KARA WINGER on not making the Olympics despite her amazing javelin comeback season: “I set myself up purposefully to have to throw the 64m standard if I wanted to go. I wanted to test my mettle, force myself to perform at Trials like I’d want to at Paris. And I didn’t, and that’s OK!”…
Five Swedish athletes have qualified for the Olympics according to World Athletics but have been denied a spot on the team by their federation. Now they are suing the federation at CAS…
UK Athletics chair Ian Beattie defended Britain’s tough team policy by saying, “Setting tough standards helps improve performance levels.” He added, “It would be fantastic to be able to select larger teams to take part in championship events, but we want this to be through an increase in the number of athletes having the potential to finish in the top 8.”…
Controversy over Ethiopian team selections erupted when the National Olympic Committee overruled the track federation on a number of picks. One of the aggrieved is World Indoor 1500 champ Freweyni Hailu, who only earned alternate status in the 5000. She said, “How long will the federation continue to act like this? And how long will we have to suffer under their decisions? I want everyone to be aware of this injustice.”…
adidas has signed Nico Young, plus hurdler Caleb Dean and sprinter McKenzie Long…
The Brooks Beasts picked up Rider’s Teagan Schein-Becker as well as Georgetown’s NCAA steeple winner, Parker Stokes…
Nike has signed Heath Baldwin and Brittany Brown…
Puma has inked 1500 man Eric Holt and Jamaican Razorback Nickisha Pryce…
Marathoner Makena Morley has announced that she will be coached by BYU’s Ed Eyestone, and do training camps with Keira D’Amato…
Rob Olson has been added to the board of the USATF Foundation. He was a 7-3 high jumper at BYU…
Botswana had been planning to compete in the men’s 4×1 in Paris, but WA removed its 38.19 at the African Championships from the list because of the use of an uncertified starting gun…
Sprinter Noureddine Hadid (10.27/20.59), selected to represent Lebanon at the Olympics, returned home from his French training base and was arrested for deserting the army. He served a 10-day sentence, reportedly…
French hurdler Wilfried Happio is expected to compete in Paris despite charges of domestic violence from a former partner. The French federation is conducting an internal investigation…
The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into the case of 23 Chinese swimmers who were allowed by WADA to continue competing after positive drug tests. The authority for the investigation comes from the 2020 Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act. WADA said it was “disappointed” by the U.S. move…
More than 1000 testers and volunteers will be involved in the International Testing Agency’s plan to sample around 4000 of the 10,000 athletes at the Olympics. Those numbers are about the same as at Tokyo ’21. The effort, overseen by WADA, will target athletes and disciplines where doping is considered more likely…
NBC/Peacock reports the average audience watching the feed of the Olympic Trials to be 4.5 million, a significant boost from the 3.2 million recorded from the ’21 Trials…
WA has coordinated with gaming firm Tap Nation to create a game called Athletics Rush, a running game where players can earn rewards and win prizes. It is now available at all the usual app sources…
The annual meet in Padua, Italy, set for September 01, has been canceled as the result of planned construction in the plaza in front of the arena…
The 2025 Berlin Marathon has been moved to September 21 to avoid clashing with the national elections a week later…
Moscow’s World Friendship Games, originally positioned as a rival of sorts to the Olympics, have been postponed to ’25 to maximize athlete and official availability…
Ghana will host the ’26 African Championships…
Abusive social medal messages aimed at athletes will be blocked by the IOC using an AI tool. It will offer extensive monitoring covering 15,000 athletes and officials. It may also, one surmises, blunt any public criticism of the IOC during the Games…
The hopes of Olympic administrators to have the Games be more “green” than ever have foundered as a number of nations, the United States included, have decided to have air conditioning in their Olympic Village quarters. Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Norway have also opted to bring their own AC…
New to this year’s Olympics: a nursery for athlete moms. The brainchild of 11-time medalist Allyson Felix with the help of Pampers, the nursery will offer free childcare during the Games…
For Los Angeles ’28, all the key folk have signed off on track and swimming switching places in the traditional Olympic schedule, with track & field leading off the Games. The move was reportedly necessitated by the need to ready the Coliseum for the USC football season…
Not many Russian and Belarusian athletes will be in Paris, but the Ukrainian Olympic Committee is asking that they be banned from participating, for violating the IOC’s stipulation that none of them publicly support Russia’s war in Ukraine…
The MOWA Olympic Athletics Collection will be on public display in Paris during the Games, across from the Tuileries Garden, at the Westin Paris – Vendome…
Though she is unable to compete in Paris because of her torn Achilles, triple jump WR holder Yulimar Rojas will bear the Venezuelan flag in the Opening Ceremony…
Kendall Ellis on a recent podcast: “My job is to run fast and to win races. My job is not to be a source of entertainment outside of that. I shouldn’t have to dance and do all these things and be funny on Twitter. That’s not what you’re paying me to do. If you want me to do that, put [some] extra dollars in there.”…
ESPN has published its “100 Greatest Athletes Of The 21st Century.” The only track athletes included were Usain Bolt (No. 9), Allyson Felix (63) and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (77)…
A poll of 2000 people in Britain came up with the result that Usain Bolt’s 2008 triple gold was the greatest moment in Olympic history (though purists will note that he lost the 4×1 gold when a teammate was later banned for doping)…
Stefka Kostadinova was pleased that it was Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh who broke her World Record in the high jump: “A month ago in Rome I was among the officials who awarded her after she won European gold. During the ceremony, I hugged her strongly and whispered in her ear that she was ready for a World Record.”…
One who’s very aware of the difference between being an NCAA elite and an Olympian podium contender is Parker Valby. She was recently at a store when the cashier told her to “Bring home the gold!” Her response: “I was like, ‘Uh, sir, I’m not going for gold. I’m just happy to be here. I’m going to be lapped.’”…
Bill Jordan, 95, died in July. After 10 years as head coach at Wake Forest, he guided Richmond’s program for nearly 40 years…
Mutaz Barshim was at the London DL, but did not jump. He explained in the mixed zone, “I could not jump. There was no space. It was a technical mistake on the part of the organization. I’ve been jumping for 15 years and this was the second time in my career… Things happen. We move on.” It appeared that he would have to adjust his run-up to avoid stepping on a piece of the curb that had not been removed…
Logansport, Indiana, has renamed a street in honor of one of its most accomplished products. “Dr. Greg Bell Way” honors the ’56 long jump gold medalist, who later worked for 50 years at the state hospital in the northern Indiana city…
Femke Bol, after her 50.85 European Record: “In all honesty, if you said to me a couple of years ago that we’d be running sub-51 seconds in the 400m hurdles, I wouldn’t have believed you. It makes you dream big.”…
Fourth place at the Trials stings. Says LSU 800 runner Michaela Rose: “I told my coaches and family that finishing 4th place hurt much worse than getting 6th place last year. But it’s a higher place so we’re getting closer and closer.”…
After the first round of the Trials 100H, Christina Clemons was told she would have to cover up the logo of her sponsor, Doritos, to comply with USOC uniform rules. That she did, with a piece of yellow vinyl the shape of a Doritos chip. “I’m always ready for whatever,” she said. ◻︎