Superfan Daily: Your Track Vault Pick of the Week

This week I give you something very different, a story I witnessed firsthand at the 2001 Edmonton World Championships.  It relates to the issue of A and B qualifying marks for the Worlds and Olympics, which came up yesterday with the new bye round for Olympic sprinters.

As you know, nations are allowed to enter up to three athletes in an event if they all have met the "A" standard, and one if s/he has met the "B" standard.  Some tiny nations have no "B" qualifiers in any event at all, but may enter one male and one female athlete in an event of their choosing.

At the '01 Worlds, tiny Norfolk Island (population 2,141) used its lone female entry on Angela Keough, a 39-year-old Brit expatriate who competed in the 20k walk and finished nearly 40 minutes behind the winner.  From The Telegraph:

Angela Keogh did not crawl into the stadium on her hands and knees; she reappeared into our midst fair bursting with pride and her face wreathed in smiles as the entire crowd (aye, even the press box) accorded her a standing ovation. "I was born in Muswell Hill, Barnet," she explained to an array of cameras and microphones which awaited her (blast, there goes my Fletcher Christian angle up the Swanee), "but when I was in my twenties I decided to go backpacking around the world and stopped halfway when I found Norfolk Island. It's paradise."

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What's On
Pedro's Cup will be held today in the Polish city of Bydgoszyz. The all-field events indoor meet will highlight Ivan Ukhov in the men's high jump, Ryan Whiting in the men's shot put, and Anna Rogowska in the pole vault.
Meet website
EAA preview

News Links
Runner's World's Racing News has all the headlines.

Ken Goe's Oregon track rundown: Jerry Schumacher pleased but not surprised be recent success.

Athletes react to the London Olympic schedule.  The 2011 Daegu Worlds schedule has been released as well.

Notorious former Ohio Secretary of  State Kenneth Blackwell reflects on long jump great William DeHart Hubbard.

More track history: TFN digs out its story on Gerry Lindgren's high school record.

China has hired Jos Hermens, Haile Gebrselassie's manager, as an athletics advisor.

The IOC says it thinks the new US TV rights package could be signed by July.

Remember WCSN? It eventually got bought out by NBC and is now Universal Sports. It has new life in Australia and will do live webcasts of the Aussie domestic tour. No word yet on whether it will be available in the USA, and if they'll cost anything to see.

Mmmm. That's tasty.


Kickin' it old school.


RunnerSpace Weekly