Ohuruogu, We Salute You

Go To Rehab

The debate about drugs and music has come up again after Amy Winehouse's parents-in-law appealed for her fans to boycott her music due to her drugs problems.
The other side of the argument says that all the best music seems written while on drugs - take the Beatles for example*.

I think that the music industry should, in a similar fashion to sporting authorities, ban performance enhancing drugs – so anyone caught wont be able to release an album for 2 – 4 years say and will have a life time ban at the Olympics.

*By the way, I think taking recreational drugs is really stupid and irresponsible.

Are You Surprised That City Beat United?

Yes, City never seem to do very well at teams in the bottom half of the table...

Osaka 2007

With the Athletics World Championships coming up in just a weeks time, the GB team have set themselves fairly lofty targets of 3 medals and 14 finalists.

We really don't have that many world class athletes at the moment but there is definatley potential and you can see the selectors having one eye on London 2012.

My predictions for Osaka medals are:
Jessica Ennis - Heptathlon
Chris Tomlinson - Long Jump
Philips Idowo - Triple Jump (if he's fit)
Men's 4x100m - Relay (fingers crossed)

Also watch out for:
Marlon Devonish - 100m
Nicola Sanders - 400m
Jemma Simpson & Marilyn Okoro - 800m
Kelly Sotherton - Heptathlon (until the javelin)
Goldie Sayers - Javelin
Jo Pavey - 10,000m
Women's 4x400m - Relay

Here is the squad with their position according to season's best performance (2007) and current world ranking (RANK).

EVENT   ATHLETE             2007  RANK
100m    Marlon Devonish      17    11=
        Craig Pickering      39    11=
        Mark Lewis-Francis  >50    31
400m    Tim Benjamin         29    22
        Andrew Steele        31    32
        Martyn Rooney       >50    48
800m    Michael Rimmer       22    21
1500m   Andy Baddeley        26    16
5000m   Mo Farah            >50    27
3000mSC Andrew Lemoncello   >50    26
110mH   Andy Turner          30    14
400mH   Dale Garland        >50   >50
High J  Germaine Mason       11=   18
        Tom Parsons          29=  >50
        Martyn Bernard      >50    30
Pole V  Steve Lewis          39=   42
Long J  Chris Tomlinson       8    15
        Greg Rutherford     >50   >50
Trip J  Phillips Idowu        9=    6
4x100m  GB                    2     -
4x400m  GB                    6     -

EVENT   ATHLETE             2007  RANK
100m    Jeanette Kwakye     >50    28
        Laura Turner         33   >50
        Montell Douglas     >50   >50
200m    Joice Maduaka       >50    33
        Emily Freeman       >50   >50
400m    Nicola Sanders       16     6 (56*)
        Christine Ohuruogu  >50   >50
        Lee McConnell       >50   >50
800m    Marilyn Okoro        20    15
        Jemma Simpson        34    24
        Jenny Meadows        37    17
1500m   Lisa Dobriskey       33   >50
        Abby Westley         50   >50
5000m   Jo Pavey             28     5 (45*)
10000m  Jo Pavey             11     5 (45*)
3000mSC Hatti Dean           28    18
        Helen Clitheroe      46   >50
400mH   Tasha Danvers-Smith  22    11
Pole V  Kate Dennison       >50    39
Javeln  Goldie Sayers         4     9
Hept'n  Jessica Ennis         3     4
        Kelly Sotherton      11     3
4x100m  GB                    5     -
4x400m  GB                   11     -

* World Ranking over all events.

Flippin’ Students

At the World Student Games, which believe it or not has nothing to do with International Drinking Championships, there was a bit of a cock up – the sort of thing very reminiscent of Student’s Union run events.

Britain’s Simeon Williamson won the 100m gold on Saturday but due to a failure with the starting gun a false start was not called and after protests from other competitors they had to run the whole thing again on Sunday, in the rain.



All credit to Williamson who ran even quicker to record a time of 10.22 seconds to win – again.

Enjoying It While It Lasts

Athletics: Performance vs Potential

Here is an extract from a BBC website interview with former GB Athlete Kriss Akabusi on the current state of British Athletics. I'm really impressed with his no nonsense answer.

If you could make one change to improve the performance of our athletes what would it be?

I would reward performance not potential. If you perform, you will get money. If you get money you can prepare for next year. And guess what? If you don't perform next year, tough luck.

We have been looking at potential and setting certain criteria as to how people should be performing and where they've got to go training, and that's rubbish.

Some of the current crop got paid too much too soon. You've got to keep them lean and hungry and ready to die for the shirt. You've got to get people that are ready to step in and step up because they love the sport. And then you pay them because they're delivering.

Can You Feel The Power

In my opinion, here are the top 10 events featured on Gladiators.
C=number of Contenders
G=number of Gladiators
T=time limit

1: The Wall (C=2, G=2, T=60s)
1st=10pts, 2nd=5pts, remaining on wall=5pts
Contenders are chased up a climbing wall by Gladiators who set off 10 seconds later.

2: Duel (C=1, G=1, T=30s)
win=10pts, survival=5pts
Armed with a giant cotton bud or “pugil stick” the Contender and Gladiator try to knock each other off their platforms.

3: Hang Tough (C=1, G=1, T=60s)
reaching Gladiator’s platform=10pts, surviving in scoring zone=5 pts.
The contender's task is to reach the Gladiator's platform by swinging between the rings, the Gladiator would attempt to intercept them and with the use of the “body scissors” technique, pull them off.

4: Gauntlet (C=1, G=3/5, T=30s)
Points varied between series.
A Contender has to run down a narrow tube by passing Gladiators armed with ramrods or power pads.

5: Suspension Bridge (C=1, G=1, T=60s)
win=10pts, survival=5pts
Contender and Gladiator, armed with hammerheads (sticks with padding) faced each other on a suspension bridge. the aim was to knock the Gladiator off the bridge and reach the their platform.

6: Powerball (C=2, G=3/2, T=60s)
Outer Basket 2 Points, Centre Basket 3 Points
Contenders have 60 seconds to place balls in the five scoring baskets on the pitch whilst the Gladiators had to tackle the contenders, preventing them from scoring.

7: Pendulum (C=1, G=1, T=60s)
(Series 4-6) surviving 60secs=10pts, surviving 40secs=5pts
(Series 7-8) upper section target=3pts each, lower section target=4pts (max 10pts)
A 5m diameter ball swung 40 feet off the ground. The Gladiator’s aim was to grab the Velcro tag attached to the contenders back. Later 4 targets were introduced around the ball.

8: Pyramid (C=2, G=2, T=60s)
reaching top first=10pts, reaching top 2nd=5pts
Contenders aim to reach the top of the big black and white pyramid while gladiators attempt to throw them down to the bottom where they start over again.

9: Atlaspheres (C=2, G=2, T=60s)
each goal=3pts
Contenders and Gladiators are caged in large hamster balls. The contenders' task is to roll the spheres onto any of four scoring pods where the inevitable smoke billows up into their face.

10: Skytrak (C=2, G=2, T=n/a)
first=10pts, second=5pts
Contenders are connected to an upside down Scalextric figure if “8” track. They have a 10m head start on the Gladiators whose aim is to hit the detonator button trailing behind the Contenders.

Other events that were generally rubbish:
Catapault, Danger Zone, Dogfight, Hit & Run, Joust, Pole-Axe, Pursuit, Sumo Ball, Swingshot, Tightrope, Tilt, Virtigo, Whiplash