Success in Track & Field ... and Life
Share Remember when Justin Gatlin was a household name? Why not? He won the 100 meter gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games when Asafa Powell was considered the favourite. This NIKE commercial was shot in the spring of 2006 prior to the announcement of his eight-year ban from track and field. That didn’t stop [...]
Share This is part 2 of 2 from my recent visit to the Bay Area, California After viewing the Tommie Smith – John Carlos 23 foot statute at San José State University, the next item on my agenda was to drive down S 10th street towards Spartan Stadium and visit Winter Field. This was the [...]
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 I re-read Tommie Smith’s autobiography Silent Gesture: The Autobiography of Tommie Smith (Sporting) and he mentions in Chapter 2 FOUR times that he held 11 World Records concurrently. The "11 World Records" are also mentioned on his Bio on the inside of the back cover. But nowhere in the book does it list all [...]
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 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 Can you imagine having a 17 year old male sprinter on your team who runs 11.45 for 100 meters, then the following year as a Junior he runs 10.50. 10.30 is the IAAF “A” standard so you dare to write him off as “Nah, he’ll never be a world class sprinter” kind of attitude. [...]
Share With the World Series in full swing (no pun intended), I couldn’t help but notice how baseball players run “slightly different” than Track and Field sprinters. I’ve often argued that in a 40 yard dash test, technical changes are required just to cover the distance in 36.8 meters. The starting position is a good [...]
Share Bill Bowerman is more famous for co-founding NIKE and coaching long distance runners, but he did coach sprinters and field events. I covered Harry Jerome and Otis Davis in previous articles. From his book Bill Bowerman’s High-Performance Training for Track and Field (Third Edition) he compares the training patterns of Stan Wright, Jim Bush, [...]
Share Who was a teenager or young adult during the 1980”s? Who remembers spending countless quarters on the Konami Track and Field Video arcade game? What techniques did you use to hit the buttons at a rapid-fire rate? Cadence was the key! Some even used a flat pencil back and forth to hit the two [...]
Share I am currently based about 40 minutes north of Rome in a town called Nepi. Nepi is famous for their natural bubbly spring water (Acqua di Nepi) where locals can bring their empty bottles and fill them up for free between the hours of 2-6pm. The bubbly water tastes like Perrier but the price [...]
Share I love the world of sports marketing, branding, and world dominance. And yes, I follow their commercials. The Adidas Super 7 series of videos were filmed in March 2009. I purposely waited until the Berlin Marathon to post this. Haile Gebrselassie won the 2009 Berlin Marathon in 2:06:08 setting a new 30 km world [...]
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 Donovan Bailey and Michael Johnson – step aside… Why on earth would Kenenisa Bekele and Usain Bolt race each other at 600 meters is beyond me. If anything, it would help promote Bekele as he is not a household name as compared to Bolt, despite his amazing accomplishments. If you don’t believe me, just [...]
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 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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