by Larry EderStephanie Brown Trafton, the Beijing champion, will be competing at both Reebok Grand Prix and Nike Pre Classic! Both events added the discus!
Throw goddess Stephanie Trafton on Spring 2009 AT&F cover. Design by Kristen Cerer, photography by Photorun.net.
EME NEWS (APR 7, 2009)
OHURUOGU ADDED
MANCHESTER (GBR): Olympic 400 meters champion Christine Ohuruogu is the latest global star to commit herself to next month‘s Great CityGames in Manchester, joining Jamaica‘s triple gold medallist Usain Bolt. Like Bolt, Ohuruogu will compete over 150 meters at the event on May 17. Organizers have confirmed the opposition facing the Londoner, who on race day will celebrate her 25th birthday, will include Bahamian Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie returning to the city where she won the Commonwealth Games 100m and 200m titles seven years ago. Mark Lewis-Francis the 2004 Olympic 4x100m gold medallist and Simeon Williamson, the World University Games title holder, have already committed themselves to challenging Bolt the world 100m and 200m record holder. The event will be televised on BBC TWO. Informs insidethegames.com.
OTHER NEWS
TORONTO (CAN): Agent Kris Mychasiw informs that Commonwealth winner Jamaican Sheri-Ann Brooks has been running 400m‘s the past couple of outdoor meets in Florida area, she‘s healthy and ready to open up. She will also compete at Penn Relays with Jamaica and plans her first 100 m and 200 m for Guadeloupe meet on May 1. Best current Canadian High Jumper Michael Mason is also planning to open at the same meet and then will head for Brazilian tour in May.
WATTENSCHEID (GER): German 100 m champion 2004 and 2006 Ronny Ostwald will not be able to compete this summer. Informs leichtathletik.de He underwent Achilles surgery in winter and is still not able to train. He initially planned to end his career this year with aim to qualify for World Championships on home soil. But this plan is no longer possible and that opens the possibility that he will continue through 2010. “I do not want to end in this way, in 2010 we have indoor season, then summer European championships and also Police European Championships where I need to defend my title,†he was quoted. He celebrates today his 35th birthday and his best 10.22 is from 2004.
POZNAN (POL): 28 years old Osaka world championships bronze medalist at 400 m Hurdles Marek Plawgo underwent end of last month an elbow surgery in Poznan. He plans now a rehabilitation process in next weeks but that should not be any major harm to his world championships preparation. Initially he was told he would need three months break. Now he is looking that within one month he will be ready for full training. He even plans his first competition for the June EA Premium Meeting in Bydgoszcz. Plawgo always came with not too many competitions into the main race of the year and that could be the case also in 2009. For example before European Championships 2006 in Goteborg where he won silver he competed only at national championships.
FRANKFURT (GER): Five coaches of German Athletics Federation (DLV) admitted they were part of state controlled doping programme in time of GDR. They are Klaus Baarck (combined events), Gerhard Böttcher (discus), Rainer Pottel (long jump), Maria Ritschel (javelin) and Klaus Schneider (shot put). They will continue to work on behalf of DLV because they signed a German Olympic Sports Federation (DOSB) declaration. The DOSB said it was the first time coaches still active in the German athletics federation (DLV) had accepted past doping offences and offered their victims an apology.
BEIJING (CHN): IAAF informs, that the Chinese capital Beijing which played host to fantastic athletics competition in and around the Bird’s Nest stadium at last year’s Olympic Games, on 1 April proudly became the latest world city to open an IAAF High Performance Centre (HPTC). Already the home of a Regional Development Centre, Beijing now becomes the host of the ninth IAAF HPTC. The centre which is based in the Beijing Sport University will specialise in three of the four jumps – Long Jump, Triple Jump and High Jump – as well as middle and long distance running and race walking. There will also be a focus on the coaching of the women’s throwing events. The first athlete will arrive at the Beijing HPTC on 15 April.
MONTE CARLO (MON): Discus Olympic champion Stephanie Trafton-Brown looks forward to her season for IAAF. “The meet organizers for the Reebok Classic and Prefontine meet added the women‘s discus into their event lineup and we are excited to be able to compete in major meets on our home soil. I hope we can attract some overseas talent as well so we have a strong international field and we can put on a great meet for the home crowd. I have finalized my competition schedule and baring a few minor changes I have a great chance to top the American record this year especially in the great winds of Salinas. There we will have some opportunities to see a world record performance by Gerd Kanter at the meetings in May and maybe even a 68 meter throw from the women competitors too.†Last weekend she achieved 60.79 in San Luis Obispo.
DAEGU (KOR): A staggering total of 4006 enthusiastic applicants responded to the first phase of the volunteer recruitment drive initiated on 3 March 2009 by the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Daegu, Korea, shattering the original target of 2000 volunteers. Informs IAAF. The applicants responded to the LOC’s call to provide support in the following fields: translation, competition, medical, media, transportation, administrative support, information guide and security. The fields of translation, competition and information guide proved to be the most popular. The LOC will now proceed with screening tests and interviews between the months of April and May, and the 2000 successful applicants will begin training at the end of June. While the volunteers will be recruited mainly for the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Athletics, they will also gain much needed experience during the preparation for the ‘Colorful Daegu Pre-Championships Meeting’ to be held on 25 September 2009.
TOKYO (JPN): The man who made custom shoes for the stars like Olympic marathon gold medalists Naoko Takahashi and Mizuki Noguchi, retired from Asics on Mar. 31 after 42 years with the company. Hitoshi Mimura (60) now plans to launch his own new brand, Mimura Shoes, from a workshop in Kakogawa, Hyogo Prefecture. Certified as a ‚modern artisan,‘ Mimura wants to continue helping support athletes from the ground up, Brett Larner informs at japanrunningnews.
ACCRA (GHA): Ghana fights for the new and better sports future. Ghana did not have a single male athlete who had met the Olympic “A†qualifying standard and sent only 3 athletes to the Olympic Games compared to 15 in 2004. The home athletics representatives ask new Minister of Sports for help. „We believe that for each sport in Ghana to achieve its potential, all pertinent stakeholders must work together in a progressive rather than dictatorial manner,“ they say. Ghana, through the actions of Ministry of Education, Science and Sports, broke its commitment to IAAF by wanting to appoint members of the executive council as opposed to their being elected by constituents. According to their constitution and that of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Ghana must go to congress to elect new executive council members. “We implore you to ensure that athletics goes to congress as soon as possible as required by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and our constitution,†the athletic representatives ask the Minister.
BRATISLAVA (SVK): Slovak Olympic Committee (SOC) is the latest national olympic body which is not wanting to send in future representatives to Olympic Games with doping past. At the last week 37th General Assembly the SOC agreed that athletes with major doping violation after April 3, 2009 will not be selected for future Olympic Games. This is valid also for coaches and officials. But it is not retro-active and all violations before April 3, 2009 will not be taken into account concerning future Olympic team selections.
TOKYO (JPN): World Championships women‘s marathon team member Yoko Shibui left from Tokyo‘s Narita Airport on Apr. 5 for a training camp in Kunming, China. She intends the camp to serve as base training for her serious marathon training which will begin in June. „The goal for this training camp is for me to come out looking different,“ Shibui told reporters. „This is basically a diet camp, so I just want to get my body ready to start marathon training. I have to lose some weight. The tofu doughnuts I had yesterday were the last sweets I‘m going to eat.“ During the two-week training camp Shibui will eat a primarily vegetable-based diet before going on to do track work. Her first serious race of the season will be the Apr. 26 Hyogo Relay Carnival 10 000 m. Japanrunningnews informs.
LAUSANNE (SUI): March was a massive month for European Athletics on all surfaces with the Indoor Championships in Torino, the Winter Throwing Cup in Tenerife, the World Cross Country Championships in Jordon along with the marathon and race walking season commencing on the roads throughout the continent. Following this, European Athletics is pleased to announce the nominations for the European Athlete of the Month for March representing 12 countries. The voting will close on Tuesday April 14 at 12 noon. In the selection are: Johan Wissman, Claudio Licciardello, Yuriy Borzakovskiy, Rui Silva, Mo Farah, Ladji Doucoure, Ivan Ukhov, Renaud Lavillenie, Sebastian Bayer, Fabrizio Donato, Tomasz Majewski, Mikk Pahapill, Jose Rios, Gerd Kanter, Krisztian Pars, Francisco Fernandez and Yohan Diniz on the men side. In the women section Yevgeniya Polyakova, Antonina Krivoshapka, Mariya Savinova, Anna Alminova, Alemitu Bekele, Eline Berings, Ariane Friedrich, Yulia Golubchikova, Ksenija Balta, Anastasiya Taranova-Potapova, Petra Lammert, Anna Bogdanova and Anita Wlodarczyk.
RESULTS
CHARLESTON (USA, Apr 4): Ethiopian Tilahun Regassa won the 32nd River Bridge Run here at 10 km in 28:24 beating Kenyans Mark Kiptoo (28:28) and Robert Letting (28:29). As Race Results Weekly informs, the number of finishers 31 430 was higher than last year (29 246). Amane Gobena secured also the female win for Ethiopia (32:25) beating clearly Teyba Naser of Bahrain (32:38, she one day later finished third at Cherry Blossom ten miler). Best Kenyan Jane Murage third (32:59).
MIDDELBURG (RSA, Apr 4): Former NY Marathon winner Hendrick Ramaala in his preparation for major spring marathon outing won here the half-distance after 1:03:12. Zimbabwe´s Sharon Tavengwa won the women category in 1:15:54.
SANTA ROSA (ARG, Apr 5): Argentinian runner Herman Oscar Cortinez won the 25th Maratón a Pampa Traviesa with 2:20:48.
CORRECTIONS
SAO PAULO (BRA): Second placer in women category was not Eunice Jepkorir (steeple runner), but Eunice Jepkirui.
ALA DEI SARDI (ITA): Second placer in men race was not Edwin Soi (third) but world junior silver winner last year and 6th in Amman Mathew Kisorio in 32:31.
PRAIA GRANDE (BRA): The world leading 800 m by Kleberson Davide was not in Sao Paulo, but in Praia Grande.
Special thanks to Alfons Juck, EME News.
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