World Athletics Championship

Are Paula Radcliffe and Denise Lewis the Mark Roe and Monty of athletics commentating? So dull, so bland, nothing interesting to say. In total contrast to Michael Johnson who is all that you want in a pundit.
 
Last we'll hear from Brendan Foster too, big miss, knowledgable and classy guy.
Agree that D Lewis is too meek for the presenting role, Radcliffe is ok for me, contributes ok. Johnson was a great addition by BBC a good few years ago and isn't afraid to speak his mind i.e saying it was one year too many for Bolt.
Bolt's cramp being blamed on waiting around too long pre race was sour grapes from Jamaica, no one else of the 32 runners in the relay cramped. Bit of a terrible last hurrah for Bolt really, he's a legend but time waits for no man. Cynic in me wondered if Bolt quit as he couldn't win from the position he took the baton.
 
The walk race is just weird. How many officials do you need for this thing? More umpires than tennis! It looks so uncomfortable aswell!

How boring is this course? Up and down the same road 25 times.
 
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Captainron said:
The walk race is just weird. How many officials do you need for this thing? More umpires than tennis! It looks so uncomfortable aswell!

How boring is this course? Up and down the same road 25 times.
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Central London gets shut down seemingly every Sunday these days...
Glad they didn't bother for the walkers...
An event I've never quite understood the point of...
 
Going to miss Foster. Great Britsh athlete and then stepped into the huge shoes of David Coleman and the legendary Ron Pickering as the main BBC commentator. Had a signed autobiography at one point which was a good read (no idea where it went).

On the track a shame to see the Bolt legend end in such pain and disappointment. Great performances from the relay teams and fantastic medal performances from young squads that could be a feature on podiums in championships to come
 
A good performance from our girls in the 4x400m relay, hopefully the boys can get on the podium next up.
 
Stuart_C said:
Quite a few near miss 4th places too.
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Interesting bit earlier in a short film where a coach said that while 4th is a good starting point, there is no guarantee they'll get better than that and so we have to be careful of thinking we have a host of champions in the waiting. Of course, with decent funding, and good coaching (do we have sufficient quality coaches in the UK???) they could go on and be amongst the best. One thing is certain, we have a very young and talented squad and hope that this potential golden generation, don't miss out like our "golden generation footballers" and under perform in the big championships
 
4 of the 6 were from relays. Somehow that doesn't seem as pure. They do raise the spirit's though and get the crowd going.

Is it right then that only Mo won a solo medal?
 
HomerJSimpson said:
Interesting bit earlier in a short film where a coach said that while 4th is a good starting point, there is no guarantee they'll get better than that and so we have to be careful of thinking we have a host of champions in the waiting. Of course, with decent funding, and good coaching (do we have sufficient quality coaches in the UK???) they could go on and be amongst the best. One thing is certain, we have a very young and talented squad and hope that this potential golden generation, don't miss out like our "golden generation footballers" and under perform in the big championships
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The level of coaching isn't Upto standard really. Our top athletes all use coaches based in the USA .
 
I read one of Mo Farah's books recently and he describes how he changed his training regime after always getting beaten by the Kenyan and Ethopian athletes.
He went to their Country and trained with them for most of the year. He said that they eat, live and sleep running and training. It was only after living their life that he began to realise what it takes to perform at the top elite level. And thats when he started to reap the benefits and went on to win gold medals.

It takes tremendous commitment and dedication to get to that level and I wonder if our athletes get that opportunity. Has GB&NI got the same commitment to our top sportsmen and women?
 
Golfmmad said:
I read one of Mo Farah's books recently and he describes how he changed his training regime after always getting beaten by the Kenyan and Ethopian athletes.
He went to their Country and trained with them for most of the year. He said that they eat, live and sleep running and training. It was only after living their life that he began to realise what it takes to perform at the top elite level. And thats when he started to reap the benefits and went on to win gold medals.

It takes tremendous commitment and dedication to get to that level and I wonder if our athletes get that opportunity. Has GB&NI got the same commitment to our top sportsmen and women?
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Or, have GB&I's top athletes got that same commitment/dedication?
 
Golfmmad said:
I read one of Mo Farah's books recently and he describes how he changed his training regime after always getting beaten by the Kenyan and Ethopian athletes.
He went to their Country and trained with them for most of the year. He said that they eat, live and sleep running and training. It was only after living their life that he began to realise what it takes to perform at the top elite level. And thats when he started to reap the benefits and went on to win gold medals.

It takes tremendous commitment and dedication to get to that level and I wonder if our athletes get that opportunity. Has GB&NI got the same commitment to our top sportsmen and women?
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There are a few reasons we are not as good as them and overall we probably never will be.

Mo is now an exception due to basically living like one and making massive sacrifices, leaving his family for months on end is probably the biggest.

Most run because its there ticket out of poverty and as you say Eat,Sleep and breathe running, because they have little else.

Wether we have the coaches or facilities in this country very few will make it and be able to compete with the best purely because we are not committed enough to train as hard or as often, we also imo protect our kids too much by not allowing them to race certain distances whilst too young.

I do believe a 10 year old can only race officially 1200 metres it could be 1500 but they are capable of so much more.

I have been taking my son to a running club now for about 10 months and the most he has ever done is 2 x 400 with an hour in between, basically a warm up warm down lap.

I obviously train him over a lot longer distance myself.

In the world champs 5k there was a 16 year old running around 13 minutes something which is just mind blowing.
 
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