Cargo bolt comes up the river: A Column By Len Johnson
Cargo cult mentality refers to a belief by some Melanesian islanders that all their world issues would be resolved by the landing of an airplane carrying supplies and goods.
This belief grew in the 19th and early 20th centuries and...
A Column By Len Johnson
In announcing her retirement this week, Alana Boyd got the timing just right.
Timing is everything in Boyd’s event, the pole vault. It is no good having the height before the crossbar, no good having it after. For a clearance, you must have the height at...
Bizarre pacing incidents of our time | A Column By Len Johnson
When a vehicle pulls up alongside late in a marathon, you might be expecting someone to suggest it’s time to get inside. You wouldn’t expect a pacemaker to emerge.
Yet that’s exactly what happened in the Toronto Waterfront Marathon...
'Ravelo' - one of two of a kind
A Column By Len Johnson Published 15-10-2016
Jean-Louis Ravelomanantsoa, who died on 27 September, was one of only two of a kind. He was the first man to win the Stawell Gift off scratch, a feat that has been emulated since by Josh...
The hands of time keep ticking at their backs: A Column By Len Johnson
Among a slew of recent interviews with Usain Bolt one revelatory comment leapt out.
Paraphrasing here, but Bolt acknowledged there had been a moment in training this year when he wondered why he was still doing it,...
The King Strikes Back: A Column By Len Johnson
Recently, I caught up with a film I had missed first, second, third and all subsequent times round – ‘The Madness of King George.’
‘George’ is King George III of England who apparently went ‘mad’ during his reign, though his symptoms of...
We need to talk about drugs: A Column By Len Johnson
We need to talk about drugs, performance-enhancing drugs. Sorry if you think there has already been enough discussion on the matter, but we need to talk some more.
Everyone from Lord Coe to Vladimir Putin – and that encompasses a...
Looks Good Enough To Eat
My internet search engine (rhymes with poodle) regularly publishes doodles (also rhymes) commemorating various anniversaries. The import of these usually ranges from “I didn’t know that”, through “ho-hum”, to “I didn’t want to know that.”
Occasionally, one strikes a chord and a resounding one was hit...
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...
Ayana’s fall: A Column By Len Johnson
We all know there was a fall in the Olympic women’s 5000 metres heat won by Almaz Ayana on 16 August. Nikki Hamblin tripped and fell, Abbey D’Agostino tumbled over her and the reactions of both women in the immediate aftermath have already...
