Athletics - Olympic Games

Sports World

follow this blog

6 followers

130 daily readers

rank of 1350

E-mail Subscription

Receive an e-mail notification of new posts on this site:

Category Quick Links

Athletics Olympic Games - Sports World

Olympics: Australian Athletics Team Named

June 27th 2008 15:08

Reigning world champions Jana Rawlinson and Nathan Deakes headline Australia’s smallest Olympic track and field team since 1992, with only 41 members. Jane Saville is the most experienced member of the team, becoming just the sixtrh track and field athlete to compete at four Olympic Games. There are 24 Olympic debutants.

Four competitors were added to the squad at the final Athletics Australia (AA) selection meeting this week: pole vaulter Paul Burgess, steeplechasers Youcef Abdi and Victoria Mitchell and 4x400m relay runner Mark Ormrod.

The most notable exclusions were in the men's 4x100m relay, where AA declined to nominate a squad even though Australia currently sits inside the top 16 on the rankings compiled by the IAAF, the sports's world governing body.

That means that the likes of national record holder Patrick Johnson and four-time national 100m champion Joshua Ross will not be competing in Beijing unless they successfully appeal their exclusion.

The 41-strong squad is the smallest since Australia was represented by 39 athletes at the 1992 Barcelona Games.

Australia had a record track and field team of 86 on home soil in Sydney in 2000.

The 2008 team is also smaller than for 2004 in Athens (44) and 1996 in Atlanta (62).

Olympics Beijing Australia Track Field Jane Saville

Australian Walker Jane Saville

Australian Olympic track and field team:-

Men

400m: Joel Milburn, John Steffensen, Sean Wroe

800m: Lachlan Renshaw

1,500m: Mitch Kealey

5,000m: Collis Birmingham, Craig Mottram

3,000m Steeplechase: Youcef Abdi

4x400m relay: Dylan Grant, Clinton Hill, Milburn, Mark Ormrod, Steffensen, Wroe

20km walk: Luke Adams, Chris Erickson, Jared Tallent

50km walk: Nathan Deakes, Adam Rutter, Tallent

Marathon: Lee Troop

Pole vault: Paul Burgess, Steve Hooker

Shot put: Justin Anlezark, Scott Martin

Javelin: Jarrod Bannister

Discus: Benn Harradine

Women

400m: Tamsyn Lewis

800m: Lewis, Madeleine Pape

1,500m: Lisa Corrigan, Sarah Jamieson

100m hurdles: Sally McLellan

400m hurdles: Jana Rawlinson

3,000m steeplechase: Donna MacFarlane, Victoria Mitchell

20km walk: Jane Saville, Kellie Wapshott, Claire Woods

Marathon: Benita Johnson, Kate Smyth, Lisa-Jane Weightman

Pole vault: Alana Boyd

Long jump: Bronwyn Thompson

Discus: Dani Samuels

Heptathlon: Kylie Wheeler

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: KC Hill2 - Category: Athletics, Olympic Games

Email this Post to a Friend

Olympics: Marathon Smog Fears

June 26th 2008 13:55

Champion marathon runner Robert de Castella has warned of a huge attrition rate at the Beijing Olympics marathon, because of the chronic air pollution. Current marathon world record-holder Haile Gebrselassie has already announced that he will not run the road race in Beijing because he fears for his health, an outcome that de Castella describes as "a bit of a tragedy".

De Castella says the conditions are the worst since the 1984 Los Angeles games, at which he ran fifth, despite holding the world record at the time.

De Castella won the marathon at the 1983 Helsinki world championships. He believes the conditions at these Olympics “…will be very, very cruel, and in an event like the marathon it is so tough. I think we will see a huge attrition rate in Beijing, and it's going to take its toll on athletes."

This week the Chinese government announced that more than one million cars will be banned from Beijing's streets during the Olympics in an effort to curb pollution and ease traffic gridlock.

De Castella said he hopes what he encountered during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic marathon will not be repeated in Beijing.

"I suffered considerably," he said of the Los Angeles Olympics. "By the finish, my right eye had swollen up so I was hardly able to see out of it.

"I think that was a direct result of the pollution, the swelling went down after a couple of days. But given what happened to my eye you have to wonder what was going on with my other functions.

"One never knows for certain how much of an effect those pollutants are going to have, but some individuals are more susceptible than others.

"If all things were equal the best athlete would still win, but any athlete with any respiratory sensitivity will be much more severely affected."

"It's sad for the fans and it's even sadder for him," de Castella said of Haile Gebrselassie’s decision not to run. "If he won an Olympic marathon gold medal to go with his other medals he would go down as the greatest distance runner the world has seen."

Athletics Olympic Games - Sports World

Olympics: Australian Athletics Team Named

Olympics: Marathon Smog Fears

Mike Cortright's Blogs