Athletics Africa Magazine

Triple Olympic sprint champion sprinter Usain Bolt has escaped major injury and possibly death in a car accident in Jamaica whilst driving a BMW M3 when it reportedly veered off the rain-soaked road. Jamaica police sergeant David Sheriff said the 22-year-old and his female passenger were taken to hospital in Spanish Town but neither is seriously injured. He won gold in the men's 100m and 200m at the Beijing Olympic Games in world record times and also triumphed in the 4x100m relay with Jamaica. His manager, Norman Peart, said Bolt suffered nothing worse than scratches from thorn bushes when he got out of the vehicle as it rested in the bush. Gebremariam stunner Meanwhile in Ethiopia, Africa, an outstanding finishing by the reigning World Cross Country champion Gebregziabher Gebremariam highlights of the first day’s action at the 38th Ethiopian Athletics Championships (29 April- 3 May 2009) at the Addis Ababa stadium yesterday. The Ethiopian World championships trials continu...

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has confirmed that "it has been advised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that three athletes have returned positive tests to the new form of EPO named MIRCERA following re-analysis of samples taken by the IOC in Beijing. "The IAAF understands that the relevant National Olympic Committees have been notified. "The cases are currently confidential, and the IAAF is bound by its Rules and unable to confirm the names or nationalities of any athletes involved or comment further at this stage. "The usual results management procedures for samples taken during the period of the Olympic Games will now apply including the option for all athletes to have their B samples tested. "The IAAF must wait for further details from the IOC before considering any provisional suspension of the athletes and a decision is not expected within the next week. "Just as the IAAF has already re-analysed its own sam...

Ethiopia's Olympic bronze medallist Tsegaye Kebede hope to bring the African country its second major marathon victory in a week (his compatriot Deriba Merga’s won the Boston Marathon on Monday ) when he takes on one of the best marathon fields ever assembled in the Flora London Marathon this Sunday. However , he still has the likes of reigning champion Martin Lel, Olympic gold and silver medallists Sammy Wanjiru and Jaouad Gharib, and Abderrahim Goumri to contend with in the British capital. Kebebe recently won 25,000 U.S dollars after he placed second (1. 08.52 seconds) at the 2009 Glo Half Marathon in Lagos, a race won by Kenya's Luke Kibet. Also two-time Olympic 10,000m champion Olympic Champion, Kenenisa Bekele will make his come back on the track on June 1 and will race the 1500 metres at Fanny Blankers-Koen (FBK) Games in Hengelo. Bekele’s manager Jos Hermens told the IAAF: "Kenenisa is training well but the problems cost him two months of training. Hengelo will ...

IAAF’s Member Federations will celebrate the IAAF World Athletics Day in the weekend of Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 May, 2009, according to the IAAF.org The annual global Athletics calendar, remains as popular as ever, with 160 of the 213 IAAF Member Federations requesting to participate in 2009. This year’s project involves Youth Age Group children from Clubs who were born in 1992-1993 (16-17 years old). For the fourth year in accordance with the goal of the IAAF Athletics’ World Plan to make Athletics the number one sport in schools, the World Athletics Day is also being organised in close cooperation with the relevant national ministry which is in charge of School Sport in each country. READ MORE Are you planning an event to mark this day in your local athletics club or in your national federation? What are the things you have in mind to engage the youth in athletics endeavour in your region across the continent? Post your comments below or email the editors (contactus at athletic...

Ethiopian sweetheart Tirunesh Dibaba has joined other 2008 Olympic champions Jamaican Usain Bolt and Russian Yelena Isinbayeva as the three athletes among the finalists for the 2009 Laureus World Sport Award. Dibaba was the first woman to claim the 5000m and 10,000m double at the same Olympic Games when she dominated in Beijing last summer. UTEP's Blessing Okagbare for the second time was named the Conference USA Co-Athlete of the Week . The 2008 Olympic Long Jump Bronze medallist from Nigeria beat out distinguished professionals such as Alice Falaiye, Ola Sesay and Tori Polk in the women's Long Jump at the 2009 UTEP Invitational soaring to a world season lead and NCAA regional qualifying mark of 6.86 metres .

University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP) Junior and five-time All-American Blessing Okagbare has been named the Conference USA Outdoor Track and Field Athlete of the Week. At the 82nd Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, Okagbare - who is the Olympic bronze medalis t, posted the second-best performance in the US in the women's triple jump with a mark of 13.52m, which also ranks as Conference-USA's Top Performance for the 2009 season and is a NCAA regional qualifying mark. She was also part of the women's 4X400m relay quartet made up of Gladys Nwaubani, Endurance Abinuwa, Shalaiyah Sommerville that posted the first regional mark on the track with a time of 45.05 seconds.

Green Africa Foundation, an initiative which was supported by the IAAF as part of its sustainable development initiatives, wins the IOC award for Sport and the Environment at the World Conference on Sport and Environment in Vancouver, Canada. Also, South Africa's juniors qualifies for the 6th IAAF World Youth Championships in Südtirol , Italy from 8-12 July and the Africa Junior Championships in Bata Equatorial Guinea from 2-5 July Young stars Annemie Smith (Hammer Throw) and Willem le Roux (Decathlon) set national records, as sprinter Tshegofatso Meshoe sparkled at the South Africa Youth, Junior and Under-23 Championships in Tshwane.