Athletics Weekly

The reason why all top athletes are prone to injury is that they need to push themselves much of the time. You will notice in motor racing how often races end with many cars missing. The clear difference is that human breakdown isn't so easy to sort out. What I would say though is that athletes need...

BUT Dave Bedford and others still think that the 10K was taking a chance.

You are right of course. Sloppy research on my part. I still think that he is a let-down.

Well humble pie time!

Wonderful judgement. Well thought-out indeed. No mental weaknesses.

He had a face like a slate quarry after the race and so he should. He blew it.

The absence of Africans and Americans already devalue these championships but then if 'other countries' have nothing to aim at, I suppose the interest in athletics post Balco drugs will decline still further. It is interesting to see what would be left if all black people were excluded from Olympic ...

She can, but Baldini's demise today didn't cheer me up a lot, nor did those gradients that Big Bren said weren't all that severe. I was happy to hear that Steve has run sections of the course. Watching Bren in the Lasse Viren interview I realise that the Newcastle pie shop circuit is the closest Bre...

Did you see the relay bronze. He ran like a carthorse and must have lost over two metres to nobody much?

If Pegleg's points about her POV are true then judging from the 10K debacle she was sadly deluded, hence the title of this thread. She has been best in a flat course solo scenario apart from NY when she got herself together well in the face of criticism. She has always been a chopping block for the ...

He wasn't a heavy trainer. Cerutty got people to extend their physical limits. Elliott beat a much faster athlete in Hewson in the 'Commonwealth' 880 in Cardiff in '58 when he ran 50ish from the front i.e. 49+ for 400 to finish on cinders again. I don't think he had ever run a 400 solo in anything l...

'DESPITE suffering one of the most crushing defeats of her career, Paula Radcliffe insists she can still challenge for medals over 10,000m at future championships.' (AW) But she wasn't challenging for medals this time? '...it was just a really good race this year." (Paula) Challenging but it was...

There is a saying in the north about someone who 'followed a dust cart and thought it was a wedding'.

This looked like a drubbing not a 'near maximum training session'. This was maximum from her reaction and talk of winning medals

Elliott was unbelievable. ran in his own head. the Crocodile Dundee mentality. Opponents? 'doesn't know, doesn't care!' Post Olympic question after 3-35.7 1500 gold on cinders(45 years ago!) 13 second first 100 on last lap! Were you worried about Jazy? (Michel Jazy, world mile, 5000 record holder la...

I don't think that you understand what I was trying to say. It didn't look like a warm up run to me. She was eyeballs out and took a physical and mental hammering. It was naive for her to put her head on the block in that way. Her husband had a go at her at Edmonton for not surging or mixing it up w...

Don't know about one. What about the first three in the men and women's 10K and the men's 'chase? Top them for competitors!

You can only compete against what is there. I attended the 1960 Olympics as a kid. We won one gold medal in the 50K walk. It was a terrific week. If you love athletics, you love the sport not JUST British gold.

This is a hard one to call. Frank Shorter won the 1972 Olympic marathon after running 5th in the 10K. However, the Munich course was fairly flat and Helsinki isn't. Paula looked like she was really trying in the 10. The naive way in which she led and was dropped doesn't say much for her tactical sen...

Wrong attitude, wrong passive inhalation.[/list]