adaobi123:

Jamaica
Canada
USA

JAMICA
FRANCE
USA ... u meant right?

ola_pluto: That's one of the most intentional baton drops ever. I don't blame the athletes though. Why won't they get their training allowance on the last day of competition. Am happy Okagbare can go home to rest now

An athlete from a third-world nation that drops Barton deliberately because of a sulk over money most have a brain no larger than that of a nematode. Blessing is such a talented athlete that if you're in the relay team with her you stand to gain medals and to be invited to meets allover the world. Imagine all the travel alone you'd experience and then to risk all that by never again being invited just because of money issues...


Personally,I'd forgo money just for the experience so long as the authorities take care of my travel and accommodation expenses

that was the most depleted USA women's 4*100m relay team ...

the first time USA will have the same team for heats and finals ... I miss Allyson Felix and carmelita Jeter ...

that second leg would av bin Felix .. she would be fast enuf to meet up with Gardner and she would not need to stop ... Gardner of life wud run her lifebto give Jeter ... and am sure u all know the rest ...

there is world relays next year ... I can't wait for the Penn relays also ... world indoor champs ... no WC or olympics but I know it will be an interesting year for athletics ...

its almost bolt time ....

again I am sure USA has d same team from heats ... another unusual case ...

can USA just start grooming New athletes for Gods sake ...

their male team is the worst ... the closest to gatlin right now is nobody

team GB even included Adam gemili ... I feel sad for USA right now ...

... Jamaica is obviously the new sprint power house...

and bolt wins ....

Jamaica 37.36
USA
GB

adaobi show urself and dance round nairaland nak**

six gold medals for jamaica ... three involving SAFP ... three involving BOLT

very interesting ....

Russia tops the champs table by number of golds

USA wins by total number of medals ...

nigeria in number 18 ... on standings

adaobi123: Gatlin went out of his lane

So, he's disqualified?

adaobi123: Gatlin went out of his lane

oh Shet. rily ... noooooooooo

adaobi123:

No one has appealed yet but it was soooooo obvious

If it was obvious then it's only a matter of time. The US team will be disqualified. I hope i'm right.

The way i see it, the only person that can take over from Usain Bolt is his fellow country man, Yohan Blake. Justin Gatlin can only beat Usain Bolt once in a while and that's if Usain is not at his best. I think the US needs to start grooming sprinters from the NCAA championships that will challenge the Jamaicans in the sprints in the future.

adaobi123: GB DISQUALIFIED

I was just about to say that ... how come you did not see this miss adaobi

in other news ... France has been disqualified in the womens 4*100m relay ...

this means that USA has been promoted to silver ... and GBR in third

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay

http://makingofchampions.net/2013/08/18/okagbare-ensures-nigeria-leave-moscow-with-2-medals-ahoure-does-same-for-cote-divoire/

On Friday evening, Blessing Okagbare won her second World Championship medal in a week – bronze in the 200 metres – to ensure that Nigerians for the first time since 1999 had something to celebrate at the end of these championships. Indeed, Blessing single-handedly ensured that Nigeria equaled its best ever medal tally of 1 Silver and 1 Bronze at a World Championship, from 1999 when Glory Alozie took Silver in the 100m hurdles and Francis Obikwelu took Bronze in the 200 metres. Sadly for Nigeria, Alozie and Obikwelu, its two best athletes from that era, switched to Spain and Portugal respectively, both in 2001, creating a void which has since been left unfilled until now!

Blessing’s feat ensured that she became the first ever Nigerian to become a double individual medallist at either the World Champs or the Olympics, and doing it within the same championships should be especially commended. Blessing had the busiest schedule of any athlete in Moscow, competing in the 100m, 200m and Long Jump, and but for that hectic schedule, she may have also medalled in the 100 metres – I am extremely happy for her that she won that Bronze in the 200 metres and put to bed any suggestions that even I had prematurely raised about her not performing when it mattered the most. This lady is truly a Championship performer, and her 2 medals from 3 events in a packed week is more than enough evidence of that!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJgP6pCtIFo

Including her Long Jump bronze from the Beijing Olympics in 2008, Blessing is already well on her way to becoming Nigeria’s most decorated athlete of all time. I would love to see her continue to attack all 3 events at major championships, but she may have to decide in the future to forego one (maybe the long jump?) to improve her chances in the other two. Certainly if the women’s long jump is not moved from the day before the 100 metre final in future championships, that might continue to hamper her best prospects in the marquis sprint event. Perhaps organisers could adjust the schedule to accommodate an athlete as supremely gifted as Blessing? In the past this has been considered for the likes of Carl Lewis and Michael Johnson, in their bids in years gone by to win multiple events at major championships!

Cote d’Ivoire’s Murielle Ahoure also had a fantastic championship, finishing with Silver behind Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in both the 100m and 200m. This lady has stepped up massively from her 7th and 6th place finishes at the Olympics last year, and these are her country’s first ever medals at a World Championships in the 30 year history of the event! Both ladies can only gain more confidence from their medals, and personally I am looking forward to a great rivalry between them for years to come. Granted, my prediction that at least one of them would break the 200 metre African record on Friday night did not come to pass, but I look forward to seeing both of them in the coming years going for both Mary Onyali’s 200 metre record (22.07s) and Blessing’s 100m African record (10.79s)! Both of them will be looking towards Rio 2016, and the possibility of breaking Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce’s dominance in the 100m (and now the 200m) by then!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqq6X7PEivo

If Ahoure and Okagbare continue to develop and progress the way that they have so far, they could well lead the way for the renaissance of world class sprinting (and jumping) in Africa. That said, the incredible successes of these two great athletes should not paper over the fact that countries like Cote d’Ivoire (with 23 million people) and Nigeria especially (with over 170 million people) could and should be doing a lot better in Athletics. It should be noted that both Murielle and Blessing as sprinters are products of the American collegiate system. Obviously Blessing’s Olympic Bronze medal in 2008 showed that with her natural talent she had the potential to become a big star, but she would not have had the opportunity to blossom the way she has if she had stayed in Nigeria. There is simply no programme in Nigeria or elsewhere in West Africa that allows for natural athletic talents to be moulded into world class performers – think of how many people with talent similar to Kirani James or even Usain Bolt who will never be discovered or developed in Africa? Perhaps it is time for Africa to take a leaf out of Jamaica’s book and stop outsourcing the development of its athletes to the American college system?

Here’s another look at my video short entitled “Long Distance”, showing how far behind Jamaica that Nigeria has fallen in Athletics - we used to be on par back in the nineties!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdGPwUz7Guw

Last night I made an appearance on Sportsline, a Jamaican radio show on their Hot102FM channel to review the just concluded World Championships. I shared the airwaves with none other than MVP President Bruce James who focused on Jamaica’s 6 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze medal performances at the Championships, while I brought the outsider’s perspective, speaking mainly on the double medal feats of Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria and Murielle Ahoure of Cote d’Ivoire. See my blog for the interview:

http://makingofchampions.net/2013/08/21/discussing-nigerian-athletics-on-hot102fm-in-jamaica/

In this 9 minute section of the show, we discuss the Making of Champions documentary, the blog, investment in athletics in Nigeria, and Bruce James quizzes me on why Nigeria entered Blessing into 4 different events (100m, 200m, Long Jump and 4x100m) for these Championships! Click on the below to listen to our discussion…enjoy! (You might be wondering how come I appeared on a radio show in Jamaica yesterday? Well, the station dialled me into the discussion from my current base in the UK!)

Bruce James is more or less one of the founding fathers of the age of the Professional Track Club in Jamaica, after playing a pivotal role in setting up MVP Track & Field Club in 1999 – MVP is home to the likes of Shelly-An Fraser-Pryce, the double Olympic 100m Champion who became the first woman in World Championship history to win triple Gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m!

Audio is courtesy of Hot102FM in Jamaica. Watch out in the next few days as I release more snippets from our Sportsline conversation yesterday!