by Larry Eder
HAILE
WILL CHASE PAULA
VIENNA
(AUT): Legendary Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie will not chase longer the
marathon olympic qualification. That means his olympic career is over. But he
will return to the Vienna City Marathon on April 15. As last year the great
Ethiopian will run the half marathon, which is staged parallel to the main
event. Similar to 2011 a chase race is arranged, but this time the
opponent is the female marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe. She will
now start the race with a time advantage and Haile Gebrselassie will chase
her. The time difference will be set during the days prior to the race
depending on the shape of both athletes. Vienna City Marathon will feature a total
of more than 33,000 runners. Haile Gebrselassie took the race in 2011 with a course
record of 60:18 minutes.
NEW
BOARD IN STOCKHOLM
STOCKHOLM
(SWE): New board was elected on Tuesday for the Stadionklubbarna organization
(12 clubs of Stockholm) which is responsible also for the DN Galan Samsung
Diamond League meeting of Stockholm. Jan Kowalski has won the chairmanship
election in the annual general meeting, together with four more members of the
board: Per Bäck, Martin Ekblom, Anitha Hector and Ingvar Ĺström. The new board
will work for what is the best for each of the events under the belt of the
organisation. They said they will put emphasis on a perfect performance
and a high service of DN Galan, the Swedish Championships this year and to
the Finnkampen next year, says the joint board in statement.
RODGERS
TO OPEN AT MTSAC
WALNUT
(USA): After return from his ban US sub 10 sprinter Mike Rodgers plans to have
his first 100 m race at Mt SAC Relays in Walnut. His best is 9.85 from last
year Prefontaine Classic. The 9 month ban ends on April 19. The invitational
100 m in Walnut is planned for April 21.
MAURO
TO JUMP AT HOME MEETS
SAO
PAULO (BRA): Fresh world indoor long jump champion Mauro da Silva confirmed his
participation at two early meets of Brazilian May Tour. He will jump on May 9
in Fortaleza and May 6 in Belem. The series consists from 5 meets.
NEW
ONE DAY MEET SERIES IN NORWAY
OSLO
(NOR): New one day meeting series is reported from Norway. Hyundai Grand Prix
will start on May 24 in Oslo at famous Bislett Stadium. Next meet will be on
June 2 in Floro and the last one on July 4 in Lillestrom. At each meet A category
of events will have standard prize money, winner will get 5000 NOK.
OTHER NEWS
JOHANNESBURG
(RSA): South Africa’s leading marathoner Stephen Mokoka and the 4x400m relay
team have been added to the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic
Committee’s (Sascoc’s) operation excellence programme (Opex). Sascoc chief
executive Tubby Reddy said Mokoka “shot himself in the foot”, which was the
reason the runner had not received full support from the Olympic governing body
before. But Mokoka and the relay team, particularly Ofentse Mogawane, Willie de
Beer and Shane Victor – who all helped the team to a 2011 World
Championship silver medal – were conspicuous by their absence in the Opex
athletics set-up. Informs SA federation website.
KHABAROVSK
(RUS): World University Games triple jump winner Yekaterina Koneva (23) was
awarded a one room flot in the city of Khabarovsk. Koneva was also third
this winter at Russian Indoor Championships. In January she jumped her overall
PB 14.60. She aims to qualify for Olympic Games in London.
AMSTERDAM
(NED) : 21-year old Dutch sprinter Anouk Hagen hopes to compete for The
Netherlands in the 4x100m team at the London Olympic Games. Hagen is among The
Netherlands top generation of young and upcoming sprinters and told Nijmegen
Atletiek she suffered from the high level of her competitors. Hagen sees a sport
psychologist to help her focus in the build up to London.
MADRID
(ESP): Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, who is at the heart of the doping case
Operacion Puerto, has admitted to administering blood transfusions to elite
athletes reports Spanish news paper El Pais. Fuentes will face a Spanish
court later this year.
KINGSTON
(JAM): Olympic 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is appealing to Jamaican
fans reminding them these athletes are human beings too and need the love and
support of their compatriots when the going gets tough. The Olympic 100m
champion spoke up mostly for Asafa Powell who she believes has suffered most
from the pressure in his home country. “He is a fine Jamaican who worked
hard and he has been the forerunner for so long. I guess persons forget
easily,” Fraser-Pryce told the Jamaica Observer. She also signed a new
deal to continue as a brand ambassador for Caribbean food company Grace
Foods and Services.
WASHINGTON
(USA): First lady Michelle Obama will lead the United States delegation at the
Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics on July 27, the White House has
announced writes Insidethegames. In recent years it has become a tradition
for First Ladies to lead the US delegation at Olympic Opening Ceremonies.
LONDON
(GBR): London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic sponsor Holiday Inn is giving members
of the public a unique chance to „share” a room with elite athletes
in the world’s first augmented reality hotel. The new campaign by the official
Olympics hotel provider allows smartphone and tablet users to see British
London 2012 hopefuls in virtual action in the reception, corridors and bedrooms
of the Holiday Inn London Kensington Forum. British long-jump record holder
Chris Tomlinson is among those athletes, jumping in a corridor reports
Insidethegames.
RESULTS
RIGA
(LAT, Mar 10): Igors Sokolovs achieved 76.50 at Latvian Winter Throwing
Championships.
ADDIS
ABABA (ETH, Mar 11): The 2012 Choice Women First 5km annual women’s event saw a new
champion Senbere Teferi defeating well know athletes Teki Gelana and Makeda
Haruna in a time of 16:03. Gelana and Makedua finish the race second
(16:07) and third (16:08) respectively. The race this year had the slogan
“Empower Women to Make a Difference”. A total of 7000 participants
finished and once again the race was colorful as usual with a lot of entertainment
and music. Comedian Markos entertained participants and Artist Chichi Tadesse
lead the warm-up for participants before the start. Haile Gebreselassie and
others hand out prizes to winners.
SAD NEWS
BERLIN
(GER): Former German 800m athlete Jörg Balke has passed away at the age of 76.
The former police officer is nine time German national champion and managed a semi
final position at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games informs leichtathletik.de.
CORRECTION
ISTANBUL
(TUR): Please correct the item about World Indoor gold medalists and their
agents. The 800 m winner Mohamed Aman is currently represented by Jos Hermens
Global Sports Communication. That means that four agents got two gold medal
winners in Istanbul (Hermens, Wetmore, Plant and Stith).
