Samuel Francis - 9.99/0.9 Asian Record in Amman

[Jacksf]

He did run 10.35 earlier this year, but yeah, that 9.99 is a big drop!

Justin

Just read the Day 4 update from the Asian Championships, and one of the athletes said they were having trouble breathing, which apparently was a common complaint at the meet due to the altitude.
Just checked the altitude for Amman Jordan, it is nearly 2500 ft.
So that might account for this sub-10 performance from an otherwise unknown sprinter.[/b]

[Texas]

If we just go with "labels" then yes we have a new Asian record. I will not look at it as if an Asian athlete accomplished the feat however. No more than I consider Obikwelu a Portugese. Are there really Afro Asian....???

your argument has so many holes... let's start with the "afro-asian" question. quite a few descendants of african slaves in saudi arabia (slavery there was not officially outlawed until the 1980's!!!), qatar, kuwait, bahrain, UAE, oman and yemen. if you follow the asian games or championships, you see how many black athletes represent saudi arabia for example. in the last olympics, i think, palestine was represented in the women's 800 m by a young black girl (she ran 2:32 or so????). so there's no reason why a "black" athlete can't represent asia.

why can't obikwelu be portuguese? he's been living there for quite many years, as a matter, didn't he move there prior to representing portugal?

the problem with qatar and bahrain is their wholesale buying of kenyans and other african athletes, none of whom have ever lived there -- they just carry their passports. it's similar to maryam jamal (i believe she lives in switzerland) and aldama (i doubt she ever lived in sudan) but interesting cases are these 2 ladies, they found themselves stateless and went shopping for a passport. i don't think they were actively recruited like all the male long distance runners that qatar and bahrain have been buying by the dozen. it's a TOTAL disgrace, and the IAAF should require some period of residency to represent a country.

and let's not bring up the whole debacle with the bulgarian weighlifting team that qatar bought for the sydney olympics. qatar also has a uruguayan who is a star in their soccer team.

i don't have a problem with athletes who legitimely change citizenships (such as obikwelu and lagat, for example) but all those kenyans representing these 2 countries? they couldn't even remember their arabic names when asked by reporters and none of them live there.

at least saudi arabia, in spite their wealth, are not in the habit for shopping for athletes, although they are also a disgrace for not allowing women to compete.

unfort. what these nations have is a lot of money, so the IAAF and IOC won't do a thing about this. they should be ashamed of themselves.

Apparently you don't know any Portugese. Trust me Francis Obikwelu ..IS NOT... Portugese.

[Tristan]

apparently you don't know english either. it's PORTUGUESE, not portugese.

and obikwelu is a naturalized portuguese citizen now, just as alozie is a spaniard now and ottey a slovenian. end of story.

[dakota]

apparently you don't know english either. it's PORTUGUESE, not portugese.

and obikwelu is a naturalized portuguese citizen now, just as alozie is a spaniard now and ottey a slovenian. end of story.

If you must pedantically nitpick people's spelling will you at least use capital letters at the start of each sentence and also for proper nouns? Otherwise you just look unfamiliar with the Latin alphabet.

Obikwelu.
Portuguese.
Alozie.
Spaniard.
Ottey.
Slovenian.

[Tristan]

hey dakota,

if you have nothing interesting to say, just like your brother texas, why don't you keep quiet... stop wasting bandwidth, not to mention our time.

[paulthefan]

testy this tristan fellow is, eh... feels obligated to admonish texas' about his spelling but let someone make a similar correction of him and it is all of a sudden a waste of bandwidth... very small person.

[Tristan]

i guess paultherudestfan can't grasp subtleties, so here goes the explanation... texas wasn't adding anything new to what he already said. and what he's already said is riddled with holes. dakota wasn't adding any new info or insight to the debate, just like you.

considering your history in these boards, i wouldn't talk about others, paul...

[Justin Clouder]

Just checked the altitude for Amman Jordan, it is nearly 2500 ft.

I didn't think to check that, thanks. My limited research suggests that Amman is actually on a plateau and spread over 19 hills ranging from 750m to 1000m. This suggests altitude assistance (which, added to 32C+ temps, makes for fine sprinting conditions) but not necessarily the dreaded A, depending where exactly the stadium is.

Justin

[bennyg]

There are some rather feeble IAAF rules in existence about citizenship and residence, or am I thinking IOC.
In any event, if IAAF said no taking part in new nationality colours for 6 years from request to change representation, it would stop the current disgrace in its tracks, with all the nasty money grubbing going on. Typical shitty conduct that I expect from the Middle East countries, who were allowed to force out Israel yonks ago from being an Asian nation.

Sadly, the world federation is full of African and Middle Eastern creepy politicians, so what do you really expect.?

[Justin Clouder]

In any event, if IAAF said no taking part in new nationality colours for 6 years from request to change representation, it would stop the current disgrace in its tracks

Ignoring the rest of your post, which is appalling, your suggestion here would also ensure that no-one who ever moved country for any reason would be able to run for their new nation. Given the extent of migration between and within all parts of the globe, this is clearly not workable. Most people who move countries do so for reasons a lot more serious than track.

We also, just to recap, don't know the story with Samuel Francis. It seems odd that Qatar would spend any effort or money on a10.45 teenage sprinter. All other Qatari recruits have been established stars. He's also not changed his name as others have done. Until we know how he ended up in Qatar, it might be sensible to hold back on the more lurid accusations.

IMHO!

Justin

[bennyg]

Dakota said sport and politics should not be allowed to mix, but of course separation of the two has never happened. Never will either; because all the major championships in all sports rely on the natural urges of people, media and politicians to go into nationalist, flag waving mode, viz.. ruddy medal tables for one.

[Jacksf]

Just checked the altitude for Amman Jordan, it is nearly 2500 ft.

I didn't think to check that, thanks. My limited research suggests that Amman is actually on a plateau and spread over 19 hills ranging from 750m to 1000m. This suggests altitude assistance (which, added to 32C+ temps, makes for fine sprinting conditions) but not necessarily the dreaded A, depending where exactly the stadium is.

Justin

At what altitude is a mark, altitude assisted (A)?

[Justin Clouder]

At what altitude is a mark, altitude assisted (A)?

1000m. Though note that this is a statistical convention, altitude makes no difference to whether records are valid or not.

Justin

[Jacksf]

The IAAF website hasn't added this mark to their lists, but they have added other marks since then.
Not sure if that means anything or not.

[Highland]

Beg your pardon eldrick. As you have gathered I haven't been long on this forum and I have definitely not had the time to trawl through past posts.

Merely posting a view on a matter I feel strongly about. I do not claim that it is wonderful or insightful.

I would appreciate you keep your sarcasm to yourself and try to engage like an adult and not a spoiled brat. This forum is not your personal toy!!



Agreed. It's condescending posts like eldrick's that make this forum such a headache sometinmes. The guy offered a simple opinion ... to think he should go through past threads is preposterous.

But I realize eldrick is a regular ... responses like that ensure that this forum consists of seven or eight people trading witticisms.