bookgazing (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bookgazing) wrote2009-08-28 08:49 am
bookgazing) wrote2009-08-28 08:49 am
And now for the sport...
It seems as if everyone is still talking about the cricket result last week, but I’m not much of a cricket fan (to be honest my cricket knowledge is worse than my rugby knowledge, although I’m on my way to improving that). I thought we’d have a brief interlude here to talk about sporting successes in events where I understand the rules.
The British athletics team scored six medals at the European Championships last week. That’s one more than anyone predicted, putting us eighth in the medal table. Pretty respectable on the whole and good omens for a solid 2012 performance. My favourite British performance has to be Jessica Ennis’ 800 metres run to clinch her gold medal in the heptathlon. She went into the race in first place with a 12 second cushion, built up from the earlier events and I think everyone expected here to ease up and rely on the cushion, but she catches up, pushes on and wins the race.
Now you can’t talk about this athletics meet without mentioning http://www.usainbolt.co.uk/ Usain Bolt. The Bolt is loaded as Steve Cram likes to say and you have to feel a little sorry for the guys who will spend their careers racing against him because he’s just going to keep running faster. With Phelps in the water and Bolt on the track 2012 is going to be something special.
The other runner dominating headlines is the female athlete Caster Semenya from South Africa who has been asked to prove her gender. She currently holds a gold medal, and has passed the dope tests but it’s possible she may lose the right to compete as a woman and be stripped of her medal. I agree with Michael Johnson who says that while the IFAA protest that they’ve tried to keep the situation private, they do a much better job of keeping drug allegations under wraps until the test results come back. For much more information on gender testing and how complex it is for judges to classify a certain gender advantage work your way through the test results as an athletics judge. The Guardian has a potted history of the problems associated with the gender test. Spare a thought for this lady as she waits to hear if she can compete in the future.
If any of you are still interested in my speedway news you might like to know that Wolverhampton were joint top of the Elite league with Swindon last week. This Monday they rode against Swindon at their home track (it was packed out because Swindon is so close by and we were late getting to the track, so we had to stand in the dark for much of the meeting) and won, but not by seven or more, which means that Swindon gained a league point as well. Although we’re at the top of the table it’s looking increasingly like Swindon will be top going into the playoffs (top four teams compete for the league title) and will get to choose who they face in the first round. We could end up facing down our Midlands rivals Coventry who have all their side back from injury (I think their team had two out with a broken leg each and one serious shoulder injury this season). They’ve clawed their way back up the table and they really want this title. If they make it through it will be a tense meeting.
And that’s all for the sport (although if anyone wants to discuss Button’s Grand Prix I’m always interested).
The British athletics team scored six medals at the European Championships last week. That’s one more than anyone predicted, putting us eighth in the medal table. Pretty respectable on the whole and good omens for a solid 2012 performance. My favourite British performance has to be Jessica Ennis’ 800 metres run to clinch her gold medal in the heptathlon. She went into the race in first place with a 12 second cushion, built up from the earlier events and I think everyone expected here to ease up and rely on the cushion, but she catches up, pushes on and wins the race.
Now you can’t talk about this athletics meet without mentioning http://www.usainbolt.co.uk/ Usain Bolt. The Bolt is loaded as Steve Cram likes to say and you have to feel a little sorry for the guys who will spend their careers racing against him because he’s just going to keep running faster. With Phelps in the water and Bolt on the track 2012 is going to be something special.
The other runner dominating headlines is the female athlete Caster Semenya from South Africa who has been asked to prove her gender. She currently holds a gold medal, and has passed the dope tests but it’s possible she may lose the right to compete as a woman and be stripped of her medal. I agree with Michael Johnson who says that while the IFAA protest that they’ve tried to keep the situation private, they do a much better job of keeping drug allegations under wraps until the test results come back. For much more information on gender testing and how complex it is for judges to classify a certain gender advantage work your way through the test results as an athletics judge. The Guardian has a potted history of the problems associated with the gender test. Spare a thought for this lady as she waits to hear if she can compete in the future.
If any of you are still interested in my speedway news you might like to know that Wolverhampton were joint top of the Elite league with Swindon last week. This Monday they rode against Swindon at their home track (it was packed out because Swindon is so close by and we were late getting to the track, so we had to stand in the dark for much of the meeting) and won, but not by seven or more, which means that Swindon gained a league point as well. Although we’re at the top of the table it’s looking increasingly like Swindon will be top going into the playoffs (top four teams compete for the league title) and will get to choose who they face in the first round. We could end up facing down our Midlands rivals Coventry who have all their side back from injury (I think their team had two out with a broken leg each and one serious shoulder injury this season). They’ve clawed their way back up the table and they really want this title. If they make it through it will be a tense meeting.
And that’s all for the sport (although if anyone wants to discuss Button’s Grand Prix I’m always interested).
