A column by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
When Sally Pearson crossed the line to take a silver medal in the 100 metres hurdles at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, she let out a scream of equal parts elation and amazement. Moments later she gasped in a trackside interview: “Oh,...
You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone (or going): A Column by Len Johnson
Runnerstribe Admin -
Sometimes it is only in defeat that you realise how good an athlete is. In the case of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, that should be how great.
The big picture numbers were more stable too. Australia got three medals in Tokyo – Nicola Olyslagers silver in the high jump, Moloney and Barber bronzes in the decathlon and javelin. It was three again in Eugene only this time Patterson and Barber contributed gold with Kennedy getting a bronze.
Is Matthew Denny now Australia’s best male athlete?
Undeniably so, I’d say, a judgement that was true even before he burnished already considerable laurels by winning the discus at last weekend’s (16-17 September) Diamond League final. Victory merely confirmed his status.
Move on down the carriage, this train’s getting crowded : A column by Len Johnson
Runnerstribe Admin -
The women’s race had barely sunk in – a sub-30 from Ethiopia’s world cross-country silver medallist Tsigie Gebreselama, 30:35.66 from Lauren Ryan in third place, breaking Benita Willis’s Australian record set way back in the 2003 world championships – when eight men came in under 27 minutes in the men’s with another five, including Jack Rayner in another AR 27:09.57, between 27:07 and 27:10.
When Victor Kiplangat drew clear of Leul Gebrsilase in the closing stages of Sunday’s men’s world championships marathon, it seemed the championships were bookended by Uganda distance runners.
Meb just keeps bobbing up | A Column By Len Johnson
I suppose I had seen him earlier, but I first became aware of Mebrahtom Keflezighi when he bobbed up for the silver medal in the Athens 2004 Olympic marathon.
Keflezighi, who is the subject of a Runner’s Tribe video interview...
A Column By Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
One fan's race is another fan's procession
Lots of people characterised the Rio men’s Olympic 1500 metres final as “boring”. All I can say is that for a boring race it continues to generate plenty of passionate discussion.
The latest to-and-fro I’ve seen on...
Maybe it’s because I’m from Melbourne where the AFL media bubble is such a humungous beast that it makes the elephant in the room look miniscule. Or maybe it’s because we are only a couple of weeks on from a ‘local’ world championships in Beijing.
Then again, maybe it’s because...
Diamonds are trumps | A Column By Len Johnson
I’ve been wracking my brain a bit this week.
Australia has three women – Eloise Wellings, Madeline Hills and Genevieve LaCaze - in the final of the 5000 metres Diamond Race at Friday night’s Ivo Van Damme Memorial in Brussels. I’ve been...