Bad Decisions Are Really Not Helping Athletics At All

In 2001 Marion Jones won the gold medal in the 100m sprint final. After she admitted to THG abuse, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) voided all her performances in September 2000.

Now, usually in this situation, the medal is taken from the banned athlete and given to the next finisher in the race. However, in this situation the silver medalist was none other then controversial Greek athlete, Katerina Thanou. Thanou was suspended on the eve of the 2004 Olympics for missing three drugs tests in dubious circumstances.

The IAAF had a decision to make; Make the problem worse by taking the medal from one disgraced athlete and giving it to another or take the sensible move and give it to the third place athlete. This being athletics of course, they made the wrong decision.

"There was no evidence of Thanou committing any doping offence during the period in question, which leaves us with no alternative but to award the medal to her."Actually there was an alternative guys, you could have just held on to the damn thing and forgotten all about it. But no... all publicity is good publicity to the IAAF I guess.

Drugs are damaging enough to a sport without the incompetent behavior of their governing bodies. This is a very disappointing decision indeed.

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Former Olympic Star Justin Gatlin Tries Out For Titans

Former 100m World Champion Justin 'The Gun' Gatlin has taken part in the Tennessee Titans' pro timing day.

This is not Gatlin's first attempt to break into Football since being banned from the track for substance abuse. Last year he made an unsuccessful attempt to join the Buccaneers.

When Gatlin tested positive, atheltics was robbed of one of it's biggest stars. Gatlin was well liked by fans and media alike and many were shocked when they heard the news of his positive test.

He is appealing his four year ban from the track.

Drugs or no drugs, Gatlin is still one of the fastest men in the world and it would make sense for an NFL team to give him a shot.

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Chambers Wins Silver, Hearts and Minds of Fans

Dwain Chambers finally had his redemption at the World Indoor Championships last night, coming second in the 60 meters to take silver. Though it wasn't the gold the fans were hoping for, Chambers ran a PB of 6.54 and only lost to the stunning Nigerian Fasuba.

Before and after the race, Chambers made a big show of waving to the fans and showing his appreciation to them.

"I just want to thank the public for all their support"

Over the past few weeks UK Athletics and the media have vilified Chambers but the public has stood by him. They chose to do so despite a horrendous hate-filled campaign from UK Athletics and the joke that has become BBC Sport.

Having previously had a former banned athlete crammed down their throats as some form of hero, the public were angered by the witch hunt that took place over Chambers. Whilst the preening, smug sports presenters of the BBC queued up to attack him, so the backlash on bulletin boards and sports blogs began. The fans hated the double standard and so took to Chambers side once again. They cheered him, they defended him and they were celebrating with him last night.

Congratulations Dwain, we're all with you.

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UK Athletics Continues To Stumble Around Like A Drunk

Logging on to UKAthletics.net, the official website for the "Governing Body for the Sport of Athletics in the United Kingdom", tells you everything you need to know about their competency as a sporting administration.

On the front page, right next to their flashy logo, is a picture of Jason Gardner.

That's Jason Gardner the former sprinter. The one who retired in August 2007.

Perhaps we shouldn't expect much from an organisation that has single-handedly destroyed track and field in this country since it took over control of the sport in 1999. But a picture of a current athlete on the front page would be a start.

Todays decision by UK Athletics to block fallen sprinter Dwain Chambers from the GB indoor trials, is yet another sign of the shocking double standards that this organisation displays. Incapable of guiding our wealth of young talent onto the international stage, UK Athletics has turned to doing anything it can to justify itself as a governing body.

First we had the selection of injured athlete Becky Lynn to the World Championship team in place of Jenny Meadows, an athlete who had beaten her in both occasions where the two met, during the season. The choice was made due to Lynn's performance two years previously and Dave Collins desperation for medals of any colour to come Britain's way. Fortunately Lynn was forced to pull out and Meadows got the place she so thoroughly deserved.

Not long after we had the horrendous decision, made by Performance Director (and all-round bad hiring) Dave Collins, to pick Christine Ohuruogu for the 2007 World Athletics Championships. Ohuruogu had just returned from a one year ban for missing three drugs tests in 18 months. Just 24 days after coming off her suspension, she ran a personal best to win the 400m and was shamelessly portrayed as a hero by UK Athletics and the BBC.

The result of this race brought a storm of controversy to a country that used to pride itself of the legitimacy of it's athletes. Later in the year and in a further attempt to grab medals, Ohuruogu's ban from from running in the Olympic Games was overturned. Had she finished forth in the World Championships, her ban would never have been overturned. This has led to further international uproar and British athletes everywhere have found themselves under intense scrutiny.

And now the farce continues as UK Athletics targets Dwain Chambers in attempt to dampen criticism of their policy towards Ohuruogu. Dwain Chambers was banned for 2 years for use of THG in 2003 and after a spell in the now defunct NFL Europa, wishes to make a comeback. The malice shown towards Chambers by UK Athletics goes above and beyond any action they have previously taken to an athlete who was caught cheating. The reasons for this are two-fold:

1) Dwain Chambers was the former golden boy of UK Athletics. He was their darling, their big hope and their former GB captain. He was the successful athlete that others aspired to be and was promoted as a role model (another superb decision) by UK Athletics. When he tested positive the impact on the rest of the British team was catastrophic and British athletics has never quite recovered. Clearly UK Athletics still blame him for their own short comings.

2) Dwain Chambers made the grave error of admitting his drugs use. Whilst the majority of cheating athletes protest innocence when caught, citing such things as sabotage, Chambers was upfront and honest from the get go. His repayment for telling the truth? To be outcast by UK Athletics and attacked by them in the press.

How much longer must we, the true fans of British Athletics, see our sport ruined by the organisation that governs it? How many more stories will we read of double standards and ill-conceived attacks on athletes that are shaped by UK Athletics, yet spurned by them when the shit hits the fan?

I for one, have had enough of this fiasco. I hereby call for the head officials of UK Athletics to be sacked and replaced by competent administrators. I call for Dave Collins to be sacked and replaced by someone (anyone) with a shred of intelligence. Former athletes are not always the best choice to run a sport as they often lack the skills needed to bring about successful administration. What we need is business minded, fans of the sport to run things behind the scenes and get us the results that, judging by the standard of our juniors, we should be seeing.

[BBC Sport]

[UK Athletics]

World Athletics Championships Day One...

...review is up over at EC. Check it out. Bitch.

Calling all Track fans...

My World Athletics Championships 2007 preview will be going up shortly is up now over on Epic Carnival. Be sure to check it out!

We Interrupt Football Week For a Special Report: Suck On That Dave Collins

You may or may not remember me ranting ceaselesly on about Dave Collins and the U.K. Athletics team's ridiculous choice to take out of form Rebecca Lyne to the World Championships instead of the rising star Jenny Meadows, who has beaten Lyne twice already this season.

Well it turns out that Lyne can't make it because she hasn't fully recovered from injury. This leads me to believe (naturally) that fate thinks Dave Collins is an idiot too. If I was Jenny Meadows right now I'd be half-tempted to tell Collins where to stick it when he calls up all crawling and begging. Half tempted... this is the World Champs afterall.

I can only hope Meadows now goes on to win a medal so that the whole world can see just how brainless the U.K. athletics selectors really are. Go Jenny, we're right behind you.

[BBC Sport]

Jeremy Wariner Should Wear His Sun Glasses at Night. And Whenever Possible.

So yeah, he became the third fastest man ever to run the 400m last night but...


Daaamn!

The Ridiculocrity Of The UK Team Selection Is Never(ever)ending.

The man to your right is Dave Collins and he may well be the worst manager of all time. In any sport.

Aside from the fact that the guy has an IQ level lower then that of a Tic-Tac, he seems completely incapable of making a good decision. After last week's ludicrous one event restriction was placed on Marlon Devonish, I didn't think things could get much worse. But yes, ofcourse they can.

A British Athlete called Jenny Meadows, who has not only been consistently good and shown huge potential all season but has also achieved the A standard qualifying time in 800m, has been passed over for Rebecca Lyne, an athlete who has been injured for the last 18 months and has shown zero form since her comeback. Why have they made such a horrendous decision? Well, Beccy Lyne won a medal once... a few years back... sure she sucks at the moment but why should that count against her?

I know, it's exasberating isn't it? Oh, and they've included a athlete who has just come back from a ban for missing drugs test... and she has zero form at the moment as well.

Dave Collins and the whole UK Athletics management team should be fired for imcompetence with immediate effect and replaced by somebody (anybody) with an ounce of brain power.

[BBC Sport]

Forget Fantasy Football, Fantasy Track Is Where It's At...

With the World Athletics Championships just around the corner, the IAAF have launched a Track and Field fantasy game!

The details are sketchy at best so far, which leads me to believe that they haven't really thought the idea through yet, but with signed T-shirts(!) and World Athletics Tour Tickets on offer to the winners, it could well be worth entering.

I know I will be!

Decisions Like This Should Get People Fired

Get ready peeps, the soap box is well and truly out today.

The UK Athletics management team have a history of making awful selection decisions but this one may well be the is the worst decision of all time.

Marlon Devonish, Britains best sprinter, has been told he has to choose between running either the 100m or the 200m sprint at the World Athletics Championships. He has chosen the 100 but he can't be happy about this at all.

What kind of lame-brained shit is that? Can you imagine someone telling Carl Lewis or Michael Johnson that they could only compete in one event at a major championships?

What makes this even more ludicrous is that Britain doesn't even have another 200m sprinter with the qualifying time. So instead of having one of Europes best sprinters in the 200m's they are going to have no-one. Zilch. Nada.

And why have they made this decision? In order to 'keep Devonish fresh for the relay' (!?!) Dave Collins and the rest of the people behind UK Athletics need to quit tea-bagging each other in the office and wake-thefuck-up. The U.K. is not an oldskool eastern European country and you do not mess with an Athlete in order to have a better relay squad. Ever.

EVER.

And you know what? Tyson Gay agrees with me.

[UK Athletics Team]

Javelin Accidents are not as Funny As They May Appear

So there I am watching the Rome Golden League Athletics event yesterday, when suddenly the camera pans across and there's an ambulance on the side of the track. Cut to World Class Finnish Javelin thrower Tero Pitkamaki holding his head in horror... and it all comes together.

It looks like a gust of wind sent Pitkamaki's wayward strike straight into the Long Jump area. French athlete Salim Sdiria was unfortunate enough to be standing in the javelins path. It didn't really need showing but for some reason the producers decided to show a replay, followed by a slow-mo, of the accident. Although it looked pretty horrific, Sdiria's wounds were reported to be 'not serious'.

Here's the clip if you're twisted enough to want to see it: (and you know you are...)

[youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT2l100KJe0"]

This accident looks to have understandably hampered Pitkamaki psychologically. He failed to win the event (though he had won the previous two) and lost his chance at the $1 million jackpot. I'm sure that will be the last thing on his mind today though. Pitkamaki is extremely well liked in the Track and Field scene and has the reputation of being a very nice guy, which is probably why he will take this so badly. But you have to ask, with this being the second time a javelin accident has occurred this year, perhaps new safety measures need to be brought in; Something like, oh I don't know, not running a Long Jump competition at the same time as a Javelin meet in order to satisfy T.V. scheduling...

Yeah, something like that.

Competition Time. Win $30 worth of Amazon.com Goodness! Free to enter!!

That's right, you can win a $30 Amazon.com gift voucher just by entering our free competition. It's open to anybody 18 or over who has an email account, so check out the rules below and join in!

To enter all you have to do is tell me why you love your favorite sport. In three words or less. It doesn't matter what sport you love or why you love it but the reason must be no more than three words in length. For example:

I love football and my reason (one of them anyway) is "Unnecessary Roughness". Having a foul for 'Unnecessary Roughness' implies that, in order to play the game, there is necessary roughness. Which is brilliant and humorous at the same time.

You can choose a facet of the sport, a player that you love to watch, or whatever you like, as long as it's three words or less, it's all gravy.  You can leave an explanation of your choice if you want. The winner will be the one that I like the best and my decision is final bitch.

The competition will run from right now to the 1st of July. Entries can be made by comment or by email to shottonothing[/at/]gmail.com and you can enter as many times as your heart desires. The winner will be announced on Monday the 2nd of July and will be notified by email (so remember to send me your email address if you're answering via a comment!)


Good luck and thanks for taking part!

Awesome Athletes: Irving Saladino (What a kick ass name.)

In the run up to the 2007 track and field season, which kicks off in full on the 15th of June with the first IAAF Golden League event in Oslo, I will be featuring some of the best Athletes from around the globe for you to keep your eye on.

Featured So Far - Nicola Sanders, Tyson Gay

According to Wikipedia 'Panama is a transcontinental nation which connects North and South America.' Well, I don't know much about that but I do know two things about Panama:

1) They run a bitchass canal.

2) It's where the long jumper Irving Saladino originates from.

There haven't been too many Panamanian Athletes recently ever, and there certainly haven't been any superb Panamanian Athletes, but Irving Saladino is about to change all that.

At the 2006 World Indoor Championships Saladinocame second with a jump of 8.29 meters and then went on to win five out of the six Golden League events, which must have been a bitch 'cause that one last win would have brought him a share of $1 Million, (as is the Golden League system). He also became the South American record holder, which doesn't sound that good, but was actually pretty awesome - his 8.56m record breaker was also the longest jump in the world last year.

Having already jumped 8.53 this year, Saladino is definately one to keep your eye on this season.

[Irving Saladino Wiki]

Awesome Athletes: Tyson Gay

I'm guessing that if you're Mr. And Mrs Gay, you'd be wanting to give your son the most macho name you could think of. And you can't get much more macho then 'Tyson'. I suppose Butch was another option, but then again that was never going to sound good...

Obvious jokes asside though, Tyson Gay has been threatening to become a world class sprinter for about two years now. Up until last year I thought of him predominantly as a 200m runner, but it looks like he has upped the acceleration and found the 'final forty' speed that is vital in today's 100m races.

When Justin Gatlin was caught cheating and banned I felt like we had been robbed of seeing him and Asafa Powell pushing each other to faster and faster times. I think the whole Track and Field world felt the same; Jamaican Powell was a step above everyone else in terms of 100m speed but he had never been able to beat Justin 'The Gun' Gatlin.

Now though, after Gay's impressive 9.76 time at the Reebok Grand Prix last Saturday, we can expect a new challenger to enter the fray. I don't want to talk about 'nearly' world records and all that - It was a wind assisted time, there's a reason they have a rule against that, but what Gay's time does show is that he has found the next level and is ready to push Powell for the title of 'World's Fastest Man', which is something we'd all like to see.

[The Japan Times]

Awesome Athletes: Nicola Sanders

In the run up to the 2007 track and field season, which kicks off in full on the 15th of June with the first IAAF Golden League event in Oslo, I will be featuring some of the best Athletes from around the globe for you to keep your eye on.

Nicola Sanders has everything you would look for in a world class athlete and whilst some sports-casters are only now catching on (and attempting to ride shot-gun on the Sanders bandwagon) Nicola has been showing all the right signs for some years now.

She has incredible strength of body and (perhaps more importantly) of mind and is that rare breed of 400m runner who never gives anything other than from 100% effort right up to the finish line. Her style is fluid and natural and when she runs she glides down the track like silk and finishes each race with a will of iron.

She talks like a World Class Athlete and seems to exude that air of self-confidence that can only be found in World Champions. When asked where she keeps her medals she replied “They used to be in a cabinet, but we got rid of it and they are in a box somewhere” - the wins of the past don't matter to her, it's the big wins of the future that count; The World Championships and The Olympic Games. Nicola Sanders believes that she can beat anybody who lines up in the blocks with her. And you know what? She can.

When she won the 400m at the European Indoor Championships this year she sent out a message to the world. The Gold itself was secondary to the time she clocked: 50.02 seconds. It sent shock-waves around the athletics world.

This is Sanders' breakout season, with her mind clearly focused on the World Championships, she will face her main rival Sanya Richards, who must by now be quaking in her spikes, for the first time in Oslo on the 15th of June.They will likely meet several times during the season, but it will be at the World Championships where she can truly put her stamp on the event.

Nicola Sanders is a superb athlete and a joy to watch on the track, she is gritty, fast and incredibly determined. Oh, and she's incredibly easy on the eye as well... 'nough said.

[Nicola Sanders Profile]

Things to do when you Retire from Sports: Broadcasting, Coaching, Crime...

So, what's a digraced former 100m World Record holder to do after he's cuaght cheating and banned from the track?

Well Tim Montgomery appears to have decided that the multi-million dollar bank fraud and money laundering game is the way forward.

Yesterday Montgomery pleaded guilty to charges in relation to an alleged conspiracy to deposit $5 million in stolen, altered or counterfeit cheques into several different banks over a three year period. He could now face up to four years in jail and will be sentenced in November.

I guess that quickness of feet is not always matched by speed of wit. Twelve others, including Montgomerys coach, were also charged along with him. First the Balco drugs fiasco and now this, there must be an NFL team interested in him by now surely...

'Sprinter Pleads Guilty to Fraud' [BBC Sport]

Global Update

Damn, The Masters is hard this year. After the cut there's only three guys above even! The leader-board looks like so:

B Wetterich -2
T Clark SA -2
V Taylor -1
J Kelly even
V Singh Fij even
Z Johnson even
J Rose Eng even
D Howell Eng +1
L Glover +1
P Harrington Ire +1

Tiger Woods ain't lookin' so hot at +3 but I don't think he should be too worried, he's only five shots off the leader and also... well, because he's Tiger Woods.

In College Baseball the Gators managed to blow my theory about them hotting up by losing 12-2 to South Carolina. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted....

Felipe Massa (Ferrari) has claimed pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix (Formula 1) tomorrow. Kimi 'X-nay on the personality-ay' Raikonnen got bumped down to third by Fernando Alonso (Renault) which is great news, because Kimi Raikonnen is the only person in the entire world who can make the worlds fastest Ferrari look boring.

Let's see, what else...

Oh yeah, Track Athlete Christine Ohuruogu is said to be 'stunned' by the loss of her appeal against a 12-month doping ban. Well Christine, that's kinda what happens when you decide to skip a load of drugs tests, it's the same for everybody.

More importantly than this other crap is news that Ricky Williams has officially applied for reinstatement to the NFL. The Dolphins management say they won't comment because Ricky hasn't been reinstated yet. Doesn't that sound like a big old 'Not Interested' resonating from the Phish heads?

Finally, Kentucky have finally found someone to coach their basketball team next year. That man is Billy Gillespie and he doesn't think there's that much work to do in fixing th UK team. Hmm, yeah, good luck with that Billy.

That's it, you're all updated, I hope you're happy. Have a great Easter and don't eat too much eat as much damned chocolate as you can handle. What do I care, it's not my body... you fat bastard.

Disgraced former Athlete Chambers is a Seadevil.

An update on this post.

Dwain Chambers has managed to secure himself a spot on the Hamburg Seadevils' roster for the 2007 season. He managed to beat out several hundred others over three tough cuts to earn the right to play Wide Receiver in NFL Europe.

This is obviously something the Seadevils are particularly pleased with, if their website is anything to go by. (I'm assuming they're saying it's a good thing - it's in German and I nicht spreken deutsch compadres)

I have to admit I'm pretty pleased about it too. I was a massive Dwain chambers fan during his athletics career and I was gutted when he was caught cheating. I just didn't think he had it in him, but I guess that's what happens when you build up your sports heroes too much; you set yourself up for disappointment.

As for former Olympic gold medalist Justin 'The Gun' Gatlin, there doesn't appear to be such a bright outlook. He tried out with both the Texans and the Cardinals but neither were interested. And hey if those teams ain't interested then you better have a back up plan...

Currently Gatlin is serving as a volunteer coach at his old school, Woodham High. He's a bit of a local hero down there apparently. Well... there you go.

I will continue to keep my eyes on both of these guys in the future. I know its wrong to stick your support behind a drugs cheat, but in Chambers case, I just can't help it. It's difficult to hate a guy who you've been supporting for so long, especially now the dust has settled. I just hope he makes the most of this second chance he's been given.

[BBC sport] - Chambers
[Orlando Sentinel] - Gatlin

Roman Sebrle is a Hard Bastard

Olympic Decathlon Champion and World Record holder Roman Sebrle has always had a reputation as being a modern day ironman. But now he's just taking it too damned far.

Whilst training in South Africa in January Sebrle was speared through the right arm in a freak accident. Ashia Hansen, a fellow athlete who witnessed the incident, said "It was really surreal; the javelin hit him in the shoulder and he just pulled it out..."

Thats right. The man was hit by a javelin that put a 12cm gash in his arm and went right through to the otherside and he straight up pulled the damn thing right out. How hard can one man be?

Pretty hard actually. Three days later he was out on the field training again. Yeah-huh.

Perhaps no one expected South African Javelin expert Sunette Vijoen to lash one out there to such a distance; the throw that caught Sebrle was also her longest of the session, (which makes me wonder if she had been trying to spear him all day and missing...). I would look out for her at the World Champs if I was him.

You can still see the scar in the photo. It fits quite nicely with his 'Not even a fucking spear attack can slow ME down' expression.