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Will 2012 be the Year of the Double?
I was reviewing the Marathon Trials finish last night and wondering how well Shalane Flanagan will do doubling in the 10,000/Marathon, when it hit me: we may have more legitimate “doublers” heading into London than ever before! In Beijing we had 5000/10000 double victories turned in by Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba; and a sprint double (100/200) by Usain Bolt. We also had double silver by Elvan Abeylegesse (5000/10000) and Tatyana Lebedeva (LJ/TJ); a double bronze performance by Walter Dix (100/200); and a silver & bronze performance by Kerron Stewart (100/200). Heading into this Olympic season of the ’08 doublers, Bekele, Bolt and Dix seemed best positioned to double again…
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Potential 2012 Match Ups to Watch For
Things should start heating up pretty quickly now. The U.S. Marathon Trials are in less than two weeks, and the indoor season will be going strong by the end of the month. So we’ll be full gear into the buildup for London in just a few weeks. Of course one of the big questions in any Olympic year is: who will the major players. It might be a bit early to start identifying major players, but here are some matchups that I think bear looking for this year, that should have a major effect on medal distribution in London. Usain Bolt v Tyson Gay v Yohan Blake (Sprints) These…
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The Best Performers of 2011
December is already a third gone – not much time left in this year. As a matter of fact the indoor season is already getting started! My how time flies when you’re having fun! So before the month gets away, and Baby New Year shows up, I want to give out some kudos to athletes that I feel really got the job done in 2011. I’m going to call them “The Best of 2011”. Some categories are a bit nontraditional – Best Start for example – while others will probably be seen on other lists – like Best Performance. Just a bit of fun as we wind down the year,…
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My Heroes of 2011
Wow, it’s December already, and there’s still so much left to talk about regarding the 2011 season. Several events left to review and some outstanding performances to look at. And I’m going to try to get to as much as I can before the clock turns to 2012. One thing that I don’t want to overlook is what I’m going to call my heroes of 2011 – a group of athletes that in my opinion were tremendous competitors in 2011. They were entertaining and competitive all year long – and I’m looking forward to following during 2012. With that, here are my heroes of 2011: Carmelita Jeter (USA) –…
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Worlds Day 9 – Bolt & Taylor Close Out in Style
Following the semis for the men and women’s 4×1’s, the finals got underway with the men’s 5000 meters. It became yet another championship race – which means they spent some 4200 meters warming up for a showdown between kickers. What made the race exciting is that this time it was not a set up for a showdown between Kenya and Ethiopia, because the U.S. (Bernard Lagat) and Great Britain (Mo Farah) actually had athletes capable of kicking with the Africans. And kick they did with Farah outkicking the world to get Britain its first ever gold medal in the event. Lagat finished in second as for the first time since…