League. He said however that his selection was a “no brainer” explaining that he has jumped further than Tomlinson has on several occasions this year.

MOSCOW (RUS): Ivory Coast’s 100m silver medallist Muriele Ahoure said that she is known as the “female Drogba” in her native country. Didier Drogba, a footballer who pla
yed for Chelsea Football Club in England is one of the biggest sports stars in the Ivory Coast. The 25 year old Ahoure was born in the Ivory Coast, moved to France at the age of 3 and then got an education in the United States, receiving a degree in law.

MOSCOW (RUS): Churandy Martina confirmed he will start in the 200m. Martina wanted to test his hip problem in training on wednesdayand concluded the injury is not as severe to not start in Moscow.

NON MOSCOW NEWS

BERLIN (GER): The organisers of ISTAF meet (September 1) informed they added into the programme women shot put. It is because Christina Schwanitz won in Moscow at the World Championships a silver medal. The oldes German one day meet will celebrate its 72nd edition (IAAF World Challange) at Berlin Olympic Stadium. Already 44 000 tickets have been sold. Also fresh World Champion Valerie Adams should compete.

MOSCOW (RUS): Pole Vault World Record holder Sergey is the youngest of the candidates for the IOC presidency, reportsnytimes.com. Currently Bubka is the president of the Ukraine Olympic Committee, a member of the IOC’s executive board and a vice president of the IAAF. His campaign platform includes a proposal to create a global youth council that will address the issue of childhood illnesses caused by sedentary lifestyles and find ways that will attract them to sports. The IOC election will be held on September 10th in Buenos Aires.

AMSTERDAM (NED): Top decathletes have confirmed for the Flame Games in Amsterdam on August 31st. Not only Dutch stars Eelco Sintnicolaas, Ingmar Vos and Pelle Rietveld will be present, also cuban decathlon star Leonel Suarez will travel to Amsterdam for a triathlon that includes the 110m hurdles, pole vault and shot put.

BATON ROUGE (USA): Eight times US men’s 800m champion, Khadevis Robinson has been named assistant coach at Louisiana State University. Robinson will look after the middle distance and distance athletes. Robinson was formerly a coach at Ohio State University where he was head cross country coach and assistant track and field coach. Informs lsusports.net.

AMSTERDAM (NED): The Dutch Doping Authority have announced that they will take action following implications that runner Adrienne Herzog was taking illegal performance enhancing drugs, reportsnusport.nl. The 27 year old Herzog denies doping, saying from her US base that she is “very shocked”.

NAIROBI (KEN): Athletics Kenya has selected 20 athletes for the 11th African Junior Championships, reports allafrica.com. Leading the team is Sheila Chepngetich, the silver medallist at the Eastern Africa Youth 1500m. Other members of the team include Alex Kiprotich (Javelin, 75.56), Agatha Jeruto (800m, 2:07.40), Moses Kibet (800m,1:47.14), Kiplagat Cherono (Long Jump, 7.68), Matthew Kiptanui (1500m, 3:44.55) and Elvis Kichoge (10,000m, 29:34.55), Miriam Muthoni (3000m, 9:34.58).

RESULTS

ALAJARVI (FIN, Aug 14): Ari Mannio achieved at a local meet good 83.44 in javelin.