Success in Track & Field ... and Life
Share Interesting article from the IAAF Council Meeting notes, Monaco – 20 November, 2009. It states under the TRACK EVENTS: No more than three rounds for any event A preliminary qualification round of men’s and women’s 100m to include only unqualified athletes Relays spread over at least three days Semi-Finals and Finals in same session [...]
Share This is part 1 of 2 from my recent visit to the Bay Area, California A trip to Silicon Valley wouldn’t be complete without a visit to San José State University. I had two things on my agenda. Visit the Tommie Smith – John Carlos 23 foot statute, and visit the old Track and [...]
Share Here is some history of the 4 x 100 meter world record progression. The first time the 40 second barrier was broken was in 1936 Berlin Olympics with Jesse Owens, Ralph Metcalfe, Foy Draper, and Frank Wykoff setting a WR in 39.8 seconds. At the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, the 4x100m WR was 39.5 set [...]
Share I often wondered… What happens when you coach International athletes? Who do you root for? Your own country, or your own athletes? Going back to the Rome 1960 Olympics, when Elvin "Ducky" Drake at UCLA coached both Rafer Johnson AND Yang Chuan-Kwang of Taiwan in the Decathlon, who was he rooting for? During those [...]
Share When did the Berlin Wall get knocked down? The Wall was finally breached by Berliners on November 9, 1989, unifying a city that had been divided for over 30 years. Today marks the 20th anniversary of the historic event. As far as Olympics goes, Germany experienced the biggest challenge with a unified team. After [...]
Share When you think of the Political Olympics, you immediately think of 1936 & 1972. Some may include 1968 “up there” in the ranks. While you`re at it, add 1980 and 1984. Heck, add Montreal 1976 with the African boycott and the whole Taiwan mess. That is why Ben Johnson’s 1988 Seoul race was so [...]
Share The International Olympic Committee (IOC) just launched The Best of Us Challenge, a global competition in which ordinary individuals compete against their peers and Olympic athletes such as Asafa Powell, Lolo Jones, pole vaulters Steve Hooker & Yelena Isinbyeva and multi-eventer Carolina Kluft. Yes, it even includes Michael Phelps! It’s all for a [...]
Share Do you have any Track and Field Superstitions? Hallowe’en is around the corner! I used to always wear black and yellow sweat pants and sweatshirts. Why? Because they are the colours of a Tiger. The last time I checked, tigers were fast animals. (I stole the idea from a Rocky movie) I also wore [...]
Share During my prime running years, Pietro Mennea’s 200m WR was the holy grail. 19.72 was the 200m WR standard for 17 years. In fact, Pietro Mennea won the 200m 1980 Olympics in the Moscow Boycotted Olympics. He also won the Bronze medal at 1972 Munich Olympics at the same distance. Mennea competed in 4 [...]
Share Chicago, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid are bidding to host the 2016 Games with the IOC voting on the best bids on October 2 at its session in Copenhagen, Denmark. In my opinion, Chicago has the edge only if President Obama attends the meetings and starts lobbying for it. In the past, political [...]
Share On September 28, 2009, a new book titled “From Vancouver To Athens (1954-2004)”.by Alpheus ‘Hawk’ Finlayson will be released in Bahamas. Why 1954? Because the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The first British Empire Games were held in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in 1930, and it was renamed [...]
Share In my last article about the Harry Jerome, Bill Bowerman and the University of Oregon connection, I didn’t mention Otis Davis, the Rome 1960 400 meter and USA 4x400m Olympic Champion. I am currently in Rome, so there is a special connection every time I visit the Rome Olympic Stadium, whether it’s for the [...]
Share Complete meet information for the IAAF Grand Prix meet in Rieti, Italy can be found here. Asafa Powell set the 100m WR of 9.74 on September 9, 2007 in Rieti, Italy. Videos of that meet shows a very sparse crown in the hills of Italy. Remember, Asafa ran 9.77 three times. The WR lasted [...]
Share Ever notice airline magazines and USA Today have those short articles with interesting stats and numbers? I thought to give it a try with the 400 meters. Here goes… The 400 meters 5800 – Number of subscribers to SpeedEndurance.com 3635 – Age of the current world record (in days) 2010 - ? Year of [...]
Share Imagine if someone said to the Jamaican 4x100m Team: “You can’t win, all you have is Usain Bolt”. Afterwards, in victory of course, Jamaica would reply: “All you need is Usain Bolt”. In Zurich, 45 minutes after his 9.81 100 meter victory, we finally get a chance to see Bolt run the Anchor. Bolt [...]
Share Thoughts on the post 2009 World Championships in Berlin I love Track and Field (Athletics to the rest of the world) primarily for one reason. With the Track running events, the first person to cross the line is the winner. Usually. In the Winter Olympics, all but one event is either a time-trial or [...]
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Steven Bradbury – Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics
Share With the Vancouver 2010 Olympics approaching, this has to be one of my best memories of any winter Olympics. Steven Bradbury of Australia is most well-known for his unexpected gold medal at the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympic Games in the men’s short track 1000 metres event from three unlikely events occurring. The [...]