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Monday, September 5, 2011
One of the things I was keeping my eye on besides the US contingent at the just concluded IAAF World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea is how South Africa's Caster Semenya is progressing.
While the attention was focused on Jamaica's Usain Bolt, the Jamaican 4x100 team's new 37.02 world record in the relay, and the Kenyan dominance in the distance events, Semenya was quietly running the 800m qualifying heats and advancing towards her goal of defending her IAAF 800m world title she won in Berlin back in 2009.
She was also following the advice of former South African president Nelson Mandela as well "I was doing this for him," Semenya said. "He is a very good man and gave me good
advice."
"He said 'Just toughen up and face the world.' I have to
go visit him again now. When I get back home, I will go straight to
him."
.
The now 20 year old Semenya faced the world in the 800m final. She sat back in the pack until she made her move and took the lead with 200m to go. Unfortunately after she made the turn into the home stretch she was passed by Mariya Savinova of Russia who won the gold in 1:55:87. Semenya took the silver in 1:56.35 and 2007 world champion Janeth Jepkosgei of Kenya finished third with a time of 1:57.42.
It's the closest she's come to running the 1:55.45 time that she achieved in running that IAAF world championship race two years ago, but she's back in the neighborhood.
"I achieved what I wanted, which was to get back to the podium," Semenya
said in a post race interview. "For now, I now have to work as a professional athlete, stay
strong and be positive. It wasn't easy for me, but I had support from
family, friends and my coach."
You also have the support and prayers of a lot of folks around the world as well. See you in London next year.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Athletics is what the rest of the world calls track and field, and the Monaco based International Association of Athletics Federations is the governing body of the sport. The championships are held biennially so they don't step on the prestige of the Olympics being the ultimate event in the sport of athletics.
The next IAAF World Championships will take place in Moscow from August 10-18, 2013 and in Beijing's Bird's Nest Stadium in 2015. In the IAAF worlds all the sports we know and love from the sprint and distance races to the field events will be contested by men and women international teams in Daegu.
Yes, they'll be passing gold, silver and bronze medals out too. They'll also be televised by many networks around the globe, including Universal cable here in the States which concentrates on Olympic and international sports.
Speaking of the Olympics, since we are less than a year away from the 2012 London Games, by watching the championships being contested here, we fans of the sport will get some of our things that make you go hmm questions answered leading up to the Olympic athletics competition next summer from August 3-12. Who are the up and coming athletes in the sport? What athletes that we have seen over the last few years that we thought were done are making comebacks? Will the athletes who are having stellar seasons this year continue their winning ways and parlay that season long excellence into world championship medals?
Conversely, will the athletes who were having a subpar year suddenly take inspiration from being on the big international sporting stage and put it together? What athlete who wasn't on the world's horizons will have the breakthrough performance that makes them an international household name and a potential medal favorite in London?
Is Jamaica's Usain Bolt still the world's fastest man? Can Caster Semenya overcome the drama she's undergone since her surprise 800m championship win in Berlin in 2009 and defend her title? In Caster's case, I sure hope so.
The answers to those sporting questing question will be revealed as the 2011 edition of the IAAF world championships gets started
