ASAFA NOT SHAKEN BY OPPONENTS - GREAT INTERVIEW

RUNNING 9.68 second is fast, really fast. Actually, Tyson Gay’s clocking at the United States’ Olympic Trials in Oregon at the weekend is the fastest ever recorded over the distance.

It was done with a following wind of 4.1 metres per second (mps), well above the allowable limit for a world record, 2.0.

Asafa Powell is no stranger to the 100m world record, having owned the mark for close to three years - from June 2005 to May 31 this year with multiple 9.77 timings which he lowered to 9.74 in Rieti, Italy, last September.

So 9.68 with such a forceful wind motoring one on doesn’t scare him.

“It shows that he (Gay) is in pretty good shape,” Powell told The Gleaner when asked about the fast time recorded by the American who won the sprint double at the World Championship in Osaka last year.

“Running 9.68 with 4+ (wind reading) is nothing to really look at because a lot of people can do that. It’s like running in a hurricane,” he joked.

Fastest time

In 1996, Barbadian sprinter Obadele Thompson clocked what was then the fastest time recorded over the distance, 9.69 seconds, with a storm kicking at his heels at 5.0 mps. Two years after, he recorded his personal best, 9.87.

Before this weekend, Gay’s best was 9.84 seconds. He decimated that by seven-hundredths of a second to 9.77, while running in the quarter-finals at the same US trials.

Besides Gay, Powell’s compatriot Usain Bolt has been burning up the track lately, having established the new world record of 9.72 seconds at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York on May 31. He also ran 9.76 in May, and finished ahead of Powell in Saturday’s 100m final at the Jamaican trials at the National Stadium.

As they race towards the Olympics in Beijing next month, Powell, who has been largely inactive this outdoor season following a shoulder surgery about two months ago, has taken note of both, but remains focused on his task.

Focused

“They (Bolt and Gay) are running very fast. But that’s not for me to be thinking about right now. It’s really for me to be focused on my own health and to try and get back in good form.”

He added: “They are there, I can’t ignore them, but if you want to win, to go out and think about your opponents is not the right thing to do. I can’t control how the other guys run. I have to at least run my best.”

JAMAICA’S OLYMPICS TEAM SELECTIONS

  THE Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA) yesterday named a strong 51-member athletic squad for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, August 8-24, following the National Senior Track & Field Championships last weekend.

Double sprint champion Usain Bolt heads the Men’s list and 100m champion and 200m silver medallist Kerron Stewart the Women’s.

Though the list did not specify the respective events athletes will compete in at the Games, seven of the eight finalists in both the Men’s and Women’s 100 metres were named, including Nickeisha Anderson, who finished seventh in the 100m and sixth in the 200m final.

Meanwhile, Observer sources say World 100m champion Veronica Campbell-Brown, who finished fourth in the 100m at the National Championships at the weekend after clocking a season’s best 10.88 seconds, will be an alternate in the event in accordance with JAAA team selection criteria and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Olympic Games entry standards.

The JAAA selection criteria states that “athletes placing in the first to third positions in all events will be selected, provided that they have attained the qualifying ‘A’ standard for the competition. The fourth-placed athlete will be named as an alternate for the individual event”.

According to IAAF Olympic Games entry standards rules, National Olympic Committees have until July 23 to nominate three athletes to be accredited for an event and nominate a fourth as a reserve.

“This reserve could be selected to replace an entered athlete until the time of the technical meeting for the respective event, one day prior to the first competition in the event, and the accreditation status of the replaced athlete transferred to the newly entered athlete”, the rule states.
Despite having made the ‘A’ qualifying standard (14.20m) in the prescribed period, Helsinki 2005 World triple jump champion, Trecia Smith, who leaped 13.61 metres for victory at the Trials has been omitted from the squad.

Smith, a surprise winner in Helsinki three years ago, has battled injury this season and had been doubtful for the Championships. She leaped 14.35 metres at the National Trials on June 23 last year.

However, Women’s long jump champion, Chelsea Hammond; javelin winner Olivia McKoy and Men’s 800m champion Aldwyn Sappleton - who have all attained the Olympic qualifying ‘B’ standard - were among the 25 male and 26 female athletes named.

IAAF rules specify that national associations may enter one qualified athlete per event if he or she has met the ‘B’ qualifying standard between January 1, 2007, and July 23, 2008.

Nesta Carter, who did not start in the final of the Men’s 100 metres due to cramps but finished fourth in the 200 metres, has been named.

Holmwood Technical student, Bobby Gaye Wilkins, has also been included following her fifth-placed finish in the Women’s 400 metres.

Bailey, Phillips in team for weekend’s CAC Games

Olympic relay gold medallist Aileen Bailey, hurdler Isa Phillips and Herbert McGregor who were named in the team to participate in the Beijing Olympics, will lead Jamaica’s 16-member team to the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Cali, Colombia, this weekend.
The team, which was selected based on results of last weekend’s National Senior Trials held at the National Stadium, is scheduled to leave the island today for the meet on Friday and Sunday.

No relay teams were named in the scaled-down squad.
Bailey, a finalist in the 100 and 200 metres last weekend, will run the sprint double while Moya Reynolds and Sonita Sutherland will contest the 400 metres.
Former William Knibb and Lincoln University sprinter, Lerone Clarke, along with Davion Spence, will run the 100m, while Xavier Brown will defend his 200m crown won in Cartagena, Colombia, two years ago.

Long jumper McGregor won a bronze two years ago but it came in the 4×100m relay. This weekend he and Senior Champs double gold medallists Julian Reid will contest the long jump.

Former national record-holder in the decathlon, Claston Bernard, will return to competition after a two-year break and will compete in part one of the 10-event discipline.

Men’s squad: Lerone Clarke, Davion Spence, Xavier Brown, DeCosmo Wright, Isa Phillips, Claston Bernard, Herbert McGregor, Julian Reid, Hickel Woolery.

Women’s squad: Aileen Bailey, Moya Thomas, Sonita Sutherland, Julian Reynolds, Caltha Seymore, Zara Northover, Kateema Riettie.

Team manager is Carol Long, assistant manger/coach Roy Thomas, coaches Orville Byfield and Joseph Shand.

US-based sprinter motivated for World Junior Champs

Hawthorne… I’m very focused and just want to do well

Despite only arriving in the island Sunday night and turning around Monday for a long journey to Poland via London where she will represent Jamaica for the first time at the 12th IAAF World Junior Championships in athletics, Trisha-Ann Hawthorne is excited to be wearing the black, green and gold.
The 18-year-old was named to the 32-member team by the selection committee of the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA), despite not attending the National Junior Trials held at GC Foster College two weeks ago as she has the fastest time of any Jamaican Junior in the 100m and 200m this season.

Hawthorne, who was born in Kingston and grew up in Mount Ogle in St Andrew, is a freshman at the University of Connecticut where she posted 11.44 seconds over 100m and 23.3 in the 200m.

Slipping between a slight American accent and the Jamaican Creole, Hawthorne - who is coached by former Jamaican 800m World Indoor Championships gold medallist Clive Terrelonge - said she was excited at the prospects of representing her country.

Hawthorne, who represented Dunrobin Prep before attending Mona High for one term before migrating to the United States at age 12, told the Observer she “never dreamt I would be going to the World Junior Championships; it wasn’t even on my mind”.

“I just thought I would do track, get through my first college season and then this was introduced to me and I jumped at it as I thought it was a great opportunity,” she said.

According to the athlete, it was Terrelonge - who won the gold medal at the 1995 World Indoor Championships held in Madrid, Spain - who called the JAAA and told them about her.

She said the coach was “always telling me I need to run fast as I can make it to the Jamaican team. That’s when I started taking it really seriously, telling myself this is a big step and this is why we train so hard”.

Hawthorne said her main goal was to finally go under the 23.00-second barrier in Poland after running under 23.40secs on four occasions this year.

“I’m training hard and I’m very focused and just want to do well and represent my country,” she told the Observer.

While she was meeting her team-mates for the first time when the team gathered on Monday, Hawthorne said this would not be a problem as she is “a very sociable person and get along well with everyone”.

Hawthorne, who wasted no time to try on her new Jamaican shirt on Monday, played netball as a youngster in Jamaica and also played football while in high school in New York, saying it helped keep her in good condition for track & field.

Asked which event she preferred, she paused for a moment before saying: “I want to say the 100m because it is shorter, but I do better in the 200m.”

World Juniors coach confident Jamaica will shine!!!!!

Danny Hawthorne, coach of the Jamaican team to the 12th IAAF World Junior Championships, is confident the 32-member team which departed for Poland will
do well.

“I’m happy with the team we have as I know these boys and girls are ready and raring to do well and… as Jamaicans we always want to do well whenever we go anywhere.
“I’m not expecting anything but the very best from them,” Hawthorne told the Observer on Monday as the team assembled at the offices of the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association at the National Arena.
There are injury concerns surrounding key members of the team, including IAAF World Youth Championships 200m gold medallist Ramone McKenzie and 400m hurdles finalist Shana-Gay Tracey, but Hawthorne said all the athletes were given a clean bill of health.

The delegation was due to arrive in the Polish city of Bydgoszcz yesterday and will take part in a five-day camp, starting today. Hawthorne said this will help the coaching staff “to assess everyone on their form and fitness and to make necessary adjustments”.
While the team management has an idea who will contest the various events, Hawthorne said it is yet to make a final decision, especially in the boys’ 100m.
IAAF World Youth Championship 100m gold medallist Dexter Lee won the Junior Trials two weeks ago, while Nickel Ashmeade was second after National Junior record-holder Yohan Blake was disqualified for a false start.

Hawthorne was reluctant to divulge whether or not Blake would contest the 100m, but said they would have a better idea when the camp starts.

Jamaicans among record numbers for IAAF Youth Champs

Jamaica’s contingent of 32 athletes which left the island Monday bound for Bydgoszcz, Poland, for the 12th IAAF World Junior Championships between July 8-13, will be among the largest ever number of teams taking part at the meet that is held every two years.

The IAAF confirmed earlier that a record 183 countries from a total of 213 affiliates had confirmed their entries for the meet which is open to athletes between 17-19 years old.

A release from the IAAF described the level of entries as “phenomenal”, surpassing the next best which was 176 entries in Beijing two years ago.

The Jamaican team was expected to arrive in Poland yesterday and will enter a pre-competition training camp along with other NACAC countries today.

Ian Forbes, manager of the Jamaican team, said the journey “shouldn’t be too difficult…it will be challenging, but nothing we can’t handle”.

The contingent was expected arrive in London at about 1:00 pm (Jamaican time) yesterday before heading off to Warsaw, Poland, after a four-hour delay, then take another short flight to the competition venue.

The camp will last until July 6, at which time the Jamaicans will move into the Games Village.

JAMAICANS PLEASE READ THIS SH*T - WHAT A BAG OF CRAP

THIS ARTICLE IS NOT WORTHY OF MY SITE BUT I MUST SHOW MY FELLOW JAMAICANS HOW THE WORLD IS BIAS AND BAD MINDED ESPECIALLY THE BIG U.S. OF A.I RECENTLY SAW THIS ARTICLE ON A WEBSITE AND I MUST THIS IS THE MOST SH*T OF WRITING I HAVE EVER SEEN. THIS ARTICLE WAS CLEARLY WRITTEN BY SOME WHO KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT TRACK AND FIELD. WITH STATEMENTS LIKE THIS : “It’s the kind of computation Gay likes, because, in his way of thinking, it allows him to remain out of the media glare. Let Bolt and fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell bask in it.” IT MAKES ME MADE AS A JAMAICAN. BUT GAY WILL GET HIS ASS HANDED TO HIM WHEN THE OLYMPICS ARRIVE!!!!!

“

EUGENE, Ore. – Probably the guy least impressed with the fastest 100 meters in history is the guy who actually ran it.

Tyson Gay shrugged, flashed an awkward smile and was generally dismissive after winning the 100 at the U.S. Olympic Trials yesterday in a preposterous 9.68 seconds (you read that right), which would be a world record had the Hayward Field wind gauge not read plus-4.1 meters per second – over the allowable limit of 2.0 mps for record purposes.

How was his race?

“It was OK,” he said.

But this is Gay, who breaks records and also breaks the mold of your typical world-class sprinter – the trash-talking, gesture-making, self-promoting, expletive-spewing mass of tattooed muscles. Gay, 25, is a mama’s boy from Arkansas who goes to church, watches what he eats and gets to bed on time.

He speaks in a near whisper. He lets others provide the superlatives.

“Amazing,” said Harvey Glance, a gold-medal sprinter from the 1976 Olympics and now an assistant U.S. sprint coach. “That’s a pretty historic moment. I don’t care what conditions you are running in. Nine-six is extraordinary.”