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Ismail Ahmed Ismail<br />
(Sudan),<br />
800 & 1500 metres<br />
Born: 21st October<br />
1984. Born 10th<br />
September 1984.<br />
Height –1.91 m.<br />
Weight – 71 Kgm.<br />
Ismail first came to<br />
world prominence<br />
when he won silver<br />
in the final of the<br />
800 metres at the<br />
Beijing Olympics<br />
after being only<br />
8th in the 2004<br />
Athens Games. He<br />
is the first athlete<br />
to bring an Olympic<br />
medal back<br />
to Sudan. In the<br />
following season,<br />
2009, he has continued<br />
to progress,<br />
and, in Ostrava, he<br />
improved personal<br />
best. In order to<br />
be successful at<br />
the 2009 World<br />
Championships in<br />
Berlin, Ismail says<br />
he has successfully<br />
completed a period of intense training. Ismail started by running the 3000<br />
metres, and then gradually reduced his distance until he finally ended up<br />
at 800 metres. His teacher, not being an experience athlete, suggested he<br />
ran the 3,000 metres because he thought that as Ismail was tall, he would<br />
be better suited to running longer distances. Having been unsuccessful<br />
for three years during which time he suffered a series of injuries, from<br />
which people said he would not recover, on the eve of the 2008 Beijing<br />
Olympic Games, he clocked 1:44.34 at a competition in Monaco and this<br />
raised his adrenalin level.<br />
Best Performances:<br />
Bronze medalist of 2009 IAAF World Championships.<br />
Silver medalist of 2008 Olympic Games.<br />
Silver medalist of 2006 African Championships.<br />
2008 Results:<br />
9th May – Doha, 44.82; 7th Jun – Eugene, 1:44.83;<br />
14th Jun – Rabat, 1:44.68 ; 5th Jul – Madrid, 1:44.47;<br />
20th Jul – Heusden-Zolder, 1:44.77; 29th Jul – Monaco, 1:44.34;<br />
23rd Aug – Beijing, 1:44.70.<br />
2009 Results:<br />
17th Jun – Ostrava, 1:44.31; 7th Jul – Lausanne, 1:44.80;<br />
13th Jul – Athens, 1:43.82; 17th Jul – Paris, 1:45.85.<br />
Renaud Lavillenie<br />
(France),<br />
pole vault<br />
Born 18th September 1986. Height – 1.76 m. Weight – 69 Kgm. He says<br />
that he does not feel any fear whatsoever before a jump and that he thinks<br />
the sky is the limit of his jumping. Up until five years ago his best was<br />
only 4.60 metres, but today, according to leading experts in this event, he<br />
is the one with the most potential. Unlike a number of his rivals he is light<br />
and very fast. His progress has been swift, as three indoor jumps of 5.81<br />
metres and a French national outdoor record of 6.01 metres can testify.<br />
But by jumping 5.70 metres to win the “IAAF Golden League” competition<br />
in Paris in very bad weather conditions, Renaud also showed that he<br />
is a fighter; ready to struggle in any conditions to win major competitions,<br />
and that his gold medal and superiority at the European Indoor Championships<br />
in Turin was not a fluke. “I am trying to get the better of the wind<br />
and rain and to keep on trying right to the end. In this way, I can get used<br />
to all competition conditions. I am still young, and I need to gather experience”,<br />
says Renaud.<br />
Best Performances:<br />
Bronze medalist of 2009 IAAF World Championships.<br />
Winner of 2009 European Indoor Championships.<br />
Winner of 2009 European Indoor Championships.<br />
2d at 2008 European Athletics Indoor Cup.<br />
2009 Results:<br />
1st Feb – <strong>Moscow</strong>, 5.81; 8th Mar – Turin, 5.81;<br />
21st Jun – Leiria, 6.01; 7th Jul – Lausanne, 5.70;<br />
17th Jul – Paris, 5.70; 28th Jul – Monaco, 5.88;<br />
22nd Aug – Berlin, 5.80.<br />
leaders<br />
www.athletics-magazine.com | 55
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