Way back in 1972, when Frank Shorter was just a crazy young kid with a dream of winning the Olympic marathon and China was just beginning to emerge onto the international stage after decades of isolation, Chinese premier Zhou Enlai was asked about the impact of the French Revolution.
“Too...
If you know a bit about Australian marathon history, you will recall that Lisa Ondieki is our only Olympic marathon medallist. Her silver medal in Seoul in 1988 behind the great Rosa Mota is the only medal attained by an Australian at the Olympics. Robert de Castella and Steve...
It takes a (comparatively) long time for a discus thrown from one side of a field to fly through the air and come down some 75 metres distance from whence it was launched. It takes no time at all to spark a discussion.
A year ago, Mykolas Alekna went to...
A column by Len Johnson
Many years of following football teams – Queens Park Rangers, Melbourne Victory, Australia – has taught me one thing: always check the offside flag.
Whether you’re leaping out of your seat with both arms thrown aloft, or slumping down with both arms wrapped around your head trying...
A column by Len Johnson
Towards the end of the Melbourne’s Maurie Plant Classic meeting last weekend a longtime media colleague asked where I would rank the meeting against previous Melbourne classics.
“It’s up there,” I replied. A simple answer to a complex question. You can rank athletics meetings on many different...
A column by Len Johnson
It’s easy to set a world record. Asked once how he felt about doing it, Ron Clarke responded that once you’ve set one it’s just a matter of running a personal best.
Clarke should know. He set anywhere from 18 to 21 world records in his...
Any 15-year-old teenager can tell you there is a frustratingly-long list of things you cannot do. Can’t drink. Can’t drive. Can’t vote. Can’t take out a loan to buy a car to drive to a pub to buy a drink or drive to a polling booth to vote even...
It’s hard to get Amy Winehouse, Roger Bannister and Seth O’Donnell into the same story. Please bear with me as I give it a red-hot go. It’s a long bow but I think I might be able to bend it.
The Victorian Milers Club is in its twentieth year. Meeting...
A column by Len Johnson
It’s not often you pop down the road to see a national record. But that’s what happened when Georgia Griffith broke Abbey Caldwell’s national mark in the 1000 metres this week (Thursday 6 March).
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Georgia Griffith (@georgia.griffith)
Griffith is...
A column by Len Johnson
One moment it’s Cameron Myers running a 3:47.48 mile at New York’s indoor meeting of legend, the Millrose Games, his time equaling the outright and outdoor national record held by Olli Hoare.
Next, it’s Jack Rayner breaking 13 minutes for 5000 metres, the first sub-13 by...
