Marathon: You Can Do It

From the BBC I found this funny runners story:

“French former athletics world champion Eunice Barber has been fined 5,000 euros (£4,271) for resisting arrest, insulting and biting a policeman.”

The Sierra Leone-born athlete won heptathlon and long jump world titles for France in 1999 and 2003.

Her Defence

In court she did not deny biting the cop, she even had a good reason why she did it. She said she had bitten the officer to “protect her body”, describing it as her “source of work”.

Tags: , Athletes, Funny stories, Running Humour

It was a beautiful month, it’s so sad the Olympics happen once in 4 years. Let me share my best moments from Beijing:-

Michael Phelps winning the 100 meter freestyle

After seeing the Serbian swimmer lead from start to near the finish I thought Phelps would miss his 8th gold medal. But Phelps made a stunning jump at the final metre to win Gold.

Usain Bolt  jog to win 100 metre gold

I didn’t watch this race on TV but listened to it on BBC sports radio. The fact Usain Bolt  jogged the final 10 metres to win the 100M gold means sooner or later a sprinter somewhere will dash 100m in 9.6 flat.

Constatina Tomescu break

I love marathon running and as I watched Romanian Tomescu break from the other runners, I just wished one day I will be able to run at such a high pace and not implode at the 32K mark. The point most novice runners hit the wall!

Kenenisa Bekele Final Kick

As a Kenyan it is disheartening to see Kenenisa Bekele make that final kick and there is no Kenyan runner to match him.

Samwel Kamau Wanjiru  Winner Mens Olympic marathon

I loved the salute he made as he entered the Birds nest stadium on his way to break the Olympic marathon record. At 21 I never rated the guy to win the mens marathon but he was the strongest on the day it mattered most.

If you are already feeling the hangover of Beijing Olympics don’t go to sleep yet,  the Paraolympics are just getting started!

Tags: , Athletes, Beijing Olympics, Olympics

After watching Jamaican Usain Bolt smash the 100 metres record, I asked myself, “From which part of Africa did his slave ancestors come from?”

All Jamaicans are descendants of Slaves from Africa. Did his slave ancestors come from Kenya? I don’t think so. If they came from my country Kenya, Usain Bolt would have been a long distance runner.

Ethiopia? No. Ethiopia is good at middle distance running.

What about Nigeria? probably yes.

Nigeria is the only country in Africa that has been able to produce sprinters that compete in Olympics.

At 2008 Beijing summer Olympics, sprinters Olusoji Fasuba and Damola Osayemi represented Nigeria in the sprints. Fasuba holds the African record in the 100 meters with a time of 9.85 seconds. Nigeria won a bronze medal at the mens 4 x 100 meter relay.

I won’t mind if Nigeria gloat about Usain Bolt being their own!

Tags: , Athletes, Beijing Olympics, Olympics

My local daily has an interview with Catherine Ndereba after she won the silver medal at Beijing Women Olympics. Catherine confessed she wasn’t aware that the gold winner, Romanian Constatina Tomescu was ahead of her.

When she entered the stadium she thought the only marathoner ahead of her was the Chinese Zhou Chunxiu. But when she looked ahead she saw Constatina Tomescu crossing the finish line. She was surprised but it was already to late. How did that happen?

I watched the race on TV and I remember Ndereba ran behind the leading pack. When Tomescu sprinted ahead at around 25K mark Ndereba couldn’t see her run away because her vision was blocked by runners ahead of her.

She sweared if she had seen Tomescu sprint ahead she would have stepped her game.

When asked if she was disappointed  with her second Olympic silver she said “Not at all, there is nothing like disappointment in my vocabulary!”

At 36 has Ndereba best chance for Olympic gold passed her? I don’t think so. Tomescu 38 is now the oldest female Olympic marathon winner and she looks like the energizer bunny. Something else that might inspire Ndereba is to look at the large  number of  Old athletes  competing at this year’s Beijing Summer Olympics. Keep in mind Israel marathoner, Haile Satayin at 53 will be the oldest marathon runner at the start of the men Beijing Olympic marathon.

If she works hard and health permits, she will have a chance to fight another day in London Olympics 2012.

Tags: , Athletes, Beijing Olympics, Marathon, Olympics

Yesterday’s Women Olympics 10,000 meters was a good example why its important to stick with your own pace and not to sprint with the herd. America’s Shelane Flanagan seems to have been the only athlete who followed that advice and was rewarded with a Bronze Medal.

Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba won the women’s 10,000m in a new Olympic record by beating Turkey’s Elvan Abeylegesse in a thrilling battle in Beijing. The winning time was the second fastest ever!

The charge took off immediately they started, It was Lornah Kiplagat, formerly of Kenya, who took control early on dragging the runners through the first kilometre in astonishing three minutes. The majority of the runners paid the price of this high pace, the number of runners in contention was cut to just Abeylegesse and Dibaba with six laps left

British athlete Jo Pavey who slipped off the main group with 11 laps to go told BBC Sport “I’m disappointed, you feel like you’ve made a fool of yourself,” “It was such a blistering pace.”

Progression Running Tactic

America’s Shelane Flanagan did what her fellow county woman Deena Kostar did four years ago in Athens Olympic Marathon: Run a conservative race!

The advantage of starting slow is you save your energy for the last stage. As the bell rung for the final lap I saw only two strong athletes, Shelane and Dibaba. If there was an extra lap, Shelane might have caught up with Silver medal winner, Turkey’s Abeylegesse.

Tags: Athletes, Beijing Olympics, Ethiopian Runners, Kenyan Runners, Olympics