Clueless writing about our sport

[dupontred]

Yep - that's how was able to see that nobody from Arizona State won in the 70s. That was the era of 4 wins by Debbie Esser. A (looked it up, Denise) Waddy was runner-up in in the 400H in 78 - which matches up. And a Calhoun and a Brady in 4-5 for Arizona State in 78.

But I do love the resource - have looked at it many times!

[TN1965]

From a Cory Leslie story linked to the front page.

http://www.sanduskyregister.com/arti...sports/5890056

"American record-holder and Olympian Evan Jager of Nike collected the victory with a time of 8:18.83, followed by Dan Huling of New Balance with a finish of 8:19.73 and Olympian Don Cabral of Nike in 8:20.04."

I thought Huling was sponsored by Nike and training with Jager under Schumacher.
Has he switched sponsors lately?

[br]

Something is fishy. An article from 2005...

In 1974 she broke the national record in the 400 hurdles and was the national champion, Lanker said. She competed in the women’s nationals at Irvine, Calif., as a 16-year old and placed fourth. She competed in the Pan American Games in Mexico City in 1975, earned a bronze medal, and anchored the 4x400 relay team.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2005/nov/26/linda-lanker-accepts-call-to-coach-national-team/

There was no 400h in the 1975 Pan Am Games.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1975_Pan_American_Games

http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/pag.htm

[Charley Shaffer]

Something is definitely fishy, and it appears that the smell may emanate from self-promotion by the H.S. coach herself, aided by the failure of most of today's newspaper reporters to "check it out."

This community college coaching bio, presumably provided by her, contains a number of claims that are, to put it nicely, difficult to verify:

http://athletics.spokane.edu/getdoc/1718e731-071e-41a1-9a79-3622c6399c41/Linda_Lanker.aspx

Among the many claims, one is that "As a teen Linda was ranked in the top four nationally from 1972 to 1977 . . . " But if she's 58 now, she would have been 20 or 21 during the 1977 season, and not a teen.

This 1997 article states that "said she ran the intermediate hurdles internationally while at Arizona State . . . "

http://m.spokesman.com/stories/1997/may/22/making-a-splash-vc-star-hurdler-trained-in-pool/

The 2007 Sun Devil Media Guide lists no Linda and no Lanker as either a conference champ or outdoor All-American from 1976-1985. Their top ten list for both hurdles events include athletes from 1978, but not her.

Something is fishy.

[Daisy]

Here is an example of the 'could have been an Olympian' type story that pops up semi regularly. It would not have been very hard for the journalist to check this claim.

Eight years ago, Peters was on the brink of becoming an old-fashioned underdog triumph. With automatic qualifying times for the 100-meter high hurdles and 400-meter low hurdles at the U.S. Olympic Trials for the Athens Games, you could already list the obstacles he had overcome: A tumultuous upbringing that forced him out of his parents’ custody before adolescence, a diagnosis of chronic intestinal inflammation known as Crohn’s disease at the age of 12, and continued complications from the disorder that doctors theorized were partly induced by the stress of his debilitating home life.

https://www.wickedlocal.com/article/...News/307079890

Apparently he is currently preparing for the steeplechase with hopes of making the team in 2016.

When the next U.S. trials come around, Peters will be turning 34, far from the young gun he once was. His plan is to shift his focus to the 3,000-meter steeplechase, a race that still involves a form of hurdling but tacks on a much longer distance, which can actually benefit an older runner, he said.

[Tuariki]

Something is definitely fishy, and it appears that the smell may emanate from self-promotion by the H.S. coach herself, aided by the failure of most of today's newspaper reporters to "check it out."

This 1997 article states that "said she ran the intermediate hurdles internationally while at Arizona State . . . "
http://m.spokesman.com/stories/1997/...ained-in-pool/......

Maybe she drove down I-19 to Nogales, AZ and crossed over to Nogales, Mexico and did a training run over the 400IH.

[El Toro]

I happened across this story on the EC.

In the men’s 400m final the teacher gave a lesson to the pupil as Martyn Rooney, a veteran of the British team despite only being 27, beat prodigious teenager Matt Hudson-Smith as Britain claimed a one-two.

Rooney has been offering advice and ‘having a laugh in the call room’ with the 19-year-old as they advanced through the rounds. But all friendly feeling was left in the blocks as he held on to win gold in 44.71, the fastest time in Europe this year.

Hudson-Smith finished strongly but did not have enough track left to overhaul Rooney, taking silver in a personal best of 44.75. The two warmly embraced on the finish line and did a lap of honour together.

Hudson-Smith, from Birmingham, was formerly a 100m sprinter and only properly turned to one-lap running at the start of the year. He has since shaved an incredible one minute off his personal best.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2726210/Adam-Gemili-storms-gold-200m-European-Championships-19-98sec.html#ixzz3AYYDDGwR

[tamabi]

.............Is he now running 400m in negative time?

[Pego]

.............Is he now running 400m in negative time?

He said it was incredible, didn't he?

[TN1965]

"Mutai had run the fastest marathon in history in 2:03:02 in Boston in 2011, though it didn't count as a world record because the course is considered too straight and downhill."

That was Geoffrey Mutai. This one is Emmanuel Mutai.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/28/dennis-kimetto-world-record-marathon-berlin_n_5895876.html

[TN1965]

"18) Geoffrey Kaworor, formerly Geoffrey Kipsang, hung around until 33K and look poised for his marathon breakthrough. Then the last 11K happened and he drifted back into fourth place and lost over three minutes on Mutai."

Uh... if he looked posed for breakthrough until 33k, he had only 9.2k left in the race, right? Where did he run the extra 1.8k?

http://dailyrelay.com/monday-morning-run-26-thoughts-on-the-berlin-marathon/

[tandfman]

Here's a good one:

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/athletics/sending-under-strength-teams-beijing-7865092

The headline reads: Sending under strength teams to Beijing could have effect on region's stars

Problem is that they're referring to next year's World Cross Country Championships, which will be held in Guiyang and not in Beijing, which is nowhere near Guiyang. The two cities are more than 1,000 miles apart.

[Cooter Brown]

Not in print media but in the U-Verse online guide for the Brussels meet on NBC the blurb was "Justin Gatlin battles for season title in the 800m."

[aaronk]

Caught one just now from the front page article about Ben Bruce winning his 4th RnR Marathon this year.
The article is by-lined "Competitor.com", so don't know the actual author.

They had a Half also. Here's what they said about the first two women.
The stupid phrase is in ALL CAPS.

Lindsey Scherf, 28, from Chapel Hill, NC, landed first place in 1:17:38.
Amanda Albrecht, 24, from Fetus, MO, was NOT FAR BEHIND, placing second in 1:22:59.

"Not far behind"??
Since when is finishing 5 minutes and 21 seconds behind the winner in a race 13.1 miles long "not far behind"??

[Powell]

The headline reads: Sending under strength teams to Beijing could have effect on region's stars

Problem is that they're referring to next year's World Cross Country Championships, which will be held in Guiyang and not in Beijing, which is nowhere near Guiyang. The two cities are more than 1,000 miles apart.

But they will probably take a flight to Beijing before travelling on to Guiyang