Athletics Africa Magazine

Ethiopian marathon runner Tariku Jufar in serious doubt of competing in the IAAF/EDF Energy World Half Marathon in Birmingham next month after a horrific car crash in Ethiopia last week. According to reports, Jufar suffered broken bones and spent many days in the hospital recuperating from surgery to fix a broken shoulder and collarbone after the accident during training in Addis Ababa. The 23-year old, who has a personal best of 2:08.10 in the marathon, had been preparing for a busy month of action in October where he was scheduled to represent his country in the World Half marathon championships in Birmingham, UK and the Frankfurt marathon in Germany.

The Athletics South Africa (ASA) says it's first priority is to ensure that Caster Semenya’s professional career is protected and they are now focusing their efforts and attention on dealing with the questions around her legitimately continuing to participate in athletics. According to a release by MS&L Worldwide on behalf of Athletics SA, "the ASA cannot afford to be drawn into a media campaign to discredit the leadership and administration of the ASA at this time. "In order to focus its attention in the best interests of all its athletes, the ASA is open to the appointment a commission of enquiry into the way in which it conducted its affairs around the Caster Semenya issue. The ASA will request input into the terms of reference of this proposed enquiry. This will allow the ASA to focus its attention where it can make a difference to Caster’s future. As the administrator of athletics in South Africa, the ASA has and continues to operate in the best interests of Sout...

David Rudisha wins again at the IAAF World Athletics Finals in Thessaloniki, Greece.

The World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) Executive Committee will meet on September 19, 2009, for the second time this year at the Agency's headquarters in Montreal, Canada. In the lead-up to this meeting, WADA's President John Fahey will hold a press conference call on Thursday, September 17, at 11:00 am EST (Montreal time) to respond to journalists' questions about current issues. As it is traditionally the case at its September meeting, the Executive Committee will consider the 2010 List of Prohibited Substances and Methods (List) for approval. The Prohibited List is revised annually through a highly consultative process, beginning with the circulation of a draft List among more than 1,700 stakeholders. Comments received are considered by WADA's List Committee, who then presents its conclusions to WADA's Health, Medical and Research Committee. Read more http://bit.ly/wada_2010

South Africa's athletics coach Wilfred Daniels has quit his job over the shoddy and disgraceful handling of the sex verification saga of World 800m champion Caster Semenya before her gold medal win in Berlin. Daniels, who announced his resignation at the weekend, said the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) had noticed the teenager's phenomenal performance at the junior championships in Mauritius. He told private radio station Talk Radio 702 : "Before Caster left for Berlin, she was then asked to go to a clinic here in Pretoria to undergo some of these tests but the tests were not explained to her properly. "The normal urine or blood test - that is what she was told. According to the source that I spoke to, it was actually some sort of gender verification test that was done on her. "Caster was put in this unenviable position where she had to endure what she had to endure because we didn't brief her properly, we didn't explain to her...