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November 2001

Hicham El Guerrouj and Stacy Dragila named Athletes of the Year.
25. The International Athletic Foundation announced tonight the Athletes of 2001. Hicham El Guerrouj and Stacy Dragila honoured, during the World Athletics Gala, as the best athletes of the season. This year the Gala was presented live by the official site of the IAF, a perfect and absolutely succesfull attempt of the Foundation. Dragila and El Guerrouj were, also, the choice of the Track and Field News magazine, which voted Costas Kenteris as the top 200 m. runner of the world, exactly as it did in 2000. During the season we watched 13 world indoor and outdoor records and all time bests, broken by men and women, seven of them by Stacy Dragila. In Greece, we had  63 national records in three main age classes, men and women, juniors and U18.

2001 season's awards
18. As the 2001 season is already over, the Council of the International Athletic Foundation will select the winners of the 2001 Athletes of the Year awards on November 24th.The nominees are: Men: Brahim Boulami (MAR), Andre Bucher (SUI), Jonathan Edwards (GBR), Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR), Maurice Greene (USA), Allen Johnson (USA), Lars Riedel (GER), Felix Sanchez (DOM), Roman Sebrle (CZE), Jan Zelezny (CZE). Women: Stacy Dragila (USA), Marion Jones (USA), Tatyana Lebedeva (RUS), Osleidys Menendez (CUB), Maria Mutola (MOZ), Catherina Ndereba (KEN), Zhanna Pintusevich (UKR), Paula Radcliffe (GBR), Violeta Szekely (ROM), Olga Yegorova (RUS).

Tulu wins in Tokyo
18. Ethiopia's 10000 m. Olympic Champion Derartu Tulu won the International Women's Marathon of Tokyo, running the distance in 2: 25' 08. Second was Irina Timifeyeva of Russia and third Bruna Genovese of Italy.

"Only Bubka was as Great"
16. Cornelius Warmendam died in California at the age of 86. He was born in June 22, 1915 in Fresno. Definetely, one of the greatest figures in world athletics history, the American pole vaulter, athlete of the oldest American athletics club, the San Francisco Olympic Club, broke 7 times the world record from 4, 57 m. in 1940, to 4, 77 m. to 1942, while in 1943 he set a world indoor record at 4, 78 m. He kept the record for 17 years and lost it only after the use of the aluminium poles, when, in 1957, Robert Gutovski cleared 4, 78 m. in Palo Alto. Unfortunately, the World War II prevented him from winning an olympics gold in 1940 or 1944. IAAF's President Lamine Diack paying tributes to Warmendam stressed "Only Bubka was as Great"

New York City Marathon
04. Ethiopia's Tesfaye Jifar won the New York City Marathon in 2: 07' 43. followed by two Kenyans, Japhet Kosgei and Rodgers Rop. Kenyan Margaret Okayo won the women's race.

Athens Classic Marathon
04. Kenyan Noah Bor overcame the raining and the cold weather today in Athens and won the Classic Marathon in 2: 19' 25", followed by his compatriots Frederick Cheruiyot (2: 19' 51") and Elias Chebet (2: 19' 58"). Japanese Hideacki Numajiri placed 4th (2: 20' 02), while Nikos Pollias was the best Greek with 2: 23' 57" Germany's Sonia Oberem won the women's race in 2: 36' 14", followed by Russians Alina Ivanova (2: 40' 18") and Svetlana Ponomarenko. Georgia Ambatzidou was 4th in 2: 48' 36"

Kenteris and Manjani on the top of European lists 2001
03.Two Greek athletes are on the top of Europe, according to the 2001 performances lists. The Olympic and World  Champion Costas Kenteris, as well as Mirela Manjani, silver medalist in Sydney and Edmonton. Kenteris is also 5th in the 100 m. list, just one position behind the faster greek 100 m. runner, Aris Gavelas. Among the top 10 European athletes of 2001 twelve Greeks are included, the lower participation since 1997. France (45 athletes), Spain (31 athletes), Poland (22 athletes) and Sweden (12 athletes) show the best figures since 1995, while the countries with the higher participation in the lists are Russia (98 athletes), Germany (51) and France.

October 2001

Jon Drummond arrested
24. The Marathon's races of this year are in progress and in the impressing competition of Amsterdam, Driss El Himer of France broke the national record running in 2: 07' 02". leaving behind the Kenyans Josephat Kiprono and Luke Kibet. Tatiana Titova of Russia dominated the women's race. Enough fast was also the Marathon in Lausanne, where Ethiopian Tesfaye Eticha was the winner in a new championships record. On the meanwhile sad news come from the US. Olympic gold medalist Jon Drummond was arrested for transporting marijuana through Los Angeles International Airport. Drummond was a member of the United States' 4x100-meter relay team in the Sydney Olympics.

Chinese runners set world junior's bests in Beijing Marathon
15. Two China's runners broke the world bests of junior's Marathon, yesterday in Beijing Marathon. Li Zhuhong set a 2: 10' 46" to smash the men's record held by Ethiopians Negash Dube and Tesfaye Dadi from 1987 and 1988 respectively. Liu Min also broke the record set by Wang Junxia in 1993. The 19-year-old Chinese ran the Beijing Marathon in 2' 23' 37. which is also a national record for China.

Gebreselasie won the world Half Marathon title
07.Haile Gebreselasie won his first Half Marathon world title today facing with the strong competition from his compatriot Jifar Tesfaye. Gebreselasie clocked 1: 00' 03", few seconds out of Tergat's championships record, while Tesfaye was second in 1: 00' 04" and Tanzanian John Juda third with 1: 00' 12". Paula Radcliffe, the world half marathon champion in Mexico last year, doubled her titles in a championships record 1: 06' 47", while Kenya's Susan Chepkemei was second (1: 07' 36) and Berhane Adere third in 1: 08' 17. Eight women among the top 10 of the championships improved their personal or national half marathon record. Ethiopia and Kenya won the teams' titles in men and women respectively.

Ndereba makes history in Chicago Marathon smashing the world record
07.Catherine Ndereba smashed the world marathon best set by Japan's Takahashi last week. The Kenyan runner won the Chicago Marathon in 2: 18' 47" to improve the record by a whole minute. Paul Tergat, athlough he went to Chicago for the world best, after a side by side race was defeated by Ben Kimondiu, just on the line; both clocked 2: 08' 56. Another Kenyan, Peter Kithuka placed third in 2: 09' 00". In Koln Nikos Pollias was fourth with 2: 17' 15".

September 2001

Naoko Takahashi broke the Marathon world record in Berlin
30. The Olympic Champion of women's marathon, Naoko Takahashi of Japan, broke the world record today in Berlin, being the first woman who ran the distance faster than 2: 20. Takahashi set a historical 2: 19' 46", followed by Tegla Loroupe (2: 28' 02") and Kathrin Wessel (2: 28' 26"). Kenya's Joseph Ngolepus was the winner of men's race with 2: 08' 47. followed by his compatriots Willian Cheruyot and Willam Kiplagat.

Dragila and El Guerrouj keep the lead at the end of the season
25. Stacy Dragila and Hicham El Guerrouj are in the top of IAAF world ranking, after the end of the outdoor season. According to the lists announced today, Dragila has 1465 points, fifteen more than Marion Jones, who is second, while Olga Yegorova is third. El Guerrouj dominates the men's list with 1466 points, ahead of Maurice Greene and Tim Montgomery. Katerina Thanou with 1348 points is 33rd in women's classification, the best Greek athlete according to the particular grading system. Kostas Gatsioudis is 42nd, with 1356 points, just 3 more than Kostas Kenteris who placed 46th. Among the top1000 athletes of the world 12 men and 25 women of Greece are included.

The last race for Michael Johnson
16. The IAAF Permit meeting of Yokohama, held yesterday, was the end of Michael Jonhson glorious career. Johnson, 34, ran the last race joint and international relay team (100X 200X 300X 400 meters) which won in a world best 1' 47" 93. During his carrer he has won 5 gold Olympic Medals in 1996 and 2000 in 200 m., 400 m. and 4X400 relay, while from 1991 to 1999 he got 9 times the world title in the same events. He is the world record holder of 200 m. (19" 32, 1996), 400 m. (43" 18, 1999), 400 m. indoor (44" 63., 1995). In the meeting of Yokohama, Glory Alozie set a national record for Spain in 100 m. hurdles 11" 78. while she was also the winner of the 100 m. race in 11" 26. Japan's super star Koji Murofushi threw 82, 08 m. to leave at the second position the Olympic and World Champion Szymon Ziolkowski (81, 82 m.). Johnson was again defeated by Garcia, Sotomayor cleared 2, 31 m., Ivan Pedroso jumped 8, 29 m. and Olga Yegorova ran the 5000 meters in 15' 21" 99

4x400 men's team won the gold medal for Greece
14. The greekl 4X400 relay team won the gold medal on the last day of the Mediterranean Games tonight in Tunis. The women's team was third, after France and Italy. Eleutherios Karasmanakis set a personal best at 77, 58 m. to get the silver medal and close a very succeed season for the young thrower. Finally, Alexandros Papadimitriou got the bronze medal of hammer throw. Asimina Vanakara (heptathlon) and Athina Papagianni (20 Km Walk) were 4th in their events. Today, gold medals won French Chaussinand (hammer throw), Abdelhader Hachlaf and Jaouad Charib of Morroco in 1500 and 10000 meters respectively, Laurent Dorique in javelin throw, Andrea Giannini in pole vault. The women's events won by Erica Alfridi (20 Km walk), Tunisia's Fatma Lanouar (5000 m.), Baya Rahouli (triple jump) and the French 4X400 relay team. Turkey's Anzhela Atrochanka won the heptathlon's gold. Yesterday, on the 3rd day of the Games, Greece won 5 medals in total. Stella Pilatou was 2nd in the long jump (6, 41 m.) while an also silver medal got Angeliki Tsiolakoudi, sending the javelin at 58, 16 m. Vaios Tigas was third in shot put with a season's best 19, 42 m., while bronze medals won Panayotis Sarris (200 m. with 20" 72.) and the women's 4X100 relay team.

Prodromos Korkizoglou got another gold for Greece
12.Prodromos Korkizoglou brought the fourth gold medal for the greek delegation in Tunis, during the 2nd day of the Mediterranean Games. He won the Decathlon competition with 7. 773 p., while Irene Terzoglou placed second in the women's shot put. Savvas Panavoglou, 4th in discus throw, set a season's best for Greece attempting at 61, 54 m. Theodoros Stamatopoulos placed 4th in 20 Km Walk. In the same position were Stylianos Dimotsios (47" 29. in 400 m.), Dimitris Pietris (100 m. hurdles, 13" 91) and Tania Tambaki (100 m. hurdles, 13" 36.) Ahmet Louahala of Algeria won the 400 m. in 45" 56. and Italian Diego Fortuna the discus throw with 64, 40 m., a games record. Good marks by Sinica Ergotic who jumped 8, 08 m. and Patricia Girard the winner of 100 m. hurdles in 12" 82.

Three Gold medals for Greek Athletics in Tunis
11. The athletics events started today in Tunis, where the Mediterranean Games 2001 are held, althought the top countries of the area have not sent their best athletes, who finished the season after Edmonton and the IAAF's Golden League series. On the first day of the Games Greece won three gold medals with Areti Ambatzi in the women's discus, Periklis Iakovakis in the 400 m. hurdles and Aristotelis Gavelas who dominated the 100 m. in a wind assisted 10" 14. Two more medals came by Thalia Iakovidou who got the silver of the women's pole vault and Eufrosyni Patsou who was third in the women;s 100 m. race. The Turkish team, the only one which seems to be complete in Tunis, had a double win in women's marathon, while Nora Ivanova - Guner won the 100 m., Algerian Mohamed Khaldi won the 5000 m. men's race, France's Sylvanie Morandais the 400 m. hurdles and Dana Cervantes of Spain the pole vault.Fabrizio Donato jumped 17, 05 to win easily the triple jump.

Bucher and Szekely named overall Grand Prix winners for 2001
09.Andre Bucher was the best athlete of the 800 m. all through the year. He won the World title, ran the fastest time, won most of the races he competed in and -of course- the Grand Prix Final. Violeta Szekely at the Women's 1500 had a bit more difficult work to do but now that the season is over, she should be very happy for herself. She won a sliver medal in Sydney and then, tonight in Melbourne, she managed to clinch the Grand Prix Series overall win. Bucher won the overall classification by only one point. Allen Johnson failed to win the 110 m. Hurdles race and had to stay at the second posistion of the overall Men's Classification. Hicham El Guerrouj and Paul Bitok followed, also only one point behind Johnson. At the Women's Standings, Szekely won with a 9 point margin over Maria Mutola. Tatyana Tereschuk was third. Kostas Gatsioudis was the best Greek athlete at 72nd place. At today's events, Kamil Skolimowska threw a World Juniors Record of 71, 71 m. to win the Women's Hammer, Hestrie Cloete jumped 1,98 m. and Jan Zelezny threw 88, 98 m.. Olga Yegorova, the most controversial person for athletics this year, was third at the 3000 m.

Russian Ivanova broke the 20 km. walk world record
06.Olimpiada Ivanova broke the 20 Km Walk world record today in the Goodwill Games 2001 The Russian walked the distance in 1: 26' 52" 30. to improve the old record made by Portuguese Feitor last July.The thrid day of the games is marked also by the marks set by Hestrie Cloete who cleared 2,00 m. to win the high jump and the new Games Record set by Jan Zhelezny at 87, 52 m. The winners of today's events were Shawn Crawford (20" 17.), Noah Ngeny (3' 56" 64. in mile), Paul Bitok (15' 26" 10.), Ivan Pedroso (8, 16 m.), Violetta Szekely (4' 38" 03. in mile), Tatyana Lebedeva (14, 58 m.) and Ellina Zvereva (66, 36 m.). Thomas Dvorak dominates the decathlon, after the events of the first day, with 4.381 p., thirty more than Tom Pappas who is currently at the second position. According to this week's IAAF world ranking, Stacy Dragila and El Guerrouj lead the overall standings, while Olga Yegorova is now third in the women's overall list, following Dragila and Jones. There are no significant changes regarding the positions of the top Greek athletes.

Goodwill Games 2001
04. The Goodwill Games 2001 started today in Brisbane, Australia with Marion Jones to win the 100 m. in a Games Record 10" 84. Feliz Sanchez won one more significant 400 m. hurdles race (48" 67.), while Jonathan Edwards was clearly the best with a jump at 17, 26 m. Ana Guevara dominated the 400 m. in 50" 32. and Kamila Skolimovska exceeded 70 m. in the hammer competition. Good marks for Gail Devers (12" 61.), the winner of the 100 m. hurdles, Olga Yegorova (15' 12" 22.), Gregory Haughton (45" 02.) and Australian Melissa Rollison who won the women's 3000 m. steeplechase in 9' 30" 70. On the second day Dwaine Chambers won the 100 m. in 10" 11.leaving Tim Montgomery second, Brahim Boulami the 3000 m. steeple (8' 17" 73.) and Maria Mutola the 800 m. Stacy Dragila dominated the pole vault at 4, 55 m. Natalya Sazanovich won the heptathlon competition with 6.373 p.

The last Grand Prix Meeting of the season in Rieti
02. The IAAF Grand Prix meeting of Rieti was held today, although with performances not so impressing as the previous meetings of the grand prix series. Diane Cummings won the 800 m. with 1' 58" 39., Edurance Ojokolo run a 11" 08. and Myriam Mani won the 200 m. race in 22" 54.; the better marks of women's events. Hicham El Guerrouj won the 1500 m. with 3' 29" 08, while Troy Douglas won the men's 200 m., setting a national record for the Netherlands 20" 19. and Fabrizio Mori the 400 m. hurdles with 48" 89. Kenyan Mark Bett dominated the 3000 m. race in 7' 36" 66., Vitaliy Sckurlatov jumped 7, 82 m. and M. Martinez won the triple jump with 14, 50 m. The Grand Prix Final is to be held on September 9th in Melbourne. In Goteburg Ulla Tuimala of Finland broke the women's world junior's steeplechase record with 10' 04" 99., during the Track Dual Match Sweden-Finland

August 2001

Six athletes share the IAAF Jack Pot
31. Besides Jones and Szekely, who had secured their jack pot shares from the previous Golden League Meeting, four more athletes joined the jack pot tonight in Berlin. Allen Johnson won the 110 m.hurdles with 13" 04., Hicham El Guerrouj the 2000 m. race in 4' 51" 17. and Andre Bucher the 800 m. with 1' 43" 82. The most controversial athlete of the season, Russian Olga Yegorova is the sixth athlete who achieved the fiftth win in Berlin, breaking the 5000 m. national record for her country, in 14' 29" 32., the second all time world performance. Stephanie Graff, who had 4 golden league wins failed tonight as she was third in the 800 m. Also, impressing marks were set by Francis Obikwelu who won the 100 m. with 9" 98., Jan Zhelezny who threw 88, 29 m. and Kajsa Bergqvist who cleared 1, 96 m. Jurgen Szult, at the age of 41, was fourth in the discus competition with 62, 05 m.

Six athletes share the IAAF Jack Pot
31.Besides Jones and Szekely, who had secured their jack pot shares from the previous Golden League Meeting, four more athletes joined the jack pot tonight in Berlin. Allen Johnson won the 110 m.hurdles with 13" 04., Hicham El Guerrouj the 2000 m. race in 4' 51" 17. and Andre Bucher the 800 m. with 1' 43" 82. The most controversial athlete of the season, Russian Olga Yegorova is the sixth athlete who achieved the fiftth win in Berlin, breaking the 5000 m. national record for her country, in 14' 29" 32., the second all time world performance. Stephanie Graff, who had 4 golden league wins failed tonight as she was third in the 800 m. Also, impressing marks were set by Francis Obikwelu who won the 100 m. with 9" 98., Jan Zhelezny who threw 88, 29 m. and Kajsa Bergqvist who cleared 1, 96 m. Jurgen Szult, at the age of 41, was fourth in the discus competition with 62, 05 m

A great race for Periklis Iakovakis in Beijing
31.Periklis Iakovakis placed fourth in the final race of the 400 m. hurdles today in Beijing, setting a personal best 48"87. the second all time performance for Greece. The former World Juniors Champion had passed the semifinals with 49"30. yesterday night. Myburgh of the Republic of South Africa won the gold medal with 48"09, while Marcin Urbas was the winner of the 200 m. in 20"56. Chinese Li Xuemei (22"86.) and American Natasha Danvers (54"94.) won the women's events. Yesterday, very good marks set by the winner of the shot put Manuel Martinez of Spain (20, 97 m.) and Manuela Montebrun who dominated the hammer throw with 69, 78, as well as the winner of the pole vault Alexander Averbukh (5, 80). Evdokia Tsamoglou was 11th in the hammer throw final.

Menendez won in Beijing with 69, 95 m.
29.Osleidys Menendez, few weeks after the world title, won also in the 21st Universiade, being held in Beijing, with 69, 95 m. Angeliki Tsiolakoudi was 4th in the javelin, the best performance by Greek athlete so far. Athina Papagianni placed 10th in the 10.000 m. walk, while Athanassia Tzoumeleka did not finalized the race. On the second day of the games, Stella Pilatou placed 5th in the final of the long jump with a season's best 6, 48 m. Evdokia Tsamoglou qualified for the final of hammer throw with 62,13 m. Finally, on the first day, Christiana Tambaki and Flora Redoumi passed the first round of 100 m. hurdles with 13" 40. and 13" 51. respectively, but in the afternoon both failed to qualify for the final. Dimitris Pietris (110 m. hurdles) and Irene Terzoglou (shot put) also did not qualify.

Runners of Morroco climb on the IAAF world ranking. El Guerrouj replaces Greene on the top.
28. Two Morrocan runners who shone in Brussels improved rapidly in the IAAF world ranking. Hicham El Guerrouj is now on the top of the men's overall ranking, while the new steeplechase world record holder moved to #9 from the 28th position he was a week ago. Katerina Thanou continues the good races, she has reached #31 of the women's standing and goes to Berlin on Friday.

7' 55" 28. Brahim Boulami stops Kenya's imperium. Tremendous middle distance races in Brussels.
24.Brahim Boulami broke the world record of the 3000 m. steeplechase, tonight in the Brussels Golden League with 7' 55" 28. The old record was 7' 55" 62. by Bernard Barmasai, set exactly four years ago in Koln. Boulami is the first non Kenyan runner who gets the record after 26 years. It was on Jul 28th, 1976, during Montreal Olympics, when a Swedish legend, Anders Gaderud, set a world record at 8' 08" 02. then, to be followed by Kenyans Henry Rono, Peter Koech, Moses Kiptanui, Wilson Boit Kipketer and Bernard Barmasai who broke the record seven times. In the same race, tonight, Stephen Cherono of Kenya broke the world juniors record in 7' 58" 66. But in Brussels we watched a historical meeting, at least for the middle distance races. Hicham El Guerouj won in the last metres the 1500 m. race in 3' 26" 12., just 0.12 out of his own world record, while Bernard Langat of Kenya was second with a national record 3' 26" 34.; the third all time world performance. Also, Yuriy Borzakovskyi was extremely fast, as he smashed the Russian 800 m. record in 1' 42" 47. to leave Bucher at the second position. Now Andre Bucher should win in the last Golden League meeting, next week in Berlin, in order to share the jackpot of 50 Kgr of gold. On the other hand, Marion Jones had no problem to secure her own share, as she won the 100 m. in 10" 86. followed by Sturrup, Thanou and Pintusevich; all of them under 11". Allen Johnson, who had 4 Golden League wins before Brussels, was just third in the 110 m. hurdles race and also needs one more win now, while Garcia dominated the event in 13" 07. Besides El Guerrouj, a fourth win achieved by Olga Yegorova (8' 30" 09.) and Stephanie Graf (1' 57" 46.). Finally, an American, Joshua Johnson set a 200 m. world leading mark, winning in 19" 88. Johnson ran in the heats of 4X100 in Edmonton, as member of the US team and went to Brussels with a personal best 20" 48.

Moncur runs 44" 70. in Thessaloniki. Kotova at 7 meters
22. Avard Monkur achieved the best performance of the IAAF permit "Olympic Meeting 2001" running the 400 m. race in 44" 70. The women's long jump was the best event of the meeting. Tatyana Kotova finally won with a jump at 7, 00 m., followed by the Edmonton World Champion Fiona May (6, 92 m.) and the Seville Champion Niurka Montalvo (6, 91 m.). More good marks were set during the meeting, with more impressing those of  Christopher Williams (20" 18.), Adam Nelson (20, 95 m.), Jenny Adams (12" 85.) , McDonald (second in 400 m. with 44" 90.), Cydonie Mothersill (22" 76.). Marc Boswell was the winner of the high jump at 2, 28 m., the same mark with Jaroslav Rybakov, while Sotomayor was third with 2, 26 m. Discus world champion Natalya Sadova won easily her event.

Thessaloniki follows Linz, San Sebastian and Malmo meetings
21. The IAAF permit "Olympic Meeting 2001" attracts tomorrow many Edmonton's world champions and medallists. Fiona May will compete in the long jump against Tatyana Kotova and Nurka Montalvo, the Olympic and World Champion Szymon Ziolkovsky, Andriy Skvaruk and Ilya Konovalov in the hammer throw, but also Martin Buss, Vyacheslav Voronin, Yaroslav Rybakov, Abderahmane Hammad and Charles Boateng, Christopher Rawlinson, Jiri Muzik and Boris Gorban, Ivan Pedroso, Avard Monkur, Dai Tamesue, Natalya Sadova, Nicoletta Grasu, Christopher Williams and Shawn Crawford, Svetlana Feofana, Thorey Elisdottir and Monika Pyrek are in the start lists of the meeting. Yesterday, in the Grand Prix II meeting of Linz Allen Johnson and Tatyana Lebedeva beaten by Anier Garcia and Tereza Marinova, while Nick Hysong and Jonathan Edwards were the stars in Malmo and Mauel Martinez in San Sebastian. Finally Katerina Thanou and Kostas Kenteris continue the improvement in IAAF's world ranking, after the meetings of Zurich and Gateshead.

Gateshead Grand Prix Meeting
18.Katerina Thanou was the winner of the Gateshead Grand Prix Meeting leaving Zhana Pintusevich at second place and Chandra Sturrup at third. Tatyana Lebedeva dominated the triple jump with a wind assisted mark at 14, 94 m. and Tim Montogomery the 100 m. race in 10" 27. Meanwhile, in the Hellenic Grand Prix Final, held yesterday in Mitilini, Aristotelis Gavelas set a 100 m. personal best in 10" 29. the second performance for Greece in this season.

A brillant night for Athletics -but not for some of the world champions
17.The Golden League Meeting of Zurich, was -as always- an outstanding night for the international athletics. The new star of the world scene, Felix Sanchez of Domenica won the 400 m. hurdles in 47" 38., while Brahim Boulami  was the winner of the 3000 m. steeplechase, leaving behind all the Kenyans. Richard Limo and Mark Bett ran the 5000 m. under 13', Virgilius Alekna sent the discus to 69, 95 m., Maria Mutola won the 800 m. in 1' 56" 85, Tim Montgomery clocked 9" 90. and Eunice Barber flied to 6, 97 m. It was a night in which many of the world champions were defeated, just few days after the medals they got in Edmonton. Jan Zelezny was second after Raymon Hecht, Zhana Pintusevich just 4th behind Marion Jones, Chandra Sturup and Katerina Thanou, Kostas Kenteris was defeated by Bernard Williams and Christian Malcolm, Fiona May was second after Barber, Lars Riedel did not manage something better than the 5th place, even Ivan Pedroso was fourth in a competition won by Kevin Dillworth at 8, 16 m.

Dragila on top of the world ranking
16. The World Championships produced major changes in IAAF' s world rankings. Stacy Dragila is now on the top of the women's list, replacing Marion Jones, although the latest returned from Edmonton with 2 medals. Menendez, Lebedeva and Babakova are already among the top 10 athletes of the world. Maurice Greene had no difficulty to keep his top seeded position, followed by El Guerrouj and Allan Johnson. Besides Johnson, five more men reached the top 10; Said Sief, Montgomery, Dvorak, Bucher and Langat. Costas Gatsioudis and Katerina Thanou are still the best Greeks, having won enough points in the overall rankings, while the world champion Costas Kenteris is already #2 of the 200 m. and #62 of the overall classification. All the championships finalists have improved, with more impressing cases those of Tsiolakoudi, Xanthou and Gatsioudis.

Gatsioudis gets Bronze, Kelesidou gets 4th place.
13.The last two days of the 8th World Championships in Athletics in Edmonton were sucessful for the Greek team as Kostas Gatsioudis won the Bronze medal, at the Men's Javelin, and Tasoula Kelesidou was 4th at Women's Discus. The Greek 4X100m. Women's team managed to get to the finals and get 7th place.

Lebedeva jumps 15, 25 m. and gets second place in alltime performance table
11.Tatiana Lebedeva, the Russian who was the true oasis at the Triple Jump for 2001, a year that all the stars of the event were jumping meters less than their bests, was the undoubtable favourite for yesterday's final. Not only she won, but at her last attempt she set a new PB which is a NR for Russia and the 2nd alltime performance: 15, 25 m. As the field was clear of more great jumps, Camerounese Mbango made the surprise and beated Olympic Champion Marinova, also at the last jump. 14, 60 m. for Mbango, 14, 58 m. for Marinova. The other fantastic final of the 8th day was Men's 400 m. Hurdles. Felix Sanchez, the Dominican hurdler, did not let Fabrizio Mori defend his world title, in a race where they both ran PBs and so did Dai Tamesue who was 3rd. It was one of the fastest races ever: 47" 49. for Sanchez, 54. for Mori, 89. for Tamesue and -finally- 47" 99. for Al Somaily who was again tunning from Lane 1, but could not win a medal this time. At the 5000 m. it was again a Kenyan who won. Richard Limo beated Saidi-Sief and Ethiopian Million Wolde was third. At Women's 200 m., this time Marion Jones won the World title. She was not so fast as in Sydney, but 22" 39. was enough for her. Debbie Ferguson was second and Kelli White third.

Gatsioudis gets into the Javelin Final, despite knee injury
11.The next hope Greece has for a medal, Kostas Gatsioudis (3rs in Athens, 2nd in Seville) threw 87, 81 m. and was the 2nd best qualifier, after WR holder Zeelzniy who made a new Games Record with 90, 76 m. Steve Backley did not make it to the final -so did Emeterio Gonzalez- and were the surprises failures of the Qualification. On the other hand, at the 1500 m. Semis, all the favourites passed to the Final. The big surprise came at the High Jump Qualification, where Olympic Champion Yelesina jumped only 1, 88 m. that was not enough to get her in the Final.

Kenteris on top of the world again
10.The Olympic Champion of Sydney is here to stay. Michel Johnson had said that Kostas Kenteris would not win another major title after the Olympics. Well, here it is Michael. A world title. Clocking 20" 04. and leaving all the others wandering who got the silver and bronze medal (really, no kidding), Kostas Kenteris was undoubtedy the star of the Edmonton 200 m., despite the pressure upon him after his triumph in Sydney last year. He won the third medal -first golden- for Greece and became the first Greek to have won both the Olympics and the World Championships in Track and Field. As written above, the other two medals could not be given easily, as seven athletes finished within 5/100 of a sec. from 2nd to 7th place. Eventually Williams got the silver and Kollins with Crawford will share the bronze. All three clocked the same time (20" 20.)! Thank god the photo finish was working...

Dmitry Markov writes history -jumps 6, 05 m.
10.The new World Champion of the Pole Vault is now the 2nd alltime athlete. After beating his opponents at 5, 95m., Dmitry Markov went for the mark that would send him on top of the world. Well, not exactly on top, but that position is a little difficult to be doubted. Markov jumped 6, 05 m. and now shares 2nd alltime performance with Maksim Tarasov. Allen Johnson had a great fight against Anier Garcia, but due to his excellent start managed to win the 110 m. Hurdles. 13" 04. for Johnson, 07. for Garcia. Olympiada Ivanova was the winner of the 20km walk race, in a new games record of 1:27' 48. Athina Papagianni of Greece was 12th.

Lars Riedel wins fifth world title, but Gebreselassie fails to do the same
09.At the two last finals of the 6th day in Edmonton, the two living legends of Atheltics, were competing, in quest for their fifth world title. Lars Riedel managed to win the Discus, but Haile Grebreselassie could not overcome the pressure of his opponents and was 3rd at the 10km. Lars Riedel's will for the win was such, that he made a new Competition Record at 69, 72 m. to achieve it. Virgilius Alekna was second (69, 40 m.) at a very close fight with the German athlete, while the bronze medal went to the other German, Michael Mollenbeck. Germany won another golden medal tonight. It was at the High Jump with Martin Buss who jumped a new PB at 2, 36 m. Buss had failed once at 2, 33 m. and then continued at 2, 36 m. as he was fourth at that time. The silver medal went to the Russians Voronin and Rybakov who juped 2, 33 m. and Xavier Sotomayor was 4th with the same height. Haile Gebreselassie could not repeat the brilliant sprint he made in Sydney and win his 5th title of the 10 km. Charles Kamathi of Kenya was very fast at the last 200 m. and won in 27' 53" 25. Assefa Mezgebu was second and Gebreselassie third. At the Steeplechase race, we also had a fantastic fight and finally it was the Olympic Champion, Reuben Kosgei of Kenya who won the World title. Ali Ezzine of Morocco was 2nd and WR holder Barmassai third. Nezha Bidouane was absolutely brilliant at the 400 m. Hurdles final, as she entered the homestraight in thrid place but had a great finish and won in comperative ease. 53" 34. was her time, Nosova was second with 54" 27. and defending champion Pernia third with 54" 51

Kenteris runs 20" 03. a WL and a NR, dominating the 200m. Semis
09. Kostas Kenteris, the Olympic 200 m. Champion seems to be the great favourite for tonight's final in Edmonton. Yesterday he won his semifinal heat in 20" 03., which is the best time in the World for 2001. Christian Malcom won the other heat in 20" 08. and is the strongest contender for the golden. Fabrizio Mori had a great Semifial at the 400 m. Hurdles, and seems able to defend his Seville '99 title. He clocked 48" 49., beating Al-Somaily, Weakly and Taylor at his heat. Even faster were the other two semifinals. Chris Rawlinson ran 48" 27. and Felix Sanchez 48" 07. Dai Tamesue ran 48" 10., a National record for Japan.

Ethiopian trio at Women's 10k -once more Radcliffe didn't make it.
08. This time Paula Radcliffe did not lead the whole race, but the Ethiopians once again managed to beat her. In a very fast last 400 m. all four of them were together until the last meters, with Tulu winning in 31' 48" 81, just 4/100 of a sec. in front of Adere. Wami beated Radcliffe also on the finishing line with 8/100. Yipsi Moreno won Cuba's 2nd golden in Edmonton, with an American   record of 70, 65 m. at Women's Hammer.

Olympic Champion Kenteris started his quest for the World Title on the 5th day morning qualifiers.
07.Kostas Kenteris easily won his heat at the 1st round of the 200 m. this morning. All the other stars of the event also qualified. At the 400 m. Hurdles 1st Round, Periklis Iakovakis had a succesful race at 49" 86. No upsets were seen, except for the disappointing race of Herbert who did not manage to qualify. Meanwhile, the Decathlon is going on with Tomas Dvorak and Dean Macey fighting for the gold. Erki Nool is a close third so far. This morning the weather was bad, with cold and rain.

Fiona May celebrates second world title, Szabo and Bucher dominate Middle Distances. Tomas Dvorak wins 3rd World title
07.Fiona May had won silver too many times. After her win in Gotenborg she did not manage to win another important title. She was 2nd in Seville, 2nd in Sydney, 3rd in Athens... Tonight, it was her night in Edmonton. She was fantastic through all of her attempts, flying at 7, 02 m. (w:+2.6), but had also two 6, 97 m. jumps and all six attempts over 6, 80 m.! Tatyana Kotova tried to steal Fiona's title, jumping 7, 01 m. at her fourth attempt, but remained 2nd. The defending champion Niurka Montalvo was third with 6, 88 m. and Greek Champion Niki Xanthou was 6th with 6, 76 m. Gabriela Szabo ran a clever 1500 m. race this time, not repeating the mistakes she made in Sydney, and won in 4' 00" 57. After the race she celebrated with Violeta Szekely, who was second, although there are many rumors that the two athletes' relations are very bad. Natalya Gorelova won bronze. At Men's 800 m. the dominance of Andre Bucher was absolute. Wilfred Bungei lead the early stage of the race, as he usually does, but did not manage to keep himself on thelead until the end, as the Swiss Bucher paced away after the 500 m., taking by surprise all the others who were hoping for a race to be judged at the last meters. Bungei managed to keep second place and the bronze medal went to Pawel Czapiewski of Poland, the surprise of the event, who ran in a Borzakovskiy-like way to beat Yiampoy and Schumann at hte homeway. At the 200 m. Kostas Kenteris, Christian Malcom and Kevin Little were the three most impressive qualifiers for the semis, while Ramon Clay who has the WL 200 m. for 2001 was injured. Tomas Dvorak won the Decathlon with a new Competition Record of 8902 points, followed by Erki Nool and Dean Macey. This was the thrid consecutive title for Dvorak who equalled  O'Brien's record of world titles. At Women's 400 m. it was Amy Thiam Mbacke of Senegal who won the golden medal. She clocked 49" 86., with Lorraine Fenton a very close second at 49" 88. and Ana Guevara third.

Avard Moncur wins 400 m. with surprise German Ingo Schultz surprising again!
06.Mark Block should very happy tonight. Not only his wife won the 100 m., but also his favourite athlete, Avard Moncur won the 400 m. Moncur of Bahamas was followed by Ingo Schultz, who once again surprised the competition -especially Gregory Haughton who was left third and wondering what went wrong at the last meters. 44" 64. was the time for the winner.

Pintusevich-Block writes history, beating Marion Jones at the 100 m.
06. Zhanna Pintusevich-Block, the Ukranian sprinter who was seeking for the 100 m. title since '97, when she lost it at the photo-finish by Marion Jones (she won the 200 m. that year) wrote history on the 4th night of the Edmonton World Championships, as she beated her American rival to win the event. She ran 10" 82. at the Final, but also beated Jones at the Semis. Jones clocked 10" 85. Jones had a 42 races winning streak at the 100 m. since '97...

Edwards keeps on flying, Dragila and Feofanova battle up to the World record
06.Stacey Dragila of the USA and Russian Svetlana Feofanova, the 2 best athletes in the history of the Women's Pole Vault had an exciting 4 hour match for the world title tonight in Edmonton. They both passed 4, 75 m. (a European Record for Feofanova) with Dragila on the lead -due to better attempts at the 4, 65 m.- and both tried to break the World Record at 4, 82 m. Unfortunately their battle did not end in such a brilliant way. The Bronze medal went to 20 years old Monika Pyrek of Poland, who cleared 4, 55 m. and was -once again- in fantastic shape. At Men's Triple Jump, the    competition was very good, with 4 athletes over 17, 40 m. Jonathan Edwards dominated the event with a jump at 17, 92 m. Christian Olson, the new star of the event, from Sweden, jumped 17, 47 m. to win silver and Russian Spavsokovskiy was third with 17, 44 m. Yoel Garcia was fourth. Kostas Zalaggitis of Greece was unlucky to have two foul jumps and a third that was not finished properly and was measured only at 16, 13 m.. However he is only 22 years old and is a great hope for Greece at the future.

Tzelili and Thanou win medals for Greece
06. The third athlete of the podium at the 100 m. was Katerina Thanou.This is the third year in a row that Thanou gets a 100 m. medal (3rd in Seville, 2nd in Sydney). Thanou ran 10" 91. This is also the third consequent medal for Mirela Tzelili at the Javelin throw. With 65, 78 m. she was second, after World Record holder Osleidys Menendez of Cuba who threw 69, 54 m.. Sonia Bisset, also from Cuba was third. Aggeliki Tsiolakoudi of Greece was 8th

Greene wins in 9" 82., misses the World Record due to a slight pull at the last meters.
05.Maurice Greene was the winner of the 2nd fastest 100 m. race ever, as five athletes ran the distance under 10 seconds. At the last meters of the race, Greene -who was in a WR tempo until then- felt a stifness at his hamstring and lost some of his speed, while Tim Montgomery was approaching. However, the distance was not enough for Montgomery to reach Greene, and he finished second with 9" 85. Bernard Williams completed the USA triumph, beating Boldon on the finishing line, with 9" 94. Boldon clocked 9" 98. and Dwain Chambers 9" 99. This was the thrird World title for Maurice Greene at the 100 m.

Korolchik and Ziolkowski repeat Olympic triumphs
05.Except for Maurice Greene, two other Olympic Champions of Sydney made the double tonight. It was Yanina Korolchik at the Women's Shot Put and Szymon Ziolkowski at the Men's Hammer Throw. Ziolkowski had a great fight against Japanese Koji Murofushi who was leading until the 5th throw. The Polish thrower had to make a new Competition record (83, 38 m.) to win the title. Ilya Konovalon was a surprise third. At the Shot Put, there was no athlete who could doubt Korolchik's domination. She threw 20, 61 m. at ther third attempt. Kleinert-Schmitt was 2nd with 19, 86 m., a personal best, and Vita Pavlish followed with 19, 41 m. At the Heptathlon, after the withdrawals of both Denise Lewis and Eunice Barber, it was easy for the Silver medallist of Sydney, Yelena Prokhorova to win the golden medal. Sazanovich and Burell won the other two medals.

No marks are acknowledged from yesterday's 100 m. Q-Final races. Lewis-Francis loses World Record
05.Yesterday's parody with all those impossible windmarks was continued today, as IAAF decided to cancel all times of the 100 m. Quarter Final heats and deprive Mark Lewis-Francis of his World Junior Record. Let's hope he'll do it again today. Meanwhile, on the 3rd day morning qualifiers, Marion Jones ran 10" 93. at the 100 m. as everything, in every event was absolutely normal. No upsets, no mystery women in black, no crazy windmarks...

Jones and Thanou ran the fastest 100 m. Quarter Finals, Bucher dominated 800 m. Semis. Dreschler withdraws, injured.
05.Niki Xanthou, the silver medallist at the Athens World Championships four years ago, jumped 6, 66 m. tonight and easily qualified for the final of the long Jump. However, Olympic Champion Heike Dreschler had a problem with her hamstring and did not manage to make a fair jump and get into the final. All the other favourites went through. At the Women's 100 m. Quarter Finals, Marion Jones and Katerina Thanou were impressive, running both at 10" 97. and showing that they are willing to repeat Sydney's race tommorow. Andre Bucher was once again dominant at the 800 m., winning his Semi Final heat with 1' 44" 47. At the 400 m. Avard Moncur, Gregory Haughton and the surprising German Ingo Schultz were the winner of the SF heats, while Michael McDonald was injured. Finally, at the Women's 1500 m. Semis the two Romanians, Szabo and Szekely, won their heats but the most impressive athlete was Lydia Chojecka who fell at the 900 m. and then returned to finish third, without any problem.

Godina wins third world title and Russians score a fantastic trio at the 20km Walk
04.John Godina is one of the greatest athletes in the history of athletics. One of the last throwers to be equally good in two events (Shot and Discus), he managed to become the second man in the history of Shot Put to have won 3 world titles, the first being -of course- Werner Guenthor of Switzerland.Godina started the Shot Put final with a throw at 21, 87 m. and did not have to do something more than that. Adam Nelson followed with 21, 24 m. and Olympic Champion Arsi Harju snitched 3rd place with a last minute throw at 20, 93 m. After his win, Godina started a triumph round inside the stadium, which was interrupted by the 20Km walkers who entered the stadium at the same time, something that Godina seemed to enjoy as he was out of breath... :-). The finish of the Walk event was even more impressive than the Marathon one, as three Russian athletes fighted for the golden medals until the last meters. Eventually it was young Roman Raskazon who managed to beat Seville's Champion Ilya Markov and Viktor Burayev. We were writing yesterday that it was hard to make any predictions and mentioned only 4 names. The 3 of them were the medallists, while Lopez was eleventh. That was a good 75%...

Yegorova will compete in Edmonton, despite positive EPO test
04.Although the French Federation announced that Yegorova had tested positive for EPO after the Paris Golden League Meeting, it appears that there has been a slight mistake in the way the test was performed. According to the protocol concerning erythropoietin (EPO) both a urine and a blood test should be taken. The French only did the urine one. So, Yegorova was cleared by the IAAF and will compete in Edmonton. Gabriela Szabo threatened to boycott the 5.000 m. after this decision. Our comment-question: If one tests positive in a urine test is there any possibility that he will not test positive in a blood test, which is supposed to trace deeper in time???

Mark Lewis-Francis sets a fantastic World Jumiors 100 m. record at 9" 97., while Greene runs 9" 88. and the wind indicator says "-5m/s"!
04.Something was going wrong at the Commonwealth Stadium tonight... Like somebody was making fun of the fans. Like somebody was playing with the wind indicators. The flags were not even moving, wet the 100 m. Quarter-Final races' windmarks indicate that there was a storm! An a headwind, most of all. We decided to post the results ignoring the false windmarks that IAAF announced, so we do not really know right now if Lewis-Francis 9" 97. is indeed a World Juniors Record. We do not think that the windmark was illegal, however we have to wait for IAAF to announce a real mark. Anyway, the afternoon 100 m. races were brilliant and gave us just a little bite of what we should expect for tomorrow. 5 races with the leaders under 10" is a very big thing. Tim Montgomery opened the parade with 9" 92., Maurice Greene answered at heat two with 9" 88. (and the wind indicator showing -5 m/s!), then the brilliant new star of the event, 19-year-old British Lewis-Francis ran his WJR at 9" 97.. So did Dwain Chambers at heat 4, and the show ended by Bernard Williams and his own PB at 9" 95. Let's add to these 5 marks the 4 National Records and the 10 Personal Bests setted and expect the... best for tommorow.

Eunice Barber out!
04.As the 2nd day in Edmonton goes on, Eunice Barber, the French athlete who was defending her Seville '99 World title, pulled out of the event, after fouling three times at the Shot Put. Denise Lewis, the Olympic Champion, did not start the Heptathlon at all, so now the big favorites for the title are Sazanovich and Prokhorova. Barber was leading the Heptathlon after two events, performing a PB at the 100 m. Hurdles! After her unlucky performance at the Shot Put, Barber broke down in tears. Denise Lewis did not start the Heptathlon because of problems with her stomach.

Second day- Afternoon Qualifiers: Greek duo in Women's Javelin Final. Can Schumann stop Bucher? Edwards flies at 17, 46 m.
04.Both Greek Javelin throwers were automatically qualified for the Final after throwing more than 61m. which was the qualification mark. Mirela Tzelili will defend her title and Aggeliki Tsiolakoudi will fight for the best. Also, Kostas Zalaggitis managed to qualify fot the Triple Jump final, with 16, 64 m., while Christos Meletoglou jumped only 16, 26 m. Jonathan Edwards worried his fans for a while, but came back -after a false and a bad jump- to fly at 17, 46 m. and qualify in class. Nils Schumann also showed some of his class at the 800 m. heats, winning in his usual strong finish style, beating Sepeng and Hatungimana. Now the question is if he can stop Andre Bucher, or if anybody else can... At the women's 1500 m. heats, all the favorites qualified easily, except for Regina Jacobs who abandoned the race. Unfortunately we were not informed why and IAAF has not yet posted the results of her heat.

No upsets in the morning qualifiers, except for "Mystery Man in Black"
04.Everything was OK for the big names at the morning qualifiers of the second day of the World Championships in Edmonton. Unfortunately for Greece, both hammer throwers failed to qualify to the final of the event. However, a lot of talking went on after the 100 m. race. It did not had to do with Greene nor Montomery, not even Bailey who returned in shape. It was concerning a man, dressed in black, who ran the distance in 14" 28. Trevor Misapeka from Americana Samoa. Who is he? Remember who was the silver medallist in Seville, at the Women's Hammer? Trevor is her brother, came to Edmonton to help her and used the right that IAAF gives to every country to have one male and one female athlete in competition, even if he did not meet the standard. However, if the female athlete is a thrower or a jumper, then the male has to be a runner. That''s the rule. So, Trevor -willing to compete- chose the 100 m. He ran his first official race ever, and it was in the World Championships, stealing the hearts of the crowd...

Second day: Men's Shot and 20km Walk finals to be held
August 04. Tonight we have two Finals in Edmonton: Men's Shot Put and 20km Walk. The Shot Put event is usually one that no predicts can be made, as all the athletes competing are very experienced and their performances very close. John Godina, Yuri Belonog and Olympic Champion Arsi Harju are the favorites, but the upset could be easily made. Adam Nelson is also there but don't forget to keep an eye on Jannus Roberts of South Africa. About the 20km Walk, there's not much to say. Rasskazov, Lopez, Burayev and Markov are all big names, but it's still a walk event and no predictions can be made.

Olympic Champion Abera wins World title in a brilliant finale
04.The Olympic Champion of Sydney, Gezahegne Abera of Ethiopia won the first golden medal of the 8th World Championships, held in Edmonton. The Marathon race took place the same time the Beginning ceremony was held inside the Commonwealth Stadium and its finish was aslo the grand finale of the Ceremony. And what a finale that was. Abera beated Simon Biwott of Kenya inside the stadium in front of the amazed spectators and won the title.

IAAF changes rules and... identity
03.No more shall it be called "Amateur". The IAAF changed its name from Intternational Amateur Athletics Federation to International Association of Athletics Federations. You can read more about the decisions taken in Edmonton, concerning the new IAAF at their Press Releases. Also, the wind of change took by surprise some important rules. The false start rule changed to "one false start and then every subsequent false starter goes off", while a lot of changes have been made to the throwing and the walking events. A lot of discussion is expected during the World Championships of Edmonton, although the new rules will not be applied immediately. For more information, you can read the .PDF file that IAAF released today.

The 8th World Championships in Athletics begin tonight in Edmonton, Canada
03.The male marathon runners are the first athletes to compete at the World Championships of Edmonton. While their teammates will be entering the Edmonton stadium for the traditional parade, the Marathon runners will be running the 42km distance and will finish by the end of the opening ceremony. Abel Anton, twice a World Champion (Athens '97, Sevilla '99) is absent and it seems very hard to predict a winner. El Mouaziz will be there, Kiprono will be there and the man who has ran the fastest Marathon ever -Khannouchi- will be there. Greece is represented by two athletes, Roulis Zachos and Vassilis Zambelis. At about 21:00 Edmonton time we shall know who the first World Champion of 2001 will be...

July 2001

Ouzouni sets a season best at 17, 92 m.
30. Kalliopi Ouzouni, sixth last year in Sydney, set a season's best 17, 92 m. yesterday in Vikelia meeting, her last test before departing for Edmonton. Aris Gavelas set a 100 m. personal best with 10" 32.

Yegorova tests positive for EPO -first athlete in Track & Field History
27.Russian runner Olga Yegorova tested positive for EPO after a blood test at the Paris Golden League Meeting. Yegorova is the World Indoor Champion of the 3000 m. and was one of the 2001 Golden League events winners as, in Paris, she won her second consecutive 3.000 m. race. Her winning time in Paris, 8' 23" 75. was a WL for 2001 and a Personal Best for the athlete. IAAF has not yet confirmed the test, as it was carried out by the French Federation and, therefore, there will be some time until it reaches the IAAF to accept it.

More absences from Edmonton
27.As the World Championships of Edmonton are approaching and more nations announce their teams, there seem to be a lot of important absences. Except for Michael Johnson, the 200 m. and 400 m. WR holder, the more significant names are: Catherine Merry of Great Britain (third at the 400 m. in Sydney), due to an achilles injury, Maksim Tarasov (3rd in Sydney at the Pole Vault), after his injury in Monaco, Lawrence Johnson (silver medallist in Sydney, aslo at the Pole Vault) and Helena Fuchsova (3rd in Sydney at the 800 m. race), both after recent injuries.

Juniors records by Grosseto's medalists
26.Two Greek juniors' records set by athletes who won medals in the lates European Juniors Champs, yesterday in the meeting Leonidia, held in Sparta. The European Champion Luis Tsatoumas broke the 13-year-old long jump record with a mark at 7, 93 m., while the triple jumper Athanassia Perra set a new triple jump record at 13, 52 m. Tereza Marinova won the competition with 14, 49 m.

The Greek team for Edmonton was announced
23.The Hellenic Federation announced today a 26-member team to represent Greece in the 8th World Champs in Edmonton. Although smaller than Sydney, it's a strong team, able to claim medals and achieve several participations in the finals. Three big names of Greek athletics won't be there, as they couldn't overcome the injuries they suffered: Paraskevi Tsiamita, Olga Vasdeki and Lambros Papakostas.

El Guerrouj, Backley and Greene shine in London
22. Steven Backley with a season's best at 90, 81 m. and Maurice Greene who ran a 9" 98. were the stars of the London Grand Prix. Brazilian Dos Santos defeated surprisingly Steffie Graf in the 800 m. race while Jonathan Edwards veryfied that he is the big favourite for the world title in Edmonton. Hicham El Guerrouj won the match with Noah Ngeni in a world leading mark. Dragila won the pole vault with 4, 72 m.

Two more medals for the juniors of Greece in Grossetto
22.Stavros Koupoupakis and Christoforos Meroussis won the bronze medals of the pole vault and the 3000 m. steeple respectively on the 4th day of the European Juniors Championships. Greece, with a total of 5 medals in these champs, was 12th at the medal table, among 25 countries which won at least one medal. The men's team was 11th in the teams standing, while the women got the 16th place. Also, in Patra James Beckford jumped 8,18 m. and Anastassia Kelesidou dominated the discus throw at 65,52 m., proving that she will be again among the main competitors for Edmonton's medals in two weeks' time.

Bucher runs 1' 42" 70. in Monaco.
20. In the faster 800 m. race for this season, held tonight in Monaco Golden Gala, Andre Bucher set one more world leading mark and national record in 1' 42" 70. to defeat Borzakovskyi who was second in 1' 43" 17. Also world leading marks were set by Maria Mutola (1' 57" 11.), Violetta Szekely (3' 59" 35.), Paul Bitok (7' 32" 11.), Wilson Boit Kipketer (8' 01" 73.) and Dmitri Markov who cleared 5, 95 m.

Luis Tsatoumas won the gold medal in Grosseto. Silver medal for Athanassia Perra
20. The long jumper Luis Tsatoumas won the gold in the 2nd day of the European Juniors Championships, with a wind assisted 7.98 meters. The third medal for the greek team came in the women's triple jump, by Athanassia Perra who placed second with 13, 73 m. The shot putters Michalis Stamatogiannis and Vassilios Semertzidis were 7th and 8th respectively. Meanwhile, the start lists for Tofalia 2001, to be held on Sunday have already announced. Althought Cubans cancelled their participation because of obligations they have in their country, there are many interesting participations, among them many of the stars participated in Herculis Monaco.

Athanassia Tzoumeleka gets silver in the European Juniors Champs
19.The European Juniors Championships started today in Grosseto, Italy. Greece is represented by 20 men and women, who are among the country's hopes for the next Olympic Games. On the first day, Athanassia Tzoumeleka got the silver medal of 10.000 m. walk in a national juniors record time 46' 29" 20.

Menendez returns to Greece
19.Osleidys Menendez confirmed the participation in the international meeting Tofalia 2001, to be held on Sunday 22 in Patra, Greece. Among the world stars who are to compete in the meeting are also Lyudmilla Galkina, Javier Sotomayor, Kevin Dillworth, James Beckford and Anja Kirkland. Niki Xanthou returns to the track after the injury as well as many Greek athletes will have the last chance to meet the standard for the world championships.

Feofanova cleared 4, 70 m.
15. Svetlana Feofanova improved the European pole vault record to 4, 70 m. during the national championships of Russia, yesterday night. Also, in the EAA permit meeting of Heusden, Belgium, Chryssostomia Iakovou smashed the 5000 m. record for Greece, running the distance in 15' 20" 46. and got the standard for Edmonton.

Iakovakis wins medal for Greece in Amsterdam
14.After the first two days of the European Under 23 Championships in Amsterdam, Greece had not won a medal yet. Costas Zalaggitis at the Triple Jump and Antonis Papantonis at the 10.000 m. and Irene Terzoglou at the Shot Put were the best Greek athletes, winning 4th place. However, today, Periklis Iakovakis (the European U23 Champion two years ago) won a silver medal with 49" 63. at the 400 m. Hurdles race, losing to Matt Elias of Great Britain who won in a PB of 49" 57. Zalaggitis jumped 16, 80 m. and lost the medal by just 1cm to Romania's Ionut Punga. Christian Olson of Sweden did not let down his fans and won easly with 17, 24 m. Spasovkodskiy of Russia was 2nd with 17, 08 m. Antonis Papantonis set a PB of 29' 18" 60. in the 10 km to win 4th place. Yuriy Borzakovskiy won the 400 m. race in 46" 06. At the Women's events, Irene Terzoglou of Greece was 4th at the Shot Put with 16, 87 m. and Georgia Kokloni 7th at the 100 m., while Olga Kaidantzi placed 5th at the 200 m.

Tim Montgomery runs 9" 84. in Oslo
13.Tim Montgomery ran 9" 84. yesterday in Oslo, to win the 100 m. race and equal Donovan Bailey's second fastest ever time in the event, after Maurice Greene's (and Ben Johnson's -for a lot of fans) 9" 79. The wind was +2.0 m./sec, just within the legal terms for the record to be accepted. At the Women's 800 m., back in Oslo, Stephanie Graf beated Maria Mutola and won her third consecutive GL race with 1' 58" 20. Ali Saidi-Sief remained unbeaten, after his 3' 48" 23. in the Mile and Inka Babakova jumped 2, 00 m. at the High Jump.

Feofanova again on the top of Europe
09.Svetlana Feofanova got the European Record of the pole vault tonight in Nice. The Russian athlete cleared 4, 62 m. and placed second after Dragila.

Kelesidou returns after the knee operation
08. The return of the silver Olympic medalist Anastassia Kelesidou,after the knee operation for meniscus, with a throw at 63, 50 m and some good marks set by Alexandros Papadimitriou, Svetlana Kyrilova and Georgi Gouset are the highlights of the first day of the Balkan Games, held yesterday in Trikala, Greece.  On the meanwhile, the junior triple jumper Dimitrios Tsiamis set the best mark of the first day of the Greek Juniors Championships, with 16, 40 m. Finally, in Madrid, Frank Fredericks came back to the track with 20" 64. and Sonia Bisset threw 66, 54 m. to defeat the new javelin world record holder Osleidys Menendez.

Jones clocked 10.84 in Paris
06.Marion Jones set a world leading time in Paris Golden League, where three runners were under 11". Jones won in 10"84. followed by Pintusevich and Sturrup. More world leading marks set by Hicham El Guerrouj with 3' 28" 38., Wilson Boit Kipketer with 8' 08" 13., Olga Yegorova with 8' 23" 75. and Allen Johnson with 13" 15. Andre Bucher set the last world leading performance of the night, running the 800 m. in 1' 43" 34., a bit faster than also impressing Yuriy Borzakovkiy who was second with 1' 43" 76., a national record for Russia. Costas Gatsioudis doubled his Golden League wins with a throw at 86, 81 m.

Lausanne Grand Prix shines in glamour
04. Once again, the Lausanne Athletissima Grand Prix was full of brilliant performances by some of the world's most exciting athletes. Before that, two days ago, in Zagreb, the 400 m. Hurdles for both the Women and the Men were the most fascinating races with Biduane and Tamesue wining each. Back to Lausanne, we saw the superb Algerian Saidi Sief beating once more Noah Ngeny (who was finaly 3rd), setting a world list record of 3' 29" 51. at the 1500 m. Maurice Greene and Ramon Clay also set season leading marks at their events (9" 90. and 20" 06.), while Paul Bitok did the same for the 3000 m. But it was the home favorite's race that excited the Swiss crowd the most. Andre Bucher was once again dominating and ran the 800 m. in 1' 43" 58. which is also a world leading time for 2001. A WL mark was also set by Angelo Taylor with 47" 95. at the 400 m. Hurdles. Other exciting performances were achieved by Babakova (2, 03 m.), Bidouane (54" 02.), Mistiukevich (1' 58" 80.) and Hartwig (5, 90 m.)

Menendez' 71, 54 m. lead a record breaking day: Pyrek and Olson set new records, too
01. Cuban Osleidys Menendez threw 71, 54 m. and broke Hattestad's javelin world record today at the Vardinoyannia Meeting, held in Rethymno. Menendez broke the record at her second attempt, just when all the attendants were seeking for another WR at Dragila's second attempt at 4, 82 m. in the pole vault. There is no doubt that the 17th edition of Vardinoyannia will remain in history, not only because of Menedez, but also because of many more top marks. Stacey Dragila won the pole vault with 4, 72 m.and attempted three times at 4, 82 m., but she lost it, exactly as Feofanova did at 4, 62 which would be a European one. While the Russian was trying to break her own European record of 4, 60 m., Monica Pyrek of Poland was clearing 4, 61 m. in the Polish Champs and sneaked the record. However, those were not the only records we celebrate tonight. Back in Rethymno, a young man from Sweden, Christian Olson, jumped 17, 49 m. meters in his first attempt and broke the European U23 Triple Jump record. At the other events in Rethymno, Tatyana Lebedeva won the women's Triple with 14, 62 m.. Kim Collins was the faster athlete of the 100 m. as he crossed the line in 10" 14., leaving behind Bruni Surin and Deji Aliu, Zhana Pintusevich won the women's race in 11" 02., Michelle Freeman was first in 200 m. in 22" 70., in a race with 3 athletes under 23". Nikoletta Grasu dominated the discus throw with 66, 02 meters, Pedroso jumped 8, 18 m. and Sotomayor had no difficulties to win with 2, 30 m. Finally, a Greek athlete, Periklis Iakovakis, won the 400 m. hurdles race in 49" 09. beating Eric Thomas and Calvin Davis.

June 2001

Stacy Dragila in Rethymno
30. The pole vault world record holder Stacy Dragila will compete tomorrow in the 17th edition of Vardinoyannia to be held in Rethymno. The European Record holder Svetlana Feofanova is also in the start list of the meeting. On the meanwhile, the European Combined Events Cup started tomorrow. The Super League is held in Arles, France with the participation of the Greek team, while the women's of Greece compete in the first division in Ried, Austria

Golden League series open in Rome
29. The Golden League series opened in Rome tonight with five world leading marks set by Stephanie Graf (1'58"44), Violeta Zhekely (4'00"92), Andre Bucher (1'44"01), Hailu Mekkonen(12'58"57) as well as by El Guerrouj in mile (3'44"95). Costas Gatsioudis won without difficulties the javelin throw at 87,49 m. Marion Jones dominated the 100 m. in 10" 96. the second world time for the season, while Stacy Dragila cleared 4, 72 m. and then failed three times to improve the pole vault world record.

A new era for Polish athletics begins in Bremen. Russia, the "usual suspect", dominated the women's league
24.Since the late 50's and for about 20 years, the Polish athletes were considered among the best in European athletics. After a long period of absence from the titles of the sports pages (with the usual exceptions of Partyka and Korzeniowski), the Polish are back. On Friday they were considered the team to fight against Greece and Spain to avoid relegation. Tonight the Polish team is the absolute dominant of the European Cup. It won easily and clearly in a weekend that posed a lot of questions on the European athlete's form as the World Championships come closer and closer. Russia' s team -the usual suspects- won the women's title. Greece and Spain in men, Czech and Belarus in women were relegated to the first division. The second day of the games was marked by the win of Zarodosnaya over Radcliffe, the performance of Natalya Safronnikova who won the 200 m. in 22" 68 and the win of Drechsler in the last attempt. Kenteris and Gatsioudis won their events for Greece, while Christos Meletoglou set a national record at the triple jump with 17,19 m. to get the second place behind Edwards. In Vaasa,  the Greek team failed to win and promote to the Super League (placed 3rd), as a result of many injuries that kept many of the champions out of the games. Aki Parviainnen was the brilliant star of the group, winning the javelin in a world leading mark at 92, 41 m. The Greek team -the big surprise of the '99 World Champs- heads to Edmonton in a absence of hopes by new athletes. Kenteris, Gatsioudis, Thanou and Tzelili are still there to fight for Greece, but it seems there is no young blood following them to keep the Greek miracle alive after the 2004 Olympics. Let's hope that something will change soon and that the bizare situation of Greek athletics will not become a turmoil.

Feofanova broke again the European Record in Bremen
23.Svetlana Feofanova improved her own European Pole Vault Record to 4, 60 m. in the 1st day of Super League of the European Cup held in Bremen. French Marc Raquil won the 400 m. in 44" 95. a national record for France and the best season's time for Europe. Costas Kenteris set a personal best in the 100 m. race with 10" 15. and placed second following British Lewis Francis who crossed the line in 10" 13. Unfortunately, with the exception of Kenteris the performance of the other Greeks was enough poor. Greece is at the last position of the nations standings, while Poland is the surprising leading team so far and Germany is just seventh. The women's team of Greece is competing in Vaasa and, although second, almost has lost any chance to promote to the Super League. Thanou, Tzelili and the 4X400 relay team won their events, but the most of the rest athletes are really dissapointing.

Season's best by Greene in the USA Championships
23. Maurice Greene ran 9.90, the fastest time in the world this year, in the semifinals of the USA outdoor championhips, but he didn't run in the final. Greene is withdrawing from the meet after following to the letter the U.S. Federation’s rules which require him to compete in the championships in order to be able to exercise the wild-card he earned by winning the 100 and 200 metres in the 1999 World Championships in Sevilla. The Championships serve as the selection event for Team USA at the 2001 IAAF World Outdoor Championships, August 3-12 in Edmonton, Canada. The top three finishers in each event who have met IAAF qualifying standards will make the U.S. squad for Edmonton.

Greek U23 Championships 2001
23.Costas Zalagitis set the best mark of the first day of the Greek U23 Championships, as he won the triple jump with 17, 02 m. the best jump for Greece in this season. Good ran for Stylianos Kopanou who set a 400 m. personal best (47"08.) and the shot putters Panayotis Baharidis and Christos Sarakoglou.

Difficult missions for Greek teams in the European Cup
22.Both men's and women's teams have undertaken difficult missions in the European Cup, held on the weekend. The women's team, without Kelessidou, Tsiamita, Vasdeki and Xanthou who still suffer injuries, will compete in Vaasa of Finland, trying to promote to the Super League. On the other side, in Bremen, the men's team which consists of a mixture of experienced and young athletes will attempt to avoid relegation from the Super League, competing with many of the top european athletes.

Controversy over Ottey continues
20. The controversy over last year's participation of Merlene Ottey in the Sydney Olympics, despite being 4th in the National Championships of Jamaica goes on. Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association president Patrick Anderson said only the two top finishers at the national championships would now qualify automatically to represent Jamaica. The third athlete will be selected on the discretion of the athletics governing body, whereas previously the top three would have been automatic qualifiers. Anyway, Merlene Ottey has announced that she will not compete in Edmonton.

More results added
20.The Greek Championships may have dominated our site's news coverage during the past weekend, many more meetings -however- were held and some interesting performances were achieved. Osleidys Menendez threw 65, 09 m. in Lille, Tina Paulino ran 1' 59" 70. in Prague, Carlos Calado jumped 8, 18 m. in Lisbon, while the European Relays festival was held in Poland, with some other events being held, except for the relays. For results of the minor meetings, check our Various 2001 Outdoor meetings page.

Gatsioudis wins in Estonia
19. Costas Gatsioudis threw 89.24 meters to win the javelin in the EAA permit meeting of Tartu, Estonia. Rags was second with 86.10 and Macarov third with 82.33 meters. Meanwhile, many Greek athletes, especially women, show rapid improvement in the IAAF world rankings released today.

Tsiliggiri broke the pole vault record for Greece
17. Georgia Tsiliggiri improved twice the national pole vault record at 4, 27 m. and later at 4, 36 m. on the 2nd day of Greek Championships. Excellent run for Olga Kaidatzi who set the second 200 m. all time performance for Greece with 23" 36. and Periklis Iakovakis who improved his season best to 49" 76.

Mirela Tzelili throws 66,70 m. in Athens.
16. The javelin throwers were the stars of the first day of the Greek Championships. Sydney's silver medalist Mirela Tzelili threw 66.70 meters to set the second world mark for the season, while Costas Gatsioudis dominated the men's competition with 88.61 m. Costas Kenteris participated in the 100 m. to win the final in 10" 21., his second all time performance for this distance. Kenteris won't participate in the 200 m., but he will represent Greece at the European Cup, on the next weekend, in both events. Charalambos Papadias, the former world indoor 60 m. champion, was second with 10" 31. and seems to have overcome the injury problems he has faced with, for about three years. Katerina Thanou ran without any significant competition to win in 11" 09., while Kalliopi Ouzouni, who was 7th in Sydney, came back to win the shot put with 17,38 meters. Finally, significant performances were those achieved by the triple jumper Christos Meletoglou who set a season's best for Greece at 16.71 m. as well as the shot putter Vaios Tigkas who won with 18,74 m.

Richardson reinstated by IAAF, Ottey banned by her teammates
14. According to a Press Release by the IAAF, Mark Richardson is reinstated on June 15th under "Exceptional Circumstances" rule. Richardson had tested positive for Nandrolone on October 1999. On the meanwhile, Merlene Ottey's manager announced that she will not compete in Edmonton as her teammates protest because se was picked for the 4 X 100 m. Olympic team in Sydney, instead of the national champion, Peta-Gaye Dowdie. Ottey, therefore, decided not to compete and will miss her second consecutive world champs, after the Seville ones, when she had just tested positive in a drug test.

Zelezny beats Gatsioudis
14. It was the turn of the Olympic Champion, Jan Zelezny to win the Javelin, after Gatsioudis being victorious in Athens. However, in Athens Zelezny was absent, while in Helsinki he threw 86, 84 m., despite the rain. Gatsioudis was second with 84, 14 m. and home favorite Parviainen third with 81, 66 m. The bad weather did not let the athletes to perform their best. The most important results were Olsson's win (with 17, 08 m.) over Olympic Champion Edwards at the Triple Jump, Arsi Harju's just 5th place at the Shot Put in front of his home crowd and Kuzenkova's win over Skolimowska in an Olympic-like Hammer throw second round.

A glorious night for athletics in Athens
11. The Athens Grand Prix exceeded even the most optimist expectations as the spectators had the chance to watch one European Record and a lot of World Leading marks. Svetlana Feofanova of Russia is the new European Pole Vault record holder with 4, 57 m. Maurice Greene (9" 91.), Said Sief (3'30"78), Anier Garcia (13"30.), Katharine Merry (49"58.), Zhanna Pintusevich (10"93.), Tatyana Lebedeva (14,91 m.), Nicoleta Grasu (68, 31 m.). set world leading marks for this season. But of course, the peak of the enthousiasm came with the end of the 200 m. race, where the Olympic Champion Costas Kenteris won in a world leading time 20" 10., beating Obikwelu, Heard and Da Silva. The most impressive races were the 1500 m. with Said Sief beating Ngeny on the sprint, the 5000 m. with 6 athletes fighting for the win until the end (Kipketer got it in a WL time of 1' 59" 34.) and Women's 800 m. with 9 athletes clocking into two seconds!

4.81 - Dragila smashed the Record
10. Stacy Dragila improved twice the world record to 4.71 and later to 4.81, 11 cm. higher than her own old, in the IAAF Grand Prix of Palo Alto. Marion Jones started the 200 m. races with 22" 70.

Long Jumps in Torino
9.Tatyana Kotova with 7, 12 m. and James Beckford at 8, 43 m. set world leading marks in Primo Nebiolo Memorial, held in Torino. The women's pole vault was the main attraction of the 2nd meeting of the Hellenic Grand Prix, as four athletes exceeded 4 meters with Thalia Iakovidou to take the win at 4, 10 m.

Zelezny at 91,23 m. Langat sets a  world leading time in Sevilla.
8.Excellent marks set tonight in Sevilla Grand Prix II, where Kenyan Langat won the 5.000 m. in 13' 13" 20. the best world time for this season. Chambers ran the 100 m. in the best european time 10" 01. while American Kelly White made the third world time for the season (11" 09.). Tereza Marinova jumped 14, 73 m. and Robert Fazekas threw 68,08 m. to beat Virjilius Alekna. Meanwhile Jan Zelezny threw 91, 23 m. in Poznan, where Zhanna Pintusevich ran the 100 m. in 11" 07.

Edwards flied to 17,56 m.
6.Jonathan Edwards jumped 17,56 m. in Milano, setting the best world mark for the season. Gaines ran the 100 m. in 11" 13, where Arron was 4th in 11" 41. and Maureen Maggi jumped 6, 84 m. Good run for the winner of 800 m. Andrea Longo who defeats Ngeni and Guerni.

"Venizeleia 2001"
4.The 53rd edition of the international meeting "Venizeleia" held today in Chania, Greece. Phillips Idowu of Great Britain jumped 17, 33 m. to set a world leading mark and won the triple jump competition. Alexander Glavatsky, who started the season in Chania., was second with 17, 00 m. Russian Marina Kislova won the fast 100 m. race in 11" 09., the second season's world time, while the men's long jump was a high level event, as three athletes exceeded 8 meters. Kevin Dilworth was the best at 8, 20 m. In the other events Nigerian Deji Aliu won the 100 m. in 10" 27., Yulia Kosenkova defeted Bulgarian Daniela Yordanova who set a world leading time two days ago in Kalamata, Jamaican Ian Weakley won the 400 m. in 49" 39., Marc Crear had no difficulties to dominate the 110 m. hurdles in 13" 48. Great throw by Nicoleta Grasu who won with 66, 70 m. Among the Greeks, Periklis Iakovakis made the most remarkable performance as he was 3rd in 400 m. hurdles in 49" 80. defeating big names of the event.

Three world leading marks in "Papaflessia 2001"
2. The EAA Permit Meeting "Papaflessia" started in Kalamata with a world leading mark set by Tatyana Kotova, who jumped 6, 95 m. in the first event of the meeting. Few minutes later, Bulgarian Venelina Veneva flied to 2, 04 m. to set a personal best and the second world leading performance of the meeting. The third came by another Bulgarian, Daniela Yordanova, who ran the 1.500 m. in 4' 01" 68. Duane Chambers won the 100 m. in a wind assisted 10" 14., Svetlana Dimitrova the high hurldes in 12" 90. and Christina Georgieva the javelin throw with 57, 58 m. Costas Gatsioudis dominated the javelin throw with 86, 45 m. and Vitaliy Schurenko jumped 8, 00 m. to win the long jump. Andrey Sokolovsky cleared 2, 32 m., the same height with the second of the competition Jaroslav Rybakov, while third was Sergey Dymchenko with 2, 30 m. Tommi Hartinnen of Finland won the 200 m. in 20" 80. while a greek junior athlete, Sotiris Papadeas, broke the 25-year old 800 m. record for Greece. Finally, Tereza Marinova won easily the triple jump, where Devetzi became the fourth all time greek over 14, 00 m.

May 2001

Filothei Women Gala
30. Venelina Veneva cleared 2,00 m. in the 2nd Filothei Women Gala to set the second world performance for the season and leave the world leader Inka Babakova at second place. The triple jump Olympic Champion Tereza Marinova won with 14, 51 m. although she had to face with the strong wind and another Bulgarian, Tania Koleva, broke the Balkan pole vault record at 4, 43 m. Among the stars of the meeting were Tatyana Kotova who jumped 6,82 m. to bit Errica Johansson and the young Greek pole vaulter Dimitra Emmanuel who broke again the juniors and U18 record for Greece with 4, 08 m., the second world U18 mark for 2001.

Two National Records in Madrid and Thessaloniki
27.Georgia Tsiliggiri broke the pole vault women's record (4, 25 m.) on the second day of the European Champions Clubs Cup. The Russian Champion Club got both men and women titles, while the Greek Champion Club Panhellinios was 4th in women's and 7th in men's standings. Meanwhile, Evdokia Tsamoglou broke the hammer women's record with 65,28 m. in the Greek Spring Championship and made the standard for Edmonton.

9.026 p. Serble makes history in Gotzis
27.Roman Serble of Czech Republic smashed the Decathlon world record in Gotzis and became the first man over the limit of 9.000 p. Erki Nool placed second with 8,604 p. to bit the former record holder Tomas Dvorak who was third. Eunice Barber won the heptathlon competition.

Patrick Jarett defeats Greene, Montomery in Eugene.
27. Jarett was the suprise of the early events of the Prefontaine Classic as he ran a wind assisted 9" 89. to bit Montomery and Greene; both clocked 9" 92. Marion Jones ran a wind aided 22" 26., Bernard Williams set the best 200 m. time for this season (20" 18.) and Stacy Dragila won the pole vault with 4, 61 m.

Papadimitriou throws 79,24 m. National Juniors record by the 4X100 women team.
26. Alexandros Papadimitriou was the best of the first day of the Greek Spring Championships, throwing 79, 24 m. in hammer throw. In the Four-Nation Juniors Meeting, the young Greek shot putter Michalis Stamatogiannis throw 17, 42 m. and seems ready for a medal at the European Junionrs Championships. The 4X100 juniors women team equalled the national record in 46" 49.

Tremendous throw by Costas Gatsioudis at 91, 27 m.
26.Costas Gatsioudis improved his own world leading mark to 91, 27 m. the second all time throw for the athlete, on the first day of the European Champions Clubs Cup, in Madrid. In Gotzis, Austria. Meanwhile the Hypomeeting is in progress and Roman Serble and Natalya Sasanovich dominate the decathlon and heptathlon standings after the events of the first day. Also today the Greek Spring Championships and the Greek combined events championships start in Thessaloniki.Tomorrow, the Grand Prix series go on in Eugene, where Greene, Jones, Dragila, Mutola, Devers, Alekna attract the eyes of the athletics fans.

Maurice Greene and Ato Bolton back to Athens. Eight Sydney's golds to compete in the Athens Grand Prix.
22.Maurice Greene and Ato Bolton will compete once more in Athens, in the IAAF Grand Prix Tsiklitiria 2001, to be held on June 11. Two years after the historical race of two athletes in the Olympic Stadium of Athens, which led Green to the world record, they will run again with Bernard Williams, Deji Aliu and other top athletes. In Athens Grand Prix it is confirmed the participation of 8 Sydney's gold medalists, 12 more Olympic medalists, 4 world record holders and 10 World Indoor Champions in Lisboa. Meanwhile, the entry lists for the Filothei Women Gala has been announced and the triple jump competition will be of the highest level. The Olympic Champion Tereza Marinova, Sevilla's World Champion Voula Tsiamita and Sydney's bronze medalist Olena Govorova are among the participants. Inka Babakova and Venelina Veneva are among the high jumpers participating in the meet.

Gatsioudis again on the top. Niki Xanthou jumped 6, 80 m.
20.Costas Gatsioudis threw 88, 50 m.  a world leading mark for 2001, on the second day of Hellenic Armed Forces Championships. Niki Xanthou seems in a good form again as she jumped  6, 80 m. the third world mark for this season. Dimitris Kokotis cleared 2, 26 m. to win the high jump.
Related sites: [Results of the Greek meetings in this weekend][2001 men's lists][2001 women's lists]

Brazil won the South American Championships. World leading marks in Barbados.
20.Brazil won bot men's and women's classifications of the South American Championships, in Manaus. Santerlei Parella clocked 45" 11, while Higa Maggi won the 100 m. hurdles in 12" 71 and the long jump with 6, 69 m. World leading times ran at the Barbados Invitational Track And Field Classic. Latasha Jenkins of the USA already world leader in the 100m has equaled that status in Barbados, where she  ran 22" 46 while Ramon Clay set a 20" 25. in men's event. Also running this years 2nd best so far, was Jamaica’s Brigitte Foster in the 100m hurdles with a time of 12.87 seconds.

European Walking Cup. The first ever walking medal for Greece
19. The Russian team dominated the European Walking Cup, held in Dudince, Slovak Republic. With the exception of Angel Garcia of Spain, who won the 50 Km.(3:44'26"), the winners of the other classes were Russians. Viktor Burayev  won the 20.000 m. (1:19'30"), Tatyana Kozlova (46'08) and Olympiada Ivanova (1:26'48) were the winners of junior's women and women events. Finally, Vitaly Demkov won the  juniors men 10 km. in 41" 16. The Greek women's junior team was the pleasant surprise of the Cup, since the girls took the 3rd position in the overall standing. Athanassia Tzoumeleka got the 4th place breaking the 10.000 m. national record for Greece in 46'43", while Maria Chatzipanayotidou placed 8th. Finally, Theodoros Koupidis, the best among the juniors men of Greece, walked the 10 Km. in a national juniors record 43'15"

Iakovakis clocked 50" 12. in Amaliada
19.Meanwhile, Periklis Iakovakis improved his season's best today in Korivia 2001, held in Amaliada, Greece, while season's bests for Greece also set by Thalia Iakovidou (4,10 m.) and Dimitrios Pietris who broke his 110 m. hurdles personal best with 13"83. Good race for 19-year-old Sotiris Paradeas who won the 800 m. with 1'50"23. Ukrainians Constantin Rurak and Sergey Dymchenko were the better among the foreigners competed in Amaliada. Meanwhile, Costas Koukodimos was the best of the first day of Greek Armed Forces Champs, jumping 7, 64 m.

Promising come-back for Voula Tsiamita.
18. The world triple jump champion Voula Tsiamita jumped 14, 06 m. to get the 3rd position in IAAF Grand Prix of Doha. Tsiamita returns to the field 21 months after her serious injury, followed her gold medal in Sevilla. Tereza Marinova won the competition with 14, 36 m. Noah Ngeny dominated the 1.500 m. in 3' 35" 17. and Sammy Kipketer the 3.000 m. in 7' 41" 44. and Bernard Barmasai the steeplechase in 8' 08" 59. Hussein Taher jumped 8, 31 m. and Julliet Campbell won the 200 m. in 22" 87. Good marks fro Storbeck (1, 96m.), Kumbernuss (19, 51 m.) and Kuzenkova (71, 57 m.)

Filindras jumped 7, 87 m. in Thessaloniki
17. Dimitris Filindras set the best mark of the University Students Championships, held in Thessaloniki, as he jumped a 7, 87 m., a season's best for the athlete. Eustathios Chatzistathis set the second shot put mark for Greece, for 2001, improving his personal best to 18,54 m. Meanwhile, many top Greek athletes are ready to participate in the meeting "Koroivia 2001", to be held on Saturday. Besides the Greeks, some foreigners have confirmed their participation; Sergey Dymtchenko, Aksel Gurcan, Constantin Rurak, Aleksander Petrov, Desislava Petrova and few more.

Top jumpers come to Greece for the early international meetings.
May 16. The international meetings in Greece start at the end of the month and these season seems to be the most upgraded, concerning the participation of top world athletes. Alhtought it is too early for the entry lists of the meetings, enough Olympic and World Medalists have already confirmed their participation. The 2nd Filothei Women Gala, is to be held on May 30th with the participation of Tatyana Kotova, Errica Johanson and Elena Sekhotshova, along with the Greeks Niki Xanthou, Stella Pilatou and Christina Athanassiou. Roman Schurenko, third in Sydney, confirmed his participation to Bizania (June 9th) and Venizelia (June 4th), Besides him, Govorova, Styopina, Dymtchenko, Pukha and Bulgarian Tanya Koleva are among the participants for Bizania Meeting. Furthermore, Vitaliy Schurlatov, James Beckford and Kevin Dilworth will also compete in Venizeleia, as well as the top Greek jumpers Koukodimos, Nousios and Serelis. Before these two meeting, the Hellenic Armed Forces Championships (May 19-20) and the Spring Championships (May 26-27) is a perfect chance for the warming up of the Greek athletes.

National Juniors record in Hellenic Students Games
14. Dimitra Emmanuel was the star of the Student Games, held in Katerini, Greece on last weekend. Emmanuel cleared 4, 07 m. to improve both juniors' and U18 pole vault records. Chrysi Moesidou also improved her own U18 shot put record to 14, 90 m.

Mike Powell returns victorious
13. The come-back of Mike Powell marked the 60th Modesto Relays. The long jump world record holder won the event with a jump at 8, 06 m. Tim Montgomery ran a wind assisted 9" 96. and Adam Nelson dominated the shot put competition with 20, 73 m. Meanwhile, Marion Jones won on Saturday, in her first race of the season, the 100 m. race in Princeton with 11" 12.

Greene clocked 9" 96. in Japan
12.Maurice Greene impressed in Osaka, Japan where he ran the Grand Prix 100 m. in 9" 96., making a perfect start of the outdoor season. The pole vault world record holder Stacy Dragila had a bad day as she was only fourth with 4, 20 m., while Grigorieva won the event at 4, 40 m. In the hammer throw Koji Murofushi set a meet record of 82.59 meters to take the first place.

New American 10.000 m. record in Stanford
5. Mebrahtom Keflezighi, member of the 2000 United States Olympic team, shattered the American record of 27:20.56 set by Mark Nenow in 1986 in Brussels. Keflezighi ran the distance in a time of 27:13.98 to finish fourth in a field of 17 runners on Friday night in Stanford. Two other national records were broken in the same race. Toshinari Takaoka of Japan, set a new national record for his country, in finishing sixth in a time of 27:35.09. and Jeff Schielber set a new Canadian record with a time of 27:36.01.

Acting President Lamine Diack goes for the presidency of the IAAF
2.  The acting President of the IAAF, Lamine Diack is among the candidates for the Presidency, according to the latest press release of the International Federation. The elections for the IAAF Presidency will be held during the 43rd Congress, in Edmonton, Canada on 1 August 2001, on the eve of the 8th IAAF World Championships in Athletics and the candidates are Lamine Diack (SEN), Eisa Abdullah Al Dashti (KUW) and Suresh Kalmadi (IND). Earlier, IAAF vice-president, Amadeo I. D. Francis (PUR), had withdrawn as candidate to the Presidency of the International Federation.

April 2001

Tsiolakoudi at 62, 90 m.
28.Angeliki Tsiolakoudi improved once more her personal best at thw Women's Javelin, throwing the javelin at 62, 90 m., tonight in the Greek Throwing Festival, held in Tripolis. Alexandros Papadimitriou, the Greek Men's Hammer Record holder, was also impressing, as he set a season's best at 79, 52 m.

4, 70 m. for Stacy Dragila
28. Dragila jumped 4, 70 m. to better her own world outdoor record by 7 cm in Pocatello, Idaho.

The Hellenic Grand Prix 2001
27. The Greek Athletics Federation, in collaboration with the regional athletics authorities, aiming to the upgrading of Athletics in the Greek regions, the development of new talented athletes and the provision of more chances to participate in meetings, adopted the institution of the "Hellenic Grand Prix", which is scheduled to start in the current year. The six meetings of the Grand Prix are:
June 6, Alexandria Meeting in Edessa.
June 9, Bizania Meeting in Kallithea.
July 14, Knossia Meeting in Herakleion.
July 25, Leonidia Meeting, in Sparta.
July 29, Vikelia Meeting in Kifissia.
Aug 18, Meeting Costas Kenteris - Hellenic Grand Prix Final, in Mytilini.
The athletes participating in the Hellenic Grand Prix 2001 will compete in the following events:
Men. 100 m., 400 m., 1.500 m., 5.000 m. 110 m.h., long jump, high jump, shot put, javelin throw.
Women. 100 m., 400 m., 3.000 m., 100 m.h., triple jump, pole vault, shot put, javelin throw.
Meanwhile, there is no change to the schedule of the international meetings to be held in Greece in 2001:
May 30, Filothei Women Gala (Filothei)
June 2, Papaflessia Meeting, EAA Permit (Kalamata)
June 4, Venizelia Meeting, EAA Permit (Chania)
June 11, Athens Grand Prix, IAAF Grand Prix I (Athens)
July 1, Vardinogiannia Meeting, EAA Permit (Rethymno)
July 22, Tofalia Meeting (Patra)
August 22, Olympic Meeting (IAAF Permit) Thessaloniki.

Derartu Tulu and Abdelkader El Mouaziz win in London. Kiprono runs a 2' 06" 50. in Rotterdam.
22.Morocco's Abdelkader El Mouaziz sprinted to victory in the men's London Marathon.Second last year, the Moroccan went one better to record a time 2: 07' 09. Kenyan Paul Tergat came second while three-time winner and defending champion Antonio Pinto of Portugal, came third. Ethiopia's Olympic 10,000m champion Derartu Tulu won the women's race. The Ethiopian clocked a time of 2: 23' 56" seconds, with Russian Svetlana Zakharova finishing a surprise second and two-time London winner Joyce Chepchumba coming third. Josephat Kiprono won the Rotterdam Marathon today, equalling the 1988 course record Ethiopian Belayneh Densamo of 2: 06' 50" In second place, Cheruiyot broke his personal record by more than a minute (2: 07' 18"), with another Kenyan, Julius Korir third in 2: 08' 15". Vasilios Zambelis set the 3rd all time mark for Greece, as he placed 15th in 2: 13' 55", while Theodoros Zachos finished in 2: 15' 50". Susan Chepkemei won the women's race in 2: 26' 39". The Greek runner Spyridoula Souma set a personal best in 2: 38' 48

New hammer throw record by Alexandra Papageorgiou
22.The second day of the 1st phase of the Greek Clubs Championships started with a national record for Greece, by Alexandra Papageorgiou, who sent the hammer to 63, 99 m. Costas Gatsioudis set a world leading mark at 87, 62 m. and Alexandros Papadimitriou improved his season's best to 76, 76 m. Christina Kokotou broke the 10.000 m. track walk record with 46' 11" 19.
Related sites [GRE national records][GRE records in 2001][2001 GRE lists: men, women]

Derartu Tulu and Abdelkader El Mouaziz win in London. Kiprono runs a 2' 06" 50. in Rotterdam.
22. Morocco's Abdelkader El Mouaziz sprinted to victory in the men's London Marathon.Second last year, the Moroccan went one better to record a time 2: 07' 09. Kenyan Paul Tergat came second while three-time winner and defending champion Antonio Pinto of Portugal, came third. Ethiopia's Olympic 10,000m champion Derartu Tulu won the women's race. The Ethiopian clocked a time of 2: 23' 56" seconds, with Russian Svetlana Zakharova finishing a surprise second and two-time London winner Joyce Chepchumba coming third. Josephat Kiprono won the Rotterdam Marathon today, equalling the 1988 course record Ethiopian Belayneh Densamo of 2: 06' 50" In second place, Cheruiyot broke his personal record by more than a minute (2: 07' 18"), with another Kenyan, Julius Korir third in 2: 08' 15". Vasilios Zambelis set the 3rd all time mark for Greece, as he placed 15th in 2: 13' 55", while Theodoros Zachos finished in 2: 15' 50". Susan Chepkemei won the women's race in 2: 26' 39". The Greek runner Spyridoula Souma set a personal best in 2: 38' 48

The Greek Clubs Championships 2001
21.The 1st phase of the Greek Clubs Championships has arleady started and the Greek Olympic medalists opened the season, although without forcing. Katerina Thanou and Costas Kenteris, faced with the strong wind and almost walked in the last meters to cross the line in 11"48. and 10" 39.