World Championships

[white lightning]

You can watch the whole meeet at WCSN.com for only
$4.95 You can't beat that.You can also rewatch any event
as many times as you want.The announcers are British
and quite good actually.This is the most excited I have
been about US Track in a long time.I just get so tired of
never having any white sprinters from here to root for.
Hopefully that is slowly starting to change.Wariner and
Rock are opening alot of eyes.Now if we can get some more
kids to join them and prove that times don't lie and they
don't discriminate.We just need more white kids from here
to start running track.Think about it,the only reason we
have Wariner is because they say he wouldn't have had the
speed for Football.What a joke.Footballs loss is Tracks
gain.He will break the world record and go sub 20 in the
200 meters.It is only a matter of time.Andrew Rock
also deserves incredible respect.This kid is a stud also.

 

[SteveB]

I read on the Track&Field News website that Tyler Christopher's mom is white. So essentially 2.5 white atheletes swept the 400m medals.

 

[White Shogun]

Didn't some 1/2 black, 1/2 Japanese guy just win the decathlon?

 

[sunshine]

AfterHelsinki I want to post a paragraph or two synopsis. While there are some good things happening and perhaps a few more with mens HJ and womens 400 MH, as well as mens LJ albeit not very optimistic about that one, to be completed soon, overall I was disappointed. Once again a trend has developed. Where are the rising young sprinters from countries like Germany and Russia. Germany in particular has fallen off the map for the most part.. Other Euro countires like Greece, Italy, Scandanavia group and Slovac areas were mighty invisible in the 100 and 200 meter sprints. It is obvious these countires are NOT putting the necessary effort into their T& F squads.The lack of women sprinters was alarming although it did not help that rising star Ivet Lalova was out with a serious injury. And it does not help when countries like China, host of next Summer Olympics, basically throw their energies in other events and ignore T&F. It seems other countries might be following that trend. I call it the pansy approach. Giving up before trying. Chinese officials are convinced they can't compete with the black athlete in T&F. Real nice moornic attitude . Talk about the spirit of sports. The problem is the Chinese and even Russia just might be able to pull off winning the olympic medal count without much T& F success which of course gives them no incentive whatsoever to try and develop sprinters etc..Good grief.

 

[SteveB]

I agree with you sunshine. I think all hope is on Wariner and Rock. If you think back to Michael Johnson's progression, Wariner is way ahead of him now. Johnson in his prime was the most high profile sprinter in the world, but that didn't happen until he began winning the 200m and 400m in his mid-20's. I watched him in college and he was a good 400m runner, but not as dominant as Wariner. If Wariner continues to progress and begins to win in the 200m, his exposure will be huge and it will begin to motivate white kids to run track. I think that we will have to be patient, both of these guys are 3 or more years away from their prime.

 

[SteveB]

Here is a good article about Wariner.

http://www.iaaf.org/WCH05/news/Kind=2/newsId=31588.html

Here is a quote from Coach Hart when comparing Johnson and Wariner:

Hart is happy too as he told The Times newspaper of London - but he knows the differences between Johnson and Wariner.

"I probably figured that after 2000, I would be retired and out playing golf," he said. "I never dreamed I would get another youngster that I felt had a chance to do similar things as Michael. Obviously a guy who can run 44.00 (in the Olympic final) at 20 has got a chance.

"There is not as much similarity between them as a lot of people would imagine. They are both Olympic and World champions but Jeremy ran faster 200 times as a schoolboy than Michael - quite a bit faster.

"Their style of running is totally different. Michael was upright, with very fast turnover. Jeremy is more fluid, more classic, with longer legs. Probably the biggest similarity is that they both get the job done.

 

[white lightning]

Thanks for the article SteveB.I have also read that they
plan to run a few more 200 meters races next season.I sure
hope so.I would love to see him become a consistant sub
20 guy or at least close.That is what he will need to get
his 400 into the world record range.I also would love to
see Andrew Rock become the 2nd white sprinter from here
to go sub 44 in the 400.On that note,maybe A.Rock will
also run some deuces.That would be great.

 

[SteveB]

I think a sub-20 sec 200m for Wariner is not that far away. He ran a 20.48 in the 200 and 45.13 in the 400 in high school. He's lowered his HS 400 time by over a second, so I don't see why he couldn't lower his HS 200 time by a half second.

 

[surfsider]

Not that anyone that reads the sports pages of the Kansas City Star would know anything about Wariner and Rock's success at the Worlds. The only article about the WC's in Saturday's paper concerned the dropping of the baton in the 4 x 100 and that was only in there because Maurice Greene is from KCK. One other event was mentioned in the article...the women's 4 x 100 because Muna Lee is from Kansas City. Perceptions aren't going to change if the evidence is buried or ignored by the media.

 

[white lightning]

Good points surfsider.That is one reason we are here.To
educate the brain washed public.Ha.ha.One bit of good
news from the W.Champs is that Shirvo is excited about
track again.He has a new coach and is living in England.
He only ran in the 4 x 100 Relay but it got him pumped up
for a comeback.He wants to hopefully medal at the
Commonwealth Games in 2006.This is great news.He has so
much raw talent and this is probably going to be his last
shot as he is around 25/26 now.Matt just needs to stay
healthy and work on his form.He is extremley powerful but
has always had bad form & technique.That is what makes it
incredible that he has run in the 10.03 _10.10 range on
multiple occasions.Just imagine if he can get his form
right and the sky is the limit.I just hope it is not
too late for him.Good luck to him next season!

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

there were ZERO pics of Wariner and Rock in the USA Today i picked up, nor anything but a brief mention in the state-wide paper here. if you didn't know to look for it, you'd never have seen it buried in the last paragraph of a story with a BIG pic on the 100 relay team and how they dropped the baton. and there were numerous pics of other Americans who won medals, in both papers, but of course none were caucasians.


i guess the print media doesn't put it down in black-and-white anymore, just black.

 

[surfsider]

Great Britain did quite well I thought in the 4 x 400 running a respectable 2:58.82 and getting fourth. In addition to Benjamin they had two other whites Martyn Rooney and Robert Tobin. Tobin is only 21 and earlier this summer ran a PB of 45.01. Rooney is just 18! With Poland getting fifth (3:00.58) that would make I think 9 of the top five teams runners white. If Pickering and Smith can just break through and have some success(I'd be satisfied with them making the finals of major meets to show others that it can be done) then maybe others will be inspired to give it a go.

 

[nordic_miler]

Mens 5000m run....Craig Mottram of Australia grabbed a bronze!!!

Good job Mottram. He was one of two runners in the final of caucasian descent. He finished a second or so behind gold. He ran his last mile in 3:59 after going out terribly slow with the leaders. 13:32 was his official time. WOW talk about a super slow World final...real tactical.

 

[nordic_miler]

Oh I forgot. Paula Radcliffe(Great Britain) ran away with the Womens Marathon Title. Crushed the competition.

 

[white lightning]

As you said n_miler,both Mottram & Radcliffe were
sensational as usual.Paula Radcliffe will go down as
probably the greatest female marathoner of all time.She
does have the world record after all.Craig Mottram
continues to improve.He is such a tough competetor.I
would love to see him get the gold but I believe it will
come in 2008 at the Olympics.He is proving that it can
be done.It is amazing that a runner that tall can have
that kind of endurance.Alan Webb was a disapointment but
he will be back.Ivan Heshko doesn't get the respect he
deserves.He is always one of the top 5 1500 meter guys
in the world and he can beat anyone on a good day.

 

[nordic_miler]

Yea, I'm just pretty disappointed with the way Webb ran his 1500 final. He literally started sprinting with 700 to go and tied up real bad in the last 100 or so. Had he let 'er rip from 400 he couldve sneaked into the top 5.

 

[white lightning]

He needs to develop some better race tactics.The 1500
meters is such a strategic race.Also the african countries
are very good at working together to help defeat
individual runners from other countries.We could use
several guys with Webbs talent to help work together
also.I really hope he wins some medals soon because the
media and fans are really hard on this guy.With potential
comes big expectations.Webb has to learn to deal with
the pressure a little better.He will be ok by 2008 and
hopefully be one of the favorites.He is still a kid.

 

[sunshine]

The most significant thing at Helsinki was the results of the high jump. With Ukrainian Yuriy Krymarenko and Swede Kajsa Bergqvist capturing gold the grand myth that whites can't leap has been virtually destroyed. Stefan Holm,Athens gold medalist lost out and electrifying Yelena Slsarenko, also an olympic champ, suffered an ankle injury at Helsinki. Still with these two favorites not winning they were replaced by other white leapers. This is big news. I also think the emergence of Ginobli this year helped people realize that leaping ability is not perserved for one race. These results over the past two years helps negate the crap that too many basketball people have shoved down our throats for years. That leaping ability is soley measured by dunking and as we know dunking involves more than just leaping. Length of arms, reach, size of hands etc. The other rotten myth basketball media has lied about is this notion the basketball players are the best athletes in the world--read tall black athletes. Complete nonsense. How many decathletes are basketball types? How about a big fat ZERO. Which is not to suggest high jumpers are great all around athletes. Typically long jumpers and pole vaulters are better all around athletes and some can be competitive in other areas like sprints or the decathlon/heptathlon. Still pure unfiltered leaping ability is what the high jump is all about.


Overall the results were a bit less favorable than the olympicsfor whites most apparent in no gold for women in 100 meters or long jump. On mens side no triple jump champ. Paula Radcliffe came through in the marathon and good for her. When you strip away the glitz the marathon winner is probably the most important event. Yeh they are the turtle to the other events hare but we all know that little tale. But for caste it is not as important as say the 100 meters.


For the men the best highlight was the Wariner/ Rock one two punch. Wariner is now a full fledged superstar. And a few women came through including world record holder Yuliya Pechonkina who won the 400 meter hurdles with aplomb and then went on to help Russia win an easy 4x400 relay. Quite an athlete. Swede Carolina Kluft consolidated her standing as the best female athlete in the world powering by Barber in the 1500 meters to win the heptathlon.


And there was a pole vaulter who made some noise too. She gets her own space.