Athletics Africa Magazine

Her performances this season have been nothing less than dominant, her journey to Brussels this night was most improbable. But at the Belgacom Memorial Van Damme, IAAF Golden meeting in front of a sell-out 47,000 crowd in the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, the Olympic and African champion Pamela Jelimo became a millionairess - in only her first season on the world athletics scene. Jelimo won the women's 800m in 1:55.16 seconds ahead of compatriot and World Champion Janeth Jepkosgei whilst Kenia Sinclair of Jamaica was third. Yet, a few months ago, the Kenyan teenager, was not even running the 800m, but she had been such a dominant force in the two-lap event this season that, had it not been for the emergence of Jamaican super star Usain Bolt, would have been the greatest story of the year. Jelimo, 18, secured the $1 Million ÅF Golden League Jackpot outright tonight, as Croatia Blanka Vlasic’s hope of at least a share of the prize crumbled as she failed under pressure at 2.02...

After an impressive display in front of a 26,000 capacity crowd at the IAAF's Weltklasse Zürich, Golden League meeting at the Zurich's Letzigrund stadium, Kenyan sensational teenager Pamela Jelimo now has only one more hurdle between her and a share of the Golden League $1 Million Jackpot. The 18-year-old Olympic 800m champion has remained undefeated over the distance so far this season and her latest improvement of both the senior African and World Junior 800m records jointly for the fourth time this season (the junior mark for a fifth) with a 1:54.01 run in Zurich, is simply phenomenal. When she lines up next Friday 5 Sept at the last meet of the series in Brussels, only herself and Croatian High jumper Blanka Vlasic (the only other athlete to have successfully won five out of the six stages) can stop her from claiming at least a share of the $1 Million Jackpot . However, watching Vlasic tiredly climbing over 2.01m in Zurich, who's going to bet on Jelimo not taking the w...

Nigeria women's 4x100m relay quartet of Franca Idoko, Gloria Kemasuode, Halimat Ismaila, and African sprint champion Oludamola Osayomi this evening at the Beijing's Birds nest stadium snatched a bronze medal in a time of 43.04s. The Barcelona 1992 bronze medalists only managed to qualified as one of the fastest losers from yesterday's semi-finals due to a near disastrous baton exchange between Gloria Kemasuode and Agnes Ozazuwa on the 3rd leg. But, today with UTEP Senior Halimat Ismaila running in place of Ozasuwa benefitted from baton disasters by the highly favoured Jamaican and American quartets to pick third. Russia , the Athens 2004 silver medal winners, with Evgeniya Polyakova, Aleksandra Fedoriva, Yulia Gushchina and Yuliya Chermoshanskaya took the gold medals in a time of 42.31 seconds, and reigning world championships bronze medalist Belgium, this time made up of Olivia Borlee, Hanna Marien, Elodie Ouedraogo, and Kim Gevaert, claimed the silver medals in a t...

Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba shrugs off a sluggish start to sprint to an Olympic double after winning the gold medal in the women's 5000m at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in a time of 15:41.40 minutes. Dibaba, 22, who ran the second fastest 10000m of all time earlier in the week, fell short of her own world record time of 14:11.15 that she set Oslo two months ago, but became the first female runner to have won the 5,000m and 10,000m titles. Olympics 10000m silver medalist Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey once again took silver, in a time of 15:42.74, while Athens 2004 Olympic gold medalist Meseret Defer claimed bronze with a time of 15:44.12. Reigning world champion Defar ran 14:12.88 earlier this year in response to Dibaba's world record of 14:11.55.

University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP) Sophomore Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria is truly a blessed girl. After failing by 0.01m to make the cut in the women's Long Jump Qualifying on Wednesday when she was beaten to the 12th position by Jamaica's Chelsea Hammod (6.60m to Okagbare's 6.59m), she must have thought her Olympics adventures was over . But as God would have it, Blessing was reinstated to the Long Jump final after Ukrainian heptathlete Liudmyla Blonska tested positive and was thrown out of the games yesterday. Today, Okagbare took the first medal of any kind for Nigeria at the Beijing Olympic Games. A huge 6.91m personal best in her first jump was enough to give the Nigerian queen a deserved Bronze medal Higa Maurreen MAGGI of Brazil took the Gold with her first effort of 7.04m, a season's best whilst defending Olympics Long Jump champion and current Triple jump silver medalist Tatiana Lebedeva of Russia settled for Silver despite a huge 7.03m final effort. Full ...

Cameroon's reigning Olympic Triple Jump champion Francoise Mbango Etone successfully defended her Olympic triple jump title with a new Games record leap in Beijing today with a second round effort of 15.39 metres. Also this year she won the African Championships in Addis Ababa in May with a leap of 14.95m. In the men's 10,000m finals, Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele claimed his second Olympic gold medal , winning with an Olympic record of 27 minutes 1.17 seconds. Compatriot and serial silver medallist Sileshi Sihine took silver again with Micah Kogo of Kenya secured bronze, but Ethiopian veteran Haile Gebrselassie could only finish sixth, ending his dream of a third Olympic gold medal.

Five African women have made it into the last 16 of the women's 400m at the Beijing Olympics. Botwana's Amantle Montsho, Nigeria's Folashade Abugan and Ajoke Odumosu, Zambia's Rachael Nachula and Sudan's Nawar ElJack all progress into Sunday's semis. African 400m champion, Amantle Montsho of Botswana cruised the last 50m to hold onto second spot in Heat 2 with a time of 50.91secs. Nigeria's Ajoke Odumosu, the African 400m Hurdles champion, claimed the third automatic spot in Heat 1 after a storming 300m run behind Jamaican Rosemarie White and Christine Amertil of Bahamas. 2008 World Junior champion Folashade Abugan also settled for third spot in Heat5 behind race favourite Sanya Richards of USA who won in 50.54secs and Aliann Pompey of Guyana (50.99 secs). Zambian Nachula and Sudan's El Jack both progress after claiming third spot in their heats. Women's 400m qualifiers heat 1: 1 Rosemarie Whyte (Jam) 51.00 secs 2 Christine Amertil (Bah) 51.25 3 ...

Mozambique's Maria Mutola claimed the second automatic spot in Heat 1 of the women's 800m Semi-Finals. The race was won by Russian Svetlana Klyuka in 1:58.31. Kenya's 18-year-old Pamelo Jelimo wins heat2 in 1:57.31, with Hasna Benhassi of Morocco setting a season's best to claim the second automatic spot. Janeth Jepkosqei of Kenya took the third semi-final of the women's 800m, in a time of 1:57.28. Ukraine's Yuliya Krevsun was second in 1:57.32 . Tatiana Adrianova of Russia and Kenia Sinclair of Jamaica claim the two fastest loser spots in the final.

Nigeria's Oludamola Osayemi and Ghana's Vida Anim are the only two African women left in the wome's 100m event. The duo, reigning and former African champions respectively, were in good shape as they book their qualification from Heat 3 in second and third positions for tomorrow's Semi-Finals. According to the rules, the top three runners in each heat automatically qualify for the next round. The runner with the next fastest time out of all of the heats will take the last of the 16 semifinal spots. Results Women's 100m semi-final qualifiers - heat 1: 1 Shelly-Ann Fraser (Jam) 11.06 secs 2 Evgeniya Polyakova (Rus) 11.13 3 Jeanette Kwakye (GB) 11.18 Women's 100m semi-final qualifiers - heat 2: 1 Sherone Simpson (Jam) 11.02 secs 2 Muna Lee (US) 11.08 3 Chandra Sturrup (Bah) 11.16 Women's 100m semi-final qualifiers - heat 3: 1 Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie (Bah) 11.21 secs 2 Oludamola Osayomi (Ngr) 11.28 3 Vida Anim (Gha) 11.32 Women's 100m semi-final qualifiers ...

(Photo credit -XINHUA) Ethiopia Tirunesh Dibaba has set a new Olympic record after running a perfect race to take gold in the women's 10,000m today, overtaking Turkey's Elvan Abeylegesse with 350m to go to sprint home in a time of 29:54.68. Abeylegesse settled for silver in 29:56.43 and American Shalane Flanagan claims bronze in 30:22.22. More stories at - http://www. athleticsafrica.com Full Results results 1 Tirunesh Dibaba (Eth) 29:54.66 Gold OR 2 Elvan Abeylegesse (Tur) 29:56.43 Silver 3 Shalane Flanagan (US) 30:22.22 Bronze 4 Linet Chepkwemoi Masai (Ken) 30:26.50 5 Maria Konovalova (Rus) 30:35.84 6 Inga Abitova (Rus) 30:37.35 7 Lucy Kabuu Wangui (Ken) 30:39.96 8 Lornah Kiplagat (Ned) 30:40.27

Mozambique's only ever Olympic gold medalist, Maria Lurdes Mutola led the qualifers for the 800m semis in 1:58.91. She won heat four just ahead of Marilyn Okoro of Great Britain, who ran a time of 1:59.09. The Women's 800m finalists and their qualifying time: 1. Maria Mutola Mozambique 01:58.9 2. Marilyn Okoro Great Britain 01:59.0 3. Lucia Klocova Slovakia 01:59.4 4. Tamsyn Lewis Australia 01:59.7 5. Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei Kenya 01:59.7 6. Tetiana Petliuk Ukraine 02:00.0 7. Neisha Bernard-Thomas Grenada 02:00.1 8. Brigita Langerholc Slovenia 02:00.1 9. Egle Balciunaite Lithuania 02:00.2 10. Yuliya Krevsun Ukraine 02:00.2 11. Elisa Cusma Piccione Italy 02:00.2 12. Tatiana Andrianova Russia 02:00.3 13. Jennifer Meadows Great Britain 02:00.3 14. Zulia Calatayud Cuba 02:00.3 15. Sviatlana Usovich Belarus 02:00.4 16. Hasna Benhassi Morocco 02:00.5 17. Ekaterina Kostetskaya Russia 02:00.5 18. Olga Cristea Moldova 02:00.6 19. Svetlana Klyuka Russia 02:01.7 20. Rosibel Garcia Colom...

Nigeria's duo of Olusoji Fasuba - the world Indoor 60m champion, Obinna Metu - the reigning national champion, and Ghanaian Aziz Zakari have all crashed out of the Beijing Olympics Games men's 100m at the second round today at the Bird's Nest stadium. Fasuba, fourth in the 2nd rd heat2 in a time of 10.21secs failed to make it as the fastest loser as he was overtaken in the time ranking by Qatar's Nigeria born Samuel Francis, who ran 10.11secs to place fourth in his heat3 won comfortably in 9.92 by the World record-holder and favourite Usain Bolt of Jamaica.

Olympics Games kicks off in Beijing.... Photo credit: Xinhua

Watch Ajoke Odumosu in the womenm's 400m semi finals in Abuja - All Nigeria Trials Video by Yomi Omogbeja for AthleticsAfrica

A friend of mine said last week that 'God is a Nigerian'. Well, I'm tempted to believed him now as Nigeria has miraculously found her way into the women's 4x100m relay event at the 2008 Olympics Games in Beijing, China, even after all reasonable hopes were lost. When the relay teams to the Games of XXIX Olympiad, Beijing 2008, were announced by the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) on Monday 21 July, Nigeria was in 18th position in the women’s 4 x100m qualification standings. However, today one qualified nation , Finland pulled out and Nigeria moved up to the 16th - Cuba (originally 16th) had earlier declined their invitation for the women’s 4 x100m and was replaced by Thailand, originally 17th - and final placing and will now compete in Beijing. Last week, Nigeria's last ditched and ill advised efforts at muscling the International Olympics Committee (IOC) to field a women's 4x100m team in Beijing was thrown out after the IAAF argued that the...

World Indoor 60m Champion Olusoji Fasuba speaks to AthleticsAfrica.com on his Olympic preparations in Abuja, July, 2008.

Obinna Metu beats World Indoor 60m Champion Olusoji Fasuba in the 100m men's race at the 19th NNPC/Exxon Mobil Nigeria Olympics Trials in Abuja, June 2008.

By now it's no longer news that the best athlete in Britain would not be going to the Olympics. I have followed the events of the past few months with regards to Dwain Chambers closely and crawled so many sites/forums to sample opinions about this case, and as divided as these opinions have been, one thing that struck me is the level of hypocrisy i see. From the sad and lamentable actions of the British Olympic Association and UK Athletics, the sorry utterrances of it's leading officials and the gang-up of some disaffected former athletes and their cronies in the media , it all smacks of a society of people eager to bury their own shame at the expense of a scapegoat. To me Chambers is not being punished for taking drugs in the past , he is being punished now for daring to stand up to the establishment and for being honest to call a spade a spade. As a consequence, he's been bullied, pilloried and abused by the ''holier and morally upright' lynch-mob. Liste...

Top Nigerian athletes, including the World Indoor 60m champion Olusoji Fasuba have arrived at the Abuja camp of the Nigerian athletics team for tommorrow's NNPC/ExxonMobil track and field championships at the National Stadium. Athletes such as Uche Isaacs, Adetoyi Durotoye, Deji Aliu, Taiwo Ajibade and Uchenna Emedolu are expected to compete with Fasuba for the first three positions on offer for the 100m men at the Olympics. In the Women events, African champions, Damola Osayemi (100m), Ajoke Odumosu (400mH) and Toyin Augustus (100mH) and other US based athletes; Jessica Ohanaja (100mH) Brenda Toluwani Faluade (Triple Jump) are all set to contest at the trials.