much as i luv the bungster, i can't see him ever breaking 1'43 again ( unless of course the confidence of winning gold makes him train unbelievably hard next winter )
tandfman wrote:Nobuharu Asahara, the Japanese sprinter, has announced his retirement after this season.
With an olympic medal in his pocket. He was a consistent 10.1 guy for pretty much a decade. Nice, long, consistent career
I still remember he *Just missed the final of the 100m back in Atlanta.
Asahara was actually a neat long jumper too, world finalist back in 1995 and had a PR from 1993 of 8.13. I think it's a shame he ditched that event from his program so young- (injury).
nevetsllim wrote::( I quite liked Bolm. I guess if she can't get motivated for the world champs next year, she'll never be motivated again for any champs.
After all Bolm wanted to give up before her two golden years in 2005/06 (WC 4th, EC silver) because of her injury problems. She would have needed a surgery again and who knows if she would have been fit enough in Berlin let alone being in top shape?
I have to shed a tear of joy for Kim Gevaert. What a beautiful way to polish off such a hardworking career. She couldn't have picked a better time to retire. Her first Olympic medal (in a national record time to boot) and a 1st place in her last race on the circuit. I hope she got a big hero's welcome back in Belgium.
Remember how 15 years ago, if a track athlete was still competing at 30 they'd be a rarity and people would think they're way past their prime and should have quit long ago?
When Quarrie ran the relay for Jamaica at 34 people were saying how he was so oooold and couldn't believe he was still competing. Now athletes in their 30s are routinely making finals and sometimes winning medals, and we're often expecting them to go on for a few more years, and getting disappointed if they retire before 36.
As always he knows what he is doing. This is the first year he mentioned that he felt old. I think early in the year he was considering hanging in for 2009 but during this season there were pain issues. The achilles tendon bothered him pretty much throughout the season.
This is in jest I know, but I have long thought male pacemakers for women should be considered. I mean, why not? Think about the kind of time Defar/Dibaba could run if one of their male counterparts dragged them around with accurate splits!? I don't see why there should be a rule against it, simply based on sex!
This is in jest I know, but I have long thought male pacemakers for women should be considered. I mean, why not? Think about the kind of time Defar/Dibaba could run if one of their male counterparts dragged them around with accurate splits!? I don't see why there should be a rule against it, simply based on sex!
I fear that this could lead to a slippery-slope ending in travesty of
the sport. (Note: ``could'', not ``would''.) In a next step, the claim
is natural that women have an advantage over men. This might then be
compensated for by adding some kind of mechanical pace-maker for men,
which would obviously also be used by women. The pace-maker would have
drafting advantages, and increasingly newer pace-makers with more beneficial
properties escalate into an equivalent of e.g. the bench-press west.
Let us not slip away further than we already have by allowing pace
making in the first place. (That decision could be justified by the
fact that pace making can occur naturally and unintentionally.
Possibly also the problems with proving deliberate cheating, had it
been illegal.)
EPelle wrote:Christian Olsson may be on that list; he has some very serious consideration to give his immediate future.
According to (in Swedish)
http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=672&a=833453 Christian Olsson has resumed training. The level is currently not what
is required for a world-class athlete, nor has a decision about future
competitions been made; however, we may have a light at the end of the
tunnel.
tandfman wrote:It was illegal, and the difficulty of enforcing the rule was one of the reasons they changed it.
You see: I am right. Just a too young to remember anything but the endless rabbited races of the nineties
I am actually surprised they have not developed tracks with a rabbit-like device on the inside (possibly lights that light up in series reflecting the desired pace) that could be set to a desired pace. Then there would be no drafting issues, or is drafting the reason they want pace makers, not for the actual pace?
tandfman wrote:It was illegal, and the difficulty of enforcing the rule was one of the reasons they changed it.
You see: I am right. Just a too young to remember anything but the endless rabbited races of the nineties
I am actually surprised they have not developed tracks with a rabbit-like device on the inside (possibly lights that light up in series reflecting the desired pace) that could be set to a desired pace. Then there would be no drafting issues, or is drafting the reason they want pace makers, not for the actual pace?
Daisy wrote:I am actually surprised they have not developed tracks with a rabbit-like device on the inside (possibly lights that light up in series reflecting the desired pace) that could be set to a desired pace. Then there would be no drafting issues, or is drafting the reason they want pace makers, not for the actual pace?
That was done 35 years ago by the ill-fated International Track Association, the professional tour that existed for a few years in the '70's when open professionalism was not allowed. They called them pacer lights, and they could be used for any race and set for any pace.
i heard that 2004 olympic marathon champ stefano baldini would retire after the 2008 olympic marathon, but he ran a 10k in scicily, italy yesterday and placed 5th in a race where edwin soi beat sammy wanjiru. so maybe he changed his mind.
This is another one like Bungei. Baldini said he was retiring from international competition, but that he would continue running. In both cases, the seem to feel that they have the only medal they need, but there's never too much money, so why not keep competing on the cash circuit?
Daisy wrote:I am actually surprised they have not developed tracks with a rabbit-like device on the inside (possibly lights that light up in series reflecting the desired pace) that could be set to a desired pace. Then there would be no drafting issues, or is drafting the reason they want pace makers, not for the actual pace?
That was done 35 years ago by the ill-fated International Track Association, the professional tour that existed for a few years in the '70's when open professionalism was not allowed. They called them pacer lights, and they could be used for any race and set for any pace.
As I recall, the problem w/ the ITA lights (nothing like technology that would be available today, of course), was that they were set at a chosen speed when the gun went off and that was it. Rare is the 800 or mile that's run at a metronomic pace, of course, so the lights were rarely any good.
One of my all-time favorite lines in the magazine was penned by John Gillespie in writing about the Portland ITA meet, I'd guess '75. In that meet, the lights malfunctioned, and were just creeping around the track, with the result that (making up the actual events here) the milers lapped the lights. Gillespie wrote (and I paraphrase), "In the men's mile the contenstants lapped the pacer lights, but the lights could be forgiven, doubling back as they were from a hard 880 just 5 minutes earlier."
I quite liked Bolm. I guess if she can't get motivated for the world champs next year, she'll never be motivated again for any champs.
