Gebrselassie gives up on London dream

DPA/Berlin

BIG BLOW: Gebrselassie

British media reported yesterday that former marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie has ended his London 2012 dream. The Ethiopian, who won two Olympic gold medals in the 10,000 metres in 1996 and 2000, has been attempting to make the three-man Ethiopian squad for the marathon at the London Olympics later this year. The BBC quoted his manager Jos Hermans as saying that Gebrselassie had realised he would not make the Ethiopian team. “Many Ethiopian athletes run 2:04 and Haile cannot run that any more. “He has given up on the Olympics with pain in his heart,” Hermans said. Gebrselassie, who also won three world championship gold medals over the 10,000m, gave up during the Berlin marathon last year and then came fourth in the Tokyo marathon earlier this year as he attempted to get a time that would see him qualify. He said that he would not give up running. “Although I will not be taking part in the Olympic marathon I am still enjoying my athletics career.” He lowered the marathon world record twice, but lost it in September at the Berlin marathon to Kenyan Patrick Makau (2:03:38). On Sunday he beat the women’s marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe in a head-to-head half-marathon run in Vienna. Gebrselassie clocked 1:00:52 hours and Radcliffe crossed the line after 21.1km in 1:12:03. Based on their half-marathon personal bests, Radcliffe started 7:52 minutes ahead of Gebrselassie but was caught with five kilometres left.

Bolt aims to run like lightning in London Jamaica: Reigning Olympic champion Usain Bolt has said that he is looking for another breathtaking performance at the London Games, aiming to go as fast as possible for the 100 and 200 metres.  “People are looking forward to me running 9.4, 19 seconds, anything that’s amazing,” the 25-year-old Jamaican told the BBC in an interview to mark the 100-day countdown to the start of the Games in the British capital yesterday. “So, I’m working as hard as possible so I can go as fast as possible.” Bolt was one of the main stars of the last Games in Beijing four years ago, winning gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay, establishing him as one of the greatest sprinters of all time. The sprinter clocked world records of 9.69secs and 19.30secs in the 100m and 200m, while the Jamaican team’s 37.10secs in the 4x100m was also a new world best. Bolt cemented his position in the sporting pantheon by lowering his own world records to 9.58secs for the 100m and 19.19secs for the 200m at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. Bolt made a triumphant start to his 2012 season last Saturday, anchoring his Racers team to 4x100m relay victory in the UTech Classic in Kingston, Jamaica.  

Yego gives Kenyans Olympic javelin hope

Nairobi: Javelin thrower Julius Yego did his best to  upstage Kenya’s top Olympic 10,000 metres hopefuls when he met the qualification standard to represent his country at the London Games. Yego threw a national record of 79.95m to clear the Olympic B-Standard of 79.50m and the policeman, who once said he watched YouTube videos of his rivals as his country has no traditional strength in the sport, was delighted with his achievement. “It makes me feel so happy that I’m now among the record holders in Kenya and the first to qualify with the B-Standard for the Olympics in this country,” Yego told iaaf.org, the website of the sport’s governing body. He landed his throw—a metre and a half more than he produced in winning the All Africa title in Mozambique last year—after a two-month training camp in Finland, where the javelin is far more visible a sport than in Kenya, where running is king. “It is one of the best places to train for the javelin throw; it’s like Kenya in running. It made me improve a lot since I improved my technique in an event where it all about how you throw, not the strength,” Yago said. “I’m going back there next month for further training, where I hope to qualify with the A-standard. I want to be in the Olympics to be the first Kenyan to represent the country in javelin.”