It’s early in an Olympic year. An unknown young man breaks through at 800, running 1:45.77. A scarcely better-known young woman breaks the national record in the 100 metres, speeding down the straightaway in 11.10 seconds.
A Federation of Her Own | A Column By Len Johnson
The 1992 film, A League of Their Own, tells a fictionalised account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, formed during World War II when the men’s major leagues were facing temporary closure.
A League of Their Own? Decima...
Sir Isaac Newton is reputed to have developed his theory of gravity after an apple fell from a tree under which he was sitting and landed on his head. Stunning insight, you might say.
But it is Newton’s three laws of motion which are of interest here, specifically the last.
For...
If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen is one of those cliches which gets trotted out from time to time. Often by someone concerned they might just be giving off a hint of getting uncomfortably warm themselves. Elevate your running game with Tarkine Trail Devil,...
By Len johnson
Roy Slaven and H.G.Nelson never tire of saying that too much sport is barely enough.
Even Roy and H.G. may be looking for a little lie-down after the slew of championships the July-August period brings to athletics. A combination of Covid and the stubborn refusal to countenance cancellation...
Right now – 27 November, as this is written – it is exactly 64 years past the mid-point of the athletics’ program at the Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games.
Sixty-four is not an anniversary we usually celebrate, I’ll grant you, but consider two points of mitigation in that regard. Firstly, the four-year Olympic cycle does not lend itself to the five-year rhythm of most anniversary celebrations: the two waves only coincide once every 20 years, which is way too long between drinks.
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.
Actually, that’s a mis-speak. There is no such thing as half a team: the decision is to send NO team at all, just two individuals. Full teams of six for senior men, junior (U20) men and junior women but just two senior women.
To be fair, the senior women’s race...
RUSSIA RUNNING OUT OF OPTIONS
A COLUMN BY LEN JOHNSON
Usain Bolt tells a London Diamond League media conference that his hamstring is ready to go for the Anniversary Games and Rio. The Court of Arbitration for Sport upholds an IAAF determination that 68 Russian athletes are not going to Rio.
Who...
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Oslo – the Melbourne of the north | A column by Len Johnson
A long time ago when we were all good young distance athletes, someone – Chris Wardlaw, I think – dubbed Melbourne the Oslo of the South....
