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Holmes hit the front just before the bell in front of a sell-out crowd in Glasgow and cruised to victory in a time of four minutes 14.74 seconds. "It was nice to get that out of the way. I was nervous about whether I would actually be able to get round. "I felt good. I just had to relax and use my racing knowledge," said Holmes. "It was all about winning in front of my home crowd. The time is irrelevant. "I got round in one piece and didn't disgrace myself. Now it's about going forward. "The reception I've had since the Olympics has been amazing and that's why I wanted to keep running this year, because I get a buzz from the crowd." Holmes ran a tactically perfect race to finish clear of France's Hind Dehiba and Russia's Svetlana Cherkasova. The Olympic 800m and 1500m champion's time was inside the qualifying mark for the European Indoor Championships in Madrid in March. But the 34-year-old would not reveal whether she intended to run or not, having previously indicated she would leave a decision until after the Birmingham Grand Prix on 18 February. |
Greek pair attend drugs hearing |
Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou have appeared before an independent tribunal which will decide if their bans should stand. |
They were given provisional suspensions by athletics' ruling body the IAAF in December for failing to take drugs tests before the Athens Olympics. The pair arrived with former coach Christos Tzekos to give evidence at the Hellenic Olympic Committee's offices. A decision is expected to be announced before the end of February. Whatever the ruling, all parties will have the right to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Yiannis Papadoyiannakis, who was head of the Greek Olympic team at the Athens Games last year, also testified at the tribunal, along with other Greek sports officials and athletes. "I believe the tribunal will reach a decision that will uphold the standing of the institution," said Papadoyiannakis. "Whatever the athletes have done, we must not forget that they have offered us great moments." Kenteris won 200m gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, while Thanou won silver in the 100m. |
They withdrew from the Athens Games last August after missing drugs tests on the eve of the opening ceremony. The pair spent four days in a hospital, claiming they had been injured in a motorcycle crash. The five-member tribunal, assembled by the Hellenic Association of Amateur Athletics, is also examining allegations that Kenteris and Thanou avoided tests in Tel Aviv and Chicago before the Games. Tzekos was also banned for two years by the IAAF. He faces charges of assisting in the use of prohibited substances and tampering with the doping inspection process. All three, who have repeatedly denied the allegations, have also been charged by a Greek prosecutor and face trial for doping-related charges. A trial date has not been set. In imposing two-year suspensions on the duo on 22 December, the IAAF described their explanations for missing the tests as "unacceptable". But Kenteris' lawyer Gregory Ioannidis told BBC Sport earlier this week he was confident the sprinters would be cleared of the charges of failing to give information on their location and refusing to submit to testing. "We refute both charges as unsubstantiated and illogical," he said. "There have been certain breaches in the correct application of the rules on behalf of the sporting authorities and their officials, and these procedural breaches have also violated my client's rights. "There is also evidence that proves the fact that my client has been persecuted." |
Chepkemei joins Edinburgh line-up |
Susan Chepkemei has decided she is fit enough to run in next month's Great Edinburgh International Cross Country. |
The Kenyan was initially unsure if she would have recovered from her gruelling tussle with Paula Radcliffe in the New York Marathon in time to compete. But she has declared herself up to the task and joins a field headed by World cross country champion Benita Johnson. Race director Matthew Turnbull said: "Susan will add even more strength in depth to the world-class line up." Chepkemei, who won the six kilometre event three years ago when it was staged in Newcastle, endured an epic battle with Radcliffe in the Big Apple until the Briton outsprinted her in the final 400m. Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia will defend the title she won last year in Tyneside - before the race was moved north of the border. Recently-crowned European cross country champion Briton Hayley Yelling also competes in Edinburgh on 15 January, as does in-form Scot Kathy Butler. |
El Guerrouj targets cross country |
Double Olympic champion Hicham El Guerrouj is set to make a rare appearance at the World Cross Country Championships in France. |
But the Moroccan, who has not raced over cross country for 15 years, will not decide until two weeks before the event which starts on 19 March. "If I am to compete in it, it is only if I feel I can win," said the 30-year-old, who is retiring in 2006. "Otherwise there is not much point in me going." El Guerrouj achieved a lifetime ambition last August when he clinched his first Olympic titles over 1500m and 5,000m. But the four-time world 1500m champion is still hungry for more success before calling time on his career. The 30-year-old has set his sights on clinching the world 5,000m crown in Helsinki this summer. And he is aiming to break 10,000m Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele's 5,000m and 10,000m world records. |
El Guerrouj could meet Bekele in March as the Ethiopian is the defending world cross country champion over both the long and short courses. But the Moroccan will not commit himself to the St Galmier event until he assesses how well his winter training is going. "The return to training was very difficult because I accepted a lot of invitations these past few months," said El Guerrouj. "I am almost a month behind but I am on the right track." |
- Britain's Paula Radcliffe has also not ruled out competing in the World Cross Country Championships. "I haven't quite decided what events I will compete in prior to London but the World Cross Country is an event which is also special to me and is a definite possibility," said the two-time champion. |
Collins appeals against drugs ban |
Sprinter Michelle Collins has lodged an appeal against her eight-year doping ban with the North American Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). |
The 33-year-old received the ban last month as a result of her connection to the federal inquiry into the Balco doping scandal. She is the first athlete to be banned without a positive drugs test or an admission of drugs use. CAS has said that a ruling is normally given within four months of an appeal. Collins was suspended by the US Anti-Doping Agency based on patterns observed in her blood and urine tests as well as evidence in the Balco investigation. As well as being hit with the ban, Collins was stripped of her 2003 world and US indoor 200m titles. The San Francisco-based Balco laboratory is at the centre of the scandal which has rocked the sport. The company has been accused of distributing illegal performance-enhancing drugs to elite athletes. |
Holmes feted with further honour |
Double Olympic champion Kelly Holmes has been voted European Athletics (EAA) woman athlete of 2004 in the governing body's annual poll. |
The Briton, made a dame in the New Year Honours List for taking 800m and 1,500m gold, won vital votes from the public, press and EAA member federations. She is only the second British woman to land the title after- Sally Gunnell won for her world 400m hurdles win in 1993. Swedish triple jumper Christian Olsson was voted male athlete of the year. The accolade is the latest in a long list of awards that Holmes has received since her success in Athens. In addition to becoming a dame, she was also named the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in December. Her gutsy victory in the 800m also earned her the International Association of Athletics Federations' award for the best women's performance in the world for 2004. And she scooped two awards at the British Athletics Writers' Association annual dinner in October. |
Campbell to extend sprint career |
Darren Campbell has set his sights on running quicker than ever after deciding not to retire from sprinting. |
Campbell, who won Olympic 4x100m relay gold, had been unsure about his future. But he told Five Live's Sportsweek: "I had to get back into training before I could decide because if I didn't have the same hunger I'd have to walk away. "I've started back and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I'm looking forward to it. I've got to run under 10 seconds (for 100m) and under 20 seconds (for 200m)." Campbell was part of the British quartet who shocked the Americans to win relay gold in Athens in August. |
The Newport-based athlete and team-mates Jason Gardener, Marlon Devonish and Mark Lewis-Francis were rewarded with MBEs in the New Year Honours List. Campbell's relay triumph made up for his disappointing displays in the individual 100m and 200m events in Athens, when he failed to reach the finals. The 31-year-old, who won Olympic 200m silver in Sydney in 2000, said during the Games that a hamstring injury had stopped him from running at his best. |
He was criticised at the time by former Olympic champion Michael Johnson, who cast doubt on Campbell's injury claims. "To go to Athens and finally get the gold I've been trying to get for 24 years was a big relief," said Campbell. "It was a chance for me to prove that if I'd been fit I would have been challenging for the (individual) medals. "Every season I go and challenge for the medals so why would last season have been any different? "It's just unfortunate that I picked up that injury just before the Olympics." Campbell set his 100m personal best of 10.04secs when he won the European title in Budapest in 1998. And he ran 20.13secs in the quarter-finals of the 200m in Sydney on the way to Olympic silver. |
Isinbayeva heads for Birmingham |
Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva has confirmed she will take part in the 2005 Norwich Union Grand Prix in Birmingham on 18 February. |
"Everybody knows how much I enjoy competing in Britain. I always seem to break records there," said Isinbayeva. "As Olympic champion there will be more attention on me this year, but hopefully I can respond with another record in Birmingham." Kelly Holmes and Carolina Kluft are among other Athens winners competing. The organisers are hoping that Isinbayeva's main rival, fellow Russian Svetlana Feofanova, will also take part in the event. The pair had a thrilling battle in Athens which ended with Isinbayeva finally jumping a world record of 4.91m to claim the gold medal. Isinbayeva, 22, has set 10 world records in the pole vault, three of which have come on British soil. |
Greene sets sights on world title |
Maurice Greene aims to wipe out the pain of losing his Olympic 100m title in Athens by winning a fourth World Championship crown this summer. |
He had to settle for bronze in Greece behind fellow American Justin Gatlin and Francis Obikwelu of Portugal. "It really hurts to look at that medal. It was my mistake. I lost because of the things I did," said Greene, who races in Birmingham on Friday. "It's never going to happen again. My goal - I'm going to win the worlds." Greene crossed the line just 0.02 seconds behind Gatlin, who won in 9.87 seconds in one of the closest and fastest sprints of all time. But Greene believes he lost the race and his title in the semi-finals. "In my semi-final race, I should have won the race but I was conserving energy. "That's when Francis Obikwelu came up and I took third because I didn't know he was there. "I believe that's what put me in lane seven in the final and, while I was in lane seven, I couldn't feel anything in the race. |
"I just felt like I was running all alone. "I believe if I was in the middle of the race I would have been able to react to people that came ahead of me." Greene was also denied Olympic gold in the 4x100m men's relay when he could not catch Britain's Mark Lewis-Francis on the final leg. The Kansas star is set to go head-to-head with Lewis-Francis again at Friday's Norwich Union Grand Prix. The pair contest the 60m, the distance over which Greene currently holds the world record of 6.39 seconds. He then has another indoor meeting in France before resuming training for the outdoor season and the task of recapturing his world title in Helsinki in August. Greene believes Gatlin will again prove the biggest threat to his ambitions in Finland. But he also admits he faces more than one rival for the world crown. "There's always someone else coming. I think when I was coming up I would say there was me and Ato (Boldon) in the young crowd," Greene said. "Now you've got about five or six young guys coming up at the same time." |
2004: An Irish Athletics Year |
2004 won't be remembered as one of Irish athletics' great years. |
The year began with that optimism which invariably and unaccountably, seems to herald an upcoming Olympiad. But come late August, a few hot days in the magnificent stadium in Athens told us of the true strength of Irish athletics - or to be more accurate, the lack of it. Sonia O'Sullivan's Olympic farewell apart, there was little to stir the emotions of Irish athletics watchers. But after the disastrous build-up to the games, we shouldn't have been surprised. At the start of the year, an O'Sullivan had been earmarked as Ireland's best medal prospect but as it turned out, walker Gillian never even made it to the start line because of injury. Less than a week before the Olympics, the sport was rocked by news that 10,000m hope Cathal Lombard had tested for the banned substance EPO. Lombard's shattering of Mark Carroll's national 10,000m record in April had already set tongues wagging but even the most cynical of observers, were surprised when he was rumbled after an Irish Sports Council sting operation. The Corkman quickly held his hands up in admission and was promptly handed a two-year ban from the sport. |
Back at pre-Olympic ranch in Greece, it must have seemed that things couldn't have got any worse but they very nearly did with walker Jamie Costin lucky to escape with his life after being involved in a car crash near Athens. Once the track and field action began in Athens, a familiar pattern of underachievement emerged although Alistair Cragg's performance in being the only athlete from a European nation to qualify for the 5,000m final did offer hope for the future. Our beloved Sonia scraped into the women's 5K final as a fastest loser and for a couple of days, the country attempted to delude itself into believing that she might be in the medal shake-up. As it happened, she went out the back door early in the final although there was nothing undignified about the way that she insisted on finishing the race over a minute behind winner Meseret Defar. It later transpired that Sonia had been suffering from a stomach bug in the 48 hours before the final although typically, the Cobhwoman played down the effects of the illness. Amazingly, she was back in action a couple of weeks later when beating a world-class field at the Flora Lite 5K road race in London and while her major championship days may be over, it's unlikely that we have seen the last of her in competition. At least Sonia managed to make it to Athens. At the start of the year, several Northern Ireland athletes had genuine hopes of qualifying for the Games but come August, an out-of-form and injured Paul Brizzel was the lone standard bearer for the province. The Ballymena man gave it a lash but his achilles problem, and a bad lane draw, meant a time of 21.00 and an early exit. |
James McIlroy, Gareth Turnbull, Zoe Brown and Paul McKee all had to be content with watching the Athens action on their television screens. 800m hope McIlroy never got near his best during the summer and a fourth place in the British trials effectively ended his hopes of making the plane. The injury-plagued Turnbull gamely travelled round Europe in search of the 1500m qualifying mark but 3:39 was the best he could achieve, after missing several months training during the previous winter. A lingering hamstring probem and a virus wrecked McKee's Athens ambitions and both he and Turnbull deserve a slice of better fortune in 2005. Pole vaulter Brown had hoped for a vote of confidence from the British selectors after she had achieved the Athens B standard but the call never came. As the summer ended, stalwarts Catherina McKiernan and Dermot Donnelly hung up their competitive spikes. McKiernan had to candidly acknowledge that time had crept up on her after several injury-ravaged years. Donnelly and his Annadale Striders team-mates later suffered tragedy when their friend and clubman Andy Campbell was found dead at his home on 18 December. A large turnout of athletics-loving folk turned out in west Belfast to offer their respects to the Campbell family and Andy's many friends. As only death can, it put the year's athletics happenings in a sharp perspective. |
Sprinter Walker quits athletics |
Former European 200m champion Dougie Walker is to retire from athletics after a series of six operations left him struggling for fitness. |
Walker had hoped to compete in the New Year Sprint which is staged at Musselburgh Racecourse near Edinburgh on Tuesday and Wednesday. The 31-year-old Scot was suspended for two years in 1998 after testing positive for nandrolone. "I had intended to race but I'm running like a goon," said Walker. He told the Herald newspaper: "I'm not in great shape, after missing about a month of training. "I missed a big chunk of speed work over about three weeks, and then another week working in America. "If I'd had a half-decent mark it might have motivated me more, but I won't be racing. "I still enjoy training, but feel it's time to move on, and concentrate on a career." |
Bekele sets sights on world mark |
Olympic 10,000m champion Kenenisa Bekele is determined to add the world indoor two mile record at February's Norwich Union Grand Prix in Birmingham. |
The 22-year-old will again be chasing a record held by his compatriot and mentor Haile Gebrselassie, who set the mark at the same meeting in 2003. "I am still as hungry to do as much as I can in this sport," said Bekele. "And aiming for the two mile world record in Birmingham is the next of those targets." Gebrselassie's current record stands at eight minutes, 04.69 seconds. And Bekele is no stranger to overhauling world marks at the National Indoor Arena. The Ethiopian broke the world indoor 5,000m record on his debut at the meeting last year. Compatriots Mulugeta Wondimu, Abiyote Abate and Markos Geneti, the world indoor bronze medallist over 3000m, will race against Bekele on 18 February. The meet has already attracted a crop of Olympic talent. Britain's 800m and 1500m champion Kelly Holmes is taking part in the 1000m. Swedish heptathlon gold medallist Carolina Kluft will contest the 60m hurdles. While men's 4x100m relay gold medallists Jason Gardener and Mark Lewis-Francis will go head-to-head in the 60m. |
Greek sprinters suspended by IAAF |
Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou have been suspended after failing to take drugs tests before the Athens Olympics. |
Athletics' ruling body the IAAF said explanations from the pair and their former coach as to why they missed the tests were "unacceptable". It added that Kenteris and Thanou had been "provisionally suspended pending the resolution of their cases". They face two-year bans if found guilty by the Greek Athletics Federation. The suspension also covers the athletes' controversial coach, Christos Tzekos. Kenteris, the 2000 Olympic 200m champion, and Thanou, the women's 100m silver medallist from the same Games in Sydney, also face a criminal hearing in Greece over the missed tests. They failed to appear to give samples in Chicago and Tel Aviv shortly before the Athens Games and again in Athens on 12 August, the eve of the opening ceremony. Greek prosecutors have also charged them with faking a midnight motorcycle crash which led to them spending four days in hospital. Some medical staff have been charged with writing false medical reports. Wednesday's statement said the Greek Federation (SEGAS) would convene a disciplinary hearing for the trio to determine whether there had been doping violations. |
"There will be a final right of appeal from the decision of the Greek Federation to the Court of Arbitration for Sport," the IAAF said. Tzekos insisted he and the runners had nothing to hide. "The IAAF's decision means nothing," he said. "We'll be presenting all our arguments to SEGAS - we're innocent." |
Athens memories soar above lows |
Well, it's goodbye to another Olympic year and as usual there were plenty of highs and lows in Athens. |
Obviously, there's no getting away from the differing fortunes of Kelly Holmes and Paula Radcliffe. But I want to remind you of a few more events that made 2004 another year to remember - or forget - for athletics. |
One of my favourite Olympic moments was Kelly's success in the 800m. |
Winning that race was the key to her success because if she won that then the 1500m would be a bit of a formality. Kelly had been full of "should I, shouldn't I?" thoughts about going for the double in Athens. I thought why wouldn't you do the 800m, it's your best event? It was such good fun to commentate on her 1500m and it was nice to be able to be part of her Athens story. |
The victory for the British men's 4x100m relay team was a bit of a surprise but a great climax to the Games. I think the four of them - Jason Gardener, Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish and Mark Lewis-Francis - knew deep down that it was their best chance of a medal. The lads had run poorly in the individual sprints so maybe they did lift their game when they knew something was really at stake. |
Hicham El Guerrouj's Olympic double is a much bigger achievement than Kelly's on a global scale. |
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