Athletics Africa Magazine

Nigeria's Franca Idoko posted another personal best in two weeks after equalling the year's world-leading time of 7.09 seconds at the LAC Chemnitz Erdgas Indoor Meeting in Chemnitz, Germany. In what was a huge leap in her personal best in the women’s 60m, Idoko was commanding in winning the event, significantly lowering her previous best of 7.19, set two weeks ago in Leipzig. "I knew I was ready to run fast," she said, "I’m really happy!" Germany's Verena Sailer and Cuba’s Virgen Benavides tied for the second position in 7.25 seconds.

Road to Beijing ...

Bayo Adio in the highjump at the Emporia State Twilight quailifier meet 7' 2.50" last year.

I have been training hard and i am happy i finally have a guidance of a coach that has coached former Olympians and still is currently coaching some of the best jumpers in the US. It has been hard for me training on my own and trying to critique myself. So that is the new transition I have been going through I have a new approach, and I am learning new and effective ways of doing things that is going to take some time to get used to. even with the new style and technique that I have just incorporated. I jumped in a special high jump invitational meet and still managed to clear 2.14m. and I still have so much to correct and it is still early in the season We'll see how I can progress from here on now. It's hard juggling school, work and practice. and very expensive to travel to all this meets, eat right. go back and forth to training sessions because my coach is in another city located three hours from where I go to school. So financially I am getting drained and I am not gettin...

Bayo Adio's winning jump at the 2007 MIAA conference championship that took place at Fort Hays state university - May 2007

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