A couple of follow-up items that have been sitting in the inbox a bit too long...
Crazy story out of Mexico, in which a drunk driver apparently fell asleep and crashed into a peloton during a cycling race, killing one cyclist and injuring at least 10 others. If you can't be safe during a race, when can you be? The most remarkable part is that someone was able to take this picture at the moment when the car ran into the cyclists. So sad.
Moving to the Olympics for a second, there was initially some excitement over a Canadian breaking the National 10,000m record and qualifying for Beijing. Alas, due to a lap-counting error, Simon Bairu only ran 9,600m. Whoops. It seems as though too many athletes entered the event (32 runners!) and lap-counters messed up on the counting of laps. So Simon Bairu is not going to represent Canada at the Olympics...too bad for us.
A few more updates on Usain Bolt and his record breaking 100m run this weekend. He is apparently still undecided on running the 100m in Beijing. What is there to decide? It is THE marquee event of the Olympics. He will be there. I can't imagine he lets someone else steal the spotlight by winning gold without a fight.
It's too bad that once Bolt set the 100m record, everyone's first thought is "Is He Clean?" But since sprinting has a longer list of proven cheaters than any sport except maybe Pro Cycling, I guess we have to have some doubts. On one side, Bolt has run the 100m only 5 times in his life. On the other, he was a world junior champion at 15 in the 200m, and his height (6'5") has led him to work almost exclusively as a 200m and 400m runner as a senior. Hmmm. You can read more here, here, and here if you care to know more. And no, i don't just read websites from England, but they obviously care much more about track and field than the North American websites...
One more track note, and this one should come as no surprise. Kenya has another fast runner. Pamela Jelimo who is only 18 years old - ran 1:54:99 for 800m at the first Golden League event in Berlin this weekend. It is only the 5th time she has raced the distance but only 5 women have ever run faster, and is the fastest time in 11 years. She is legit and a future middle distance star. Does anyone know if she has any family members in Canada she wants to come visit?
The last story is a nice one. This weekend it is expected that Sheila Taormina will be named to the US team for modern pentathlon. For those of you who don't know her story, Taormina won a gold medal in 96 as a member of US 4X200m swimming team. Then she became a ITU star, making the podium ten times in World Cup races, then making the US Olympic team in Athens. She then switched focus again, and now, at age 39, is the first athlete since 1936 (and first woman ever) to make 3 Olympics teams in different sports. Amazing. For those of you who have no idea what modern pentathlon is, it is a 1 day competition encompassing shooting, swimming 200m, equestrian, fencing, and a 3000m XC run. I really have no idea how they ever came up with that list. Maybe they could add shotput and trampoline to round it out even more strangely? Anyhow, Taormina is an unbelievable athlete, and here's hoping she does well in Beijing.
See you soon...
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