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2012 100m Rankings for 2012 – Men/Women
I’m going to try something different this year, in that I’m going to go five deep for events as I rank them and present both the men & women simultaneously. Five Deep because in general that’s really where the top athletes are in any given event. After that things usually get rather fuzzy. And since the lists will only be five deep, it should make for more interesting reading to include both genders at the same time – essentially presenting a top ten athletes for each event. The first event, the 100 meters, actually was fairly easy to rank, as the Olympic Games proved to be the best indicator of…
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Aries Merritt Near Flawless in 12.80!
Perfection. That’s what I thought of when I would watch Renaldo “Skeets” Nehemiah run the hurdles. Solid out of the blocks. Nerves of steel. barely gliding over the tops of the hurdles. Winning comfortably against the best competition the world had to offer. Back in the day that was Greg Foster, and Skeets was good enough that in his final WR run of 12.93 Foster finished 2nd in 13.03 – at the time making Foster the #2 hurdler of all time with the #3 time. Today, perfection has a new name as Aries Merritt ran his EIGHTH consecutive sub13 to set all kinds of records. First of all it wasn’t…
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Drizzle Fizzle and Sizzle in Zurich
Zurich has traditionally been one of my favorite meets over the years. Mostly because, even before there was a Diamond League (or Golden League) Zurich has always attracted the world’s top sprinters – and this year was no exception. Don’t get me wrong, Zurich is annually one of the world’s best meets overall with high level fields in all of their events, but the sprints have always been special in Zurich. Today however, after watching this meet I’m left with a bag of mixed feelings labeled drizzle, fizzle and sizzle. The drizzle is from the rain that feel during the meet. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a year…
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Blake Jumps Starts the Weekend in Lausanne
Well, I said the Lausanne start list had an Olympic feel to it and several athletes showed that they were still in Olympic form. In a meet with several Olympic caliber performances the best was turned in by Yohan Blake (JAM) who nailed the start and never looked back in the 100 meters, stopping the clock at 9.69 – making him the =#2 performer all time with the =#3 performance. The man he tied with for #2 performer, Tyson Gay (USA), was second in this race at 9.83 – maintaining his streak of 9.8’s on the season but not yet dipping below that 9.80 level. Blake meanwhile joined Usain Bolt…
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London Olympics – Jamaica 4×1, 36.84 WR
Saturday was the final day of action on the track, and the meet closed out in style with a surprise or two; outstanding performances; and another world record. The field events led the way in the surprise department. First in the women’s high jump several big names made early exits, including Emma Greene Tregaro (SWE), Chaunte Lowe (USA); and defending champion Tia Hellebaut (BEL). In the end it was World champion Anna Chicherova (RUS), veteran Svetlana Shkolina (RUS) and collegiate champion Brigetta Barrett (USA) jumping at 2.03m/6’8" to decide the medals – first attempt clearance for Chicherova taking gold, second clearance for Barrett earning silver, and third attempt gaining bronze…
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London Olympics – Rudisha 1:40.91!
Today may have been the most exciting and memorable day in Olympic history. Once again we only had four finals on the day – but oh what finals they were! So let’s get right to it. Yes there was qualifying – women’s 800 semis, women’s 4×1 semis, and men’s 4×4 semis – with everyone expected to move through moving through. The big news being 1.) The US women screamed 41.63 in the relay which was the only mark under 42.00; 2.) The US men were led off by Manteo Mitchell who broke his fibula during the race yet completed his leg as the US moved on with the equal fastest…
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London Olympics 100 Meters – Execution
Good news, bad news. The good news is that I got to see the final of the men’s 100 meters last night. The bad news is that once again I had no luck seeing any of today’s evening session online. I saw the morning session just fine, but didn’t see one complete event of the evening session. The feed kept freezing, dropping, and was blurry when it was up. The interesting thing is that it was only on the track and field feeds. My feeds for everything else were crystal clear! I almost felt like there was a conspiracy afloat because I’ve complained about NBC’s coverage. I’ll have another night…
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London Olympics – Bolt Repeats
Another exciting day of track and field, though I’ve missed most of it. The feed on my tablet was only clear for about 30 minutes, and froze completely at the introductions for the men’s 100 final! Knowing from the start of the morning that the app on my tablet was having trouble, I turned on my trusty lap top, and believe it or not, I never got NBCOlympics.com to work. The site wouldn’t let me log on and never showed a single minute of video! So I struggled for three hours trying to watch track and field today – and saw only a bit. But, if I wait for NBC…
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News Ahead of the Start of the Games
I’ve been very very busy outside of track and field the past couple of days. Doctor’s appointment; kids to the fair; trying to catch up on non track work/stuff. Have to clear my plate so I can focus on the Games with the opening ceremonies TOMORROW! Yet as I step away for a couple of days, the news/happenings of the sport seem to increase in volume. And so many things I’m compelled to comment on. Usually I prefer to give items individual attention – and I may do that later on with a few topics – but trying to keep pace with what is certainly going to be an exciting…
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Will the Men’s 100 Live Up to the Hype?
The men’s 100 meters. Perhaps THE marquee event of the Olympic Games. Most of the world will remember who won the 100 long after the Games are over. Jesse Owens, Jim Hines, Hasely Crawford, Valery Borzov, Carl Lewis, Donovan Bailey, Linford Christie, Maurice Greene. Names that resonate still long after retirement, because they won 100 meter gold at the Olympics. Usain Bolt went from "who" to the face of the sport with his victory in Beijing, and would like to become the first man to repeat as champion. However, the fact that he would be the first to do so underscores just how difficult a task that is in light…