[Mandark]

Originally Posted by grassmarket

ESPN America has a little bonus tomorrow - highlights of the US NCAA Indoors. Set your videos for 09:30 or 19:00 to see the superstars of tomorrow.

Blast!! The whole reason I signed up for ESPN was for stuff like this and I go and miss it!

[grassmarket]

More grist for the Daily Mail's mill, as Delano Williams of the Turks and Caicos islands gets a British passport.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/oly...B-recruit.html

He's already got the A standard for the 200m and just won the Jamaica High Schools' 100 and 200!

[Frood]

Originally Posted by grassmarket

More grist for the Daily Mail's mill, as Delano Williams of the Turks and Caicos islands gets a British passport.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/oly...B-recruit.html

He's already got the A standard for the 200m and just won the Jamaica High Schools' 100 and 200!

As he is from the Turks and Caicos Islands - a British dependancy - I understand he would get this automatically. So it's a non story.

[Tiger Rose]

Originally Posted by Frood

As he is from the Turks and Caicos Islands - a British dependancy - I understand he would get this automatically. So it's a non story.

Same case as with Shara Proctor. Cant see him running in the World Juniors for Turks & Caicos as well as the Olympics though even if he wants to. The World Juniors are mid July so CVC will never allow that - he's already said on record that those who qualify for the track team wont go to the Europeans at the beginning of July. And that's not even allowing for running for 2 different countries 3 weeks apart.

[bean999]

Brings to mind Churandy Martina, who used to compete for the Dutch Antilles but now competes for the Netherlands. Only in his case, after some political reorganisation, his country disappeared!

The IAAF no longer acknowledges the Netherlands Antilles as a country.

The only exception remains Aruba, but the athletes of all other Antilles Islands will have to compete for the Netherlands.

Martina has always freely chosen to compete for Curaçao (ie part of the NA) even though he could have run for The Netherlands.

"It has been for all of us a surprise..."

[Mandark]

Originally Posted by grassmarket

More grist for the Daily Mail's mill, as Delano Williams of the Turks and Caicos islands gets a British passport.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/oly...B-recruit.html

He's already got the A standard for the 200m and just won the Jamaica High Schools' 100 and 200!

The Mail is being pretty reserved about his status. It's about time we had someone who can give Malcolm and Devonish a serious and consistent challenge in the 200m otherwise they'll still be representing us in their 40s.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/oly...mpic-team.html

This doesn't seem to be much of an issue any more in cricket. Only the other day I was listening to yet another South African accent belonging to an England cricketer. Can't remember who! But that fact alone says it all - no fuss about him.

[Trmcg5]

I will be supporting Mo Farah 100%.

[Mark F]

Mandark - There are 4 at least including the captain that were born in South Africa albeit Strauss and Prior have been in this country since they were pretty much babies.

Trott and Pietersen are the ones selected having lived here for a number of years.

[RogerMilla]

Originally Posted by bean999

Brings to mind Churandy Martina, who used to compete for the Dutch Antilles but now competes for the Netherlands. Only in his case, after some political reorganisation, his country disappeared!

The IAAF no longer acknowledges the Netherlands Antilles as a country.

The only exception remains Aruba, but the athletes of all other Antilles Islands will have to compete for the Netherlands.

Martina has always freely chosen to compete for Curaçao (ie part of the NA) even though he could have run for The Netherlands.

"It has been for all of us a surprise..."

This is all becoming a bit of a mess which needs rectified. Aruba are allowed to compete because they formed an Olympic Committee prior to a change in the Olympic Charter. Both Curaçao and St Maarten voted to become semi autonomous and cut some of the ties with the Netherlands. For that the IOC, forced their athletes to represent the Dutch anyway as Netherlands Antilles no longer existed and they would not allow the two islands to join the organisation. Seems a disgrace to me, as Hong Kong China was allowed to do so and it is not fully independent either. So athletes from these islands must now represent a country thousands of miles away and will only get chosen obviously if they are at least as good as their Dutch equivalents.

As for Anguilla and Turks and Caicos Islands, they are allowed to compete in IAAF events but not IOC which again is a total shambles. Allow them to compete in both. The IOC should be non political and allow all nations to be represented. What about those Anguillan, Turks & Caicos competitors who are not good enough to represent Britain, which would be the majority, they will never get the chance to taste Olympic participation.

Athletes from Kosovo are also in limbo even though 89 nations recognise the independence of the country. They are not allowed to compete in the Olympics but non independent nations such as Cayman Is, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Palestine and Hong Kong China are free to do so.

Politics in sport as usual.

[Tiger Rose]

This article on Delano Williams made me laugh - feeling the cold at 21 degrees. Similar temperatures here the other week and everyonewas raving about how lovely & warm it was.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/oly...medium=twitter

[Mandark]

Originally Posted by Mark F

Mandark - There are 4 at least including the captain that were born in South Africa albeit Strauss and Prior have been in this country since they were pretty much babies.

Trott and Pietersen are the ones selected having lived here for a number of years.

Thanks. I know Pietersen's voice so it must have been Trott I heard being interviewed.

[bean999]

Originally Posted by RogerMilla

This is all becoming a bit of a mess which needs rectified. Aruba are allowed to compete because they formed an Olympic Committee prior to a change in the Olympic Charter. Both Curaçao and St Maarten voted to become semi autonomous and cut some of the ties with the Netherlands. For that the IOC, forced their athletes to represent the Dutch anyway as Netherlands Antilles no longer existed and they would not allow the two islands to join the organisation. Seems a disgrace to me, as Hong Kong China was allowed to do so and it is not fully independent either. So athletes from these islands must now represent a country thousands of miles away and will only get chosen obviously if they are at least as good as their Dutch equivalents.

As for Anguilla and Turks and Caicos Islands, they are allowed to compete in IAAF events but not IOC which again is a total shambles. Allow them to compete in both. The IOC should be non political and allow all nations to be represented. What about those Anguillan, Turks & Caicos competitors who are not good enough to represent Britain, which would be the majority, they will never get the chance to taste Olympic participation.

Athletes from Kosovo are also in limbo even though 89 nations recognise the independence of the country. They are not allowed to compete in the Olympics but non independent nations such as Cayman Is, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Palestine and Hong Kong China are free to do so.

Politics in sport as usual.

Thank you, that's interesting background. Good point about things from the small nations perspective; some one or two home-grown athletes in the UK (or the Netherlands) may miss out on the Olympics when athletes come in from abroad, but almost all athletes in Anguilla, Turks & Caicos, Curaçao, those with qualifying standards, will miss out.

[grassmarket]

May as well remind those interested that Eurosport is starting off coverage of the spring marathon season this weekend - Paris live on Sunday morning, Milan highlights on Monday afternoon. Last chance for Olympic selection.

[Ads]

Not good news for Paula

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012...olympic-vienna

[Cissy Fairfax]

Originally Posted by Ads

Not good news for Paula

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012...olympic-vienna

How did that Vienna race work with Paula getting the 8 minute start?

I'm assuming other elite women (if there were any) started with her and did elite men start with Heile? I havent heard a mention of anyone else.

[bean999]

I didn't see it, but apparently they set it up like this:

OMV Champions Race:
8:50:38 am Paula Radcliffe
8:58:30 am Haile Gebrselassie

Marathon:
8:59:00 am Elite Men + Women
9:00:00 am Marathon, OMV, Halfmarathon, Krone Relay Marathon

[grassmarket]

Correcting earlier post.

Kenyan men won the Marathons in Nagano, Paris, Milan, Boston and Vienna last weekend. Ethiopian men got one victory, in Rotterdam.

On the women's side, Kenyans won Nagano, Paris and Milan, Ethiopian women won Boston, Rotterdam and Vienna.

I

[Ads]

We have another foreign import to British athletics, Delano Williams.

http://www.metro.co.uk/olympics/8950...or-london-2012

His recent 20.53 200m time isn't exactly going to scare the likes of Bolt, but sadly that passes for very competitive in UK athletics these days.

[Mandark]

Originally Posted by Ads

We have another foreign import to British athletics, Delano Williams.

http://www.metro.co.uk/olympics/8950...or-london-2012

His recent 20.53 200m time isn't exactly going to scare the likes of Bolt, but sadly that passes for very competitive in UK athletics these days.

See post #302. It will be good to have someone give Malcolm and Devonish a consistent run for their money. It's about time some of our youngsters knocked the 30 something brigade off the top of our sprinting tree.

[TheFridge]

Originally Posted by Ads

We have another foreign import to British athletics, Delano Williams.

http://www.metro.co.uk/olympics/8950...or-london-2012

His recent 20.53 200m time isn't exactly going to scare the likes of Bolt, but sadly that passes for very competitive in UK athletics these days.

The whole mens sprinting situation in our country in laughable in every aspect.

[Ads]

Originally Posted by TheFridge

The whole mens sprinting situation in our country in laughable in every aspect.

The frustrating thing is we have had some really good juniors, such as Lewis Francis and Harry AA who just have not progressed at all since then.

Maybe its too early to judge Harry AA but I was hoping for much more from him last year.

[Ads]

Originally Posted by Ads

The frustrating thing is we have had some really good juniors, such as Lewis Francis and Harry AA who just have not progressed at all since then.

Maybe its too early to judge Harry AA but I was hoping for much more from him last year.

I did notice this on the UK athletics site

http://www.uka.org.uk/media/news/apr...eekend-update/

Richard Kilty (Linford Christie) recorded lifetime best performances at 100m and 200m with times of 10.23 (0.3m/s) and 20.50 (0.0m/s) respectively to go top of the McCain Power of Ten rankings in both events. The 200m is an Olympic A standard, bettering the 20.51 mark, while the 100m is a B standard, just inside the 10.24 set time.

Lets hope he can develop further.

[grassmarket]

Originally Posted by Ads

The frustrating thing is we have had some really good juniors, such as Lewis Francis and Harry AA who just have not progressed at all since then.
.

I think maybe its a coaching problem. All British sprinters nowadays are spending more time in the gym pumping iron than they are on the track developing speed. Look at Christophe Lemaitre, PB 9.92 and he looks like he couldn't push open a swing door, and Harry Aikenes Aryeetey, PB 10.10 (from 2008 ffs!) who looks like he makes his living wrestling grizzlies.

[bean999]

Re the male sprinters, according to Daley Thompson, the problem's very simple; they're just a bunch of soft tarts.

[Tiger Rose]

Away from the Elite races of the London marathon (otherwise known as Kenyan Olympic trails) there have been some encouraging early season performances from British athletes including the following:-

Martyn Rooney ran 44.92 for the 400m & defeated Jeremy Warriner in the process. Glad he is coming back into form as he has gone AWOL somewhat after his good performance in Beijing.

Lawrence Okoye has thrown over 66m for the Discus - if he can be more consistent this year he has an outside chance of a medal.

Sophie Hitchon has improved her British Hammer record to 70.47

Jess Ennis has thrown over 45m for the Javelin in her 1st outdoor meeting of the year.

Also been some good performances from junior sprinter Adam Gemili - clocking PBs of 10.23 for the 100 & 20.70 for the 200m.