The Latest on Your Favourite Stars

By Eric.

You want to know what the stars are up to, so sit back this week-end, catch up on the latest news about the movers and shakers in the athletics world, and check back for the New Year's special on Monday night.

The latest on many of your favourite athletes in the sport of track and field:

• Abebe Dinkesa ran what was described as "a mind-boggling" 41.45 11,5km race on 29-November to win the $50,000 first prize money and also set a new course record in the 4th Obudu International Mountain Race - a steep and hilly course which has never yielded a defending male champion in the meet's history.



• Alan Webb, the American-record holder in the mile who failed to advance past the US Olympic Trials in the 1.500m, was signing red t-shirts and providing his support on 27-December at the Friends of Indoor Track Invitational at Prince George's Sports & Learning Complex in Landover, MD, where nearly 1,300 supporters signed a petition to be forwarded to members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to save indoor track from the chopping blocks for local high school students. At issue is whether or not indoor track is necessary as Fairfax County Public Schools faces a $170 million shortfall in its 2010 budget, though track costs only $50/student according to Dan Woolley, FIT president.



• Allyson Felix has been quiet this off-season, with planned time-off giving her much-needed rest from the Olympic preparations she and Bob Kersee put in last year. Felix, who travelled to Jamaica on holiday during the off-season, hosted her family for Christmas last week. Felix, the defending 200m world champion, is in a long-repetition training phase she gears up for the 2009 World Championships.



• Andréas Thorkildsen, the two-time Olympic javelin champion, was awarded the gold medal for the ‘Performance of the Year' by Norwegian daily newspaper Aftenposten at a ceremony organised by the Norwegian Ministry of Culture in November. The sports Journalist Association of Norway also presented a statuette to Thorkildsen for becoming the Performer of the Year in Norwegian sport.



• Andrew Hinds, heir apparent to Obadele Thompson: "My plan for next year is to make an impact at the World Championships and I am looking forward to the European circuit, but my goal next year is to break the sub-ten barrier. I think I have got in me to run 9.9.
  
  "I am doing some serious hard training right now. My work-outs are now more intense as the aim is to get stronger. I am doing more weight-training and will be better prepared .
  
  "I would like to clock under ten seconds before the World Championships and hopefully repeat it in Germany," said Hinds, who is back home on vacation.



• Anna Chicherova was spotted with other high-profile athletes and dignitaries at a Real Madrid match on 18-December, but not the famed Spanish team of the football variety. Russian basketball team CSKA were playing the Spanish basketball team in Moscow in an epic showdown which Real Madrid won in front of the Russian hosts in stunning play. Chicherova is confirmed for competitions to be held in two Czech cities, Trinec (21 Jan) and Hustopece on (24 Jan) in what is known as the Moravia High Jump Tour.



• Asafa Powell, the greatest Grand Prix sprinter to never win an individual global title, has not yet responded to Michael Johnson's public statements and assertions that Powell does not know how to handle his nerves and focus - two keys to Powell's inability to win the big ones (World Championships and Olympics). Johnson, who believes he can help Powell, has stated that the biggest mistake an athlete can make is deluding him/herself into thinking that there is no pressure. Dwain Chambers backs Powell to win a medal before the end of his career.
  
  Glen Mills, the coach of Jamaica’s triple Olympic champion and sprint double world record holder Usain Bolt, is also hopeful that Asafa Powell can shake off his major championships disappointments and win some accolades before his career is over, but warned that with Bolt around, Powell's time is running short.



• Augustine Choge will kick-start his cross country campaign on 10-January at the Great Edinburgh International Cross Country meeting in Scotland. Choge, who finished 12th at last year's World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, has not raced since finishing 10th in the 1.500m final in Beijing.



• Berhane Adere, who faltered in the Beijing Olympic marathon, is scheduled to defend her Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon title next month, one year after setting a course record (2.22.42) and collecting $250,000 in the process. Adere, who is in a class by herself, should only face challenges from Bezenushe Bekele and Askale Tafa Magarsa.



• Bernard Lagat will attempt to tie the Wanamaker Mile win-record of seven owned by legendary Irish great Eamonn Coghlan when he competes 30-January at the 102nd Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Lagat will then turn his focus to Europe, where he will be targeting his fourth win at the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham on 21-February, where he will run the 1.500m.



• Bershawn Jackson has spent part of his off-season visiting children and providing advice to work hard, stay in school and never lose sight of their dreams - words of wisdom he provided kids at Hillcrest Elementary School in Somerset. "You have to face adversity and overcome it," he told the students. "Champions don't give up, and I consider myself a champion. I made history because I worked hard and I trained hard."



• Blanka Vlasic is rested and ready for the 2009 season following a disappointing Olympic silver medal and her second-consecutive Golden League season jackpot miss. Vlasic will have another shot at the $1M jackpot as the IAAF announced the women's high jump will be part of the 2009 campaign. Vlasic was recognised last week in Zagreb with a Croatian Olympic Committee award, a distinction she was not expecting, but one upon which she promised to deliver in the future. Vlasic will have an opportunity to jump against Ariane Friedrich at the BW Bank Meeting in Karlsruhe on 16-February and avenge for the one loss the German had against Vlasic in 2008, causing her to lose her share ($500.000) of the Golden League Jackpot.



• Carolina Klüft travelled to Addidas Ababa Ethiopia late last month to be part of the Great Ethiopian Run - a race which UNICEF is a partner to help raise awareness and funds to fight HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia. Klüft, a UNICEF ambassador, lended her support to the fundraising project, one which helps orphans and vulnerable children through the "Dream Campaign" by raising about $11.000 for four charity homes. Klüft was there on a similar visit in the winter of 2006. Trackside, Klüft, who followed her one-week visit to Ethiopia with a training camp in Potchestrom, has again opted to skip the heptathlon, which means that the 2009 IAAF World Championships - as were the Beijing Olympics - will be contested without the second-best ever in the event. Klüft will tackle the long jump event, one which she sees as a challenge.
  
  Svenska Dagbladet stated on 27-December that Klüft was the smartest and bravest athlete in Sweden in 2008. Moreover, Klüft was picked by the Swedish public as being the number one favourite athlete in 2008 ahead of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
  
  Said Klüft:
  
  I think I would have answered both "Sanna" and "Zlatan". Peter Forsborg seems to also be very sympathetic. But it isn't easy, and one is influenced, naturally, if one has a personal relationship with other athletes. Anja Pärson is also an athlete whom I like, and I met the handball girls during the Olympics in Beijing. There are so many great athletes with different conditions, that it is difficult to compare.



• Chris Brown, after finishing in the unbearable fourth place position at the last three major championships, is hoping for some good fortunes at next year’s IAAF World Championships in Berlin, Germany. He is taking things a day at a time in search for an elusive medal and a podium spot.
  
  "My main goal is to make the podium in Berlin at the World Championships," Brown said. "Already on three occasions I have had the bronze taken from me.
  
  "I guess the Lord has something bigger in store for me so I am taking it one day at a time," he added.



• Christian Malcolm was denied a true opportunity to earn a medal in the 200m according to Linford Christie, Malcolm's coach who is banned from any Olympic team contact for a positive drugs test late in his career. Christie claimed last week that UK Athletics and the BOA didn’t give Malcolm the chance to prepare as best as he possibly could. Nevertheless, UK Athletics paid Christie to coach the world and Olympic finalist in the run-up to Beijing despite the fact that Christie was prevented from accompanying the Olympic squad to either the athletes' holding camp in Macau or the Games themselves.



• Christine Ohuruogu's stock continues to rise, with Lord Sebastian Coe this week naming Ohuruogu, the Olympic 400m champion and defending IAAF world champion, his sporting hero of 2008. On a side note, Ohuruogu recently donated a pair of her trainers to an art work which will be a representation of the shoes which people who perished at Nazi concentration camps were made to remove before they died.



• Doping: ProCon.org, a nonpartisan 501c3 nonprofit research organization, created a new website, http://sports.procon.org, to explore the question "Should performance enhancing drugs (such as steroids) be accepted in sports?"
  
  The online project contains nearly 30 questions about drugs in sports with over 250 sourced responses from more than 200 sports experts. Those experts include professional athletes (from Lance Armstrong to Gene Upshaw), doping authorities (from Dr. Don Catlin to Dr. Gary Wadler), sports writers, academics, physicians, league commissioners, politicians, and many other knowledgeable sports fans.
  
  Some subjects of discussion include whether or not:
  
  * Tiger Woods' alleged LASIK surgery to improve his vision to 20/15 is ethically different than an athlete taking a banned substance
  
  * there is a correlation between the 5% (approximate) of middle schoolers who take anabolic steroids and the use of such substances by their athlete role models
  
  * the testing labs, such as the one that found cyclist Floyd Landis guilty of using banned drugs, are credible and reliable
  
  * the teammates of sprinter Marion Jones should return their Olympic gold medals. None of them tested positive for banned drugs although Jones confessed to having used them.



• Dorcus Inzikuru, the former world steeplechase champion, refused to testify last week in a personal assault case where she was a principle witness and plaintiff against her husband and brother-in-law. Both defendants were attributed to have stated two days before their arrests that they would kill Inzikuru, with Inzikuru's husband charged with physically assaulting and harming her. The case was dismissed.



• Jenn Stuczynski, the Olympic silver medalist in the pole vault, has become a Christmas ornament - a silver bulb in her local area with a picture of Stuczynski participating in the pole vault. The decorative pieces sold out before Christmas, and more were on the way.
  
  On the track, Stuczynski was yesterday confirmed for participation in the upcoming Millrose Games.



• Jeremy Wariner is training and looking ahead to London 2012 according to today's Star-Telegram. "It’s a good way for me to relieve a lot of stress," he says about running. "When I’m on the track, I forget about everything else that’s going on. So it’s a good place for me to get away from things and just be me and enjoy myself."



• Johan Wissman is currently training 11 times a week in order to gain more strength needed to reach the goals he has for the 400m. Wissman is scheduled to contest the GE Galan here in Stockholm 18-February - the second-best indoor meet in the world (Stuttgart). Wissman returned to Helsingborg yesterday following three weeks of winter training at his "home away from home" in Stellenbosch, South Africa.



• Kara Goucher will visit the City of Duluth (MN) Wellness Committee program on Tuesday, 30-December, to honour city exercisers. Goucher, home in Minnesota for the holiday season, is preparing for the Boston Marathon following a successful debut in New York.



• Kelly Sotherton is currently training to take part in all three of the major UK Athletics indoor events in 2009, starting with the Aviva International Match at Glasgow on 31-January. Sotherton will then compete at the Aviva European Trials on 14-15 February in Sheffield, before taking on Olympic Champion Natalia Dobrynska in Birmingham in the 60m hurdles, long jump and 400m.



• Kim Collins is preparing for the upcoming Aviva Internternational Match in Scotland, where the ex-world 100m champion will contest the 60m and 200m events at Glasgow's Kelvin Hall on 31-January.



• Kim Gevaert, though now retired from athletics, was recently named along with Justine Henin as goodwill ambassadors for the Belgium and Netherlands bid to co-host the 2018 World Cup.



• Lisa Dobriskey trained twice on Christmas Day - a Thursday - as she always does, and is more than determined to make up for the bitter disappointment she felt when she placed out of medal contention in Beijing. Despite heading into the Olympics full of optimism, Dobriskey finished fourth in the Beijing 1.500m final.



• Liu Xiang's recovery from achiles surgery is going well, as he has now been able to walk without crutches - though he is still required to wear a special shoe. He'll be able to walk in the pool in two weeks according to his coach, Sun Haiping, accompanying Liu during his U.S. rehabilitation. Yao Ming has requested Liu receive space and time to heal.



• Lolo Jones was named Visa Humanitarian Athlete of the Year earlier this month for her help in assisting flood victims in her home state of Iowa.



• Nick Willis will compete in a Wellington (NZ) street race on 10-March before competing in a mile race at an international track and field competition three days later in Christchurch.



• Richard Thompson, the Beijing silver medallist (9,89) in the 100m behind Usain Bolt's world-record (9,69), earned $750,000 cash and $250,000 in units from Unit Trust Corporation in Trinidad last week as a reward for his accomplishments in the 100m and 4x100m relay, which set a national record (38,06). Thompson, the NCAA indoor 60m champion and outdoor 100m winner, resumed training 3-November, and stated to Trinidad's Newsday that the 4x100m relay team will race together several times next season.



• Stefan Holm has ended his career in grand fashion - at least nationally. Holm, the fourth-place finisher at the Beijing Olympics, was last week selected Sweden's best track and field athlete for the first time in his career.



• Steph Twell, the three-time European Junior Cross Country champion, will be racing in the Antrim International Cross Country - the third meeting in this winter’s UK Cross Challenge series - on 3-January.



• Susanna Kallur, who finished second in balloting to Stefan Holm for Sweden's best track and field athlete, has split with coach Karin Torneklint. Torneklint, who coached Sanna and her sister, Jenny from 14-15 years old and joined forces again with them in 2004, left the training solely to Torbjörn Eriksson, who had different training philosophies than did Torneklint.



• Usain Bolt is in almost every news story of note at the moment as the doors prepare to close on 2008 and the year which produced a record season which likely will never be repeated. Bolt took delivery of a BMW M3 (reported here earlier this week) just before Christmas, and was recently selected Track & Field News Athlete of the Year.



• Victor Conte is in the news this week because he stated he supplied "the cream" and "the clear" to somebody, somewhere... one has lost count to the claims Conte has made.

Usain Bolt's Three Gifts Kept on Giving

By Eric.

Christmas eve has drawn nigh, and one wonders what has been left under Usain Bolt's tree.

He has captured nearly every imaginable and conceivable award and adulation for his accomplishments in 2008, and has been handsomely rewarded with name and brand recognition which stretches around the globe.

What gift will Bolt unwrap this year which can top those he received at this time some 52 weeks ago? Is there any solitary imaginable one which could rival the six-fold one he received with his Olympic ticket, namely three gold medals and three world records to match?

If he needs a ticket to fame, he needn't look any further than a click of the mouse: Usain Bolt's name is splashed on every news feed of note, even to this day, as 2008 winds down and the fairytale season is remembered on top-10 lists in a newspaper near you.

Bolt drew the ire of International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge for showboating during the men's 100-meter dash on the biggest stage of world sport, but drew the adoration of hundreds of millions of fans for his childlike demonstration of sheer excitement for winning a race against competitors far more experienced than he.

What about just giving the man a car and some alone time following an off-season which appeared to be more hectic than his in-season travel and commitments? On second thought, hold off on that one. BMW and Puma have already teamed up and done just that. Mr. Bolt took custody of a black BMW M3 which Puma had shipped to him just before Christmas.

Perhaps a suitable gift for Bolt would be Sports Illustrated unveiling their Sportsman of the Year award, a single-copy edition which could serve as motivation for 2009—a world championship year which will be filled with higher expectations than Bolt could possibly have dreamed of when he took up the challenge of dropping down in distance this year, and tackling a man who had won his island nation's heart, captured the citizens' imaginations, but had not won any global title of note.

Sports Illustrated missed a beat when it had Michael Phelps lean ahead of Bolt to win Sportsman of the Year Award. The IAAF, Track & Field News and L'Equipe, didn't, however, each awarding the lanky Jamaican sensation its top honours, respectively.

We as fans received an extra gift this year, as the Olympic Games were held during a leap year and were kicked off on a very sacred and superstitious day for the Chinese, namely the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth year of this century.

Eights may have been wild for the 21 percent of the world population located in the host country, but there is only a single integer which will remain in the history annals for all-time, whether or not the times, themselves, are lowered by Usain Bolt—and that is the number "one".

Try these on for size:

• Usain Bolt ended the 2008 season as the number one sprinter in the 100m.
• Usain Bolt ended the 2008 season as the number one sprinter in the 200m.
• Usain Bolt ended the 2008 season as the world record-holder in the 100m.
• Usain Bolt ended the 2008 season as the world record-holder in the 200m.
• Usain Bolt ended the 2008 season as history's quickest from 0-100m.
• Usain Bolt ended the 2008 season as history's quickest from 0-10 under 10,00.
• Usain Bolt ended the 2008 season with the greatest cumulative average for his top-10.
• Usain Bolt also ended the 2008 season with one loss, bringing full-circle the true value of that number.

Taking a closer look, Bolt ended the 2008 season with the best average time for his top-10 races in a season, though Asafa Powell ran the season of his life as well:

• 1. Usain Bolt, JAM, 2008 -- 9.820 (9.69, 9.72, 9.76, 9.77, 9.83, 9.85, 9.85, 9.89, 9.92, 9.92)
• 2. Asafa Powell, JAM, 2008 -- 9.837 (9.72, 9.77, 9.82, 9.82, 9.83, 9.87, 9.87, 9.88, 9.89, 9.90)
• 3. Asafa Powell, JAM, 2006 -- 9.867 (9.77, 9.77, 9.85, 9.85, 9.86, 9.86, 9.89, 9.91, 9.95, 9.96)

Powell needed to run 9.81 and 9.80 in his final two races in order to drop 9.90 and 9.91 from his top-10 and finishes, .01 ahead of Bolt's top-10 season average—no easy feat, despite one's willpower; the season had already been long enough, the Olympics had come and gone, and the chances at redemption were slimming down.

Powell failed in those attempts at the World Athletics Final (9.87) and at Pedro's Cup (9.89), however, he did conclude his season by running exceptionally well, stopping the clock under 9.90 in seven consecutive races. Moreover, Powell was able to legally stop the clock under 10.00 on 15 occasions in 2008—seven more than he did in 2007, and three more than in 2006 when he twice ran world-record times of 9.77 seconds.

In keeping with the integer "one", here's one more: Only one other man in history has been able to run faster without stopping than the sum (19.41) of Bolt's top-two 100m times, a man whom Bolt removed from atop the totem pole in the men's 200m dash and carved his name with the immortal ones who have defied belief.

358 days ago, the New Year's bells were clanging, many fans were set out for their festivities and the favourite to win the Olympic 100m and 200m titles—as well as the 4x100m title, was prepping for his spring campaign, one which would see him run excellent 4x100m relay legs in order to race into shape without laying down the hammer ahead of the strenuous rounds he'd have to endure at the USA Olympic Trials, and again in Beijing if everything went well.

It didn't matter that his name was Tyson Gay, and he was fresh off of winning three gold medals at the IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan—two individual ones and a team gold in the short relay—he still had to put in the work, perfect his timings and hope that he'd have it all on the days which mattered.

Another man was attempting to find a magic formula to enable his own successes, despite the fact that he was entering the season as the 100m world-record holder (9.74, Rieti). Asafa Powell put on excellent displays of speed at stadiums around the globe, but he'd never managed to win the big one when it counted. He was hoping 2008 would provide that break-through, rather than relegating him to just a great Grand Prix racer.

Then there was Bolt, a young man who was entering the new year 138 days past his 21st birthday, setting his sights on a 400m workout to start his season, then working his way down to the 100m, a distance his coach promised he could attempt in a season which turned out to be the finest in the history of athletics for male sprinting.

Usain Bolt upped the ante early, running a 46.94 400m on an ugly day in the Jamaican capital on Jan. 26. Bolt won the 10th heat with the fastest time of the day—running 1.66 off his lifetime best set on the exact same day a year earlier. He also defeated Powell (48.76) as he had the year before.

Powell's finish behind Bolt wasn't yet an omen of things to come, as he had managed to outclass his younger competitor in the overall rankings at the end of the 2007 season, but it was the start of something Powell would become quite accustomed to seeing the rest of the 2008 season, namely Bolt's back.

Powell didn't see Bolt's back at the Melbourne Grand Prix in February, winning his signature event, the 100m, in a modest 10.04 seconds. He'd shaken off the dust from the previous year and competed very well despite a nagging injury he carried during training down in Australia. Powell would wait an additional four months to the date before he'd next step on the track for a 100m race, though he would team up with two of the eventual three teammates he'd share 4x100m glory with in Beijing for an early 39.22 clocking in Kingston on March 22.

Expectations for Bolt, meanwhile, were beginning to rise as the world junior 200m record-holder had accepted an invitation to compete in his first-ever senior 100m dash, with Spanish Town serving as host to what would be Bolt's launch into immortality—er, the record books. American Michael Johnson's half-lap record was once thought untouchable. Bolt finished first in the 100m dash that day—March 8—speeding to a very respectable 10.03 seconds.

Gay, the hands-down favourite to win the coveted title of "world's fastest man," meanwhile, played anchor to three four-by-one relay teams, helping the United States win the Texas Relays in 38.63 seconds, an adidas all-star team capture the Mt. Sac Relays (38.51), and bringing home another national team to a fourth-place finish at the Penn Relays (39.38).

Seven weeks of training and focus—coupled with an apetite to push his tall frame under the 10-second barrier in front of his home crowd—led Bolt to the starting line at the Jamaica Invitational on May 3. Many of the world's major players were at the meet, with Wallace Spearmon—Bolt's 200m nemesis—as well as Darvis Patton, Kim Collins, and Mike Rodgers in Bolt's heat, and Gay opting for the 200m dash.

That Bolt would win the premiere event of the day against the Americans was fathomable—he entered with the fastest time of the year in the field. That Bolt would scream through the 10.00 barrier, under 9.90, and well under 9.80 in his second professional race is another "first" for the history books. Bolt stopped the finish-line clock at 9.76 seconds—only 0.02 seconds off of Powell's world record, and the second-fastest clocking in history. No man had ever chopped so much time off his personal best whilst crossing the magical 10-flat barrier, and no man's margin of victory—0.32 seconds—had been larger.

Bolt was suddenly thrust into contention for the heavyweight title of track and field, the coveted 100m title. Gay took exactly 20 seconds to go from 0-200m without stopping, but the attention had clearly shifted to Bolt, who would agree to a man-to-man 100m sprint to be contested against Gay and others in New York exactly four weeks later.

Bolt had another appearance to make ahead of that scheduled stop, however, and he didn't fail to deliver, winning the Hampton Games in Trinidad on May 14 in a blistering 9.92—his second-consecutive race under 10.00 and a time which was still faster than any man had run up to that point in the season. Gay would respond with a 10.05-20.08 double victory at the adidas classic in Carson, Calif., the following day, with the 200m run into a negative 1.7 wind.

Road to Beijing: Christmas Present Number One

Countdown: T-minus 13 days to the clash of the world champion against the man who had a faster personal best, but who lost to that deserving champion over double the distance the previous year.

Bolt smashed Gay's pride, stole his thunder and erased Powell from the record books in one fell swoop on the 31st day (+1) of May in New York, crossing the line first at 9.72 seconds—a 0.04 improvement over his previous best; his third consecutive race under 10.00; more than 1/10th of a second ahead of Gay's best (9.84); and the fastest ever legally run on American soil.

Gay, who won the 2007 edition in a windy 9.76 (+2.2 m/s), finished with a superb 9.85 clocking, but was left to concern himself with the upcoming USA Olympic Trials. The night in New York belonged to Bolt, the man who was attempting to become the world's fastest.

You know the rest of the drill for Gay: he reigned supreme in the USA Olympic Trials, the timing system in Eugene, Ore., came under heavy suspicion from pundits, Gay was carted off the track during his 200m qualifying, and he disappeared until such time that the Oympics were to commence—where eights were straight, ones were wild and Usain Bolt wasn't playing by conventional rules.

OK, Gay did a bit more than run wild at his national championships, he broke through with monstrous performances in the quarters, semi-final and final, where he ran a personal best 9.77 (qf), followed up with a 9.85w in his semi, and recorded history's fastest under all conditions, a 9.68 (+4,1 m/s)—removing Marion Jones' husband, Obadele Thompson, as the title holder.

Bolt opened his Olympic experience with a 10.20 and 9.95 during his first two races, and followed those up with a 9.85 semi-final run—his third race in 24 hours with the final coming a few hours later. That he would not only blow logic out of the window during the final with his 9.69 after easing during the latter half of the race, but would run nearly as fast as had Gay had with a hurricane wind behind him and equal the second-fastest under any conditions, was unreal, unbelievable, and ultimately un-human.

Somewhere in the middle of it all was Asafa Powell, who, again, failed to win the big one despite the incredible in-season CV (9.88 victory over Bolt here in Stockholm and a 9.82 final tune-up in Monaco) he brought to the final.

Christmas Present Number Two For Bolt

Bolt, who has a penchant for speed and a need to demonstrate it—he was able to test his new M3 at the BMW Vehicle Test Facility in Aschheim, near Münich following the Olympics—didn't disappoint in the 200m, either, despite the media frenzy and circus which followed his coronation as world's fastest man.

One day before his 22nd birthday, Bolt, contesting his fifth 200m final of the season—the previous four were all victories, and each under 20.00 (three under 19.90, two under 19.80 and one under 19.70), flew off the curve on a mission to the finish line, driving, pumping and leaning with all of his might as the clock read 19.30, a new world record.

Michael Johnson, once accused of having his braids twirled too tightly during some trash-talking with Maurice Greene back during their heated rivalry, meet Usain Bolt, who had been accused of show-boating and not respecting his competitors. Mr. Bolt has just taken over your record, one which many a fan stated would last their lifetimes.

Christmas Present Number Three

Finally, as the season of giving is upon us, and was so at this time last year, let's think about the third and final gift Usain Bolt left the sport in Beijing, namely the best demonstration of speed, willpower, teamwork and hand-offs to ever circle once around a track. Ever.

Puma threw Bolt a great birthday bash during the heart of the Olympic Games. Their man delivered on the grandest stage of them all, and the company was not at all reluctant to reward their superstar with a grand bash which included Asafa Powell and others. Following Bolt's birthday, however, it was back to business for one final event on the track: the 4x100m relay.

Jamaica, which made it through the semi-final unscathed as they watched the Americans fail to finish due to botched hand-offs, fielded a team of Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Usain Bolt, and Asafa Powell. As previously mentioned, Powell, Carter, and Frater had contested this event on two previous occasions, with Bolt, the Olympic champion, being the replacement guy on the team.

The initial stages of the race are a blur—something which Youtube has enabled me to recollect for later use. That's of least consequence here, however, as the third leg—which Usain Bolt ran to hand off to Asafa Powell—must have been the fastest curve ever run by anyone under any conditions, stick or sans. Bolt, passing off the baton to Powell, came up on his countryman and friend with a fury, full of run, up to his neck in foot speed and with a mouth full of encouragement for his teammate unrated for general viewing here. He appeared to be running with Powell for several metres as Powell began the descent home, and may have held off the remaining competition had he taken the stick and run a full 200m, instead of handing it to Powell.

Powell dug deeper than I have ever seen him do before, struggled to keep his form as he neared the finish line, with the collective crowd at the Bird's Nest roaring in delight as he leaned and stopped the clock 37.10 seconds after it began ticking on command from the firing pistol.

Bolt was part of his third world record in as many races, and his name and fame have not died down since, nor did his speed as he ended his season on high notes of 9.83-19.63-9.77 in the subsequent three meets following the Olympic Games.

I last wrote to you that I've finally taken the foot off the gas and have had an opportunity to reflect on the greatest sprint season which ever was—only to discover that 2009 is fast approaching with all of its suprises—both good and bad.

As Usain Bolt sits by an open fire and celebrates Christmas with his relatives and friends, I can only imagine what Bolt has wished for himself for the 2009 season. All of his wishes last season came true, and his gifts keep giving even as we speak and write. Scientists hope that Bolt can run completely through the finish line once at full speed, because they have predicted he can run 100m in 9.5 seconds.

Only Bolt knows what it feels like to drive that M3, loaded with 414 horse power, at full speed. Here's to hoping he will demonstrate the equivalent on the track as well.

Usain Bolt's 2008 season over 100m:

• 10.03 (+1.8) Classics Spanish Town 8 Mar
• 9.76 (+1.8) Jamaica Inv Kingston 3 May
• 9.92 (+0.6) HamptonG Port-of-Spain 17 May
• 9.72 WR (+1.7) Reebok New York NY 31 May
• 10.19 (+1.0) National Champs Kingston 27 Jun
• 9.85 (-0.1) National Champs Kingston 28 Jun
• 10.40 (-2,0) National Champs Kingston 28 Jun
• 9.89 (+0.4) DNG Stockholm 22 Jul
• 10.20 (-0.2) Olympics Beijing 15 Aug
• 9.92 (+0.1) Olympics Beijing 15 Aug
• 9.85 (-0.1) Olympics G Beijing 16 Aug
• 9.69 WR (+/- 0.0) Olympics Beijing 16 Aug
• 9.83 (-0.5) Weltklasse Zürich 29 Aug
• 9.77 (-1.3) Van Damme Bruxelles 5 Sep

Personal Space: Truly Needed and Hardly Granted

Story written by EPelle

Every so often I cross paths with a few specially gifted folks who live in different postal codes than do I - folks who are well-hidden in unlisted locations up in the mountains or outside of the country all together.

You've likely seen them in your neck of the woods, too, as they're the ones with two cars for each day of the week, and have a garage bigger than most of the local houses to store those prized possessions. If you haven't seen them, you've heard them speeding along through the forest at break-neck speeds in their powerful SUV's bearing stickers which state, "Loud Pipes Save Lives".

Whatever works.

Undoubtedly, we've all seen them on television at one time or another and have formed bonds with them... eaten breakfast with them... stayed up late with them... spilled beer over the sofa because of them... bought posters of them when we were kids. And the story goes on one newspaper clipping at a time taped into scrapbooks filled completely past their page limits and stuffed in some dusty box in our parents' atticks and basements.

They are champions - the ones who always seem to win gold, and never seem to lose.

Kids in our small little communities - even those under our own noses and under our own roofs - are doing the same things we did, and, to a certain extent, continue doing today.

Whether you're eight - or 28, you've likely worn your favourite's name across a shirt on your back (or have their names tatooed on your back!) and have had the same heroic figures gracing your bedroom walls - with the exception between you and a kid being the fact that your wives have at some point suggested that you grow up.

These folks whom we hero-worship, I believe, are called athletes - and perhaps one or two of them might reach god-like status along the way.

These superstars walk down a red carpet leading to and from an arena near you, and, deservingly, they are lauded for their efforts and given tremendous respect for putting both feet forward and accomplishing their goals. Most will remain strangers we love, and others will be enemies we bitterly despise and loathe.

Despite our attachments to them, however, we will never really be near enough to them to really know just how far we are from the people behind the achievements - the persons whose mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and old grade school mates know and call them by the names of Justin... David... Kajsa... Zlatan... Carro... Hicham.

You get the picture.

We watch, salivate and attempt to emulate some of the efforts these highly-trained and exceptionally paid athletes put up in their finest moments, but bemoan them and cast them into yesteryear when the intrigue runs thin... the clock runs out of time... the hero falls down and simply becomes a man... a woman... a person just like you and me - a metamorphosis which shows more sign of weakness than it does of heroism.

When heros fall down our knees buckle, our encouragement begins turning into disdain and our attention gradually focuses on the negative rather than the positives.

It is challenging to find positives when the media alerts us to an esteemed athlete's fall from grace, and even more natural to dwell on faults when we base our knowledge on the little bit of "fact" that we know.

We get stuck in a "negativity" rut and, as time passes along, we see the ultimate result once our previously respected athlete crosses the finish line in their race of infamy: Our children take down their posters from the walls and stuff them under their beds.

Or, in my case, an entire collection of trading cards ends up in a fireplace only to be saved by a mother who knew better and a father who counted the money they were worth.

Of athletes and fame, a couple of lessons I've learned over the years is that the folks who live in the estates overlooking my neighbourhood and several others within 60km of their hilltop views have one thing in common with me - as they do with you: they are simply people.

Yes, they have a few extra tax gurus, two or three more gas cards and a higher credit limit on the plastic they keep in their pockets, but they are still human beings who eat breakfast, occasionally skip lunch, and eat dinner with their feet up on the table watching sports highlights just like you and me.

That's about it.

Well, almost.

They also appear on television more often, stay in a few more hotels each week than I do, ride in a few more limousines on their way to work than do I, and have every word, action, statement and admission recorded for immediate and permanent playback whether they like it or not.

I believe that actually does about sum it up.

Most of that holds true for a man whom we call Gatlin, whose mother calls him Justin. Some school girls on his Facebook page call him "cute".

Justin Gatlin was a high school standout in Florida, an NCAA champion at Tennessee and stood on top of a podium in front of the biggest stage known to man to collect a gold medal he had earned following winning the Olympic 100m final in Athens four years ago.

Everything he put his mind to he accomplished, and his status among the elite in the world was as high as one could reach on this or any other planet.

Today, he's a man hanging on by a three-person arbitration vote hoping that another shot at an Olympic title won't elude him as he stands accused of having doped using testosterone - or one of its precursors - after a urine test taken at the 2006 Kansas Relays yielded positive results from the previous 100m co-world record-holder.

There is a very small possibility that Gatlin, a former member of Trevor Graham's Sprint Capitol group training out of Raleigh, North Carolina, is telling the truth - that he has never doped, but public opinion has already cast a cloud of guilt over his house - and on his property in every literal sense of the word.

Gatlin has come under international fire - to a lesser extent than did Marion Jones, and has at times found reprieve and solace spending time with his parents in Pensacola, Florida - a place where children and adults alike still look up to Gatlin for his previous accomplishments.

Though there are those who have looked up to him and supported him through the anti-doping violation he faces, there are others who have taken matters into their own hands, have closed the case and have pronounced him guilty in a manner and fashion which has been both personal and public for the second-fastest 100m sprinter of all time.

Gatlin spoke to Reuters in a recent telephone interview and described what measures some fans have gone to let him know he let them down.

"I woke up one morning at my parents house, and written on the side of my vehicle there was 'Just Say No to Steroids,'" Gatlin said. "That really hurt.

"I wiped it off and went in the house and broke down. It was painful."

Some people have caused me a bit of pain as well for mistakes I've made along the path of life, but I've never had to be humiliated before my neighbours for it. Then again, I've never held Gatlin's job as ambassador of the sport.

Other athletes - and celebrities for that matter - have fallen off the hero wagon and gone on with their lives after a rough period with their groupies and supporters; being in the spotlight for better of worse is part of the unwritten job description, and one which most handle with care.

At what point, however, do we as fans give these human beings space to sort things out, spend time alone with their families and heal from broken promises they made to their sports, themselves and, especially, to us - the hardcore people, who, just like them, have a dying passion and interest for what they do?

I'd venture to say that fans, for the most part, are quite forgiving of people once they bow their heads, pay their respects for letting people down and saddle back up in a continued pursuit of perfection.

Others, obviously, are not. It depends on the infraction and the degree of remorse athletes -- people -- display, and why they are remorseful. Marion Jones is not a person, for example, whose hand I would reach out to shake had I been in a social situation with her.

Kids demonstrate an even greater ability to rebound from the letdown they face when their superstars tumble.

I can't recall how many times I've heard stories and have seen children tape up the corners of posters ripped down when their dreams were shattered and place them back into the holes in the wall where those people once taught those impressionable minds what striving for the harmonious development of mind and body meant - the agon of sport.

In Gatlin's case, he's faced with pressures he brought upon himself in having chosen a coach who was already mixed up in a scandal of great proportions. He was warned and advised not to join that particular group of people by his agent, Renaldo Nehemiah. Gatlin chose to ignore the caution and exercise his free will to choose for himself. He's paying a high price for those actions today as he may - or not - have participated willlingly in a scheme to defraud the sport of track and field by method of deception and fraud.

Whatever happens to Justin Gatlin, a new person will come along behind him and take over the spot of king of the hill.

Jamaican Asafa Powell has already taken back the world record, having lowered the 100m mark to an amazing 9,74 seconds. American Tyson Gay won three sprint medals at last summer's World Championships, winning the 100m, 200m and running the anchor leg on the victorious 4x100m relay. Gay's aim is to win all three events in Beijing in August.

Gatlin is waiting and hoping that his day before the CAS will soon come so that he can pass go. He wants to return to the sport he loves and in which he has thrived. Some of his fans want him to make a comeback to show the world that it judged him prematurely and should have waited until due process ran its course. Others will remain sceptical no matter what Gatlin does in the future, because his name will forever be linked with drugs.

I have a strong opinion of Gatlin the athlete, but reserve the right to hold it to myself and spare you any bias before his CAS hearing is complete.

Next time I see a person like Justin Gatlin pull out of their truck with those pesky exhaust pipes finally smothered when the key shuts off the engine, however, I'll be a bit less critical and more grateful not necessarily for the days they spent entertaining me on television, but much more so for the fact that they truly are regular people like you and me... humbled and down-to-earth on the inside.

Something tells me that I still will likely never know where a person like him has his post delivered, however, unless their kid winds up trading player cards with mine - whenever they are born.

Gatlin Files Appeal to CAS

Story written by EPelle

Suspended American sprinter Justin Gatlin, the 2004 Olympic 100m gold medalist and previous co-world record-holder (9,77 seconds), has appealed his four-year doping ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), his attorney said on Tuesday.

Gatlin, 25, who tested positive for testosterone - or its precursors - after having submitted to a drug test at the 2006 Kansas Relays, has vigorously fought the allegations that he committed an anti-doping offense, and stated the testosterone had likely entered his body without his knowledge and without his consent.

Trevor Graham, his coach, has maintained that a disgruntled and bitter Nike employee rubbed a mysterious cream on Gatlin, and that triggered the positive test.

The employee, Chris Whetstine, denied those allegations.

Later, Graham speculated that he -- not Gatlin -- might have been the target because of anger in the track and field world surrounding his decision to send the syringe filled with steroids to USADA in 2003 sparked the fire which became the BALCO scandal. The federal investigation that Graham launched resulted in five criminal convictions and more than a dozen athlete suspensions. According to that theory, Graham's enemies wanted to take him down by implicating Gatlin, his star runner.

Logic begs to inquire that if this were really the case, that Whetstine wanted to get back at Graham, why Whetstine simply didn't plant evidence on Graham's possession, in his vehicle or at his home, call the authorities and say that he had seen Graham take with him a prohibited substance. Graham would have been implicated and no one would ever doubt again that Graham had any connection to doping athletes.

Instead, the world was spoon fed an incredulous story - which has gotten much more interesting and more detailed as time has gone along - about a pink coloured "s" swiggle, and a recollection that Gatlin told Graham to basically back off when the commotion started. You're first told by Graham that it was he who wanted to intercede, but the tube was quickly put away in Whetstine's pocket, and Graham didn't think anything more of it. Now it has changed and become more elaborate with Gatlin stating, "Let him do his job, man!"

If one takes Graham's side, Whetstine did his job so effectively that he rubbed a compound into Gatlin which had Dehydroepiandrosterone, also known as DHEA, as its active ingredient -- a substance which would without question cause a positive doping test.

Something strange I would like to acknowledge here is that if Graham had any concern for Gatlin, who apparently went through every conceivable precaution as to not ever test positive (including locking his luggage, ordering room service when away), he would have stopped everything right then and there, and told Gatlin he was concerned with what had just occured; he would have rushed Whetstine and forced his hand into the pocket. He didn't. What neatly disappeared in this version of Graham's story is the portion where Graham apparently told Whetstine that Gatlin didn't need a massage in the first place.

"All I saw was the massage therapist go into a bag and bring out something else," Walker said. "He rubbed something else on Justin. . . . It was right there in front of me. It wasn't what he used on Shawn," is what the Washington Post revealed ast year.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which has a strict liability anti-doping rule in place making anything found within the athlete's body their responsibility, originally banned Gatlin eight years for committing a second anti-doping offense. Gatlin was successful in having the original sanction reduced to four years after having co-operated with anti-doping recommendations that he provide his full support in leading to the source of the drugs -- believed to be Graham.

Gatlin first tested positive at the 2001 USA Junior Nationals for an amphetamine contained in an Attention Deficit Disorder medication he had been taking for 10 years. He was originally suspended for two years by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which reinstated him one year later following appeals.

The IAAF did not, however, word its ruling as such that Gatlin had not failed a drugs test, but had rather re-instated him despite the breach of rules in place; Gatlin had not intentionally doped, they stated, but had violated anti-doping rules by competing at a sanctioned event without having received (or even applied for) a Therapeutic Use Exemption, or TUE for short.

Under the World Anti-Doping Code, WADA has mandated that all athletes with documented medical conditions request a TUE, and after having had such request appropriately dealt with by a panel of independent physicians called a Therapeutic Use Exemption Committee (TUEC), promply receive either a grant or a decline of his/her application.

WADA has the TUE rule in place in a concerted effort to ensure athletes do not experience significant health problems without taking the prohibited substance or method; the therapeutic use of the substance would not produce significant enhancement of performance; and there would be no reasonable therapeutic alternative to the use of the otherwise prohibited substance or method.

Gatlin had his medication, Adderall, listed with the University of Tennessee, where he was a student-athlete, but he failed to list the medication with USATF. He competed without having requested for the TUE, and was later stripped of his winning marks and places as a result of that rules violation.

According to IAAF reports from 2001 following the first suspension, Gatlin harboured no resentment for having been banned a year:

"I knew the right thing to do was accept the suspension," he said in May. "I just broke the rules, which were the rules.

"It motivated me to do better this year. A lot of people can't back from something like that. It hurts them mentally and physically. I want to prove to everyone that I'm a strong person and that I have what it takes to be one of the best in the world."

The IAAF, in review of the 2001 case, stated that there was no intentional part on Gatlin's behalf to cheat, and it was discovered that Adderall in-and-of-itself provided no enhancement to Gatlin, but they did not remove the term "doping violation" from their ruling - a sticking point which would cause Gatlin problems in 2007.

The IAAF did warn Gatlin following their reversal of his original ban - though still a violation of their rules, however, that any future positive drugs test would result in a lifetime ban from the sport, which leads Gatlin to his curent situation.

Now that Gatlin has been entangled in a second drug controversy, he's attempted to have the first IAAF opinion erased, and used a number of arguments with the AAA - including having been a juvenile whilst committing the first offense - to no avail.

The majority of a three-member American Arbitration Association (AAA) panel banned Gatlin for his 2006 positive test, having ruled that it was Gatlin's second positive test. In theory, they were correct insofar as in their ruling they stated that had the IAAF previoulsy re-instated Gatlin and not deemed him to have committed an anti-doping violation, they did not specifically and unequivocally state that in their ruling, a split decision that included a 53-page opinion and 22-page dissent.

"If the IAAF “eliminated” any period of ineligibility because it believed that, under the circumstances either there should have been no finding of a doping violation or because Mr. Gatlin had “no fault” in that violation, then the first offense should not be considered to be a prior offense for purposes of the award for a second violation. This Panel is unable, on the record before it, to ignore the first doping violation, but shall retain jurisdiction to amend this award in the event that Mr. Gatlin receives from IAAF or otherwise, a ruling which might alter the view of the first offense in 2001."

"The Dissent hereing makes an impassioned case that the facts and circumstances of that first offense, namely the advice of the USATF and USADA that it was sufficient for athletes simply to discontinue their non-competition use of medications, and law, namely the Americans with Disabilities Act and Swiss Law, compel the conclusion that Mr. Gatlin essentially had no fault at all in the first offense. The Dissent does not explain, then, why that first panel found a doping violation. If the standard in 2001 was simply negligence, and Mr. Gatlin was not negligent because the actions and advice of the USATF and USADA had to be considered as part of the anti-doping rules or an interpretation of those rules, then the appropriate conclusion would, it appears to the majority, have been a finding of no doping offense. However, that was not the case."

Said the AAA panel regarding Gatlin's juvenile claim:

"He asserts that because the first event was in the 2001 U.S. Junior Nationals, an age restricted event, Mr. Gatlin, though 19 at the time, should be considered a minor for the purposes of the Panel’s evaluation under the Guidelines. This argument is similarly rejected with the same cautionary note as with the prior argument."

Prior to his 2006 bust, neither Gatlin nor the IAAF - or USADA for that matter - had acted on his behalf to have the first "offense" removed from record rather than accepting that he had committed a violation and was allowed to compete despite that anti-doping misdemeanour. This has become Gatlin's achilles heel, and he's attempting to recover from that earlier misstep stated by his counsel to be an administrative violation, not an anti-doping one.

"With these filings, Mr. Gatlin is taking the next steps in recovering his right to defend his gold medal in the 100 meters, silver medal in the 400 meters relay and bronze in the 200 meters at the Beijing Olympics," Maurice Suh said in a statement on Tuesday.

The appeal was filed on Monday to Lausanne-based CAS, with Suh requesting the hearing take place in New York.

"While there are many possible avenues that we are currently exploring, the appeal of the arbitration panel decisions are a critical component of his defense," Suh's statement added.

"To use this (2001) sanction to bar him from participating in the Olympics is a prime example of unfairness to an athlete, and a grossly inappropriate balance of anti-doping efforts against the right of individuals to pursue their careers and their dreams," Suh said.

"Most troublingly, it constitutes a discrimination against a person with a diagnosed disability."

The dissenting member of the AAA panel, Christopher Campbell, furthered that sentiment in his ruling (referenced above):

"Mr. Gatlin’s first offence would be covered by art. 8 because it was a mental disability and he obviously faced a disadvantage because of it. Incidentally, so did Mr. Ricky Harris. These Fundamental Rights must be respected by private entities such as the USOC, USADA, USATF and the IAAF. Article 35 states:

Realization of Fundamental Rights

1. The fundamental rights shall be realized in the entire legal system.
2. Whoever exercises a function of the state must respect the fundamental
rights and contribute to their realization.
3. The authorities shall ensure that the fundamental rights also be respected in relations among private parties whenever the analogy is applicable.67 (emphasis added)

"Mr. Gatlin, Mr. Harris and any other athlete who has received sanctions because of taking medicine for their disability have their fundamental rights violated. In the case of Mr. Gatlin, he will not be allowed to work in his chosen profession for two years above what he should have been sanctioned. In Mr. Harris’ case, he was not allowed to work for a year and faces the same draconian predicament that Mr. Gatlin is experiencing. As stated above, there is no justifiable reason to limit these athletes’ fundamental rights. There is no goal pursued by the Anti-Doping Organizations that a retroactive award would inhibit. The sanctions are a violation of the law."

If CAS were to agree, Gatlin's 2006 positive test would be considered his first and he would be eligible for a two-year ban. That would allow him to return to competition in May, a month ahead of the U.S. Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon in June.

One pitfall Gatlin faces, however, is that the IAAF will have required him, as a banned athlete, to have been available for random, out-of-competition drug tests the past 12 months prior to his potential return. It is not known if Gatlin has been approached by anti-doping officials or been subjected to such tests.

Graham, who faces federal obstruction charges stemming from the BALCO investigation, goes to trial in June before Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco, CA.

2007 Wishes Did Come True

Story written by EPelle

I made five requests of 2007 when putting together my wish list for this athletics season (blog entry), and by most accounts, I didn't waste precious space hoping for things further than the imagination could stretch. Though Marion Jones still bugs me, Trevor Graham still annoys me, and BALCO has continued living on despite the archaic form it has taken on the current events chart, I nearly struck pay dirt with the first item on my agenda, namely getting closer to a semblance of having clean sport and knocking some of the haughty riders off their horses -- including Jones and Graham.

1. Clean sport. Athletics is closer to it than at this time last year, with Jones caught with her hands in the cookie jar, some (but not all) of her medal collection returned to the rightful recipients, and Graham facing an insurmountable battle with the U.S. Justice Department over lies, lies and even more lies. Bulgarian disgraces Venelina Veneva and Vanya Stambolova were both found to have been in violation of anti-doping rules and one athlete, France's Naman Keïta, accepted responsibility for having made his mistake. There was not much trouble turning the murky waters into wine with the public, metaphorically speaking, as fan support seems to have been relatively unchanged by negative press and nearly untouched by the positive events which unfolded in 2007 -- though I'd have wished that Tatiana Lysenko, the world-record holding Russian hammer thrower, could have avoided making news in this department. Veneva had long been suspected of drugs usage by her competitors following suspicious activities which saw Veneva take long absences from main stream competition, obtain good marks in obscure competitions inside of Bulgaria where the belief that drug-testing -- if it exists -- is at a bare minimum, then hit the championships with more power and better marks than she had at any other time of the season.

   "As [the way] she has set up her seasons and suddenly appeared at championships, I have understood that there was something shady. That she has finally gotten caught is an unbelievable relief, but one had hoped that it could have occured earlier," says Kajsa Bergqvist.

2. Alan Webb did stay injury-free in 2007, but I still felt for guy following his 2007 IAAF World Championships performance when he'd been bitten by a flu-like bug which seemed to take his finishing kick and transform his legs from the Ferrari-backed motor he'd packed in there prior to his first heat to a local gym rat pushing uphill on a treadmill going nowhere fast. Webb never competes for "also ran" showings, and he laid it all down on the line in Osaka -- keeping himeslf in there from start to nearly the finish over the three laps and 300 metres which made up his 1.500m event in Japan. Webb proved in 2007 that he could keep things tightened under the belt in the middle distance department, focussing on the 800m (1.43,84 PB), 1.500m (3.30,54 PB) and mile (3.46,91 PB) events to set new best marks in each of the those, lead the world at the latter two, and set a national record in the mile; he recorded the year's second-fastest 800m. Webb seemed spent by the time his final was run, however, and had a less than successful follow-up on the Grand Prix circuit before closing out his season with a road mile victory in New York. All-in-all, however, he broke a long-standing record in Steve Scott's mile best, and outkicked Mehdi Baala on his home turf in prime time and under the lights in Friday Night fashion.
3. Stefan Holm decided to stay with the sport in 2007 and continue on through Beijing in defense of his Olympic title. I had wished for Holm to win his first IAAF World Outdoor Championships gold medal, but one Donald Thomas would steal the thunder this season -- taking the world's highest available honour in his first-ever competition at that level. Holm finished out of medal contention with a fourth-place effort in Osaka. The season-ending best mark in the event -- 2,35m, which was shared by Thomas, Jaroslav Rybakov, Holm and Kyriakos Iannou -- was lower than I'd expected, but noteworthy about the "down" high jump year is that 30 athletes cleared 2.30m outdoors -- including seven by Russians and five by Americans. That left a lot of guessing at nearly every meet this summer as to which of those folks would win what, where, how and under which circumstances, and, almost as important as who would win the global title, who the number-one ranked athelte will be is completely up for grabs, too -- though Thomas seems to have the advantage in head-to-head battles. Thomas had a losing record against Holm, and "close" records against Linus Thörnblad and Tomas Janku, but Thomas beat Holm in their World Athletics Final clash, as did he Janku and Thörnblad. However, Thomas did lose to Thörnblad in Shanghai where neither Holm nor Janku competed. André Silnov, the 2006 European Champion, tied Thomas at 1-1 on the season due to Thomas no-heighting in Shanghai. Thomas's lone loss to Victor Moya was atoned for at the world championships. Holm had five losses on the outdoor season -- four of which were in his final four competitions.
4. The world did not see Kenenisa Bekele at his best in the 2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Mombassa, Kenya. Scorching humidity and heat ended the reign of the Great Bekele, who did not complete the race following a late charge to take the lead, and threw his track and field season off as well. For once, Bekele was made human over the hills, and scooped up times and marks on the track which scraped any hopes of him doubling at the IAAF World Championships in an equally hot and humid Osaka. Bekele had commanded my total respect for disabling competitors upon demand and playing catch with fire since his initial double-double IAAF Cross Country World Championships victories in 2001, and in the winter of this year, he became the first man to break 4.50 over 2.000m indoors, running 4.49,99 at the Norwich Union Grand Prix. His competitors, however -- many of whom were his compatriots -- gained new-found hope and life in believing they could make a challenge of defeating the weaker, non-dominant Kenenisa Bekele a reality over 25 laps to be run at 21.40 on a hot August evening, the 27th of August -- first and foremost Sileshi Sihine, who stuck it to Bekele in a masterful and memorable final lap, but one which saw Bekele turn back the charge and create a silver-medalist out of Sihine again following their identical finish two years earlier in Helsinki, which followed their identical finish at the Athens Olympics as well. Sihine has collected three silver medals and a bronze at either the World Championships or Olympic Games. Bekele was able to record the year's three-quickest outdoor 3.000m times, running 7.25,79 - 7.26,69 and 7.29,32. Bekele's world-leading mark is the eighth-fastest of all-time, and he's the sixth-fastest ever at the distance.
5. The final golden moment of 2007 was to have been Kajsa Bergqvist jumping over 2,09m either indoors or out. She didn't. Kajsa had trouble hitting 2,00m this outdoor season as she found it difficult to balance ground training her coach, Yannick Tregaro, had wished for her to endure versus getting in quality meets which she believed would help her reach her season's potential, which she felt was certainly higher than the 2,02m she recorded in Torino. Bergqvist would separate from Tregaro's group following the World Championships. Bergqvist had my hope button alive with talk of improving her world record in 2007, but it was Blanka Vlašic who made headlines this season. Bergqvist made it clear in no uncertain terms last winter that she was going to make an assault on the 16-year-old world indoor record of 2,07m held by Heike Henkel, and she eclipsed that mark with Henkel in attendance, jumping 2.08m in Arnstadt on 2006-February-4. She then made a pact to give a go at seriously attempting to take down Stefka Kostadinova's 2,09m from Rome set 19 years earlier. That perfect-day, best-ever jump was not to unfold outdoors in 2006, leaving Bergqvist even more loaded and focused from having missed nearly a year-and-a-half following her ruptured achilles injury suffered in the spring of 2004. What Bergqvist hadn't had time to see as she struggled in chartering for green pastures in the world record pursuit was that Vlašic had found incredible focus and determination during the indoor season, and was able to translated that to a near-undefeated outdoor campaign, topping the yearly list at 2,07m, and also jumping 2,06m, twice clearing 2,05m and finishing two other competitions with 2,04m victories; she toppled the 2,00m barrier in an incredible 17 competitions in 2007. Her lone defeat was a second-place finish at the Oslo Golden League to Yelena Slesarenko, who at that early time, was in contention for the $1.000.000 Golden League jackpot. Vlašic had the misfortune of having her only loss of the season come in the Golden League, and also missed out on the jackpot. Russia's Anna Chicherova as well as Italy's Antonietta Di Martino brought their "A" game to the World Championships, where I'd hoped that clearing 2,04m would only yield a bronze to the third-best of the group. Both athletes cleared 2,03m, with Chicherova taking the third spot on the podium. The most women ever to clear 2,00m in an IAAF World Championships final before Osaka was three, but five women in Japan went on to attempt 2,03m -- with four successful over 2,00m. Slesarenko had the misfortune of finishing fourth in 2,00m, with compatriot Yekaterina Savchenko the fourth over the same height -- making that three Russians over 2,00m in the same competition. Bergqvist finished tied for seventh with a best of 1,94m.

A thousand other small wishes came true throughout the 2007 season as well, with Asafa Powell setting a new world record in the 100m (9,74) and me having had the opportunity to meet Xavier Carter in person (Glasgow). I had also hoped that Carolina Klüft could finally break the European record in the heptathlon. She was able to manage that in Osaka, amassing 7.032 points and becoming the second-best performer of all-time behind American Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

I'd also hoped for a season of faster times and good marks, and 2007 did not disappoint in that category, either, with Allyson Felix running excellent 200m (21,81) and 400m (49,70) times in Europe and Osaka, and a stellar 48-flat relay leg on the winning 4x400m at the IAAF World Championships. Tyson Gay blazed an incredible 9,84-19,62 at his national championships, and U.S. collegian Walter Dix screached to 9,93 - 19,69 times whilst in university competition.

Finally, not to continue touting my Swedish team, but Johan Wissman's 400m exploits this summer -- culminating in a seventh-place finish at the World Championships following a national-record 44,56 in the semi-finals -- was one of those hidden gems which made wishes worth making and dreams worth having.

Now that the season is virtually concluded (although there was a 10,10 100m recorded last week at the World Military Games), I'll have time to finally sit back and reflect on what was truly inspiring, and which athletes I believe can provide me the greatest entertainment value leading up to Beijing.

Until then, I'm going to enjoy cross country and the road races around Europe. I hate to admit this, but I am a bit "tracked" out.

Powell Vows to Break World Record

Story written by EPelle

Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell, the current 100m world-record holder who is filled with confidence following a dream-filled 2006 season, claimed Friday to the Jamaica Observer, that his current off-season training is going superbly, and he is focussed on breaking his world record from the get-go when his outdoor season gets underway in a few months' time.

"And when the World Championships comes around it's to win that gold medal in the 100 and the (sprint) relay and if I'm doing any other event (200m) to win the gold medal and... finish the season healthy without injury and in perfect condition," he added.

Powell was recently selected the Commonwealth's Outstanding Male Athlete for 2006 following a list of accolades he has plucked along the way following his last race - a disqualification for a false-start at the Yokohama track and field meet in Japan.

Powell has been busy this off-season, taking home the prestigious Track & Field News Male Athlete of the Year award based off of professional votes collected around the world in addition to collecting the Jamaica Gleaner Sportsman of the Year and the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association awards.

I delivered the news to you on 20-December (read: Powell Considering Osaka Double) that Powell was considering doubling up at the 2007 IAAF World Championships in Osaka - possibly running the 100m and 200m dashes as well as the expected 4x100m relay.

The Jamaican, ranked number one in the world at 100m in 2006, recorded 12 sub-10,00 clockings over his specialty distance, twice equalling his world record of 9,77 seconds.

American Justin Gatlin also equalled Powell's original world-record of 9,77 in Doha in May, 2006, but has been suspended of his title pending a drugs charge levied against him after testing positive for testosterone or its precursors at the Kansas Relays last April. He risks an eight-year ban from the sport, something which will effectively retire him from professional sprinting in the future.

Powell, meanwhile, won every competition he finished, a false start in Korea his only blemish on the season.

American Tyson Gay appears on paper to be the closest competition to Powell, having run 9,84 and a pair of 9,88 marks in 2006 - his first year under 10,00. Gay broke 10,00 six times, and recorded sub 19,85 200m times. His 19,68 time is tied for the fifth-fastest time ever recorded. He is tied with Namibian Frank Fredricks as the fourth-fastest performer all-time in the distance.

Powell has broken 9,90 11 times in his career, with seven of those marks posted in 2006. A stronger, more driven Powell in 2007 may wreak havoc on record-keepers, as Powell sets his sights on taking down the 9,77 time he recorded in Athens two years ago, and subsequently tied in Gateshead in June and Zürich in August this past summer.

"I'm feeling a lot stronger... the work-load is heavier than last year and I'm managing a lot better, so that's why I'm so motivated," he stated to the Jamaica Observer.

Indeed, if Powell feels stronger and can handle the workload - and stay injury-free, the only limit on his potential over 100m will be one of physics.

Stay tuned for more.

2006 Commonwealth Sports Awards Winners (Full press release here)

Final Placings

Sports Administrator of the Year
1. Filbert Bayi (Athletics) TAN
2. Zainal Abu Zarin (Disability Sport) MAS
3. Jenny Shaw (Swimming) WAL

Outstanding Young Achiever
1. Melissa Wu (Diving) AUS
2. Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs (Gymnastics) CAN
3. Asif Hossain (Shooting) BAN

Outstanding Male Athlete
1. Asafa Powell (Athletics) JAM
2. Chris Hoy (Cycling) SCO
3. Alexandre Despatie (Diving) CAN

Outstanding Female Athlete
1. Alexandra Orlando (Rhythmic Gymnastics) CAN
2. Michaela Breeze (Weightlifting) WAL
3. Sherone Simpson (Athletics) JAM

Outstanding Male Elite Athlete with Disability
1. Matthew Cowdrey (Swimming) AUS
2. Benoit Huot (Swimming) CAN
3. David Roberts (Swimming) WAL

Outstanding Female Elite Athlete with Disability
1. Chantal Petitclerc (Athletics) CAN
2. Sue Gilroy (Table Tennis) ENG

Most Outstanding Team
1. Silver Ferns (Netball) NZL
2. Men’s Hockey Team AUS
3. M2006 Swimming Team SCO

Lifetime Achievement Award
1. Dr Bruce Kidd (Athletics) CAN
2. Owen Le Vallee (Administration) GUER
3. Dave Haller (Swimming) WAL

Linford Christie Plans on Helping Jamaicans

Story written by EPelle

Former Olympic medalist Linford Christie, who in September was controversially given a major role as a technical coach by UK Athletics Performance Director Dave Collins to help British sprinters prepare for the 2012 London Olympics, spent his Christmas holiday in Jamaica preparing plans to help Jamaican athletes fulfill their potential.

Christie, vacationing in Jamaica - the Carribean island which was his home until he turned 14-years-old, is not currently coaching any high-profile athletes.

"Linford's future is working with people," today's Guardian quotes his coach Ron Roddan as stating. "He likes working with people, he likes talking with people, he likes teaching people and likes athletics, and he will do well in whatever he likes."

Christie, who has a passion for helping people, was caught in a drugs scandal in 1999 when he tested positive for nandrolone when he was semi-retired. He stated he had sought to be a coach on the 2012 team, but was passed over by Sebastian Coe - with whom he has been known to have been engaged in a war of words since 2001.

Collins appointed Christie to one of two available poss to mentor athletes heading up to the 2012 Olympic Games in London, something which touched off a row between other athletes and fans, including Paula Radcliffe.

"We were aware that Linford is a name and a character which arouses strong emotions in people, in both directions," Collins stated on 8-September.

"Frankly though what we've done is to take the opportunity of looking at appointing two mentors and two technical coaches."

Daley Thompson and Katharine Merry were named for mentoring roles for junior athletes. Steve Backley received the other coaching appointment.

"Linford is there in a technical coaching role, extending the very good work he has been doing since before the Sydney Olympics.

"What we have done is use money from sponsors to extend (Christie's) role to be able to make greater use of his expertise in coaching."

The Athlete-as-mentor discussion has been a hot topic of late, with yours truly having also weighed in on the subject ("Are Atheltes Role Models?"). The Telegraph published a story on 8-August covering the apparent Christie appointment, going so far as to state that UK Athletics had become a laughing stock around the world.

"The IAAF ban led the British Olympic Association to decree that Christie would never be allowed team accreditation for any future Olympic Games. The BOA yesterday confirmed that their sanction would remain in place.

"UK Athletics, who claim to promote a strong anti-doping policy, are now set to become a laughing stock around the world."

Professor Peter Radford, the former world record holder for 200m and the British Athletic Federation's chief executive until 1997, condemned the appointment, quoted by the Telegraph as stating: "I am amazed that UK Athletics would take such a decision at this time. They are not the right messages and do not give the outside world any increased confidence that athletics is getting its act together.''

I am of the opinion that if an athlete - or a coach - has been involved in a wrongdoing, has learned a lesson from it, and can offer expertise without running afoul of the rules, they should be considered for such posts as Christie's.

Norwich Union pledged £50 million in sponsorship money to the sport through to the London Olympics in 2012, and has not requested where their funds be applied in terms of the Christie case.

It seems to be a bit of tomfoolery to keep out a person whose coaching passions help enable athletes rather than turn upside down the fairness of sport and competition.

Jamaican news reports have not yet surfaced concerning the possibility of Christie coaching its youth.

Christie, who was born in St. Andrew - a northern Kingston suburb of more than 500.000 inhabitants, is excited about the chance to lend a helping hand to athletes walking in Asafa Powell's footsteps.

"It would be nice to be able to play a part from overseas," states the Guardian.

"When I come back next time, or in the near future, I will see if I can be able to watch some of the youngsters. I am now trying to help others to achieve their goals and this could be seen as repaying for some of what you have achieved. They say the best thing to do is doing it yourself and the second best is showing someone else how to do it, and that's what I am hoping to do."

Jamaica has always produced talented sprinters - including world-record holder Powell, but many of their best crop of sprinters often move to the United States to find suitable coaching opportunities.

Keeping touch with elite athletes who have the technical experience to provide excellent instruction and training may help the future elite athletes Jamaica may produce remain loyal to their roots, and provide excellent diversification of the knowledge base those coaches bring.

Linford Christie - an Olympic, World, Commonwealth and European 100m gold-medal winner - may have a word or two of encouragement to offer.

Further Reading:

• Linford Christie: Polishing his pride
• Christie offers to give Jamaica's rising sprinters helping hand
• Collins denies Christie mentor role
• Malcolm puts faith in Christie Factor (2007-01-16)

Linford Christie's IAAF Profile here

Thanks For a Job Well Done

Story written by EPelle

Some genius once said that the trouble with dreams is that they’re just synaptic meanderings - gossamer mind fiction - so that one minute everything is perfect and this thing you’ve been chasing is so close you can almost inhale it, and the next, wham. It’s gone, and you’re back in reality, because no matter how wonderful a dream is, it’s never really real.

During the past 52 weeks, we’ve lauded superb gold-medal accomplishments, and have sat in utter disbelief through crashes and burns. We witnessed sprinters spike their shoes deep into the track and burst down the homestretch, and we've told the tale of how the first test of endurance was settled at the finish line in full view of several hundred million viewers - droves of personal crowds and classes of people who are proud of human accomplishment, motivated by the harmonious development of mind and body, and uncompromising in their conscious ideals of perfection.

Each of the high school, collegiate and professional athletes who dared to put it on the line this year - from grassroots level to the elites - was put to the ultimate test of dreaming and of finding a proper personal balance in your lives the past 365 days. We were there with you in spirit, and we have highly esteemed many of your performances both on and off the field. Our anticipation of what was to become climaxed when the dust settled and event winners and losers were declared.

A select few of you had the honor of being declared "champions" on medal stands at the state, collegiate and international level, and watched as your national flags were raised during your 15 minutes of fame. We as fans - through our collective acceptance of your efforts (notwithstanding victory or defeat) - gave of ourselves to you the honory crown of prestige and respect, and talk of your performances will live long past the final seconds it took you to reach the finish line, sucessfully glide over a final height, and cast an instrument its furthest distance.

Some of you athletes undoubtedly have touching stories of how you persevered under the most unusual circumstances to become champions in your homelands...you have been labeled heroes.

However, during the course of the season which was inked in 2006, you’ve learned that one’s hero status and merits may get him a cheap seat to the opening ceremony of the "big show". Ambition, longing and hunger may get her through the rounds and to the final. But gumption, guts, and a guilt-free conscious about passing up the world’s best runner during the final lap - realizing that in so doing, that person may not reach his god-like stature and final destiny if you beat him, are the only way assure you earn respect.

In the championships, it doesn’t matter if an athlete is underprivileged, overprivileged or has no privileges at all, the first three people across the line earned the right to stand on the podium and cry with the playing of their national anthems. Over time, many of the rest become forgotten...or end up as trivia questions on message boards across the world.

You dared to win in 2006, and you dared to fail. You dared to be perfect beyond perfection and live with the consequences of trying. You dared to face the challenge, and in some cases, face the harsh reality of being terminated in your quest in disappointment, exhaustion, solemness and a shadow’s length from realizing your lifelong commitment to your dreams.

Some of you had a dream which produced a good story, but did not yet materialize into an actualization of your hopes. You had a dream which tasted so real and felt so close that you almost did inhale it. However, as of now, dreams which will take you at least one more year to lean across the tape and finish your races.

Thanks for not only dreaming about being champions in 2006, but for walking the championship walk, talking the championship talk, and for displaying true attributes of what makes the mark of a champion truly golden.

Here's hoping that Jordan Hasay continues her remarkable climb up the ladder, no one is able to cage Emily Pidgeon, David Klech makes a successful transition to the collegiate level, and A.J.'s Nation grows exponentially at the University of Oregon.

Here's also a toast to Xavier Carter for making the grade on two levels - showcasing his historic four NCAA medals on the collegiate scene, and the second-fastest 200m ever on the world scene.

May Kajsa Bergqvist find the extra two centimetres in her step at the 2007 IAAF World Championships - three days following the 20-year anniversary of Bulgarian Stefka Kostadinova's world-record jump of 2.09cm set at the inagural world championships in Rome. On the same token, may Stefan Holm be justly rewarded for deciding this autumn to stick with the event two more years.

Finally, as the light dims on 2006, and the dawn of a new year is upon us, may one brave soul cast away the shadows which darkened the sport from 2003-2006 by means of drug scandals and set permanently the cornerstone upon which clean sport will thrive and shine from this day forward.