Athletics Africa Magazine

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.

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...

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...