Atheltics Weekly

DIP FINISH
CRAZINESS AND CONTROVERSY
IN THE WORLD OF ATHLETICS
LONDON SELECTION UPROAR
SQUABBLES AND ARGUMENTS AS SELECTORS CAUSE ATHLETES’ ANGER
RGUMENTS raged
A
and even the odd
punch was thrown
on the eve of the
IAAF World Championships
after athletes reacted angrily to
not being picked for London.
Ethiopian steeplechaser
Chala Beyo has been
banned for two years from all
competitions for assaulting his
coach after learning he had not
made his country’s team for
London. Beyo threw a punch
at Yohannes Mohammed after
being left out of the squad.
There has also been uproar
in South Africa after the
country’s athletics selectors
snubbed around a dozen
athletes who had achieved IAAF
qualifying standards but not the
tougher South African marks.
After a number of South
African Olympians were
left out of the squad, world
400m record-holder Wayde
van Niekerk tweeted: “Guys
work [too] hard for this type of
rejection.”
In Kenya, meanwhile, the
800m runner Michael Saruni
had an ill-tempered potshot
at Kenyan athletics by saying
it “still operates under lies,
corruption and conspiracy” after
he was left out of the team for
the IAAF World Championships.
Emmanuel Korir won
the Kenyan 800m trial from
Kipyegon Bett and Saruni, with
Ferguson Rotich fourth. But
despite suggesting it was going
to take a ‘first three across the
line’ approach, Kenya picked
Korir, Bett and Rotich, plus
world record-holder David
Rudisha as a wild card, leaving
Saruni out in the cold.
Saruni’s coach, Paul Ereng,
the 1988 Olympic 800m
champion, said: “I am angry
with this. It simply shows the
bad management in Kenyan
athletics, which has been there
since 1950s. Rudisha and
Rotich have not won a single
race this season … and Saruni
beat Rotich in the trials.”
However, Saruni’s supporters
were hoping for a last-minute
reprive as AW went to press
after Rudisha withdrew from
London with injury.
ATHLETES REUNITED 10th ANNIVERSARY
GOLDEN oldies celebrated
the 10th anniversary of their
‘athletes reunited’ gatherings in
London last weekend.
The get-togethers began in
2007 when Tony Maxwell, who
was researching a book on the
100-year history of Woodford
Green, asked the former
David Rudisha (right) and Ferguson Rotich
(third from right): initially picked
ahead of Michael Saruni
Athletes reunited (left to right): race walkers Colin Young, Roger Mills, Ian
Statter, Paul Nihill, Bill Sutherland and Dave Ainsworth last weekend
athletes he was contacting if
they wanted to meet up.
The concept was simple –
athletes from the 1960s and
1970s who were now in their
60s, 70s and 80s would meet
up to reminisce over old
times.
AW ran a feature headlined
‘Athletes reunited’ (far left)
about their inaugural meeting
and the name was born. The
gatherings have gone from
strength to strength, attracting
dozens of Olympians and
national champions.
MARK SHEARMAN TOM POLLAK
A big gathering on the eve
of London 2012, for example,
attracted legends such as Ron
Hill, Basil Heatley, Bill Adcocks,
Peter Radford, Jim Hogan,
Frank Sando and many others.
Some athletes have even
travelled from abroad to attend
the get-togethers, while mini-
’athletes reunited’ gatherings
have taken place among
athletes from Scotland and
individual English counties.
“As the years have rolled
by the PBs of those attending
Athletes Reunited lunches
have got faster and faster, the
number of titles won has been
exaggerated hugely and the
training mileage of the middle
and long distance exponents
has increased exponentially,”
says Maxwell.
7 8 A T H L E T I C S W E E K L Y