-
The Final Prep for Moscow is Done
The London Diamond League was pretty much what I thought it would be – best meet of the year and perhaps a preview of several events in Moscow. If this weekend was any indication, we’ve got a Wild West shoot out kind of World Championships coming up, because there just aren’t that many “sure things” out there this year. But that’s a good thing, because it means we’ll have a week of exciting track and field in store with so many event titles / medals up for grabs. In event after event, London showcased excellent competition with few winners decided before things got started, and a few surprises along the…
-
London Final Test Before Moscow
The World Championships are just a few weeks away and athletes are in the final stages of their preparations. Some are looking to get that final meet in before the big dance. While others have had layoffs and are looking to see just how sharp they are. This weekend’s Diamond League meet in London is going to fit the bill nicely for both. London is unique in that it offers ALL of the events in the sport in one meet – albeit that it takes two days to do so. Still it gives everyone that wants to compete that final chance as it’s the last "big" meet before the World…
-
Best Ever Women’s 4×4 Splits
Trying to get caught up with the Games just closing, so have been extremely busy. Still a lot more to address – I think I will take a closer look at either the sprints or middle distances next. To add to it all the next Diamond League meet is up in a day and a half in Stockholm! Wow. Before I get more in depth with the sprints, I did want to take a look at women’s 4×4 splits. If you remember the split announced during the relay in London for Allyson Felix was 47.8 – a fantastic leg. The one thing I knew immediately is that I haven’t heard…
-
London Olympics – General Wrap Up
They’re not finished with the closing ceremonies yet, and they won’t be shown here on the West Coast for several hours, but I’m already looking back on these Games. So much happened in what was a great meet. I want to take a look at several specific topics individually, but today just look back in general at the last week of competition. Let me say off the top, I got it wrong on Bolt. Not because I doubt his ability – double WR holder at 9.58/19.19 . But because historically I’ve seen far too many "injured" athletes forced to give way to healthy ones – regardless of their superiority –…
-
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…
-
London Olympics – US 4×1, 40.82 WR
Busy busy day. Watched the Games online then had to head out to get real life business taken care of. Almost waited until tomorrow to close out the last two days of the Games, because I missed much of the field events, and I need another look at that UGLY women’s 1500 meters. I’ll get to see that later tonight, and will include it with tomorrow’s discussion. But this relay run needed it’s own space, because it was as significant as anything that’s happened so far at the Games. So let me talk about today’s two relay finals, then finish up tomorrow – because both relays were very significant. First…
-
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…
-
London Olympics – The US Finds Its Stride
We’re roughly half way through with the track and field portion of the Games and though there has been a medal here and there,US troops haven’t really gotten untracked – until today. The team that’s expected to leave with the most medals in t&f, had struggled a bit to this point, as several athletes didn’t quite hit the mark. That happens in big time meets as we’ve seen with athletes from many countries, but you had to figure that at some point things would change – today was that day. I knew it would be a good day when I looked at the schedule and saw that the morning would…
-
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…
-
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…