Foroyaa: Let us start by introducing yourself to our readers?

Colley: Well, my name is Mr. Sulayman Colley and the President of the Gambia National Para Olympic Committee.

Foroyaa: What does the committee which you are president of, do?

Colley: Well, Gambia National Para Olympic Committee is responsible for organizing sports competitions among the various categories of persons with disabilities.

‘Sports for persons with disability’ was introduced by the Swedes in this country back in 1980.

Initially, we started as a body responsible for organizing sports for only persons with physical disability. However, in 2007 after returning from a trip to Cairo, we were told to be inclusive to incorporate other categories of disabilities. It was argued that such an umbrella body would bear the flag of the country in Para Olympics which is held after the main Olympic.

Foroyaa: What are some of the goals and objectives of your committee?

Colley: Well, some of the goals include getting as many persons with disability off the streets as possible. By involving them in sport, we hope begging would be a thing of the past. Another goal is to improve the health condition of persons with disability. Sport is an instrument for better health, as exercise enhances physical fitness.

Psychologically, engaging persons with disability in sport helps them to grow in confidence. This in turn gives them a peace of mind which is so crucial and key to their meaningful contribution to society.

Above all, there some athletes with disability who have what it takes to become professionals. As such, opportunities should be given to such athletes with a view to realizing their full potentials.

Foroyaa: Has the Gambia ever been represented in the Para Olympic Sports?

Colley: As far as I know this country has never been represented in Para Olympic Games. This failure could be attributed to various reasons beyond our control. Lack of funding and equipments have been the major obstacles we have been facing. It is worth pointing out that in order to take part in the Para Olympic, one has to fulfill or meet the requirements. International Para Olympic Committee organizes competitions across the different venues in the world and those competitions serve as a stepping stone for athletes to make it to Para Olympic. Last year, we were given the opportunity to qualify for the Para Olympic by taking part in All Africa Games. However, this opportunity slipped through our fingers, because we could not get the funds to do so.

Our athletes had prepared for the All Africa Games only to be informed at the eleventh hour that there was no funding. That news came as a bolt from the blue, but there was nothing we could do except to accept the reality.

Foroyaa: Which sports do you engage your athletes in?

Colley: The sporting disciplines include wheel chair, tennis, basketball, sitting volleyball and athletics. All the aforesaid disciplines require equipments and materials which cannot be obtained in the absence of money.

Foroyaa: Have you got the supporting infrastructure for athletes with disability which can enable them realize their full potentials?

Colley: Well, as things stand, we are managing with what we have. This is even though what we have is not conducive enough.

Last year, we organized a sport competition which attracted participants from the countryside and Greater Banjul Area. That tournament turned out to be a success.

As part of July 22nd celebrations, we also organized a wheel chair basket ball’ tournament which attracted participants from both Gambia and Senegal. The KMC won that tournament. The ultimate triumph of KMC in that tournament is a clear testimony that our athletes can do it when they are given the opportunity. It is also a testimony to our credential in the international arena.

Foroyaa: What is your committee doing for athletes with disability who reside in the provinces?

Colley: We organized training for some coaches from the provinces who would in turn train athletes with disability in their various regions. This training for coaches was done with the objective of ultimately organizing an annual club championship.

We are hopeful that this club championship would get underway next year. Teams from different regions would be paired against one another in a knock out tournament.

Foroyaa: So far you talked about sports for persons with physical disability. What package do you have for those with visual impairment?

Colley: Well, the visually impaired have a galobal. It is just like a football and it has some materials inside it which makes a house thereby enabling persons with visual impairment to know the location of the ball through following the noise.

Foroyaa: Since the inception of Gambia National Para Olympic Committee, what would you say has been some of its achievements?

Colley: We gained international recognition as registered national institution as well as participate in such regional activities. Our ability to organize tournaments locally is also an achievement in itself.

Foroyaa: Apart from the problem of finance and equipment, which other obstacle do you face currently?

Colley: Our office at the stadium is being taken away from us. Basically, we do not have an office now. We are presently contemplating to look for an office in Serekunda West grounds with a view to be more efficient and effective.

Foroyaa: Apparently, there is hunger among your athletes to participate in the next Para Olympic Games. What is your committee doing to make sure that some of those athletes fulfill their childhood dream of participating in the Para Olympics?

Colley: We are doing our best to first ensure that our athletes qualify for the Para Olympic Games.

After ensuring qualification, we would also do whatever it takes to write to different donors with a view to get finding to take our athletes to the venue to the host city of Para Olympic Games.

Foroyaa: How many coaches did you train in order to look at athletes with disability?

Colley: we trained three coaches from each region.

Foroyaa: Do you know what the coaches you trained are up to?

Colley: As things stand, they are up to scouting new players.

Foroyaa: Who are the coaches you trained, are they persons with disability?

Colley: They are not persons with disability. They are in fact sports coordinators from their various regions.

Foroyaa: What do you think the future hold for athletes with disability?

Colley: As an optimist I would say the future looks bright. However it is worth saying that we still have a lot to do.
Sourced via allafrica.com

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Usain Bolt is on track for another golden night in Berlin – despite his heroics of 36 hours earlier appearing to have taken a toll.

After smashing the 100m world record on Sunday, he sleepwalked his way through the first two rounds of the 200m yesterday.

“Boy am I tired,” said the Jamaican after winning his quarter-final in 20.42sec, to qualify fifth fastest for today’s semi-finals. He is still odds on for a second gold at the World Championships after injury forced out defending 200m champion Tyson Gay.

Marlon Devonish maintained British interest in the event by qualifying third from his quarter-final in 20.66sec.
Sourced via mirror.co.uk

Popularity: 11% [?]

Berlin, Germany – With a performance that defies the imagination, Usain Bolt set a new 100m World record of 9.58 on the second evening of the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.

The 22-year-old Jamaican knocked a mind-numbing 0.11 second from the 9.69 record he set at the Olympic Games in Beijing exactly one year ago today. One can only imagine where he’ll be and how fast he’ll run on 16 August of next year.

“I was definitely ready for the World record and I did it,” Bolt said. “I didn’t think I could run a tenth (of a second) faster than my World record, but for me, anything is possible.”

His was the largest chunk ever – by far – to be sliced from the 100m World record. Previously, both he and Maurice Greene shaved 0.05 from the standard to earn the moniker of World’s Fastest Man. A few days ago, Greene suggested that Bolt and other top sprinters weren’t currently on the same planet. Bolt’s performance this evening gave Greene’s assessment an otherworldly ring of truth.

So profound was Bolt’s achievement that defending champion Tyson Gay clocked a sensational 9.71 in second, a national record, that was just 0.02 shy of the previous World mark. And the American, who is now the second fastest man in history, was nowhere near the Jamaican when the finish line was crossed.

“I’m disappointed to have lost the race, but i ran my fastest time,” Gay said.

Not the quickest from the blocks, Bolt nonetheless took control some 30 metres into the race and continued onward to forge through territory not even the most passionate observers would have imagined before this evening. It was a run similar to his emphatic victory in Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium a year ago, with two distinct differences: this time Bolt ran hard to the line, and this time he’ll collect a $100,000 World record bonus.

But the show’s not over. Both Bolt and Gay will meet again in the 200m, which starts on Tuesday (18 Aug).

Bolt’s compatriot, the former World record holder Asafa Powell took bronze for the second consecutive championships, in 9.84.

“I’m so excited about Usain’s run tonight, it is great to be part of this,” said Powell, who’s personal best is 9.72. “Usain showed us that it is possible.”

Further back was the second wave, led by Antiguan Dan Bailey who was fourth in 9.93, just ahead of Olympic silver medallist Richard Thompson of Trinidad who was credited with the same time.

Dwain Chambers of Great Britain was sixth in 10.00, edging the second Trinidadian in the race, Marc Burns, who also stopped the clock in 10.00.

Sourced via iaaf.org

Popularity: 25% [?]

Mokoena also stars in Monaco SOUTH Africa’s two big hopes for medals at next month’s world athletics championships had outstanding victories in Monaco on Tuesday night, and a third South African broke the national record.

Popularity: 19% [?]

JOHANNESBURG, Friday, 31 july 2009: A brilliant Caster Semenya shocked the athletics world today when she blitzed around the track at the African Junior Championships in Mauritius to win the gold medal in the 800 metres in 1:56,72 – the fastest time by a woman in the world this year.

With this performance she has staked her claim to be in medal contention at the IAAF World Championships in Berlin in two weeks time.

Semenya smashed the 18 year old South African senior record of Zelda Pretorius which stood at 1:58,85 and also closed in on the African record of Pamela Jelimo of Kenya which stands at 1:54,01.

Semenya improved with every race this year and ended the South African season with a time of 2:00,56 – the fourth best of all-time in the country at that stage.

South Africa won another gold medal in the early results at the Championships when Lindie Liebenberg won the discus for women with a distance of 43,24m.

Alyssa Conley won the silver medal in the  100 metres for women in a time of 12,17 while Waide Jooste  won the bronze medal in the men’s 100 metres with a time of 10,94 secs. His team mate Ethan Floris was fourth in the same time.

Luvo Manyonga won a bronze medal in the long jump for men with a good distance of 7,49m while Dylan Cotter was fourth with 7,476m.

“ASA is delighted with Caster’s achievement. For us it was a matter of time before she dipped under 2 minutes but we are overwhelmed in the manner that she has done it. Her performance, which underlines new South African Junior and Senior records respectively is unbelievable and leaves us over the moon. As ASA we will continue to support talented young athletes like her in preparation for major international events,” says Mr. Leonard Chuene, the president of ASA.

Sourced via Athletics.org.za

Popularity: 100% [?]

What a night for South African athletics!

A new African record of 8,50?m for Khotso Mokoena in the long jump and two brilliant wins by Johan Cronje and Mbulaeni Mulaudzi in the 1?500?m and 800?m provided South African athletics with a tremendous boost at the 28th Madrid Athletics Meeting on Saturday night.

Mokoena, who had an excellent series of six jumps, was the pick of the three. The fact that he was defeated by an unknown Australian, Fabrice Lapierre, was not of the greatest importance because he had the satisfaction of defeating the Olympic champion, Irving Saladino, of Panama and of breaking the continental record of 8.46?m set by Cheikh Tidane Toure of Senegal in 1997.

”I am simply ecstatic,” was the first response of his coach, Elna de Beer, who was conducting a coaching course at Magaliesburg. She said that “8.60?m is now within his reach”.

De Beer will be joining him within a few weeks after which they will make their final preparations for Germany.

Australia’s Lapierre caused the major surprise by winning the event with 8,57?m, while an erratic Saladino had to be satisfied with a best of 8,43?m.

Cronje, full of confidence after his recent personal best and IAAF qualifying time of 3:35,11 in Greece, has never been so impressive than in Madrid, defeating a strong field with a time of 3:37,33.

He was in third place, and after the pace-setters had left the scene, he just stormed ahead and won easily.

A rusty Mulaudzi, who had not been competing for a few months and then suffered a severe bout of flu, had stiff competition and had to pull out all stops before winning his race in 1:45,81, the third best of the evening.

Jackson Kivuna of Kenya won the second 800?m in 1:44,86.
Sourced via witness.co.za

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THE Jamaican athletics championships will feature the world’s fastest men Usain Bolt, Olympic sprint double champion, and former world record holder Asafa Powell in a 100 metres showdown.

While Bolt’s 9.77 seconds run in Ostrava earlier this month, could be used to justify his condition, Powell’s readiness for the weekend meet is questionable.

Powell aggravated an ankle injury at the Penn Relays on April 25, which kept him out of Oslo, but return outings at the Reebok Grand Prix (10.10, 7th) and Prefontaine Classic (10.07, 2nd) in May, produced below par performances.

‘I am still suffering from the ankle injury. It’s not (healing) as fast as I want it to, but I am still training.’ ‘I am running well in training. I started to look like my old self. The confidence level is there, just not in any big competing attitude.’ As for Bolt, he is using the trials to get in race shape and aims to run hard in the 200m.

Bolt is down to run the 100 and 200 double, but said more focus will be the on latter.

Last year, Bolt, who spent the last 15 metres of the race joking around with Powell, won the event in 9.85.

This year, however, both men could be pushed to the line as more Jamaicans are running their way into the sub-10 seconds club.

Michael Frater, Yohan Blake, Steve Mullings, Marvin Anderson and Dwight Thomas will be there, although their first aim would be to battle for the third spot.
Sourced via straitstimes.com

Popularity: 9% [?]

La Coruña, Spain – The sixth leg of the IAAF Race Walking Challenge 2009 takes place on Saturday (20 June) in La Coruña, a city which hosted every year since 1987 a world class Race Walking meet called the ‘Gran Premio Cantones de Marcha’.

The events scheduled to be contested are 20km Race Walks for both men and women.  The northwest Spanish coastal city hosted a successful IAAF World Race Walking Cup three years ago and offers the competitors an ideal, flat 1km-long circuit on which to get fast times while the spectators also benefit since they have the chance to witness a star-studded field establish plenty of fast times.

As a spokeswoman of the organisation comments: “We are proud to know that Saturday’s event has been chosen for both the Chinese and Japanese Federations to decide their representatives at the World Championships in Berlin.”

Tysse, Tallent, Wang.. Men’s 20km provides vast array of talent

Norway’s Eric Tysse lines up as the defending champion in La Coruña. The 28-year-old took a fine fifth place over 50km event at the Beijing Olympics and leads overwhelmingly the IAAF Walking Race Challenge this season thanks to a 35 points scoring.

The in-form Norwegian has completed four IAAF permits so far with a couple of runner-up places in Sesto San Giovanni (1 May, 1:21:53)  and Krakow (30 May, 38:38 for the 10km event) although his season’s best of 1:19:44 came in Rio Maior on 4 April.

More recently, Tysse has had a busy schedule at home last weekend as he made the double 10/20km at the National Championships; on Saturday 12 June he managed a superb 37:44 clocking for the shorter distance while he enjoyed a comfortable 20km win (1:35:45) on Sunday 13.

However, Tysse’s target of retaining his crown in La Coruña won’t be a piece of cake since Saturday’s line up features no less than four walkers from the Beijing Olympics 20km top-10 finishers in the guise of Australia’s reigning Olympic bronze medallist Jarred Tallent, China’s Hao Wang, fourth on that occasion and their respective compatriots Luke Adams (sixth) and Yafei Chu (10th).

The 24-year-old Tallent startled the Walking world last season by grabbing two Olympic medals; firstly he snatched bronze at the 20km with a 1:19:42 time and six days later Tallent became Olympic 50km silver medallist setting a massive PB of 3:39.27 in the process.

Later in 2008 the Aussie ace finished second twice on Spanish soil, first at the Walking Race Challenge Final in Murcia (1:24:02) and then at a 10km event in Granollers on 7 December (41:13) both times behind Spain’s ‘Paquillo’ Fernández.

Already in 2009, Tallent won the Australian 20km title last March in 1:19:42 and has had two appearances in the IAAF Challenge later being third in Chihuahua (1:23:44) and fifth in Wuxi (1:21:11).

As for Hao Wang, the still 19-year-old Chinese missed the 20km Olympic bronze medal by five seconds to Tallent in 1:19:47 and has improved this season to 1:19:27 to take a fine win at the Rio Maior event while his last outing took place at home in Wuxi with a fourth 1:20:10 performance to his credit.

Reigning World Cup bronze medallist Eder Sánchez of Mexico should be another man in the hunt for the top places; the 23-year-old opened successfully his 2009 campaign with a1:22:21 win in Chihuahua before finishing second in Wuxi in a SB of 1:19:36.

Other entrants include Ecuadorian Rolando Saquipay and the Portuguese pair of Joao Vieira and Sergio Vieira while in the absence of ‘Paquillo’ Fernández, an overwhelming victor here from 2004 to 2007 who only does a 10km track outing at the Spanish Championships in early August before the Worlds, the Spanish hopes will rest on the evergreen Jesús Ángel García Bragado; the Beijing 50km fourth placed will turn 40 next October and is a former (1993) World 50km champion.

Women’s 20km – Sixth yearly success for Plätzer?

Reigning Olympic silver medallist Kjersti Plätzer, who is the older sister of Eric Tysse, will kick off Saturday’s event as a hot favourite. The experienced 37-year-old Norwegian had already managed a silver medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and is now on schedule to take the 2009 IAAF Challenge thanks to her clean card of five top places in five appearances capped by a 1:28:50 SB in Sesto San Giovanni.  Already a winner last year here, Plätzer leads the 2009 overall standings thanks to a 48 points scoring.

She attended the Norwegian champs last weekend where she clocked a brilliant 20:38 for the 5km event on Saturday before relaxing herself on Sunday (49:11 for the 10km).

Vera Santos of Portugal chases Plätzer on the IAAF Walking Race Challenge with 27 points. A ninth finisher at the Beijing Olympics, the 27-year-old performed nicely on home soil in Rio Maior taking a runner-up spot in 1:30:49 while her quickest time of this season came in Sesto San Giovanni where she clocked 1:29:27 for fourth.

China’s Liu Hong heads a powerful Chinese contingent; the 22-year-old was fourth at the last Olympics and has placed third in her sole outing this season in Wuxi (1:30:01) while Spanish fans will cheer on Beatriz Pascual, a creditable sixth placed in Beijing (1:27:44).

Germany’s Sabine Zimmer, a top-eight from the Osaka Worlds should be also regarded as a dangerous outsider and will try to match her second place (1:29:40) from last year here; Zimmer managed her second fastest ever time last May in San Sesto San Giovanni with a 1:29:03 result.

The course’s records are held by ‘Paquillo Fernández’ thanks to a 1:17.52 clocking back in 2005 and Ryta Turava of Belarus, author of a 1:26.27 time when winning the World Cup in 2006.

Weather forecasters predict a temperature in the 20-23ºC range by the time of the competition and no rain likelihood at all.

Sourced via Iaaf.org

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Wuxi, China – After double Russian success over the 20km races yesterday in Wuxi, this year’s IAAF Race Walking Challenge fixture in China ended today with a home win in the men’s 50km (19).

The weather in Wuxi today was dry but cloudy for the first 3 hours of the race which started at 0730hrs. It was windier than for yesterday’s 20km races with a temperature rising from 15 to a high of 25C and rain falling increasingly heavily towards the end of the competition.

Just four foreign athletes, Australia’s Luke Adams, the overall Challenge winner in 2007, Spain’s Juan Manuel Molina, Eder Sanchez of Mexico and Tunisia’s Hatem Ghoula lined-up for today’s 50km along with 45 Chinese race walkers.

As it turned out all four ended up not finishing the race which China’s Zhao Chengliang, who was fifth at the distance at the 2005 World Championships and has a personal best 3:36:13 from his second place in the 2005 National Games, claimed in a time of 3:45:16.

Luke Adams led the walkers in the first half but dropped out of the race after the 13th lap, and from that point Zhao Chengliang dominated until the end.

Of the other foreign visitors, Eder and Hatem only walked for 5 laps and Molina wasn’t able to finish the last 10km.

Therefore the race saw a Chinese sweep, with Xu Faguang taking second in 3:55:04 and Li Lei, who has recently won two titles in Baoji at China’s National Race Walking Grand Prix in late March, placed third with a time of 3:58:39.

In total 7 athletes were disqualified, while 15 athletes finished the 50km.

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Those hopes were for naught, however, as Kenyan Salina Kosgei (2:32:16) and defending champion Dire Tune (2:32:17) of Ethiopia passed Goucher over the final 800 meters. Goucher put up a valiant fight all the way to Boylston Street, but the more experienced racers dashed to the front at the perfect time, forcing Goucher to settle for third (2:32:25).

Goucher was distraught about her inability to hold the lead she assumed on Heartbreak Hill, but took a measure of solace in producing the best American finish since Kim Jones of Washington came in second (2:30:00) in 1993.

“What’s going to get her to the next level isn’t the excitement about her finishing third; it’ll be the disappointment that she didn’t finish first,” said coach and 1982 Boston champion Alberto Salazar. “That’s what’s motivating Kara Goucher now. She’s probably thinking that she wants to run a fall marathon now. She’s going to want to get back into this.”

Early on, Goucher was content to hang with the pack while the more experienced marathoners jostled for the lead.

Due to a steady headwind, the pace was incredibly slow, but Goucher was OK with it.

“I’m not a person who needs to lead,” said Goucher. “I’m comfortable in just responding to what’s around me. I actually like to run the race that way, to sort of disassociate until I really consciously start thinking.”

Using that approach, Goucher came to recognize the race was too congested as the pack began the long climb up Heartbreak Hill. So she took over the race on the hill and began a hard dash down Beacon Street.

Goucher paced five straight mile splits under six minutes that included an incredible 5:09 after the 24-mile marker. Goucher felt she had plenty left in her legs, but she was unable to respond when Kosgei and Tune made their final surge.

“Honestly, today I thought I was going to have my kick,” said Goucher. “My legs still felt poppy and I still felt very controlled.

“The last time I ran a marathon I couldn’t have sprinted for any amount of money in the world or if anyone’s life depended on it. I really felt I was there (this time).”

The expectations of a long-deprived nation pale in comparison to the demands Kara Goucher made of herself going into yesterday’s 113th Boston Marathon.

Following her third-place finish at New York last November, Goucher assumed Deena Kastor’s place as America’s best hope to end the foreign dominance of the world’s oldest marathon. The United States hadn’t produced a winner in Boston since Lisa Larsen-Weidenbach broke the tape in 1985.

“I have the highest expectations for myself,” said Goucher, an Olympian in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. “For people to have such high expectations in me is a good thing. They believe that I can do something amazing and that’s a really good feeling. It actually carries me through training and the races.”

Sourced via bostonherald.com

Popularity: 15% [?]