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
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