Re: t-and-f: Ovett and his brethren

2001-08-14 Thread koala

The BBC radio had Sebastian Coe for at least part
of the time.  And a friend of mine just got back
yesterday from Finland, where he said Coe was also
a guest commentator on TV.  [my spell-check
says I'm spelling Finish wrong- hah!]

Anyway, back to BBC radio, on Sunday they goaded Coe
into confessing that (1) he does NOT color his hair,
and (2) yes, he does have a few gray (in UK grey?)
hairs starting to sprout.  Nothing like Jonathan
Edwards, mind you, but at least now I can say I'm
in the same "club" with Sebastian Coe, sporting a
few gray ones myself.

That's how they fill time between events- ask
questions of the celebrity guest commentators
pertaining to all kinds of weird stuff you may or
may not have wondered about, as well as discussing
at length the pertinent track & field athletics
issues of the moment.
All in good fun, and just enough to keep your attention.

By the way, -different subject- the friend I mentioned
above says he met '72 Olympic 1500 champion Pekka
Vasala last week in Finland- apparently Pekka is doing
well.  I think we on the list heard a year or so ago
that Pekka has a son who is running now.

RT


On Wed, 15 Aug 2001 01:52:33 -0400, you wrote:

>Not to take anything away from the natural wit of Steve Ovett (the one who
>broke the story about El G's "piles" several years ago, by the way), the
>pair that sent me howling with laughter continually were Hutchings and Cram
>when they were paired on Eurosport.  Sadly, the "beeb" has broken up that
>pair by hiring Steve [Cram] away, but it's almost as funny listening to one
>of them speaking to the other on a mobile phone and only hearing half the
>conversation.  
>
>In chatting with Ovett at the Edmonton airport on Monday afternoon, I was
>reminded how he gets much of his material:  He lives in Scotland.  You've
>got to have a sense of humo(u)r to get through those winters. 




t-and-f: Ovett and his brethren

2001-08-14 Thread Ed Gordon

Not to take anything away from the natural wit of Steve Ovett (the one who
broke the story about El G's "piles" several years ago, by the way), the
pair that sent me howling with laughter continually were Hutchings and Cram
when they were paired on Eurosport.  Sadly, the "beeb" has broken up that
pair by hiring Steve [Cram] away, but it's almost as funny listening to one
of them speaking to the other on a mobile phone and only hearing half the
conversation.  

In chatting with Ovett at the Edmonton airport on Monday afternoon, I was
reminded how he gets much of his material:  He lives in Scotland.  You've
got to have a sense of humo(u)r to get through those winters. 



Re: t-and-f: World's

2001-08-14 Thread Bill Brist



Philip J Wyckoff wrote:

Excellent post.  Felt almost like I was back in Edmonton.

I was sitting two sections toward the pole vault pit while the men's pole
vault was being contested.  I'm not so sure that all the competitors shared
your enthusiasm of the Bahaman band.  At times, I'm sure that several of the
competitors would have loved to have shoved those tubas someplace best left
unmentioned.  Since the band would break out playing for the track races, the
timing for attempts in the pole vault sometimes left me shaking my head, and
a swede in front of me shaking his fist at the band, (as well as a few unkind
words thrown in as well).

The only runway time limit foul was given when one competitor that tried 3
times unsuccessfully to compete his vault, before giving up.  During his
entire attempt the band was beating and honking away.  Being an American, I'm
only glad that the bronze medalist was lucky enough to escape on most of his
attempts, while the band was not playing.  (I did notice,  however, that he
did fail on his three final attempts while the band was playing.)  ???

One of the group of Ethiopian crowd was hauled away by security for blowing a
horn the night or two before during the heats of the women's 200.  Apparently
the noise was distracting to the starters in the race.  It seems like this
should have been enforced for the men's vault as well.

Don't get me wrong, I liked the music, and the idea.  I felt that the timing
was a bit off for the field event underway.  On the other hand, I felt that
the drums that were used by the Edmonton drum corps was done quite well being
amplified through the main speaker lofted above the middle of the stadium at
a bit more hushed level.

I also remember seeing those around the band dancing and having a great
time.  Personally, I'd rather enjoy what I went to Edmonton to watch, track
and field.   I had plenty of opportunity to go to Kinsman Park to watch the
bands following the meet.

Even with my difference of opinion, I still enjoyed your post.

Bill Brist


> Most fun: Bahama band! Some fans may have wanted their money back but
> there were many around them having a ball. I was downtown accidentally
> during Caribbean fest and got to walk with the band and the crowd for a
> mile. I lost a few pounds!
>
> Phil Wyckoff
> 
> GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
> Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
> Join Juno today!  For your FREE software, visit:
> http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.




t-and-f: British glory days over, says Radcliffe

2001-08-14 Thread Eamonn Condon

The Electronic Telegraph
Wednesday 15 August 2001
Richard Bright




DISTANCE runner Paula Radcliffe admits British athletes failed to deliver at
the World Championships in Edmonton.

And she feels stronger competition meant Britain would never be able to
emulate their track and field success of previous years.

Radcliffe finished fourth in the 10,000 metres at the championships.

The 27-year-old readily admitted Britain failed to live up to expectations,
but said there were explanations.

"Obviously it was a disappointing performance by the British team," said
Radcliffe, who will run in the 3,000m at the Norwich Union Classic at
Gateshead on Sunday.

"Everybody tried as hard as they could but the difficulty might be that
there are more and more countries taking part each year.

"It is a proper World Championships - it's one of the only sports when every
country can take part and win medals.

"We're never going to be able to win the number of medals that we have done
in the past because the competition is that much stronger."

Another factor was that athletes no longer got a rest year.

"You do need that year off, mentally as well as physically. It is only 10
months since the Sydney Olympics.

"In the past, when the World Championships were only every four years, we
did get the rest year. The Americans do get a rest year as they don't have
the European Championships and the Commonwealth Games."

Culture secretary Tessa Jowell said athletics needed to look at the
development of young athletes after Britain's disappointing showing.

Jowell, who congratulated Dean Macey and Jonathan Edwards, Britain's only
medallists said: "Nobody believes the team didn't run, jump and compete
their hearts out but I do believe we need to take a long hard look at
British athletics."

Eamonn Condon
www.RunnersGoal.com




t-and-f: Radio anyone?

2001-08-14 Thread Eamonn Condon

One of the highlights of the recent Championships for me was listening to
the BBC radio broadcast from Edmonton. The "down-time" between the action
that is normally a TV broadcasters nightmare actually works to the advantage
of the radio announcer, allowing time to set the scene and build
anticipation before each event followed by intelligent in-depth discussion
afterwards.

With all the difficulties T&F is having with the TV format, radio would seem
to be a perfect fit, yet I am not aware of any radio broadcasts of track
events in the US. Small market perhaps, but a loyal one I would imagine. Any
radio (or internet radio) entrepreneur ready to seize the opportunity?

Eamonn Condon
www.RunnersGoal.com






t-and-f: signup and signoff

2001-08-14 Thread mghubb

Would the adminstrator for this time period please email me with the instructions to 
signoff this list (and sign on).  I am changing internet providers and need to sign 
off one and on to another.  Thank you in advance.
please respond offlist at 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]





Re: t-and-f: track and TV

2001-08-14 Thread Reuben Frank

  How much are the problems with track and field on TV
related to the announcers gearing broadcasts to those
who have never witnessed a track meet?

  Has anybody ever seen a 400IH race on TV without the
announcer explaining in slow deliberate tones that
even on the turn you can tell who's leading by who
gets over the barrier first?

  Or a 5,000 without the announcer explaining how fast
the runners are moving with the crusty "go down to
your local high school track and try running a lap in
64 seconds. Now imagine doing that 12 1/2 TIMES IN A
ROW" adage.

  Etc.

  Seems to me the people who are watching understand
the basics of the sport. 

  Can you imagine a baseball announcer explaining in
painful detail what a bunt is every time somebody
sacrifices? Or a football announcer going into
terrible condescending detail about how the
quarterback's job is to THROW the football to the
RECEIVERS, whose job is to CATCH it?

  If we could ever get some more advanced analysis, I
think the broadcasts would be a lot more watchable.

  Roob

__
Do You Yahoo!?
Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger
http://phonecard.yahoo.com/



RE: t-and-f: re: Edwards thoughts on Yegorova

2001-08-14 Thread Oleg Shpyrko

The quickness with which Yegorova was reinstated by IAAF may be partially
due to the fact that as IAAF admitted before, 10 (or was it 11?) athletes
tested positive for EPO in Sydney (but failed only one of the two required
urine/blood test combo, therefore not considered "guilty"). Russian
officials may have threatened that in case she is not reinstated
immediately, they demand similar suspensions for the Sydney athletes, as
well as 10 who had positive blood tests in Edmonton - who with exception of
one athlete who remains unnamed, won't be suspended because urine tests came
back negative (this includes Yegorova).

Makes me wonder if russians could have made the point about procedures not
being followed properly solely on the basis of Yegorova's name being
released before her B-sample was tested (which technicians had problems with
anyways - they couldn't make positive/negative judgement due to some unknown
"difficulties", but then the IAAF reinstatement decision came through, so
the whole B-sample issue became moot anyways).

On more personal note, I was reading russian newspapers following Yegorova's
Paris test announcement, and I was somewhat surprised how confident team
leaders sounded in
interviews from day one - that Yegorova *will* go to Edmonton, plead her
case, and will eventually compete. Almost as if it was a done deal.

It's also quite amusing how "spin machines" can turn the same story either
way - post-championships articles in russian papers reported that Yegorova
was wrongfully accused due to "serious testing procedure violations", IAAF
admitted the mistake and immediately reinstated her and that Yegorova proved
her innocence once again testing negative in Edmonton, but "jealous"
romanian Szabo kept "spreading rumors" and even threatend a boycott. In the
final Yegorova "did the talking with her legs", while Szabo wasn't even fast
enough to  "be close enough to see the heels of Yegorova's feet when she
took off" in "blistering finish" (as close as I can be with translation
while it still kinda makes sense in English). The article is titled "Despite
Everything" and as you could guess has a completely different angle from the
ones from Western press.

There are a few new articles, one on Szabo - where her quotes about "russian
robots" sound pretty ridiculous in russian translation. Another on Jonathan
Edwards' comments condemning "campaign to destroy Yegorova" and Radcliffe's
inconsistency of believing that Baumann was innocent and framed.

And believe it or not, judging by the readers' reponses, Yegorova is sort of
a national hero there right now.

And don't shoot the messenger - I am just reporting it as it is.
Oleg.

P.S. Does anyone else find it ironic that "EPO - Go, Go, Go!" - as catchy as
it is - can be interpreted both ways? :)


-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Ed & Dana Parrot
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 8:10 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: t-and-f: re: Edwards thoughts on Yegorova


> So, for them to clear her in a matter of days leads me to believe that she
either wasn't guilty or that there >were serious problems with the testing
protocol.

Someone correct me if they know differently, but there WAS a problem with
the testing protocol - they didn't do a blood test.  The IAAF procedure is
to do a blood test first, which can detect EPO usage up to 4-6 weeks prior,
followed by a follow-up urine test.  The blood test is considered to have a
small possibility of false positives, so a positive blood test is followed
by the EPO urine test, which is considered reliable but can only test for
usage in the pas few days.  The two positive tests together constitute a
legally defensible test.  Anything else (like Yegorova's test) is apparently
not.  So there was no grey area unless the IAAF wanted to ignore they own
rules (which they've done before).  The real errors were the French not
doing a blood test and the IAAF publicizing the positive urine test before
looking further into the matter.

Now here's where it is sticky.  The urine test is pretty much considered
reliable on its own.  It just usually can't pick up EPO more than a few days
prior.  I wondered why they didn't just go with the urine test rather than
the combination but perhaps they wanted to get people used to the idea of
blood testing since that will be necessary for the next advancements in drug
testing.  The way they did it just makes everyone doubt more about the
process.

But the fact is that she tested positive using the most reliable test.  And
word was going around Edmonton that she was one of a number of athletes who
failed the initial blood test in Edmonton but subsequently passed the urine
test.  I never heard official confirmation of this and really we shouldn't
have heard anything about those initial blood tests since they constitute
nothing by themselves.  But really it appears that Yegorova was let off on a
real technicality.  They had to let her off

Re: t-and-f: Post Edmonton thoughts

2001-08-14 Thread JimRTimes


In a message dated 8/14/01 5:06:54 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

>The doubling of the Worlds and the concomitant rise of Goodwill as a 
big-bucks
>meet meant that every year's nationals was a must-go destination for the
>nation's top athletes, instead of just half the years.

So the USATF tail wagged the IAAF dog, saying, "If you don't increase the 
frequency of big meets for our athletes to qualify for, our nationals are 
going to die off?" And Primo & Co owed Ollan a favor, and saw a way to make 
some bucks on the side at the same time, so doubled the fun? Maybe. Jeez, do 
the rest of the nations of the world have the same problem getting their top 
athletes to compete? Seems T&F is in a pretty sorry state in that case - I 
don't see much diminution in competitiveness among Euro and Latin soccer 
(football) players in non- World Cup years.

Jim Gerweck
Running Times



t-and-f: Women's marathon in the stadium

2001-08-14 Thread Alan Shank

As disappointed and angry as I was on the first day to see almost
nothing of the men's marathon until about 40K, I was ecstatic about the
experience of seeing every second of the women's race on the big screens
in the stadium Sunday morning. The commentary by Bob Hersh was
excellent, both in information content (they had chips in their shoes
that recorded their splits at each 5K point) and informed speculation on
what might transpire with Dita.

They kept showing the list of competitors on the middle screen,
switching pages every so often, so that after a while we recognized most
of the contenders. The other screens showed the action, with splits and
standings every 5K. They also had updates on how far Dita was ahead of
the "chase group." This is the way to see a marathon! I have several
pages of notes on who dropped out the the chase group when, who looked
fresher or more labored, etc.

I was in hog heaven Thanks, Edmonton and Bob.
Cheers,
Alan Shank



t-and-f: Trackopalypse Now (was "Jabe's" exact quote... Are you sure???)

2001-08-14 Thread JimRTimes

I dunno, was it just me, or did anyone else think "Jabe's" interview seemed 
eerily like Dennis Hopper's character in "Apocalypse Now"? (The director's 
cut has been released to the theaters if you want to check it out).

Jim Gerweck
Running Times



t-and-f: MJ and announcers

2001-08-14 Thread Phil Weishaar

I find this thread very interesting given the article Eammon posted last
week stating how the BBC thought MJ was the greatest announcer going and was
hoping the BBC could somehow hire him for Paris and Athens.
Personally I wish you guys could hear Steve Ovett.  He would go over so big
in  American, of course he might piss off half the people but what a wit and
sense of humor.
  Of course this brings up another point.  After watching Australia TV, it
occured to me the problem with American TV is the simple idea of announcers.
That is announcers who because of things like careers etc, HAVE to have
their face on TV all the time. I don't watch track to SEE Carol Lewis let
alone listen to her.  It seems in Australia, announcers are quietly heard
but not seen.  Makes for a whole new outlook on things. 

phil weishaar




RE: t-and-f: Entine's flaws

2001-08-14 Thread Andre Sammartino

i have tried to remove as many folks as possible from the lists in a 
similar straw-clutching fashion as Jon...

At 11:09 AM 8/15/2001, malmo wrote:
>Cruz mostly African ancestry?
>
> > -Original Message-
> > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Andre Sammartino
> > Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 8:32 PM
> > To: P.F.Talbot
> > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Subject: Re: t-and-f: Entine's flaws
> >
> >
> > but the statement that "92 of the top 100 times are held by
> > those of mostly
> > African ancestry" is still wrong... it can only be 82... it's
> > just poor
> > data collection undermining what are substantive claims...
> >
> > for what it's worth my view here is that the discussion is about
> > probabilities...
> >
> > Entine is probably correct in that the probability of a given
> > East African
> > being capable of world class middle to long-distance
> > performances is higher
> > than a non-East African, and likewise that the probability of a West
> > African being capable of world class sprint performances is
> > higher than a
> > non-West African... but it's only probabilities... the beauty of the
> > stochastic nature of the process is that there are always
> > "freaks" who mess
> > with the numbers... so maybe it becomes an issue of "freak" frequency
> > (almost went for the pun there)... and then there's hard
> > work, training,
> > opportunity, environment, discrimination, resources etc...
> >
> > uh-oh, we're back on this train again!
> >
> > why do we get sucked in?
> >
> > At 10:15 AM 8/15/2001, P.F.Talbot wrote:
> > >So this looks like only 7 non-Africans have produced times
> > in the top
> > >100 all time, right?
> > >
> > >I'd put Juantorena on the list though (maybe that was his 8th).
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >On Wed, 15 Aug 2001, Andre Sammartino wrote:
> > >
> > > > Jon,
> > > >
> > > > I don't understand where you are getting these numbers
> > from... each
> > > > time you reappear on this list to boost book sales you undermine
> > > > your credentials substanitally by citing WRONG numbers.  Where is
> > > > the 800m evidence you cite?
> > > >
> > > > my check of Peter Larsson's top 100 performances all-time
> > produces
> > > > this list of non-"africans"
> > > >
> > > > 3  1.41,73Sebastian Coe
> > > > 11 1.42,33Sebastian Coe
> > > > 18 1.42,58Vebjørn Rodal
> > > > 39 1.42,88Steve Cram
> > > > 40 1.42,90André Bucher
> > > > 42 1.42,92André Bucher
> > > > 43 1.42,95Vebjørn Rodal
> > > > 45 1.42,97Peter Elliott
> > > > 54 1.43,07Sebastian Coe
> > > > 60 1.43,12André Bucher
> > > > 64 1.43,17Yuriy Borzakovskiy
> > > > 67 1.43,19Steve Cram
> > > > 72 1.43,22Steve Cram
> > > > 75 1.43,25Vebjørn Rodal
> > > > 84 1.43,31André Bucher
> > > > 91 1.43,34André Bucher
> > > > 98 1.43,38Sebastian Coe
> > > > 98 1.43,38Rich Kenah
> > > > http://www.algonet.se/~pela2/mtrack/m_800ok.htm
> > > >
> > > > That's 18, not 8!
> > > >
> > > > And if you in fact meant all time performers, then the top 100 at
> > > > Hanserik Pettersson's site includes these lot (i may have
> > a couple
> > > > wrong here through not knowing who/"what" they are/were (ugly
> > > > terminology, but we are playing this game)):
> > > >
> > > > 2 1.41.73  Sebastian Coe
> > > > 5 1.42.58  Vebjörn Rodal
> > > > 12 1.42.88  Steve Cram
> > > > 13 1.42.90  André Bucher
> > > > 14 1.42.97  Peter Elliott
> > > > 22 1.43.17  Yuriy Borzakovskiy
> > > > 31 1.43.38  Richard Kenah
> > > > 37 1.43.56  Rob Druppers
> > > > 45 1.43.65  Willi Wülbeck
> > > > 49 1.43.74  Andrea Longo
> > > > 52 1.43.7h  Marcello Fiasconaro
> > > > 53 1.43.84  Olaf Beyer
> > > > 54 1.43.84  Martin Steele
> > > > 55 1.43.86  Ivo Van Damme
> > > > 57 1.43.88  Donato Sabia
> > > > 58 1.43.88  Tom McKean
> > > > 59 1.43.90  Einars Tupuritis
> > > > 62 1.43.91  Johan Botha
> > > > 63 1.43.92  John Marshall
> > > > 65 1.43.92  Andrea Benvenuti
> > > > 67 1.43.95  Philippe Collard
> > > > 68 1.43.95  Giuseppe D'Urso
> > > > 71 1.43.98  David Sharpe
> > > > 72 1.43.98  Bram Som
> > > > 73 1.43.9h  José Marajo
> > > > 75 1.44.01  Marko Koers
> > > > 76 1.44.03  Peter Braun
> > > > 79 1.44.07  Lucijano Susanj
> > > > 80 1.44.09  Steve Ovett
> > > > 81 1.44.10  Vladimir Graudyn
> > > > 82 1.44.10  Ari Suhonen
> > > > 84 1.44.14  Lee Jin-il
> > > > 88 1.44.22  Nils Schumann
> > > > 92 1.44.25  Vasiliy Matveyev
> > > > 94 1.44.38  Ryszard Ostrowski
> > > > 96 1.44.3h+  Peter George Snell
> > > > 97 1.44.3hy-.6  Jim Ryun
> > > > 98 1.44.3h  Dave Wottle
> > > > http://w1.196.telia.com/~u19603668/atb-m04.htm
> > > >
> > > > That's 38...
> > > >
> > > > Please explain your sources...
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2001 17:02:57 -0700
> > > > From: Jon Entine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > > >
> > > > ...
> > > > I did discuss this numerous times, and most recently in my post a
> > > > while
> > > back

t-and-f: "saving myself for Zurich"

2001-08-14 Thread WMurphy25


In a message dated 8/13/01 5:20:57 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

<< Ah yes, Zurich...the Swiss stud that 38-year-old Regina
Jacobs has been "saving herself" for...:-) >>

Why do you still connect Jacobs to this quote, when it has been stated many 
times on this list that it was uttered by Suzy Favor-Hamilton?

Walt Murphy



RE: t-and-f: Entine's flaws

2001-08-14 Thread malmo

Cruz mostly African ancestry?

> -Original Message-
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Andre Sammartino
> Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 8:32 PM
> To: P.F.Talbot
> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: t-and-f: Entine's flaws
> 
> 
> but the statement that "92 of the top 100 times are held by 
> those of mostly 
> African ancestry" is still wrong... it can only be 82... it's 
> just poor 
> data collection undermining what are substantive claims...
> 
> for what it's worth my view here is that the discussion is about 
> probabilities...
> 
> Entine is probably correct in that the probability of a given 
> East African 
> being capable of world class middle to long-distance 
> performances is higher 
> than a non-East African, and likewise that the probability of a West 
> African being capable of world class sprint performances is 
> higher than a 
> non-West African... but it's only probabilities... the beauty of the 
> stochastic nature of the process is that there are always 
> "freaks" who mess 
> with the numbers... so maybe it becomes an issue of "freak" frequency 
> (almost went for the pun there)... and then there's hard 
> work, training, 
> opportunity, environment, discrimination, resources etc...
> 
> uh-oh, we're back on this train again!
> 
> why do we get sucked in?
> 
> At 10:15 AM 8/15/2001, P.F.Talbot wrote:
> >So this looks like only 7 non-Africans have produced times 
> in the top 
> >100 all time, right?
> >
> >I'd put Juantorena on the list though (maybe that was his 8th).
> >
> >
> >
> >On Wed, 15 Aug 2001, Andre Sammartino wrote:
> >
> > > Jon,
> > >
> > > I don't understand where you are getting these numbers 
> from... each 
> > > time you reappear on this list to boost book sales you undermine 
> > > your credentials substanitally by citing WRONG numbers.  Where is 
> > > the 800m evidence you cite?
> > >
> > > my check of Peter Larsson's top 100 performances all-time 
> produces 
> > > this list of non-"africans"
> > >
> > > 3  1.41,73Sebastian Coe
> > > 11 1.42,33Sebastian Coe
> > > 18 1.42,58Vebjørn Rodal
> > > 39 1.42,88Steve Cram
> > > 40 1.42,90André Bucher
> > > 42 1.42,92André Bucher
> > > 43 1.42,95Vebjørn Rodal
> > > 45 1.42,97Peter Elliott
> > > 54 1.43,07Sebastian Coe
> > > 60 1.43,12André Bucher
> > > 64 1.43,17Yuriy Borzakovskiy
> > > 67 1.43,19Steve Cram
> > > 72 1.43,22Steve Cram
> > > 75 1.43,25Vebjørn Rodal
> > > 84 1.43,31André Bucher
> > > 91 1.43,34André Bucher
> > > 98 1.43,38Sebastian Coe
> > > 98 1.43,38Rich Kenah
> > > http://www.algonet.se/~pela2/mtrack/m_800ok.htm
> > >
> > > That's 18, not 8!
> > >
> > > And if you in fact meant all time performers, then the top 100 at 
> > > Hanserik Pettersson's site includes these lot (i may have 
> a couple 
> > > wrong here through not knowing who/"what" they are/were (ugly 
> > > terminology, but we are playing this game)):
> > >
> > > 2 1.41.73  Sebastian Coe
> > > 5 1.42.58  Vebjörn Rodal
> > > 12 1.42.88  Steve Cram
> > > 13 1.42.90  André Bucher
> > > 14 1.42.97  Peter Elliott
> > > 22 1.43.17  Yuriy Borzakovskiy
> > > 31 1.43.38  Richard Kenah
> > > 37 1.43.56  Rob Druppers
> > > 45 1.43.65  Willi Wülbeck
> > > 49 1.43.74  Andrea Longo
> > > 52 1.43.7h  Marcello Fiasconaro
> > > 53 1.43.84  Olaf Beyer
> > > 54 1.43.84  Martin Steele
> > > 55 1.43.86  Ivo Van Damme
> > > 57 1.43.88  Donato Sabia
> > > 58 1.43.88  Tom McKean
> > > 59 1.43.90  Einars Tupuritis
> > > 62 1.43.91  Johan Botha
> > > 63 1.43.92  John Marshall
> > > 65 1.43.92  Andrea Benvenuti
> > > 67 1.43.95  Philippe Collard
> > > 68 1.43.95  Giuseppe D'Urso
> > > 71 1.43.98  David Sharpe
> > > 72 1.43.98  Bram Som
> > > 73 1.43.9h  José Marajo
> > > 75 1.44.01  Marko Koers
> > > 76 1.44.03  Peter Braun
> > > 79 1.44.07  Lucijano Susanj
> > > 80 1.44.09  Steve Ovett
> > > 81 1.44.10  Vladimir Graudyn
> > > 82 1.44.10  Ari Suhonen
> > > 84 1.44.14  Lee Jin-il
> > > 88 1.44.22  Nils Schumann
> > > 92 1.44.25  Vasiliy Matveyev
> > > 94 1.44.38  Ryszard Ostrowski
> > > 96 1.44.3h+  Peter George Snell
> > > 97 1.44.3hy-.6  Jim Ryun
> > > 98 1.44.3h  Dave Wottle 
> > > http://w1.196.telia.com/~u19603668/atb-m04.htm
> > >
> > > That's 38...
> > >
> > > Please explain your sources...
> > >
> > >
> > > Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2001 17:02:57 -0700
> > > From: Jon Entine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > >
> > > ...
> > > I did discuss this numerous times, and most recently in my post a 
> > > while
> > back
> > > about "why Brits" will are doing so lousy. The FACT 
> is...and you can 
> > > check the lists of top times and top runners..is that you 
> and others 
> > > have swallowed a MYTH that there were a lot of runners of "US, UK 
> > > and Northern European stock" that were setting the world on fire 
> > > years ago. There were a few great races by a handful of great 
> > > runners such

Re: t-and-f: Radcliffe fears revenge of drug cheats

2001-08-14 Thread GHTFNedit

In a message dated Tue, 14 Aug 2001  7:05:42 PM Eastern Daylight Time, "Eamonn Condon" 
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> The Irish Times
> Tuesday, August 14, 2001
> 
>
> Radcliffe herself also harbours fears that she might be targeted in this way  and 
>cited the case of German distance runner Dieter Baumann who was found to  have taken 
>nandrolone, even though he was a vigorous anti-drugs campaigner.
> Baumann claimed his toothpaste had been spiked with the banned substance. "If you 
>put your neck on the line and go out on a limb and you rock the boat, then you're 
>taking a risk," said Radcliffe.  "Obviously it does put me out on a limb a bit but 
>I'm just going to have to be careful and watch my back.>

I wish I kept up better on modern conspiracy. I forget who it was that targetted 
Baumann. Was it the Illuminati or was it the CIA black-helicoptor gang?

This is great stuff: we're now supposed to believe that there's a pro-drugs secret 
society that's so powerful that it rigs false tests for people who speak out against 
drug abuse?

Too bad Robert Ludlum is dead; he could have had a field day with this one.

gh



Re: t-and-f: Entine's flaws

2001-08-14 Thread Ed & Dana Parrot

> So this looks like only 7 non-Africans have produced times in the top 100
> all time, right?
>
> I'd put Juantorena on the list though (maybe that was his 8th).

It's hard to categorize anyone from the West Indies or Central America
unless you know their specific origin.  But assuming Juantorena is the 8th,
it still is not accurate to say, as Entine did, that "92 of the top 100
times are held by those of mostly African ancestry".   You could say 18 of
the top 100 times, 38 of the top 100 performers, or 8 of the individuals who
account for the top 100 times.  To state the latter would be the worst kind
of misuse of statistics unless you said 8 of the "x number" of individuals
who account for the top 100 times (is it 35 or so individuals?)

As I have said before, I don't think his science is particularly flawed, but
I don't think it is important either.  and he makes himself a laughingstock
by constantly using the Kipketer quote and 800m times to prove his points
about "distance" running.  He could certainly find equally compelling
evidence by using the 5000m or 1m list, couldn't he?

And saying Coe is nowhere the consistent level of Cruz or Kipketer is just
funny.  It's like saying Jesse Owens was not as consistent as Mo Greene
because his times aren't as fast.  And if he chose to race less often than
others, that doesn't make him a less consistent runner - maybe less
prolific.  Only one person even came close to that 800m mark for over a
decade despite the best efforts of the best runners.  And no one has come
close since the season when Kipketer did it.  I mean, a longstanding world
record, Olympic titles, rarely losing for 5+ years, what the hell more could
he have done except tried to run 1:42 every week!

- Ed Parrot




Re: t-and-f: Entine's flaws

2001-08-14 Thread Andre Sammartino

but the statement that "92 of the top 100 times are held by those of mostly 
African ancestry" is still wrong... it can only be 82... it's just poor 
data collection undermining what are substantive claims...

for what it's worth my view here is that the discussion is about 
probabilities...

Entine is probably correct in that the probability of a given East African 
being capable of world class middle to long-distance performances is higher 
than a non-East African, and likewise that the probability of a West 
African being capable of world class sprint performances is higher than a 
non-West African... but it's only probabilities... the beauty of the 
stochastic nature of the process is that there are always "freaks" who mess 
with the numbers... so maybe it becomes an issue of "freak" frequency 
(almost went for the pun there)... and then there's hard work, training, 
opportunity, environment, discrimination, resources etc...

uh-oh, we're back on this train again!

why do we get sucked in?

At 10:15 AM 8/15/2001, P.F.Talbot wrote:
>So this looks like only 7 non-Africans have produced times in the top 100
>all time, right?
>
>I'd put Juantorena on the list though (maybe that was his 8th).
>
>
>
>On Wed, 15 Aug 2001, Andre Sammartino wrote:
>
> > Jon,
> >
> > I don't understand where you are getting these numbers from... each time
> > you reappear on this list to boost book sales you undermine your
> > credentials substanitally by citing WRONG numbers.  Where is the 800m
> > evidence you cite?
> >
> > my check of Peter Larsson's top 100 performances all-time produces this
> > list of non-"africans"
> >
> > 3  1.41,73Sebastian Coe
> > 11 1.42,33Sebastian Coe
> > 18 1.42,58Vebjørn Rodal
> > 39 1.42,88Steve Cram
> > 40 1.42,90André Bucher
> > 42 1.42,92André Bucher
> > 43 1.42,95Vebjørn Rodal
> > 45 1.42,97Peter Elliott
> > 54 1.43,07Sebastian Coe
> > 60 1.43,12André Bucher
> > 64 1.43,17Yuriy Borzakovskiy
> > 67 1.43,19Steve Cram
> > 72 1.43,22Steve Cram
> > 75 1.43,25Vebjørn Rodal
> > 84 1.43,31André Bucher
> > 91 1.43,34André Bucher
> > 98 1.43,38Sebastian Coe
> > 98 1.43,38Rich Kenah
> > http://www.algonet.se/~pela2/mtrack/m_800ok.htm
> >
> > That's 18, not 8!
> >
> > And if you in fact meant all time performers, then the top 100 at Hanserik
> > Pettersson's site includes these lot (i may have a couple wrong here
> > through not knowing who/"what" they are/were (ugly terminology, but we are
> > playing this game)):
> >
> > 2 1.41.73  Sebastian Coe
> > 5 1.42.58  Vebjörn Rodal
> > 12 1.42.88  Steve Cram
> > 13 1.42.90  André Bucher
> > 14 1.42.97  Peter Elliott
> > 22 1.43.17  Yuriy Borzakovskiy
> > 31 1.43.38  Richard Kenah
> > 37 1.43.56  Rob Druppers
> > 45 1.43.65  Willi Wülbeck
> > 49 1.43.74  Andrea Longo
> > 52 1.43.7h  Marcello Fiasconaro
> > 53 1.43.84  Olaf Beyer
> > 54 1.43.84  Martin Steele
> > 55 1.43.86  Ivo Van Damme
> > 57 1.43.88  Donato Sabia
> > 58 1.43.88  Tom McKean
> > 59 1.43.90  Einars Tupuritis
> > 62 1.43.91  Johan Botha
> > 63 1.43.92  John Marshall
> > 65 1.43.92  Andrea Benvenuti
> > 67 1.43.95  Philippe Collard
> > 68 1.43.95  Giuseppe D'Urso
> > 71 1.43.98  David Sharpe
> > 72 1.43.98  Bram Som
> > 73 1.43.9h  José Marajo
> > 75 1.44.01  Marko Koers
> > 76 1.44.03  Peter Braun
> > 79 1.44.07  Lucijano Susanj
> > 80 1.44.09  Steve Ovett
> > 81 1.44.10  Vladimir Graudyn
> > 82 1.44.10  Ari Suhonen
> > 84 1.44.14  Lee Jin-il
> > 88 1.44.22  Nils Schumann
> > 92 1.44.25  Vasiliy Matveyev
> > 94 1.44.38  Ryszard Ostrowski
> > 96 1.44.3h+  Peter George Snell
> > 97 1.44.3hy-.6  Jim Ryun
> > 98 1.44.3h  Dave Wottle
> > http://w1.196.telia.com/~u19603668/atb-m04.htm
> >
> > That's 38...
> >
> > Please explain your sources...
> >
> >
> > Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2001 17:02:57 -0700
> > From: Jon Entine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >
> > ...
> > I did discuss this numerous times, and most recently in my post a while 
> back
> > about "why Brits" will are doing so lousy. The FACT is...and you can check
> > the lists of top times and top runners..is that you and others have
> > swallowed a MYTH that there were a lot of runners of "US, UK and Northern
> > European stock" that were setting the world on fire years ago. There were a
> > few great races by a handful of great runners such as Cram and Coe 
> competing
> > in a field in which most of the rest of the world did not compete,
> > particularly runners from Africa, most of Asia, and South America.
> > Now that the field is more level, the best talent comes to the top. Again,
> > check the lists of top times and runners... Those so-called "great" 
> times of
> > years ago pale in comparison RELATIVE to the population numbers AND 
> overall.
> > In the 800 metres, for instance, 92 of the top 100 times are held by those
> > of mostly African ancestry. Was Coe a great runner. Of course. And we will
> > alway

RE: t-and-f: "Jabe's" exact quote... Are you sure???

2001-08-14 Thread malmo

Kurt, clearly you've never been to Eugene, which is living in a
time-warp.

malmo

> 
> Actually Gabe is a linguistic treasure - he speaks pure unadulterated 
> Incoherent Hippie circa 1968, a dialect that has not been 
> heard since its 
> last native speaker died of a drug overdose about 25 years ago.
> 
> Imagine what it would mean to Classicists and other scholars 
> of the Latin 
> language if Cicero himself suddenly appeared in in their 
> midst.  That's what 
> has now happened to people who study the culture of the 
> 1960s.  Linguists, 
> historians, and other scholars of that period should be lined 
> up outside 
> Gabe's dorm room to record his speech, ask him questions, and 
> request his 
> help in translating baffling Hippie quotes from the past.  An 
> opportunity is 
> being missed here.
> 
> 
> Kurt Bray
> 
> 
> _
> Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at 
> http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp
> 
> 




Re: t-and-f: Entine's flaws

2001-08-14 Thread P.F.Talbot

So this looks like only 7 non-Africans have produced times in the top 100
all time, right?

I'd put Juantorena on the list though (maybe that was his 8th).



On Wed, 15 Aug 2001, Andre Sammartino wrote:

> Jon,
>
> I don't understand where you are getting these numbers from... each time
> you reappear on this list to boost book sales you undermine your
> credentials substanitally by citing WRONG numbers.  Where is the 800m
> evidence you cite?
>
> my check of Peter Larsson's top 100 performances all-time produces this
> list of non-"africans"
>
> 3  1.41,73Sebastian Coe
> 11 1.42,33Sebastian Coe
> 18 1.42,58Vebjørn Rodal
> 39 1.42,88Steve Cram
> 40 1.42,90André Bucher
> 42 1.42,92André Bucher
> 43 1.42,95Vebjørn Rodal
> 45 1.42,97Peter Elliott
> 54 1.43,07Sebastian Coe
> 60 1.43,12André Bucher
> 64 1.43,17Yuriy Borzakovskiy
> 67 1.43,19Steve Cram
> 72 1.43,22Steve Cram
> 75 1.43,25Vebjørn Rodal
> 84 1.43,31André Bucher
> 91 1.43,34André Bucher
> 98 1.43,38Sebastian Coe
> 98 1.43,38Rich Kenah
> http://www.algonet.se/~pela2/mtrack/m_800ok.htm
>
> That's 18, not 8!
>
> And if you in fact meant all time performers, then the top 100 at Hanserik
> Pettersson's site includes these lot (i may have a couple wrong here
> through not knowing who/"what" they are/were (ugly terminology, but we are
> playing this game)):
>
> 2 1.41.73  Sebastian Coe
> 5 1.42.58  Vebjörn Rodal
> 12 1.42.88  Steve Cram
> 13 1.42.90  André Bucher
> 14 1.42.97  Peter Elliott
> 22 1.43.17  Yuriy Borzakovskiy
> 31 1.43.38  Richard Kenah
> 37 1.43.56  Rob Druppers
> 45 1.43.65  Willi Wülbeck
> 49 1.43.74  Andrea Longo
> 52 1.43.7h  Marcello Fiasconaro
> 53 1.43.84  Olaf Beyer
> 54 1.43.84  Martin Steele
> 55 1.43.86  Ivo Van Damme
> 57 1.43.88  Donato Sabia
> 58 1.43.88  Tom McKean
> 59 1.43.90  Einars Tupuritis
> 62 1.43.91  Johan Botha
> 63 1.43.92  John Marshall
> 65 1.43.92  Andrea Benvenuti
> 67 1.43.95  Philippe Collard
> 68 1.43.95  Giuseppe D'Urso
> 71 1.43.98  David Sharpe
> 72 1.43.98  Bram Som
> 73 1.43.9h  José Marajo
> 75 1.44.01  Marko Koers
> 76 1.44.03  Peter Braun
> 79 1.44.07  Lucijano Susanj
> 80 1.44.09  Steve Ovett
> 81 1.44.10  Vladimir Graudyn
> 82 1.44.10  Ari Suhonen
> 84 1.44.14  Lee Jin-il
> 88 1.44.22  Nils Schumann
> 92 1.44.25  Vasiliy Matveyev
> 94 1.44.38  Ryszard Ostrowski
> 96 1.44.3h+  Peter George Snell
> 97 1.44.3hy-.6  Jim Ryun
> 98 1.44.3h  Dave Wottle
> http://w1.196.telia.com/~u19603668/atb-m04.htm
>
> That's 38...
>
> Please explain your sources...
>
>
> Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2001 17:02:57 -0700
> From: Jon Entine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> ...
> I did discuss this numerous times, and most recently in my post a while back
> about "why Brits" will are doing so lousy. The FACT is...and you can check
> the lists of top times and top runners..is that you and others have
> swallowed a MYTH that there were a lot of runners of "US, UK and Northern
> European stock" that were setting the world on fire years ago. There were a
> few great races by a handful of great runners such as Cram and Coe competing
> in a field in which most of the rest of the world did not compete,
> particularly runners from Africa, most of Asia, and South America.
> Now that the field is more level, the best talent comes to the top. Again,
> check the lists of top times and runners... Those so-called "great" times of
> years ago pale in comparison RELATIVE to the population numbers AND overall.
> In the 800 metres, for instance, 92 of the top 100 times are held by those
> of mostly African ancestry. Was Coe a great runner. Of course. And we will
> always have great runners. But he was no where near the consistent level of
> a Kipketer or Cruz.
> ...
>
>

***
Paul Talbot
Department of Geography/
Institute of Behavioral Science
University of Colorado, Boulder
Boulder CO 80309-0260
(303) 492-3248
[EMAIL PROTECTED]







Re: t-and-f: re: Edwards thoughts on Yegorova

2001-08-14 Thread Ed & Dana Parrot

> So, for them to clear her in a matter of days leads me to believe that she
either wasn't guilty or that there >were serious problems with the testing
protocol.

Someone correct me if they know differently, but there WAS a problem with
the testing protocol - they didn't do a blood test.  The IAAF procedure is
to do a blood test first, which can detect EPO usage up to 4-6 weeks prior,
followed by a follow-up urine test.  The blood test is considered to have a
small possibility of false positives, so a positive blood test is followed
by the EPO urine test, which is considered reliable but can only test for
usage in the pas few days.  The two positive tests together constitute a
legally defensible test.  Anything else (like Yegorova's test) is apparently
not.  So there was no grey area unless the IAAF wanted to ignore they own
rules (which they've done before).  The real errors were the French not
doing a blood test and the IAAF publicizing the positive urine test before
looking further into the matter.

Now here's where it is sticky.  The urine test is pretty much considered
reliable on its own.  It just usually can't pick up EPO more than a few days
prior.  I wondered why they didn't just go with the urine test rather than
the combination but perhaps they wanted to get people used to the idea of
blood testing since that will be necessary for the next advancements in drug
testing.  The way they did it just makes everyone doubt more about the
process.

But the fact is that she tested positive using the most reliable test.  And
word was going around Edmonton that she was one of a number of athletes who
failed the initial blood test in Edmonton but subsequently passed the urine
test.  I never heard official confirmation of this and really we shouldn't
have heard anything about those initial blood tests since they constitute
nothing by themselves.  But really it appears that Yegorova was let off on a
real technicality.  They had to let her off, and it should never have been
made public in the first place, but given the specifics of the technicality
there should be little doubt in our minds that she would have been banned if
the French had done the blood test.

It is unfortunate for her, the sport, and everyone involved that the IAAF
botched this so badly.  As I said before, this is a textbook example of why
the U.S. waits until adjudication is complete before releasing names of
failed testees.  The only saving grace is that the efforts to get the
single, reliable EPO test approved will certainly be at the forefront.

- Ed Parrot




RE: FW: t-and-f: Let the USA bashing begin!

2001-08-14 Thread malmo


That 'altitude' was killing the distance runners wasn't it?

2200' is just a little higher than that high-altitude Mecca called
'Spokane' (1900').

malmo


> 
> In a message dated Tue, 14 Aug 2001  5:33:07 PM Eastern
> Daylight Time, "Highfill, Floyd" 
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> 
> > Everyone has their opinion on the effect of the temperature but the
> > altitude
> > (2000') is worth about 1-1/2 minutes (or 3-4 sec per mile).
> > The heat couldn't have been worth more than about 5 minutes 
> overall unless
> > you think Abera was capable of running under the WR on a
> "good" day.  This
> > still puts the Americans over 2:20 under the best of
> circumstances.>
> 
> Must have been the altitude (which aids the sprints) which
> allowed Abera to run the last 300m in 44.7 (a sub-60 pace).
> 
> gh
> 




RE: t-and-f: "Jabe's" exact quote... Are you sure???

2001-08-14 Thread malmo

But that quote did come from RUNNERS WORLD, hardly a reliable
periodical.

malmo

> 
> You're right.  Here it is again, copied and pasted from 
> http://www.runnersworld.com/edmonton01/home.ht> ml
> What an 
> idiot.
> 
> Gabe Jennings, Heat 2: "You saw me get 
> everything out of myself that I had out there. If you knew my 
> training, you'd laugh. It's been under 20 miles a week. But 
> it's a thrill to compete on this big stage. This was so much 
> more encouraging than the Olympics. I was not scared. I 
> looked El Guerrouj in the eyes, and I was not scared. I own 
> him. I own all these guys. Give me two years and I'll be 
> wiping them all up off the track. I have a vision of winning 
> at Athens in three years, and the vision starts with 
> conquering all my fears. "It's all about fear. I've been 
> fighting that at Stanford. I got into academic trouble this 
> year. I've been fighting fears about my SAT scores and being 
> at Stanford and being a math major. I mean, I can't count to 
> 10...well, maybe I can, but square root of two, what do I 
> know? I've been studying my ass off, but I need more help 
> with my classes than I do with my races. I've got two finals 
> when I get back from here. I haven't been getting any sleep."
> 
> __
> _
> Jason BlankHopkins Marine Station
> Enloe HS '92, Duke '96, Stanford ??  Oceanview Boulevard
>  [EMAIL PROTECTED]   Pacific Grove, CA 93950
> 
> "He is the Emperor. Ethiopia is a country racked by Aids, 
> famine and war
>   and Gebrselassie is their one true success story. He travels the
>country, giving out and receiving respect wherever he goes."
> -- Jos Hermens, on Haile Gebrselassie, Olympic champion 
> at 1m 
> __
> _
> 
> 




RE: t-and-f: "Jabe's" exact quote... Are you sure???

2001-08-14 Thread Kurt Bray


>I watched the Gabe interview as well and I don't remember some of the 
>things
>that you describe.  Although I did watch the ABC interview and perhaps he
>gave another to CBC perhaps?

Actually Gabe is a linguistic treasure - he speaks pure unadulterated 
Incoherent Hippie circa 1968, a dialect that has not been heard since its 
last native speaker died of a drug overdose about 25 years ago.

Imagine what it would mean to Classicists and other scholars of the Latin 
language if Cicero himself suddenly appeared in in their midst.  That's what 
has now happened to people who study the culture of the 1960s.  Linguists, 
historians, and other scholars of that period should be lined up outside 
Gabe's dorm room to record his speech, ask him questions, and request his 
help in translating baffling Hippie quotes from the past.  An opportunity is 
being missed here.


Kurt Bray


_
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp




t-and-f: Edwards and double standards

2001-08-14 Thread Randall Northam

> Britain's Jonathan Edwards has attacked the double-standards in athletics
> which resulted in the persecution of women's 5,000m champion Olga Yegorova,
> labelled a drug cheat at the World Championships in Canada.
Strikes me as a bit rich for Jonathan Edwards to be talking about double
standards.
This is the touchy-feely, ever smiling (except when he loses) christian
athlete who retains Andy Norman as his agent. For those of you who don't
know Norman is the man who rang journalist and coach Cliff Temple, a much
liked man in the athletics world, and said he would accuse Temple of sexual
harrassment of the women Temple coached.
Temple, who had other problems, later took his own life and a coroner's jury
said Norman's phone call, which Temple taped, had tipped him over the edge.
Norman lost his job as British athletics promotions officer because of this
and other things I promised the tribunal who decided his fate not to reveal.
But Edwards kept him on as his agent. Seems there's turning the other cheek
as long as someone keeps pulling in the checks.
Randall Northam




Re: t-and-f: Post Edmonton thoughts

2001-08-14 Thread Ed & Dana Parrot

> Message text written by INTERNET:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >I've got a two-word answer to that line of thinking: Houston and
Cerritos.
> As in the nationals of '89 and '90, where the domestic version of the
> sport, imho, came close to dieing at the top end.
> <
>
> And I have a one-word answer to the same line of thinking.   Wimbledon.

Absolutely.  If you pay five figures as far down as 16th place in every
event.  And add a century long tradition of being the most prestigious meet
in the world.  And make it one of the four meets in the year that everyone
considers a "major".  And we need to let everyone compete, not just U.S.
athletes.  My point is that Wimbledon is far different than USATF nationals
and there is no immediate hope on the horizon that the money will be
available for it to become more like Wimbledon.

It's not that we can't learn from the way tennis (and golf) do things.  But
the money has to come from somewhere.

- Ed Parrot




t-and-f: Entine's flaws

2001-08-14 Thread Andre Sammartino

Jon,

I don't understand where you are getting these numbers from... each time 
you reappear on this list to boost book sales you undermine your 
credentials substanitally by citing WRONG numbers.  Where is the 800m 
evidence you cite?

my check of Peter Larsson's top 100 performances all-time produces this 
list of non-"africans"

3  1.41,73Sebastian Coe
11 1.42,33Sebastian Coe
18 1.42,58Vebjørn Rodal
39 1.42,88Steve Cram
40 1.42,90André Bucher
42 1.42,92André Bucher
43 1.42,95Vebjørn Rodal
45 1.42,97Peter Elliott
54 1.43,07Sebastian Coe
60 1.43,12André Bucher
64 1.43,17Yuriy Borzakovskiy
67 1.43,19Steve Cram
72 1.43,22Steve Cram
75 1.43,25Vebjørn Rodal
84 1.43,31André Bucher
91 1.43,34André Bucher
98 1.43,38Sebastian Coe
98 1.43,38Rich Kenah
http://www.algonet.se/~pela2/mtrack/m_800ok.htm

That's 18, not 8!

And if you in fact meant all time performers, then the top 100 at Hanserik 
Pettersson's site includes these lot (i may have a couple wrong here 
through not knowing who/"what" they are/were (ugly terminology, but we are 
playing this game)):

2 1.41.73  Sebastian Coe
5 1.42.58  Vebjörn Rodal
12 1.42.88  Steve Cram
13 1.42.90  André Bucher
14 1.42.97  Peter Elliott
22 1.43.17  Yuriy Borzakovskiy
31 1.43.38  Richard Kenah
37 1.43.56  Rob Druppers
45 1.43.65  Willi Wülbeck
49 1.43.74  Andrea Longo
52 1.43.7h  Marcello Fiasconaro
53 1.43.84  Olaf Beyer
54 1.43.84  Martin Steele
55 1.43.86  Ivo Van Damme
57 1.43.88  Donato Sabia
58 1.43.88  Tom McKean
59 1.43.90  Einars Tupuritis
62 1.43.91  Johan Botha
63 1.43.92  John Marshall
65 1.43.92  Andrea Benvenuti
67 1.43.95  Philippe Collard
68 1.43.95  Giuseppe D'Urso
71 1.43.98  David Sharpe
72 1.43.98  Bram Som
73 1.43.9h  José Marajo
75 1.44.01  Marko Koers
76 1.44.03  Peter Braun
79 1.44.07  Lucijano Susanj
80 1.44.09  Steve Ovett
81 1.44.10  Vladimir Graudyn
82 1.44.10  Ari Suhonen
84 1.44.14  Lee Jin-il
88 1.44.22  Nils Schumann
92 1.44.25  Vasiliy Matveyev
94 1.44.38  Ryszard Ostrowski
96 1.44.3h+  Peter George Snell
97 1.44.3hy-.6  Jim Ryun
98 1.44.3h  Dave Wottle
http://w1.196.telia.com/~u19603668/atb-m04.htm

That's 38...

Please explain your sources...


Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2001 17:02:57 -0700
From: Jon Entine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

...
I did discuss this numerous times, and most recently in my post a while back
about "why Brits" will are doing so lousy. The FACT is...and you can check
the lists of top times and top runners..is that you and others have
swallowed a MYTH that there were a lot of runners of "US, UK and Northern
European stock" that were setting the world on fire years ago. There were a
few great races by a handful of great runners such as Cram and Coe competing
in a field in which most of the rest of the world did not compete,
particularly runners from Africa, most of Asia, and South America.
Now that the field is more level, the best talent comes to the top. Again,
check the lists of top times and runners... Those so-called "great" times of
years ago pale in comparison RELATIVE to the population numbers AND overall.
In the 800 metres, for instance, 92 of the top 100 times are held by those
of mostly African ancestry. Was Coe a great runner. Of course. And we will
always have great runners. But he was no where near the consistent level of
a Kipketer or Cruz.
...




t-and-f: re: Edwards thoughts on Yegorova

2001-08-14 Thread Kebba Tolbert

I actually agree with Edwards. IF Szabo or Radcliffe were accused of doping 
and then cleared would they sit out?

I've actually never seen the IAAF clear someone so quickly (think Reynolds, 
Slaney, Ottey, Richardson, Sotomayor, Mitchell). They usually drag things 
out even when there's compelling evidence that the offense may not have 
actually occured or that there were inaccuracies or problems with the 
testing.

So, for them to clear her in a matter of days leads me to believe that she 
either wasn't guilty or that there were serious problems with the testing 
protocol.

The other problem i had with the whole thing is even if she was positive 
there were people running in the meet that everyone "knows" are using and no 
one says a word.

Kebba Tolbert ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
=
Men's and Women's Jumps & Multis Coach
Syracuse University Track & Field



>From: "Eamonn Condon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: "Eamonn Condon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: "\"Athletics\"" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: t-and-f: Edwards slams treatment of Yegorova
>Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 15:34:44 -0700
>
>The Irish Times
>Tuesday, August 14, 2001
>
>
>
>
>Britain's Jonathan Edwards has attacked the double-standards in athletics
>which resulted in the persecution of women's 5,000m champion Olga Yegorova,
>labelled a drug cheat at the World Championships in Canada.
>
>The gold medal-winning triple jumper said the Russian, who tested positive
>for the banned substance EPO but was subsequently 'cleared' on a
>technicality, was an easy target and he questioned whether the treatment
>would have been as harsh had it been another nation involved.
>
>He even suggested that had it been a British athlete, a campaign would have
>been launched declaring their innocence.
>
>His opinion is in stark contrast to Great Britain women's team captain 
>Paula
>Radcliffe, who made a very public trackside protest in Edmonton with a
>banner stating 'EPO cheats out'.
>
>But Edwards, in his column in The Times, said: "I wonder what the reaction
>would have been if she was a Canadian or, heaven forbid, a British athlete.
>
>"Would the poster have then read 'John Smith is innocent?'
>
>"She (Yegorova) cannot speak English, and is an athletic nobody without
>powerful allies to lobby on her behalf.
>
>"But perhaps the real nail in her coffin is her nationality. She has
>suffered from guilt by association, linked in our minds to the systematic
>doping by the Soviet Union."
>
>The International Association of Athletics Federation allowed the Russian 
>to
>run in Edmonton after it was discovered her drugs test was not carried out
>properly, rendering the findings invalid.
>
>It prompted a backlash from both competitors and the general public.
>Yegorova's winning finish in the 5,000m was accompanied by jeers and the
>athlete immediately departed the track afterwards, shunning a lap of 
>honour.
>
>"I actually felt sorry for her," added Edwards.
>
>"I feel she has been harshly and unfairly treated and there has been little
>dispassionate debate on the issue because nobody wishes to be appear to be
>giving tacit approval to drug-taking.
>
>"It goes without saying that this is not what I am doing but the knee-jerk
>demonisation of the Russian athlete has left a sour taste in my mouth.
>
>"Whatever our gut feeling, I do not believe we can make an objective
>judgement on Yegorova's guilt or otherwise."
>
>Eamonn Condon
>www.RunnersGoal.com
>


_
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t-and-f: Radcliffe fears revenge of drug cheats

2001-08-14 Thread Eamonn Condon

The Irish Times
Tuesday, August 14, 2001




Paula Radcliffe today said that she could be the victim of a 'drugs sting'
following her protest over Olga Yegorova's participation in the World
Championships.

World Cross Country Champion Radcliffe was incensed after the IAAF allowed
Yegorova to compete in the 5,000 metres at Edmonton even though she tested
positive for the banned performance-enhancing hormone EPO at a meeting in
Paris last month.

The IAAF was forced to let the Russian athlete run on a technicality - a
ruling that prompted Radcliffe to hold up a placard saying 'EPO CHEATS OUT'
during the 5,000m heat.

The demonstration of the 27-year-old British women's team captain attracted
considerable attention and prompted UK athletics chief David Moorcroft to
suggest she could be set up because of her campaign to clean-up the sport.

Radcliffe herself also harbours fears that she might be targeted in this way
and cited the case of German distance runner Dieter Baumann who was found to
have taken nandrolone, even though he was a vigorous anti-drugs campaigner.
Baumann claimed his toothpaste had been spiked with the banned substance.

"If you put your neck on the line and go out on a limb and you rock the
boat, then you're taking a risk," said Radcliffe.

"Obviously it does put me out on a limb a bit but I'm just going to have to
be careful and watch my back.

"It would be a sad day for the sport if something like that did take place.

"But you have to look at situations like Dieter Baumann's and ask did
something happen there?

"He was very outspoken about the issue in the same way I am. Maybe he was,
or maybe he wasn't, but I believe there was a strong case for him being set
up."

Radcliffe also dismissed today's comments made by Britain's World
Championship gold medal-winning triple jumper Jonathan Edwards who asked the
question had the EPO cheats been British, would Paula's protest had been
quite so vociferous.

"In response to Jonathan, had Olga been a British athlete, I would have gone
about it in the same way.

"Jonathan was not having a go at me, he was just making his point. My point
is that there was no element of doubt - it was only a technicality on which
Olga Yegorova had been cleared.

"EPO is not a substance that can get into the body naturally, even she isn't
arguing about that.

"Jonathan accepts that everybody is entitled to their opinion - if Jonathan
feels strongly about something he'll stand up and say it.

"My point is not with Yegorova herself. She made the decision herself and I
might not agree with her for doing it but she should not have been able to
compete. Everybody should be on a level playing field.

"Had it been a British athlete I would have done exactly the same. It had
nothing to do with whether it was a Russian athlete or someone from any
other country, the point is you're abiding by the laws of the sport."

Radcliffe, who came fourth in the 10,000m final at Edmonton, insisted that
she had no regrets over her actions in Canada and revealed that she would
remain outspoken on the issue.

"I felt I had to make a stand so that I could live with myself as much as
anything else.

"If I had views and sat back without doing anything about them, then it
would be like I was accepting the situation.

"I do feel passionately about this. Athletics is a great sport and a pure
sport. It's about getting to the line first, who throws furthest and who
jumps furthest. It's not about using artificial aid to get there.

"The sport is predominantly clean - drug taking is not rife. Athletes should
stand up and say 'Look it's our sport and we're not going to let it be
ridiculed'."

Eamonn Condon
www.RunnersGoal.com




t-and-f: Edwards slams treatment of Yegorova

2001-08-14 Thread Eamonn Condon

The Irish Times
Tuesday, August 14, 2001




Britain's Jonathan Edwards has attacked the double-standards in athletics
which resulted in the persecution of women's 5,000m champion Olga Yegorova,
labelled a drug cheat at the World Championships in Canada.

The gold medal-winning triple jumper said the Russian, who tested positive
for the banned substance EPO but was subsequently 'cleared' on a
technicality, was an easy target and he questioned whether the treatment
would have been as harsh had it been another nation involved.

He even suggested that had it been a British athlete, a campaign would have
been launched declaring their innocence.

His opinion is in stark contrast to Great Britain women's team captain Paula
Radcliffe, who made a very public trackside protest in Edmonton with a
banner stating 'EPO cheats out'.

But Edwards, in his column in The Times, said: "I wonder what the reaction
would have been if she was a Canadian or, heaven forbid, a British athlete.

"Would the poster have then read 'John Smith is innocent?'

"She (Yegorova) cannot speak English, and is an athletic nobody without
powerful allies to lobby on her behalf.

"But perhaps the real nail in her coffin is her nationality. She has
suffered from guilt by association, linked in our minds to the systematic
doping by the Soviet Union."

The International Association of Athletics Federation allowed the Russian to
run in Edmonton after it was discovered her drugs test was not carried out
properly, rendering the findings invalid.

It prompted a backlash from both competitors and the general public.
Yegorova's winning finish in the 5,000m was accompanied by jeers and the
athlete immediately departed the track afterwards, shunning a lap of honour.

"I actually felt sorry for her," added Edwards.

"I feel she has been harshly and unfairly treated and there has been little
dispassionate debate on the issue because nobody wishes to be appear to be
giving tacit approval to drug-taking.

"It goes without saying that this is not what I am doing but the knee-jerk
demonisation of the Russian athlete has left a sour taste in my mouth.

"Whatever our gut feeling, I do not believe we can make an objective
judgement on Yegorova's guilt or otherwise."

Eamonn Condon
www.RunnersGoal.com




RE: t-and-f: "Jabe's" exact quote... Are you sure???

2001-08-14 Thread Hanks, Jeffrey S

It sounds like he gave that interview specifically to RunnersWorld.  He gave
another interview that I saw on ABC that included a few other choice bits
(and no mention of the SAT or of wiping the field in Athens).  I have it on
tape, so maybe I'll go through it tonight and see if I can't type up the
interview and re-post it here in the morning.

Jeff 

-Original Message-
From: Jason Michael Blank [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 2:52 PM
To: t-and-f
Subject: RE: t-and-f: "Jabe's" exact quote... Are you sure???


> Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 14:12:33 -0400
> From: "Michael Contopoulos" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: RE: t-and-f: "Jabe's" exact quote... Are you sure???
>
> I got that quote driectly from the runnersworld.com website I believe.
>
> M

You're right.  Here it is again, copied and pasted from
http://www.runnersworld.com/edmonton01/home.html
What an idiot.

Gabe Jennings, Heat 2: "You saw me get everything out of myself that I had
out there.
If you knew my training, you'd laugh. It's been under 20 miles a week.
But it's a thrill to compete on this big stage. This was so much more
encouraging than the Olympics. I was not scared. I looked El Guerrouj in
the eyes, and I was not scared. I own him. I own all these guys. Give me
two years and I'll be wiping them all up off the track. I have a vision of
winning at Athens in three years, and the vision starts with conquering
all my fears.
"It's all about fear. I've been fighting that at Stanford. I got into
academic trouble this year. I've been fighting fears about my SAT scores
and being at Stanford and being a math major. I mean, I can't count to
10...well, maybe I can, but square root of two, what do I know? I've been
studying my ass off, but I need more help with my classes than I do with
my races. I've got two finals when I get back from here. I haven't been
getting any sleep."

___
Jason BlankHopkins Marine Station
Enloe HS '92, Duke '96, Stanford ??  Oceanview Boulevard
 [EMAIL PROTECTED]   Pacific Grove, CA 93950

"He is the Emperor. Ethiopia is a country racked by Aids, famine and war
  and Gebrselassie is their one true success story. He travels the
   country, giving out and receiving respect wherever he goes."
-- Jos Hermens, on Haile Gebrselassie, Olympic champion at 1m
___





Re: FW: t-and-f: Let the USA bashing begin!

2001-08-14 Thread GHTFNedit

In a message dated Tue, 14 Aug 2001  5:33:07 PM Eastern Daylight Time, "Highfill, 
Floyd" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> Everyone has their opinion on the effect of the temperature but the altitude
> (2000') is worth about 1-1/2 minutes (or 3-4 sec per mile).
> The heat couldn't have been worth more than about 5 minutes overall unless
> you think Abera was capable of running under the WR on a "good" day.  This
> still puts the Americans over 2:20 under the best of circumstances.>  

Must have been the altitude (which aids the sprints) which allowed Abera to run the 
last 300m in 44.7 (a sub-60 pace).

gh



t-and-f: World's

2001-08-14 Thread Philip J Wyckoff

Major booboo on my last post. I meant end to end 5.09's for the 5000 of
course. Last 400 in 54 in the 10,000.

Phil Wyckoff


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RE: t-and-f: "Jabe's" exact quote... Are you sure???

2001-08-14 Thread Jason Michael Blank

> Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 14:12:33 -0400
> From: "Michael Contopoulos" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: RE: t-and-f: "Jabe's" exact quote... Are you sure???
>
> I got that quote driectly from the runnersworld.com website I believe.
>
> M

You're right.  Here it is again, copied and pasted from
http://www.runnersworld.com/edmonton01/home.html
What an idiot.

Gabe Jennings, Heat 2: "You saw me get everything out of myself that I had
out there.
If you knew my training, you'd laugh. It's been under 20 miles a week.
But it's a thrill to compete on this big stage. This was so much more
encouraging than the Olympics. I was not scared. I looked El Guerrouj in
the eyes, and I was not scared. I own him. I own all these guys. Give me
two years and I'll be wiping them all up off the track. I have a vision of
winning at Athens in three years, and the vision starts with conquering
all my fears.
"It's all about fear. I've been fighting that at Stanford. I got into
academic trouble this year. I've been fighting fears about my SAT scores
and being at Stanford and being a math major. I mean, I can't count to
10...well, maybe I can, but square root of two, what do I know? I've been
studying my ass off, but I need more help with my classes than I do with
my races. I've got two finals when I get back from here. I haven't been
getting any sleep."

___
Jason BlankHopkins Marine Station
Enloe HS '92, Duke '96, Stanford ??  Oceanview Boulevard
 [EMAIL PROTECTED]   Pacific Grove, CA 93950

"He is the Emperor. Ethiopia is a country racked by Aids, famine and war
  and Gebrselassie is their one true success story. He travels the
   country, giving out and receiving respect wherever he goes."
-- Jos Hermens, on Haile Gebrselassie, Olympic champion at 1m
___




Re: t-and-f: Post Edmonton thoughts

2001-08-14 Thread Robert Hersh

Message text written by INTERNET:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>I've got a two-word answer to that line of thinking: Houston and Cerritos.
As in the nationals of '89 and '90, where the domestic version of the
sport, imho, came close to dieing at the top end.
<

And I have a one-word answer to the same line of thinking.   Wimbledon.  



FW: t-and-f: Let the USA bashing begin!

2001-08-14 Thread Highfill, Floyd

Everyone has their opinion on the effect of the temperature but the altitude
(2000') is worth about 1-1/2 minutes (or 3-4 sec per mile).
The heat couldn't have been worth more than about 5 minutes overall unless
you think Abera was capable of running under the WR on a "good" day.  This
still puts the Americans over 2:20 under the best of circumstances.
 
Floyd Highfill

> -Original Message-
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 3:03 PM
> To:   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject:  Re: t-and-f: Let the USA bashing begin!
> 
> 
> Umm - the men's race might have been at 27 degrees centigrade (about 80 F)
> - and it might have been at 2,000 feet above sea level - but 2:26+ for our
> best male finisher is still pretty damned embarrassing.
> 
> Now, I'm not going to rag on Josh Cox - hell - he finished the race.  But
> when the top three American finishers averaged 2:28 and change, it's not a
> good day.  Anyone have 10K or half-marathon splits on them?
> 
> Phil
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  
> 
> "Prof. Uri Goldbourt"
> 
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]To:
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> il>  cc:
> 
> Sent by: Subject: Re: t-and-f:
> Let the USA bashing begin!  
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 
> oregon.edu
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> 08/14/01 12:38 PM
> 
> Please respond to
> 
> "Prof. Uri Goldbourt"
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Very true!
> 
> The men's race began at temperaures of 27 centigrade which hardly dropped
> during the ensuing 2 hours. The wpmen's race began at 17 and rose to 23.
> That's a world of difference.
> 
> UG
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Date: éåí ùðé 13 àåâåñè 2001 10:26
> Subject: t-and-f: Let the USA bashing begin!
> 
> 
> >Y ask:
> >
> >Brother Phil of Chi-town Trib has penned the obligatory postmortem on how
> utterly disgusting the USA did in the medals race. That's fine. He has a
> newshole to fill.
> >
> >But I object to the cheap shot implicit in his statement:
> >
> >That Lidia Simon of Romania ran faster to win the women's marathon Sunday
> (2 hours, 26 minutes 1 second) than the U.S. leader in the Aug. 3 men's
> marathon (Josh Cox, 35th, 2:26:52) seemed to sum up the U.S. performance.
> >
> >That's oh-so-cute. But also oh-so-unfair.  There was literally a
> night-and-day difference between the evening start of the men's marathon
> and
> the 8 a.m. start of the women's race.  A woman running 2:26 in the heat of
> that first afternoon would have been a god.
> >
> >Ken Stone
> >http://www.masterstrack.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 



Re: t-and-f: Let the USA bashing begin!

2001-08-14 Thread philip_ponebshek


Umm - the men's race might have been at 27 degrees centigrade (about 80 F)
- and it might have been at 2,000 feet above sea level - but 2:26+ for our
best male finisher is still pretty damned embarrassing.

Now, I'm not going to rag on Josh Cox - hell - he finished the race.  But
when the top three American finishers averaged 2:28 and change, it's not a
good day.  Anyone have 10K or half-marathon splits on them?

Phil




   

"Prof. Uri Goldbourt"  

<[EMAIL PROTECTED]To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, 
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
il>  cc:   

Sent by: Subject: Re: t-and-f: Let the USA 
bashing begin!  
[EMAIL PROTECTED]  

oregon.edu 

   

   

08/14/01 12:38 PM  

Please respond to  

"Prof. Uri Goldbourt"  

   

   





Very true!

The men's race began at temperaures of 27 centigrade which hardly dropped
during the ensuing 2 hours. The wpmen's race began at 17 and rose to 23.
That's a world of difference.

UG

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: éåí ùðé 13 àåâåñè 2001 10:26
Subject: t-and-f: Let the USA bashing begin!


>Y ask:
>
>Brother Phil of Chi-town Trib has penned the obligatory postmortem on how
utterly disgusting the USA did in the medals race. That's fine. He has a
newshole to fill.
>
>But I object to the cheap shot implicit in his statement:
>
>That Lidia Simon of Romania ran faster to win the women's marathon Sunday
(2 hours, 26 minutes 1 second) than the U.S. leader in the Aug. 3 men's
marathon (Josh Cox, 35th, 2:26:52) seemed to sum up the U.S. performance.
>
>That's oh-so-cute. But also oh-so-unfair.  There was literally a
night-and-day difference between the evening start of the men's marathon
and
the 8 a.m. start of the women's race.  A woman running 2:26 in the heat of
that first afternoon would have been a god.
>
>Ken Stone
>http://www.masterstrack.com
>
>
>
>









t-and-f: post-Edmonton

2001-08-14 Thread Marko Velikonja

Jim Gerweck wrote:

>I think the WCs have lost luster ever since the IAAF went for the
money 
and 
doubled the frequency of the meet...I think switching from quad- to
biennial WCs was one of Primo's worse decisions (although I'm sure
everyone's the richer for it, so I doubt we'll see a return to the old
schedule)

I understand this argument, but I still think a biennial Worlds is a
good thing.  As it is, track and field has far too few meaningful
events that draw worldwide interest, and as a fan it's almost a little
depressing at the end of a World Championships to think that it will be
another two years before there's another meet that really counts.  

Tennis and golf have four major championships every year.  Is it really
too much for track and field to have three major championships every
FOUR years?  I'd actually go so far as to suggest that they scrap the
European Championships and hold a Worlds in even-numbered years, too. 
Next year will essentially be a year off from meaningful competition
for American and African athletes, and I don't see that as helping the
sport. 

BTW, I like to grouse as much as anyone about U.S. television coverage,
but must say that ESPN provided the best coverage I've ever seen on
U.S. television.  Even the 10Ks received pretty extensive coverage
(though I can't fathom why in each race they cut away to show us Larry,
Terry(?) and  D W I G H T  talking for about a minute about the race we
were no longer seeing). It was no match for the Triplecast or watching
the Atlanta games on BBC, but some credit is due them.  

Marko Velikonja

__
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Re: t-and-f: MJ BAD for the sport- JD on the other hand...

2001-08-14 Thread Michael Contopoulos

Its funny, that is actually probably one of the few things that I thought 
was worthwhile comming out of Mr. 19.32's mouth.  What he said, 
strategically, made a lot of sense.  In hindsight, I would actually hope 
that Pierce and his coach review the WC footage and realize that MJ's advice 
was probably the better move.  Either way, in the end it didn't matter, so 
no biggie this time.

M

>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: Re: t-and-f: MJ BAD for the sport- JD on the other hand...
>Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 15:33:29 -0500
>
>
>
>
>
>Larry Morgan wrote:
>
> >I don't think MJ is bad for the future of the sport, although I do think
>he
> >should take a few tv commentating classes. For example, in the rounds of
>the
> >4x400, Andrew Pierce had no other place to go than on the outside 
>shoulder
>of
> >the German runner coming down the homestretch, but MJ blasted him for
>running
> >in lane 2. What was he suppose to do, go through him? Knowledge of the
>sport
> >has little to do with commentating the sport.
>
>Actually, MJ didn't only blast Pierce - he stated exactly what he thought
>Pierce should have done - backed off, followed the German through the
>curve, and then accelerated coming into the home stretch.
>
>I'm assuming that Pierce didn't plan on running in lane 2 the whole turn,
>but that he didn't expect the German to be able to hold him off for so
>long.
>
>But I'm sure that they want MJ to give his opinions - that's what they're
>paying for!
>
>Phil
>
>
>
>


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Re: t-and-f: Post Edmonton thoughts

2001-08-14 Thread GHTFNedit

In a message dated Mon, 13 Aug 2001  8:08:47 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

> >Was a hard meet to get up for for some reason .. Didn't seem to have the 
> usual >electricity associated with the Worlds
> I think the WCs have lost luster ever since the IAAF went for the money and 
> doubled the frequency of the meet. The post-Olympic year WC seems to be 
> particularly hard hit, whereas at least the pre-Olympic meet has the 
> anticipation of the impending Games to heighten the excitement.
> 
> Sorry, but I think switching from quad- to biennial WCs was one of Primo's worse 
>decisions (although I'm sure everyone's the richer for it, so I doubt  we'll see a 
>return to the old schedule)>

I've got a two-word answer to that line of thinking: Houston and Cerritos. As in the 
nationals of '89 and '90, where the domestic version of the sport, imho, came close to 
dieing at the top end.

The doubling of the Worlds and the concomitant rise of Goodwill as a big-bucks meet 
meant that every year's nationals was a must-go destination for the nation's top 
atheltes, instead of just half the years.

And I fear that next year's nationals (w/ Goodwill unfortunately moving to this year), 
with only the single-athlete World Cup as motivation, will once again be kaka. 

Craig and Co. are going to have to be very creative in making whatever site we get 
(Stanford still the leading--indeed, ONLY--grapevine candidate) able to host an 
artistic success. i.e., one w/ a significatn number of the big names.

gh



Re: t-and-f: MJ BAD for the sport- JD on the other hand...

2001-08-14 Thread philip_ponebshek





Larry Morgan wrote:

>I don't think MJ is bad for the future of the sport, although I do think
he
>should take a few tv commentating classes. For example, in the rounds of
the
>4x400, Andrew Pierce had no other place to go than on the outside shoulder
of
>the German runner coming down the homestretch, but MJ blasted him for
running
>in lane 2. What was he suppose to do, go through him? Knowledge of the
sport
>has little to do with commentating the sport.

Actually, MJ didn't only blast Pierce - he stated exactly what he thought
Pierce should have done - backed off, followed the German through the
curve, and then accelerated coming into the home stretch.

I'm assuming that Pierce didn't plan on running in lane 2 the whole turn,
but that he didn't expect the German to be able to hold him off for so
long.

But I'm sure that they want MJ to give his opinions - that's what they're
paying for!

Phil







t-and-f: Calvin Harrison: Drug Suspenion

2001-08-14 Thread Michael Contopoulos

I was looking at the all time high school times in the 400 and Calvin 
Harrison ran 45.07... but its listed under "drug suspension."  Does anyone 
have the story on this?  Also, he is on the list anyway (6th) with a 
45.25... but if he was suspended in 1993, wouldn't that mark also be 
suspended since it was in 1993?

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t-and-f: Another hs 400 ?

2001-08-14 Thread Michael Contopoulos

What did Steve Lewis run in the 400 in high school?  Didn't he win the OG 
when he was 19 in like 43.???

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Re: t-and-f: Let the USA bashing begin!

2001-08-14 Thread goldbu1

These may have been the recordings made at the very END of these races- even 
though when the first men finishers entered the stadium it was - in the shade- 
clearly above 19. I know how wew were dressed. We would have neded more than T-
shirts in the media stands at 19 deg. C.

Regards,

UG
--

They began with Temps As in my message (according to curent TV reports).

UG

   According to the IAAF results book, the men's marathon temperature
> was 
> 19C, and the women's temp was 25C.
> 
> I don't believe the listed men's temp, but I can tell you that as
> the 
> race progressed into the evening, there was considerable shade. 
> 
> I ran shortly after the women's mara ended, and I can tell you it
> was 
> hot.  That Sunday was the hottest day of the meet.   
> 
> 
> Philip Hersh
> 



Re: t-and-f: Let the USA bashing begin!

2001-08-14 Thread PhilipH731

According to the IAAF results book, the men's marathon temperature was 
19C, and the women's temp was 25C.

I don't believe the listed men's temp, but I can tell you that as the 
race progressed into the evening, there was considerable shade. 

I ran shortly after the women's mara ended, and I can tell you it was 
hot.  That Sunday was the hottest day of the meet.   


Philip Hersh



Re: t-and-f: MJ BAD for the sport- JD on the other hand...

2001-08-14 Thread NPM2RUN

Actually Larry, while i am not a big MJ fan, in his defense, his comment was 
the Pierce had run the whole turn on the outside, thus running farther, and 
said he might run out of gas. I thought it was a very good comment, that the 
casual fan wouldnt have realized, had Andrew indeed run out of gas. (which he 
really didnt)

It does seem alot of people mis-quote things on this list as for Gabe, 
his wack job bullsh#t babble is really getting old, and did anyone else 
notice that the reporter was basically waiting there to talk to him because 
he knew he would have something "wacky"to say.  the TV people were 
basically laughing at Gabe afterward  Holman ran faster and carried 
himself with much more class, yet everyone here used to just rip him, there 
is somethng to be said for the class he carried both on and off the track

nick 



Re: t-and-f: WC mens 4 x 100 thoughts

2001-08-14 Thread Kebba Tolbert

After watching Mitchell run great legs this weekend there's no doubt that if 
the US had gone mitchell to lewis in 96 we would have won the gold.

Kebba Tolbert ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
=
Men's and Women's Jumps & Multis Coach
Syracuse University Track & Field



>From: Phil Weishaar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: Phil Weishaar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: t-and-f: WC mens 4 x 100 thoughts
>Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 14:50:10 -0500
>
>  Don't you get the feeling the world missed a great opprotunity to 
>have
>someone beat the US in the 4 x 100.  I know they won by a large margin but
>how interesting it have been with Jamaica, Cuba, Great Britian, around the
>US instead of Japan, Australia etc.  37.9 is not that great of time for WC
>national teams.
>  Mickey Grimes might be the luckiest sprinter ever to run for the US.
>Here he is leading off the 4 x 100 final after finishing 6th in the SEMI'S
>at nationals with a windy 10.25.  This has to be the slowest sprinter the 
>US
>has put on a relay in eons.  Just think of all the sprinters who have made
>the finals during the trials  and never got to run the relay.  How many
>injuries had to occur before he got his chance?  I guess it also shows how
>deep the US could go.  And of course guys like Gatlin didn't even try.
>  I felt Ato Boldon really ran a strong leg for Trinidad.  He clearly
>beat Bernard Williams.  Could Ato concentrate on 200 and win?
>  The only question in the 4 x 100 seems to be if the US can make it
>around the track.  It sure would be nice to see a competition in which 
>crisp
>passing instead of mediocre safe passing became important to win.
>  Thanks Dennis for all the memories.  I always liked the "Green 
>Machine".
>
>phil weishaar
>


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t-and-f: WC mens 4 x 100 thoughts

2001-08-14 Thread Phil Weishaar

 Don't you get the feeling the world missed a great opprotunity to have
someone beat the US in the 4 x 100.  I know they won by a large margin but
how interesting it have been with Jamaica, Cuba, Great Britian, around the
US instead of Japan, Australia etc.  37.9 is not that great of time for WC
national teams.
 Mickey Grimes might be the luckiest sprinter ever to run for the US.
Here he is leading off the 4 x 100 final after finishing 6th in the SEMI'S
at nationals with a windy 10.25.  This has to be the slowest sprinter the US
has put on a relay in eons.  Just think of all the sprinters who have made
the finals during the trials  and never got to run the relay.  How many
injuries had to occur before he got his chance?  I guess it also shows how
deep the US could go.  And of course guys like Gatlin didn't even try.
 I felt Ato Boldon really ran a strong leg for Trinidad.  He clearly
beat Bernard Williams.  Could Ato concentrate on 200 and win?
 The only question in the 4 x 100 seems to be if the US can make it
around the track.  It sure would be nice to see a competition in which crisp
passing instead of mediocre safe passing became important to win.
 Thanks Dennis for all the memories.  I always liked the "Green Machine".

phil weishaar




Re: t-and-f: Let the USA bashing begin!

2001-08-14 Thread Prof. Uri Goldbourt

Very true!

The men's race began at temperaures of 27 centigrade which hardly dropped
during the ensuing 2 hours. The wpmen's race began at 17 and rose to 23.
That's a world of difference.

UG

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: éåí ùðé 13 àåâåñè 2001 10:26
Subject: t-and-f: Let the USA bashing begin!


>Y ask:
>
>Brother Phil of Chi-town Trib has penned the obligatory postmortem on how
utterly disgusting the USA did in the medals race. That's fine. He has a
newshole to fill.
>
>But I object to the cheap shot implicit in his statement:
>
>That Lidia Simon of Romania ran faster to win the women's marathon Sunday
(2 hours, 26 minutes 1 second) than the U.S. leader in the Aug. 3 men's
marathon (Josh Cox, 35th, 2:26:52) seemed to sum up the U.S. performance.
>
>That's oh-so-cute. But also oh-so-unfair.  There was literally a
night-and-day difference between the evening start of the men's marathon and
the 8 a.m. start of the women's race.  A woman running 2:26 in the heat of
that first afternoon would have been a god.
>
>Ken Stone
>http://www.masterstrack.com
>
>
>
>




Re: t-and-f: MJ BAD for the sport- JD on the other hand...

2001-08-14 Thread LOVE91397

Dear Listers,

I don't think MJ is bad for the future of the sport, although I do think he 
should take a few tv commentating classes. For example, in the rounds of the 
4x400, Andrew Pierce had no other place to go than on the outside shoulder of 
the German runner coming down the homestretch, but MJ blasted him for running 
in lane 2. What was he suppose to do, go through him? Knowledge of the sport 
has little to do with commentating the sport.


Larry A. Morgan, Sr.
Elizabeth Heat TC



t-and-f: World's

2001-08-14 Thread Philip J Wyckoff

Just got back from Edmonton. Haven't had a chance to read many posts, so
I'll probably be repeating some stuff.

The meet itself was excellently produced. Those Video screens make a huge
difference! They were well used and offered some great views when I was
roving the stadium and sitting in the North end by the Pole Vaulters.
Hersh and Hill did a bang up job of keeping us informed, so much better
than John Ridgeon and Pepe Le Pew, although I'm damned if I knew Hill
spoke such fluent French!

Most enjoyed event: Woman's PV. Dragila and Feofanova going at it hammer
and tongs. What a contrast in athletes. Dragila built solidly, Feofanova
looking like a waif.

Interesting stats: In the second 1500 semi, where Kevin Sullivan no
showed, they ran 53 something for the 3d lap. In the 5000 the last 1600
was 4.03; the last 800 1.54+. Just goes to show the best 1500 man does
not necessarily win these kinds of races. Reminded me of 1972 5000 with
Viren doing 4.01 for last 1600 in much slower race.  In the 10,000 the
first 2000 was 5.09, as was the last.

Fan fun: I couldn't stand the breakfast at my motel so went next door to
the Holiday Inn and found out the British team was there. Had Buffet
every morning amongst the likes of Edwards, Macey, Backley. Saw Edwards
outside in  a photo op standing on a grass knoll with his medal, with the
back drop being the traffic on Calgary trail and a huge IKEA store.

 While waiting for the plane at Edmonton I recognized Mike Conley sitting
across from me. He ended up across the aisle from me in the plane. As we
were deplaning he 
motioned me to go ahead of him and I couldn't resist saying: "No, after
you Mr. Conley." He gave me a look of what I took to be surprised
pleasure at being recognized. Two of the greatest triple jumpers ever in
one week, wow.

Fans behind me told me two MJ stories. 1. They were sitting in a
Restaurant when they noticed MJ sitting at the next table. When he
realized he'd been spotted he asked the manager to move him to a booth,
far away. 2. One of the guys was a steward on an airplane with MJ aboard.
He wrote him a  very nice and obsequious note asking him for a signature
for a friend of his who was  a huge MJ fan. He got his reply when the
plane landed ,and MJ turned at the door and threw a paper airplane at
him...with his signature on it.

On the day of the men's Discus I got to my seat after being over at the
men's HJ and found a camera man and his lady boom operator ensconced in
my seat, which was right next to the athlete's and coaches area. "These
seats are taken" he told me imperiously in that oh so Germanic way. "This
is my seat." I said in my best impression of C.J. Hunter (C.J. outweighs
me by a mere  40 lbs). The lady boom operator realized that diplomacy was
required and started to explain to me that they were filming the middle
aged gentleman on the athletes side. I quickly put 2 and 2 together and
said: "Oh you mean for Lars?" She nodded, pleased by my knowledge of 
Teutonic Disci throwing. I agreed to sit in an, alas too ubiquitous,
unoccupied seat, and she gave me a pin as a payoff. 
The elderly gentleman was Lars Riedel's coach, and he had three cameras
on him at one time or another for German TV. As Alekna was leading early,
all they got was Sturm und Drang. When Buss cleared 2.36 in the HJ, I
politely, if ironically, inquired if they had perhaps had been filming
the wrong coach. The Black Forest itself could have been set alight by
the looks I got. Then Lars came through and his Coach went well
Teutonic, and everybody left happy.

IMHO: I don't think Szabo would have won the 5000 anyway. She dropped
back before the big kick, and I think she was tired from the 1500 and the
heats, as well as the heat and humidity. I had no trouble with Canadian
fans being boosterish. They also cheered on anyone they were told to
cheer on by John Ridgeon, who diplomatically emphasized Canadian 
achievements (?). I can't get all excited by the fuss over Yegorova when
there are so many athletes out there who have not been caught. e.g.
Kederis, (who clearly doesn't have great speed but simply doesn't slow
down like the others), Thannou, Pintusevich, who are built like tanks, et
al.

Most fun: Bahama band! Some fans may have wanted their money back but
there were many around them having a ball. I was downtown accidentally
during Caribbean fest and got to walk with the band and the crowd for a
mile. I lost a few pounds!

Phil Wyckoff

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Re: t-and-f: MJ BAD for the sport- JD on the other hand...

2001-08-14 Thread Dan Kaplan

Two comments that probably weren't mean to be taken the way they sound:

--- Glenn Smith wrote about JD:
> I've always thought he was one of the classiest of the american
> sprinters.  I don't know how he fits in with that HSI group.

Ouch!

--- Michael Contopoulos wrote about MJ:
> He admittedly knows nothing about anything other than the sprints

Which, of course, goes against the grain of this list...

Dan

=
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Re: t-and-f: MJ BAD for the sport- JD on the other hand...

2001-08-14 Thread Conway

Michael wrote:



> Does anyone else think Michael Johnson is bad for the future of track and
> field?  He admittedly knows nothing about anything other than the sprints,
> he was so negative about the outcome of these WC, and he has said in the
> past that track and field should just do away with the distance races (for
> television convenience).
>

I wouldn't say MJ is bad for the future of the sport .. He wasn't that bad
(of course sitting next to Carol Lewis will help you look good) .. I think
he has difficulty putting aside his arrogance when talking about other
athletes .. Its almost as if he still looks upon them as acompetitors .. I
think once he gets over his own competitiveness he will be a good sprint
commentator ..

But if you are offering a choice between he and JD I would have to choose JD
.. Much more personable and outgoing .. Would add a lot of energy to the
booth .. And seems fairly knowledgeable (both inside and outside of the
sprints) ..

Conway Hill
[EMAIL PROTECTED]





RE: t-and-f: MJ BAD for the sport- JD on the other hand...

2001-08-14 Thread Mcewen, Brian T

Regarding the comments on televising distance races:

CBC showed the entire 10k ... YES, the ENTIRE 10k ... save a break for two
commercials.  They also showed about 5 minutes before the race, and 5
minutes after.  I think it aired just after midnight EDT, so it was being
shown live (I think, but am not sure).  

The BAD news:  My 8 hour tape ran out at 25:00 into the race, so I didn't
get it all on tape and my reception (only for CBC, and only THAT race) was
so bad it was barely worth having it on tape.

I am still wading through my 40 hours of taped coverage to see if I
successfully taped the ESPN2 telecast.  That segment should be better
reception and I heard they had a Miruts Yifter/Haile Geb. interview before
the race.  I doubt they devoted 35 minutes of air-time to it though.
 

/Brian

P.S.  I agree with your comments about Steeple, 5k, 10k coverage though, Ed.



RE: t-and-f: "Jabe's" exact quote... Are you sure???

2001-08-14 Thread Michael Contopoulos

I got that quote driectly from the runnersworld.com website I believe.


M


>From: "Hanks, Jeffrey S" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: RE: t-and-f: "Jabe's" exact quote...  Are you sure???
>Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 11:02:37 -0700
>
>I watched the Gabe interview as well and I don't remember some of the 
>things
>that you describe.  Although I did watch the ABC interview and perhaps he
>gave another to CBC perhaps?
>
>Specifically I don't recall him saying that he "owned" El G, or of him
>wiping the track of all of them in 3 years.  Lastly, I don't remember any
>references to his SAT or his math major and inability to count to 10.  It
>may have been a different interview than the one he gave on ABC right after
>the race.
>
>Jeff
>
>-Original Message-
>From: Geoff Pietsch [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2001 10:21 AM
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: Re: t-and-f: "Jabe's" exact quote... Are you sure???
>
>
>I watched this live so I don't have it on tape. Is the "quote" below
>accurate?  I don't recall it the way it is printed here. Yes, Gabe did say
>he looked in El G's eyes, and, as I recall, he made it clear he was no
>longer intimidated, but I do NOT recall him saying he "own"ed El G or 
>anyone
>
>else. And I can't imagine not picking up on such a remark. I also do not
>recall any mention of his SAT scores, and the other stuff about his 
>academic
>
>worries seems very different than what I remember. Does anyone have it on
>tape to verify?
>As for Gabe's dropping out because he was undertrained, I recall 
>Bikila's
>
>winning gold and setting a world record in the marathon (not something you
>want to be undertrained for) 6 weeks after having his appendix removed (you
>think he missed a little training time there perhaps?) and didn't Wottle
>miss a lot of training due to injury before his 800 gold in '72?
> Geoff
>
>
> >From: "Michael Contopoulos" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >Reply-To: "Michael Contopoulos" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >Subject: Re: t-and-f: "Jabe's" exact quote...
> >Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2001 14:48:19 -0400
> >
> >If he knew he was out of shape, why didn't he pass it over to Berryhill 
>who
> >has been racing fairly well this summer?  Instead he goes there 
>unprepared
> >and embarasses us both on and off the track.  No slight to good ol
> >"Jabe"...
> >but he himself admitted he was not in shape.  If  I was Brian, I would be
> >livid.  USATF should play more a role in the athlete's lives and training
> >and should never have let "Jabe" go if he was not ready to compete.  
>Coachy
> >Vinny gets a big thumbs down as well.
> >
> >M
> >
> >
> >"You saw me get everything out of myself that I had out there. If you 
>knew
> >my training, you'd laugh. It's been under 20 miles a week. But it's a
> >thrill
> >to compete on this big stage. This was so much more encouraging than the
> >Olympics. I was not scared. I looked El Guerrouj in the eyes, and I was 
>not
> >scared. I own him. I own all these guys. Give me two years and I'll be
> >wiping them all up off the track. I have a vision of winning at Athens in
> >three years, and the vision starts with conquering all my fears.
> >
> >"It's all about fear. I've been fighting that at Stanford. I got into
> >academic trouble this year. I've been fighting fears about my SAT scores
> >and
> >being at Stanford and being a math major. I mean, I can't count to
> >10...well, maybe I can, but square root of two, what do I know? I've been
> >studying my ass off, but I need more help with my classes than I do with 
>my
> >races. I've got two finals when I get back from here. I haven't been
> >getting
> >any sleep." - "Jabe"
> >
> >_
> >Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at 
>http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp
> >
>
>
>_
>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp
>


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Re: t-and-f: RE: Post Edmonton thoughts

2001-08-14 Thread Ed & Dana Parrot

> Was a hard meet to get up for some reason .. The first couple of days
> were very exciting as the 100 men burned up the track .. But things cooled
> off and seemed to stay that way .. Didn't seem to have the usual
electricity
> associated with the Worlds .. Was nice however to see TV coverage that
> featured competition over fluff !!!

I don't know, the women's 800m and men's 200m alone were enough to keep the
adrenaline flowing for me.  And the men's 4x100 and women's 4x400 certainly
had plenty of drama both in the rounds and the finals.  Geb losing in the
10K didn't shock or excite me the way it did a lot of people, but it was
still a compelling moment.

It is never easy to get into the field events on TV with the typical abysmal
coverage (Dwight's commentary was fine, they just don't give him much to
comment on).  But the men's javelin provided drama both from a world
standpoint and an American standpoint and Markov's pole vault was a
jaw-dropper.

The competition was just as good as always, but the performances in general
were off a little bit.  That didn't bother me much, but that could be part
of the "flat" feeling.

- Ed Parrot




RE: t-and-f: "Jabe's" exact quote... Are you sure???

2001-08-14 Thread Hanks, Jeffrey S

I watched the Gabe interview as well and I don't remember some of the things
that you describe.  Although I did watch the ABC interview and perhaps he
gave another to CBC perhaps?

Specifically I don't recall him saying that he "owned" El G, or of him
wiping the track of all of them in 3 years.  Lastly, I don't remember any
references to his SAT or his math major and inability to count to 10.  It
may have been a different interview than the one he gave on ABC right after
the race.

Jeff

-Original Message-
From: Geoff Pietsch [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2001 10:21 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: t-and-f: "Jabe's" exact quote... Are you sure???


   I watched this live so I don't have it on tape. Is the "quote" below 
accurate?  I don't recall it the way it is printed here. Yes, Gabe did say 
he looked in El G's eyes, and, as I recall, he made it clear he was no 
longer intimidated, but I do NOT recall him saying he "own"ed El G or anyone

else. And I can't imagine not picking up on such a remark. I also do not 
recall any mention of his SAT scores, and the other stuff about his academic

worries seems very different than what I remember. Does anyone have it on 
tape to verify?
   As for Gabe's dropping out because he was undertrained, I recall Bikila's

winning gold and setting a world record in the marathon (not something you 
want to be undertrained for) 6 weeks after having his appendix removed (you 
think he missed a little training time there perhaps?) and didn't Wottle 
miss a lot of training due to injury before his 800 gold in '72?
Geoff


>From: "Michael Contopoulos" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: "Michael Contopoulos" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: Re: t-and-f: "Jabe's" exact quote...
>Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2001 14:48:19 -0400
>
>If he knew he was out of shape, why didn't he pass it over to Berryhill who
>has been racing fairly well this summer?  Instead he goes there unprepared
>and embarasses us both on and off the track.  No slight to good ol 
>"Jabe"...
>but he himself admitted he was not in shape.  If  I was Brian, I would be
>livid.  USATF should play more a role in the athlete's lives and training
>and should never have let "Jabe" go if he was not ready to compete.  Coachy
>Vinny gets a big thumbs down as well.
>
>M
>
>
>"You saw me get everything out of myself that I had out there. If you knew
>my training, you'd laugh. It's been under 20 miles a week. But it's a 
>thrill
>to compete on this big stage. This was so much more encouraging than the
>Olympics. I was not scared. I looked El Guerrouj in the eyes, and I was not
>scared. I own him. I own all these guys. Give me two years and I'll be
>wiping them all up off the track. I have a vision of winning at Athens in
>three years, and the vision starts with conquering all my fears.
>
>"It's all about fear. I've been fighting that at Stanford. I got into
>academic trouble this year. I've been fighting fears about my SAT scores 
>and
>being at Stanford and being a math major. I mean, I can't count to
>10...well, maybe I can, but square root of two, what do I know? I've been
>studying my ass off, but I need more help with my classes than I do with my
>races. I've got two finals when I get back from here. I haven't been 
>getting
>any sleep." - "Jabe"
>
>_
>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp
>


_
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Re: t-and-f: MJ BAD for the sport- JD on the other hand...

2001-08-14 Thread Glenn Smith

I didn't see the NBC coverage (CBC had excellent coverage as per usual), but
I'm sure JD did a marvelous job.  I've always thought he was one of the
classiest
of the american sprinters.  I don't know how he fits in with that HSI group.
I was
particularly impressed with what he did in the 4x100.  That was one of the
most
courageous displays I've ever seen in elite level track.  The guy
jeopardized his
career and quite definately the rest of his season to get the stick to his
team
mate.  It's bad enough to pull a muscle, but then to keep trying to run on
it does
a LOT of damage, he could have just pulled up and no one would think any
worse of him.  I know he was considering retiring this year, but I hope he
reconsiders.

Glenn Smith

- Original Message -
From: "Michael Contopoulos" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 10:49 AM
Subject: t-and-f: MJ BAD for the sport- JD on the other hand...


> Does anyone else think Michael Johnson is bad for the future of track and
> field?  He admittedly knows nothing about anything other than the sprints,
> he was so negative about the outcome of these WC, and he has said in the
> past that track and field should just do away with the distance races (for
> television convenience).
>
> Conversely, I love John Drummond.  He's got energy, character, AND
> knowledge.  He knew it was an upset that Gebreselassie lost, was impressed
> with the marathon finishes, knew all about women's pole vaulting and
> Yegorova's EPO scandal.  Unlike Michael, he was positive about these
Champs,
> and unlike Michael, put on a smile along with his knowledge.
>
> Although I appreciate everything he did on the track, I would have to say
> that I dislike MJ more than any other track and field athlete... and I am
> not alone in this sentiment.  After seeing JD a little more than normal
this
> past week, I would gave to say he is one of my favorites.  What do you all
> think?
>
> Mike
>
> _
> Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp
>




Re: t-and-f: MJ BAD for the sport- JD on the other hand...

2001-08-14 Thread Ed & Dana Parrot

> Does anyone else think Michael Johnson is bad for the future of track and
> field?  He admittedly knows nothing about anything other than the sprints,
> he was so negative about the outcome of these WC, and he has said in the
> past that track and field should just do away with the distance races (for
> television convenience).

I do like Drummond's energy and comments.  And MJ has said some things that
I don't agree with.  But I did enjoy MJ's commentary more than anyone else's
during the broadcasts.

No one who gives even a modicum of thought would really propose doing away
with anything shorter than a 10K due to television.  Just about every
baseball game has at least one half inning that lasts 10+ minutes without
commercials, so I don't think it's a big deal to have one event like that in
track.  Or, as a compromise, show the first 5 minutes, go to commercial for
3 minutes and show the last 5 laps.

The problem is not that distance races take too long. How long did the men's
100m take to air?  It's that distance races are perceived as not being
popular, and to some extent that is not wrong.  But the mile is very popular
and the steeple would be easy to make interesting with the proper focus on
the barriers and water jump.  So it's really the 5K and 10K that we're
talking about.

I'd be curious when the last time a 5K was shown in its entirety on U.S.
television at any time other than late at night or during the TripleCast in
1992.  I can't remember a time.  It's laughable for network people to claim
that no one wants to see something they haven't tried to show in more than a
decade.  And it is impossible to believe that any testing they have done to
supposedly make this conclusion have the kind of drama and quality that a
real broadcast would provide.  I hear things about short attention spans,
but there are so many techniques for keeping attention, even during a 13
minute race, that that excuse doesn't fly either.

The real reason for lack of distance coverage - there's no money in
televising track and field unless you're willing to take risks in trying
different things.  Given the sums generated by other sports, I can't really
blame the networks for not bothering to take those risks.

- Ed Parrot




Re: t-and-f: RE: Post Edmonton thoughts

2001-08-14 Thread Alan Shank

"Chambers, Patrick J. III" wrote:
> 
> One of the recurring comments found in newspaper coverage of the meet, was
> the how thin the program was on many days.
Perhaps, but we still had many periods when there were two field events
going, along with a series of running events. It's very difficult to
follow everything under those circumstances. I generally "give up" on
one of the field events and try to chart the other while also watching
the running events and taking splits. I am one of those fans who likes
all the events and would like to be able to watch each with attention.
Our little group of six tries to help each other out, calling out,
"Babakova in the high jump," etc. so the others won't miss a jump.

This will never happen, but in my "dream meet" there would be only one
event going at a time, so I could devote full attention to each one,
watching and recording every attempt, keeping track of the standings,
etc.

Aside from the ripoff of the first day, when we paid $130 Canadian to
see almost nothing of the men's marathon, I enjoyed the meet immensely.
Separate post about the coverage of the women's marathon to follow.

Cheers,
Alan Shank



Re: t-and-f: RE: Post Edmonton thoughts

2001-08-14 Thread Kebba Tolbert

I actually thought the action was pretty well spread out. Most days included 
exciting finals and important prelims. they did a good job at the track of 
highlighting often neglected field events. Edmonton was very exciting.

Kebba Tolbert ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
=
Men's and Women's Jumps & Multis Coach
Syracuse University Track & Field



>From: "Chambers, Patrick J. III" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: "Chambers, Patrick J. III" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: "'[EMAIL PROTECTED]'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: t-and-f: RE: Post Edmonton thoughts
>Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 13:12:15 -0400
>
>One of the recurring comments found in newspaper coverage of the meet, was
>the how thin the program was on many days.  Ever since Gothenburg, when the
>day off on Wednesday was eliminated, the IAAF has resorted to "special"
>events to fill out the program.  Spread out over 9 days (not counting the
>marathon/opening ceremonies) it's hard to get "worked up" up about 
>attending
>many of the days.  Now, in their pursuit to sell more premium tickets, we
>can look forward to the same thing at the Olympics.
>
>-Original Message-
>
>
>The Worlds
>Was a hard meet to get up for some reason .. The first couple of days
>were very exciting as the 100 men burned up the track .. But things cooled
>off and seemed to stay that way .. Didn't seem to have the usual 
>electricity
>associated with the Worlds .. Was nice however to see TV coverage that
>featured competition over fluff !!!
>
>On to Zurich 
>
>Conway Hill
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
>


_
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Re: t-and-f: Post Edmonton thoughts

2001-08-14 Thread Conway

Mike wrote:



Both you guys make good points.  I have been able to watch Savante develop
over the last few years and he will be anything but mediocre, I also believe
that the other Americans in the final - Pate & Phillips have bright futures.
All three of the young men have what it takes - Speed , decent techniques
and good coaching.  So look for them to be around for years provided they
keep a good head on there shoulders.

>>

I agree that all three have great potential .. And all acquitted themselves
nicely in Edmonton .. My reference to mediocrity lies in that the previous
generation of jumpers (Powell, Lewis, Myricks, Pedroso, Emmiyan) put the bar
so far out there as to render anything less than say 27'6 mediocre .. Since
'79 when Myricks went 27'9 at the World Cup, championship battles have taken
place in the 28' range .. Randy Williams won the '72 Olympics at 27'4 as a
Junior .. And Boston, Robinson and Ter-Ovanesian were battling in the low
27's in the 60's .. But I guess depends on ones perspective and what we (or
should I say the athletes) are willing to settle for ...

Conway Hill
[EMAIL PROTECTED]





t-and-f: RE: Post Edmonton thoughts

2001-08-14 Thread Chambers, Patrick J. III

One of the recurring comments found in newspaper coverage of the meet, was
the how thin the program was on many days.  Ever since Gothenburg, when the
day off on Wednesday was eliminated, the IAAF has resorted to "special"
events to fill out the program.  Spread out over 9 days (not counting the
marathon/opening ceremonies) it's hard to get "worked up" up about attending
many of the days.  Now, in their pursuit to sell more premium tickets, we
can look forward to the same thing at the Olympics. 

-Original Message-


The Worlds
Was a hard meet to get up for some reason .. The first couple of days
were very exciting as the 100 men burned up the track .. But things cooled
off and seemed to stay that way .. Didn't seem to have the usual electricity
associated with the Worlds .. Was nice however to see TV coverage that
featured competition over fluff !!!

On to Zurich 

Conway Hill
[EMAIL PROTECTED]






t-and-f: MJ BAD for the sport- JD on the other hand...

2001-08-14 Thread Michael Contopoulos

Does anyone else think Michael Johnson is bad for the future of track and 
field?  He admittedly knows nothing about anything other than the sprints, 
he was so negative about the outcome of these WC, and he has said in the 
past that track and field should just do away with the distance races (for 
television convenience).

Conversely, I love John Drummond.  He's got energy, character, AND 
knowledge.  He knew it was an upset that Gebreselassie lost, was impressed 
with the marathon finishes, knew all about women's pole vaulting and 
Yegorova's EPO scandal.  Unlike Michael, he was positive about these Champs, 
and unlike Michael, put on a smile along with his knowledge.

Although I appreciate everything he did on the track, I would have to say 
that I dislike MJ more than any other track and field athlete... and I am 
not alone in this sentiment.  After seeing JD a little more than normal this 
past week, I would gave to say he is one of my favorites.  What do you all 
think?

Mike

_
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Re: t-and-f: Post Edmonton thoughts

2001-08-14 Thread Michael Holloway

Both you guys make good points.  I have been able to watch Savante develop over the 
last few years and he will be anything but mediocre, I also believe that the other 
Americans in the final - Pate & Phillips have bright futures.  All three of the young 
men have what it takes - Speed , decent techniques and good coaching.  So look for 
them to be around for years provided they keep a good head on there shoulders. 

Mike 

>>> "Conway" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 08/14/01 10:54AM >>>
Buck wrote:

>
> I dunno' about the mediocrity part.
> Did you see that last foul by Stringfellow?  I know talking about a
scratch
> is like arguing about whether Superman could beat up the Hulk, but dang!
> It wasn't THAT much of a scratch and it LOOKED like a mid 28' jump and if
> the Hulk got REALLY mad...
>
> Cheers,
> Buck Jones
>

True Buck ...

But ya know in 1981 Carl Lewis close fouled what looked to be 30' !!! AND he
raised his hands and eased off on his way to 19.75 .. And of course it was
just a matter of time before he garnered BOTH records for his own ... Right
??? Well seems to me that Carl's 200 PR is still 19.75 .. And in only one
competition did he manage to go over 29' - oh and he lost to Powell's WR !!!

I bet that made the HULK mad !!!

Conway Hill
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 






Re: t-and-f: Post Edmonton thoughts

2001-08-14 Thread Conway

Buck wrote:

>
> I dunno' about the mediocrity part.
> Did you see that last foul by Stringfellow?  I know talking about a
scratch
> is like arguing about whether Superman could beat up the Hulk, but dang!
> It wasn't THAT much of a scratch and it LOOKED like a mid 28' jump and if
> the Hulk got REALLY mad...
>
> Cheers,
> Buck Jones
>

True Buck ...

But ya know in 1981 Carl Lewis close fouled what looked to be 30' !!! AND he
raised his hands and eased off on his way to 19.75 .. And of course it was
just a matter of time before he garnered BOTH records for his own ... Right
??? Well seems to me that Carl's 200 PR is still 19.75 .. And in only one
competition did he manage to go over 29' - oh and he lost to Powell's WR !!!

I bet that made the HULK mad !!!

Conway Hill
[EMAIL PROTECTED]





RE: t-and-f: Most 3200/2M ever under 9:00?

2001-08-14 Thread Mcewen, Brian T

A possible answer to my own question about most sub-9:00 2-miles (courtesy
of Steve Underwood).  ...


Here's a rough chrono list with no conversions for Dathan Ritzenhein:

1999

9:01.?y  FLO

2000

8:54.8mi  CMU indoor
8:52.94y  Nike Indoor
8:41.10m  Roosevelt
8:58.85m  MITCA team
9:00.63m  State
8:52.5m   Hanson's (14:13 - 5k split)
8:48.06y  FLO

2001

8:47.4mi  Central?
8:53.6m   Penn (13:51 - 5k split.)
8:52.9y   Roosevelt
8:43.32m  state
8:44.43y  FLO
8:51.1m   USATF (13:44 - 5k spl.)

I think he only had a few other sub-9:10s ( 9:07.7 his soph
year ?), but how many other sub-9:20s?  I'll bet at least a dozen
... 

Still, 14 times at 9:01 3200m or better. I wonder how that compares to
others who were prolific.  Some of the other all-time stars ahead
of Ritz on the list (Nelson, Reynolds, Scharsu) didn't have as many, I'll
bet.


==
Stephen Underwood
>>



Re: t-and-f: Post Edmonton thoughts

2001-08-14 Thread Buck Jones

Conway Carnacked:

<>

I dunno' about the mediocrity part.
Did you see that last foul by Stringfellow?  I know talking about a scratch
is like arguing about whether Superman could beat up the Hulk, but dang!
It wasn't THAT much of a scratch and it LOOKED like a mid 28' jump and if
the Hulk got REALLY mad...

Cheers,
Buck Jones

"I'd rather be naive and wrong than cynical and right."
-me





t-and-f: El Guerrouj at Zurich

2001-08-14 Thread Post, Marty

Well, technically it won't be El Guerrouj's 5000 debut. At the 1992 World
Junior Championships he ran 13:46.79 for the bronze medal. Incidentally the
race was won by none other than... Haile Gebrselassie; '93 5000 world
champion Ismael Kirui was inbetween. Pretty stud group of medal winners.

El Guerrouj has said he's aiming for sub 12:50 at Zurich.

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Monday, August 13, 2001 5:12 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: t-and-f: Post Edmonton thoughts


On Mon, 13 Aug 2001 13:55:29 -0700, Conway Hill wrote:


>On to Zurich 


Ah yes, Zurich...the Swiss stud that 38-year-old Regina
Jacobs has been "saving herself" for...:-)

By the way, T&FN reports that El Guerrouj is gonna race
a 5K at Zurich this Friday...
...what are the odds for a sub-13 debut?


RT



RE: t-and-f: Most 3200/2M ever under 9:00?

2001-08-14 Thread John Dye



John Dye   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
DyeStat - www.dyestat.com
Internet home of high school track & field & cc


> >What is the most sub-9:00 2-miles/ 3200m races by a HS boy during his HS
> >career?
> >
> >A friend asked me how many Ritz racked up and whether he had the most?
> >
> >I knew he had quite a few (indoors and out) ... but others must have run
> >quite a few also.


This is a job for DyeStat's TF/X Interactive database!  :)
I don't know about all-time, because we only started 4 years ago, but I do
know about Ritzenhein, Webb, and Hall.

DyeStat's TF/X Interactive database has these performances under 9 minutes
for 2 miles (3200 meter times are converted by adding 3.40, which is
indicated by a "c" after the time).  N: after the time means indoor.

Dathan Ritzenhein 8
Alan Webb 1
Ryan Hall 2

RITZENHEIN

B/G Date Name School Event Perf Notes Meet

b 2001-06-16 Ritzenhein, Dathan
#1(2001 MI) Rockford B-2Mile  8, 44.43  - NC AOC nationals

b 2000-05-06 Ritzenhein, Dathan
#1(2001 MI) Rockford B-2Mile  8, 44.50  c - - OH Roosevelt Mem

b 2001-06-02 Ritzenhein, Dathan
#1(2001 MI) Rockford B-2Mile  8, 46.72  c - SR - MI State Div 1

b 2000-06-17 Ritzenhein, Dathan
#1(2001 MI) Rockford B-2Mile  8, 48.06  - - NC FLO Raleigh

b -00-00 Ritzenhein, Dathan
#1(2001 MI) Rockford B-2Mile  8, 50.70  N: - MI Central Michigan

b 2000-03-12 Ritzenhein, Dathan
#1(2001 MI) Rockford B-2Mile  8, 52.94  N: - - IN Nike Indoor Class

b 2001-05-05 Ritzenhein, Dathan
#1(2001 MI) Rockford B-2Mile  8, 56.20  c - OH Dayton Roos Mem

b 2000-03-01 Ritzenhein, Dathan
#1(2001 MI) Rockford B-2Mile  8, 57.60  N: c - - MI Cent Mich


WEBB

 2001-03-11 Webb, Alan
#1(2001 VA) South Lakes Reston B-2Mile  8, 45.19  N: - @PG-Co MD NIC

HALL

b 2000-06-03 Hall, Ryan
#1(2001 CA) Big Bear Lake B-2Mile  8, 58.52  c - - CA State Finals

b 2001-03-24 Hall, Ryan
#1(2001 CA) Big Bear Lake B-2Mile  8, 58.70  - CA Azusa Pacific




t-and-f: Al Sheahen's blast at Brisbane WAVA

2001-08-14 Thread TrackCEO

Greetings, all

I've posted the entirety of editor and publisher Al Sheahen's column in the 
August 2001 National Masters News.  In it, he sharply criticizes the 
organizers of the recent Brisbane world masters track championships as well 
as WMA, the world governing body.

Check out: http://www.masterstrack.com/news2001/news2001august14.html

I welcome your comments.

Ken Stone
http://www.masterstrack.com