Athletics Africa Magazine

Bayo Adio, is a Nigerian High Jumper and a Management Information Systems major (with a minor in computer networking) at the Northwest Missouri State university, USA. Bayo shares with you on this page his dreams, preparations and progress as he gets ready for the 2008 season and the Beijin g Olympics. Enjoy the ride... My first track meet Well first meet went pretty good. i started off da bar at 2.10m cleared it went to 2.15m cleared it and 2.20m. I had pretty good jumps at it. but didn't clear it. but i decided to skip to 2.27m which is 7" 5' 3/4, the Olympic B standard to get a feel for how it's gonna feel, my coach said i might as well start jumping at it, and it wasn't that bad, but i didn't make it. But i feel good though. I guess 2.15m is a new indoor PR for me. My goal is to extend my starting height to 2.15m though. next meet i know I'm jumping at least 2.24m. we'll wait and see. haa haa. I'm happy overall with the beginning of the season...

Bayo Adio , is a Nigerian High Jumper and a Management Information Systems major (with a minor in computer networking) at the Northwest Missouri State university, USA. Bayo shares with you on this page his dreams, preparations and progress as he gets ready for the 2008 season and the Beijing Olympics. Enjoy the ride... Hello All, Its a pleasure to be here to have you guys follow my career and my dreams of making the Nigerian Olympic team. I just finished my college eligibility and i had a good year last year. finishing 3rd at nationals in NCAA championship. Now i am trying to break into the professional department this year. I have trained very well during the off season, and I am ready to start jumping high. My best is 2.20m and i want to extend that personal best to 2.30m at least this year, which i think is very possible, so i can qualify for the world championships or most importantly the Olympics. I have my first track meet of the season this Friday at the open meet in Iowa state...

What are you doing this Weekend? Are you running in the Globacom International Half Marathon in Lagos on Saturday 8th December, 2007? Get your name into Africa's only dedicated Athletics new source by posting your stories, images and videos to the AthleticsAfrica.Com group on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2779250282 and subsequently the website on http://www.athleticsafrica.com. Send us your photos, stories, etc, Let us know you were there!!!! So what are you waiting for, go out and enjoy the marathon, but don't forget your camera.....post your pictures on the athleticsafrica .com group so we see what you are up to. Happy marathon ya'll.

Ethiopia's Olympic 5000m champion and World record-holder, Meseret Defar has been awarded the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Female Athlete of the Year title for 2007. Defar underlined her talent this season by winning all her races, including two World records and a World best time in Boston earlier in the year. Her outstanding achievements during the past season saw her win her first World title over the 5000m in August at the 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Osaka, Japan. Read More....>>>>

African 100m champion Olusoji Fasuba of Nigeria and Ethiopia’s World and Olympic 5000m champion Meseret Defar have been awarded the 9th Abdou Diouf Foundation award for Sport Virtues at the Daniel Sorano National Theatre in Dakar, Senegal. Ethiopian Meseret Defar won the Excellence Award and the Nigerian Olusoji Adetokundo Fasuba the Prix d'Honneur at the foundation gala ceremony witnessed by highly influential members of the continent's sporting fraternity. Read More.....>>>>>

Ethiopian pair of Tamrat Elanso and Adaneche Beyene Jemilu proved to be easy winners of the BLOM Beirut International Marathon on Sunday, reports the IAAF . But pride of place was acknowledged to belong to the meeting organisers who ensured the race went ahead without a hitch despite Lebanon's present political situation. Race president May El Khalil stressing how it fetches her volatile country together said: "We have people from all sorts of religions and life running. We have entrants from the south and the north." Khalil was delighted in excellent conditions and the event went ahead with positive results for Elanso and Jemilu who led a strong contingent from their country to the Lebanese capital. "It was important that I succeeded today, it was a good chance for me to win my first marathon," said Elanso, who scorched ahead of his rivals after 35 kilometres to clinch a simple victory. Elanso, 30, slowed after breaking up the field and running in isolation ahe...

Media accreditation for the 2007 Globacom Lagos Half Marathon has commenced for eligible Nigerian and foreign Journalists in the print and electronic media practitioners. The organizers of the prestigious event said in a press statement on their website that provision has been made to accredit over 2000 Journalists expected to cover the race holding on December 8 in Lagos. Modele Sarafa-Yusuf, the Globacom Official in charge of the project said Journalists will be accorded all courtesies in line of their duty because the company recognizes the crucial role they play not only in providing information for the public about the marathon, but also in promoting the company. In the words of Sarafa-Yusuf, “Globacom in conjunction with the Athletic Federation of Nigeria will provide the enabling environment for over two thousand Journalists, consisting of sports writers, sports photographers, broadcasters, cameramen, and filmmakers from all over the world to cover the event without hitches. We...

Ivuti and Adere clinch Chicago dramatic Chicago victories in oppressive heat, by Jim Ferstle for the IAAF . On such a day each of the runners probably wished they only had to run the final 385 yards and not the 26 miles before that. Men's winner Patrick Ivuti of Kenya won a see-saw duel with two-time IAAF World Marathon champion Jaouad Gharib of Morocco by finding just enough to surge past Gharib at the tape in 2:11:11. Defending women's champion Berhane Adere of Ethiopia made up 30 seconds in the last two kilometres, most of it down final, strait to blow past a shocked Adriana Pirtea of Romania in the final 50 metres to win by three seconds in 2:33:49. RESULTS Men 1 Patrick Ivuti (KEN) 2:11:11 2 Jaouad Gharib (MAR) 2:11:11 (same as 1st) 3 Daniel Njenga (KEN)2:12:45 4 Robert K. Cheruiyot (KEN) 2:16:13 5 Ben Maiyo (KEN) 2:16:59 6 Christopher Cheboiboch (KEN) 2:17:17 7 Bong-ju Lee (KOR) 2:17:29 8 Michael Cox (USA) 2:21:42 Women 1 Berhane Adere (ETH) 2:33:49 2 Adriana P...

awesome competition

Former African 400m champion and Roma '87 world silver medallist, Innocent Egbunike, has lamented the deplorable condition he found the Nigerian team at the just concluded 11th IAAF world championships in athletics in Osaka, Japan. Egbunike, who was in Osaka with the USA team as coach to Sydney 2000 Olympic 400m champion Angelo Taylor, recounted his experience in a write-up for the Nigerian Thisday newspaper. He explained that 20 years down the line the lack of organisation, forward planning and mediocrity of the Nigerian athletics officials has not abated, but instead has got much worse. More harrowing for the former African champion is the fact that the officials seem incapable to get the simplest things right - athletes were not registered on time for their events, the team do not have uniform kits and even they flew into the venue of the games on the day of their events.

Just how fast can this man really go? 9.50s may be. Asafa Powell the fastest man in the world.

Jamaica’s Asafa Powell wrote a new chapter in the Rieti Grand Prix’s history book, breaking his own World 100m record with an incredible 9.74 second run (+1.7 m/s). "What made Powell's feat more sensational was the fact that he made it in the heats easing up in the final metres giving the impression that something very special was to be expected in the final. In that later race in windless conditions (wind +0.0 m/s), Powell could not dip under his new record but he ran smoothly in another impressive sub 9.80 time of 9.78, one hundredth of a second slower than the World record of 9.77 which he had set in 2005 and twice equalled last year, and which he had improved in the earlier heat." Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF

The star act of the fourth leg of this season’s Golden League was without doubt the newly crowned World 800m champion Janeth Jepkosgei. The Kenyan took a virtually gun to tape victory with much the same style if not the same speed as in the semi-final and finals stages in Osaka. No one is currently in Jepkosgei’s class. Her 1:59.03 was achieved coming away from the field in the last 100m, with Osaka bronze medallist Mayte Martinez of Spain in second (2:00.42) and Italy’s Elisa Cusma, third (2:00.54). Kepkosgei though was not pleased with her run and blamed the ‘slow’ time on the cold weather. “The reason is clear: the weather change from (the heat of) Osaka.” READ MORE Powered by ScribeFire .

Kenya's Janeth Jepkosgei devours the competition in the women’s 800m final beating her own personal record and national record in a time of 1:56.04 - beating he own world season leading time set in the semi-finals.

Catherine the Great just got greater. Kenya's Catherine Ndereba lived up to her nickname – and her reputation as the world’s most consistently successful woman marathon runner – by regaining the World title she lost to Paula Radcliffe in Helsinki two years ago. In Radcliffe’s absence – the Briton has not raced a marathon since Paris due to injury and childbirth – Ndereba extended her astonishing success record. A former World record holder, she has now placed in the top two of the last four global championships (three Worlds, one Olympics) and has been a top-two finisher in four of the five World Marathon Majors (WMM). Ndereba has even won in Osaka before, in January 2006. As she sat on a chair, with ice under her feet to cool her after a race in high heat and humidity, she was asked to sum up the difference between racing a marathon in Osaka in winter and one in summer. Her answer showed that, even so soon after such a trial of endurance, she still had the capacity for humour. REA...

The elegant Kenyan tore a page from the Filbert Bayi manual of Front-Running, photocopied it, crumpled the pages into a ball, and bounced them off the heads of her opponents. They didn’t have time to peruse the script, they were just trying to keep up. Multiple World champion, Maria Mutola of Mozambique stepped off the track, beaten with 80m to run. Kipruto leads Kenyan Steeplechase sweep, first since 1997 The Kenyan trio gave their opponents plenty of opportunity to lead, and even threaten to win. But when it came to the last 300 metres, they were the only men in it. Brimin Kipruto reversed the result of the 2004 Olympic Games, when he tore past Athens champion, Ezekiel Kemboi to win gold and relegated Kemboi to silver. Richard Mateelong, world number three last year, cemented that position with bronze. IAAF.org - Osaka 2007 - News Powered by ScribeFire .

OSAKA, Japan -- Luke Kibet ended Kenya's 20-year wait for a men's world marathon title with a comfortable victory in the first event of the 11th world championships on Saturday. The 24-year-old prison guard overcame searing heat and high humidity to clinch gold in two hours, 15 minutes and 59 seconds. Kenyan-born Qatari Mubarak Hassan Shami took silver, more than a minute behind his former compatriot in 2:17:18, and Swiss Viktor Roethlin came through to finish third in 2:17:25. "I'm happy and I am proud to win the gold medal for my country," Kibet told reporters. "It's been a long time for Kenya without the gold medal in marathon." read more..... WCSN.com: News

Haile Gebrselassie speaks with Lets run dot com.

Up close and personal with the Blade Runner - South Africa paralympic star and double amputee Oscar Pistorius.

The Africa List [beta release]: Athleticsafrica.com seeks Freelance Contributors for World Championship coverage in Osaka Japan Powered by ScribeFire .

Tyson Gay beats Francis Obikwelu in rain soaked Norwich Union British Grand Prix in Sheffield.

Many African athletes are in Europe now putting finishing touches to their preparations for the 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Osaka, Japan starting in less than two weeks. Last Sunday, Nigeria's female sprinters Franca Idoko and Christy Ekpukpon led all comers home at the DLV Gala classics in Wattenscheid, Germany. Weeks before that Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele smashes the UK's All Comers Record with 7.26.69 in the men's 3000m at the Norwich Union British Grand Prix in Sheffield. The South Africa team is balanced with a mixture of experience and youth, sprinter Constance Mkenku is among a crop of promising young talent South Africa is sending to the World Athletics Championships in Osaka Japan. With the World and Olympic 5000m champion, Tirunesh Dibaba already selected to double up in 5000m and 10000m in Osaka, Africa is set to challenge the rest of the world and to once again dominate the long distance races, though Aussie Craig Mottram might have something to...

The IAAF has launched a new dynamic competition website for the 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Osaka, Japan (25 Aug to 2 Sep). In what was described as "part of a long term re-development of the IAAF’s presence on the internet" the main IAAF homepage has also been cosmetically remodelled. Check out the new OSAKA 2007 site the new IAAF homepage International Association of Athletics Federations - IAAF.org Technorati Tags: iaaf , osaka 2007 , athleticsafrica , track , filed , japan , Powered by ScribeFire .

Vanguard - Sports : HISSES AS ALGERIA DETHRONE NIGERIA : ‘Why Nigeria failed in Algiers’— Brown Ebewele Brown Ebewele, the man who worked tirelessly for Nigeria’s victory at the Abuja Games in 2003 arrived Algiers towards the end of the games here and asked Nigerians to graciously accept defeat and plan ahead for the next games in Zambia. And the games ends....................

Watch the men's and women's 400m race yesterday in Algiers. :: COJA 2007 :: Site Officiel des 9 èmes jeux africains - Alger du 11 AU 23 juiller 2007

AthleticsAfrica.Com - All Africa Games 2007 track and field news

Last Sunday in Sheffield at the Norwich Union Super Grand Prix , I came face to face with the Blade Runner - South Africa paralympic star and double amputee Oscar Pistorius . Chatting with him you get a feeling of his passion to live his life to the fullest. A simple and very polite guy. I just wondered why so many people especially the arrogant British press refused to give this brave guy a chance to achieve the best he could ever be. Why they are so self preserving and so worried that this guy, born without fibulae in both legs due to a congenital condition, would one day beat their underachieving able-bodied athletes. Is it petty jealousy? or maybe overzealous xenophobia? The BBC also describes him as angry . I was at the mixed zone after his 400m race, when one disillusioned gentleman who works for UK Athletics gleefully announced the blade runner had been disqualified for running out of his lane in the 400m claiming "now he has nothing to prove" . Looking back at all th...

Watching the first leg of the IAAF Golden League in Oslo two weeks, I was completely astounded to see another Nigerian hurdler in Spanish colours. This was not Glory Alozie, who ditched the country in 2001 after winning silver medal at the Sydney Olympics, but a young lovely talent - Josephine Onyia. She came 5th in a modest 12.93seconds , but last week took the women's 100m hurdles at the 46th Zlata Tetra -Golden Spike, IAAF Grand Prix meet in Ostrava with 12.91 seconds. Nigerian athletics technical director, Sunday Bada could only lament at another talent drain. He described change of nationality as another medal lost at next month's All Africa Games. Bada told the Nigerian Daily Champion newspapers: "Our athletes are leaving in great numbers, we must have to stem this trend otherwise that is how we would be losing our best athletics talents." Onyia, who currently lives and trains with Alozie in Valencia has a season's best of 12.82 seconds over the 100m hu...

Meserat Defar last week once again further reduces her world 5000m record! i don't think that will be the last time this year. Just how fast can this elegant Ethiopian stallion really go? I have always admire her sportsmanship and competitiveness which came to fore last year when she denied her compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba at the last stage of the Golden League even when Dibaba only needed one more victory to grab the $1 million jackpot. Not surprising, with the pace she started off in Oslo even the worst pessimist in the stadium knew something was in the offing. She clipped almost eight seconds from her existing World 5000m record to finish in 14:16.63 (subject to ratification) Well, it's Paris next on Friday, July 06. Do you think she can do it again? Watch this space for Defar again.

Ethiopian Meseret Defar has the first woman to successfully defend her title in the 22-year history of the Carlsbad 5000 in Carlsbad, California, USA, reports Ian Monahan for the IAAF . The 23-year-old Olympic 5000m track champion, in her fifth appearance at the 5km road race, won in a time of 15:01, falling short in her attempt at also breaking the unofficial World best for the second year in a row. Defar broke the unofficial World best at Carlsbad last year, shattering the previous mark by five seconds when she ran 14:46. She had hoped to run 14:40 this year. "I felt good, I felt strong," Defar said of her performance Sunday. "Sometimes, it's just like this." American Jen Rhines, 32, finished second (15:21), in front of Ethiopian Aheza Kiros, who was third in 15:25.

Namibian sprint legend Frankie 'the flash' Fredericks has been named consultant for German men’s national sprint team, according to the IAAF . "The 200m World Champion from Stuttgart in 1993, who has won four silver medals at the 100m and 200m at the Olympics (1992 and 1996), partly lives in Germany. "Jürgen Mallow, Germany’s national athletics coach, said that Fredericks was asked to especially help the German sprint relay team. "Fredericks will already be present during a weekend training camp of the national sprinters this Saturday (24) and Sunday (25) in Dortmund. "He will cooperate with national coaches Klaus Jakobs, Ronald Stein as well as Michael Corucle, who is the coach of Tobias Unger."

Ethiopia aims for unprecendented record as the 35th IAAF World Cross Country Championships, kicks off in Mombasa, Kenya next week (24 March) I AAF Chris Turner wrote under the headlines ' The spectre of Ethiopian brilliance hangs over Kenya’s Mombasa ambitions' "Given the recent history of the World Cross Country Championships, the entry of the 2006 Fukuoka champions Kenenisa Bekele (two titles – men’s short and long course), Tirunesh Dibaba (women’s long course), and Gelete Burka (women’s short course) will have tempered all but the most optimistic of the 1.15 million citizens of this Indian Ocean seaport from making preparations to celebrate home victories on 24 March. "Understandably, Kenyans want to celebrate the occasion of their hosting of the World Cross Country Championships which will be the first occasion on which Kenya will host an IAAF World Athletics Series event. "For a country which since the late 1960s has been at the forefront of long distance...

Kenyan Steven Kamar has led his team Kericho to overall victory in the Standard Chartered's ‘ Greatest Race on Earth ’ (GROE) 2006/07 and a US$400,000 first prize, after winning the final leg of the series in Hong Kong. Kamar won the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon , the final leg of the four-marathon team relay series, in 2:17:03 to overturn a 44 second deficit on previous leaders Marathon Centre Kericho, lifting his team into first place with a cumulative time of 9:08:41. GO READ KAMAR

The IAAF has teamed up with one of the world's leading sports research companies, Sponsorship Intelligence (SI) to carry out the biggest, most in-depth survey of the sport of track and field athletics ever conducted. The IAAF is keen to gather as much information as possible about the current state of the sport around the world in order to assist it in the planning and development of the sport. As part of a three-year contract through to 2009, SI, the IAAF's first research partner, will review the global state of track and field, with particular focus on the sport's commercial potential, as part of the IAAF's new strategy under its Marketing Director, Luis Carulla. Sponsorship Intelligence metamorphosised from Sponsorship Research International (SRi) after the ZenithOptimedia Group acquired SRi from sports marketing agents, ISL in 2001 and re-branded the company. Read more http://www.athleticsafrica.com