If an athlete wants to gain more exposure, then there is a lot that they can do to help themselves. There are some athletes (who I shan’t name) whose reputation outweighs their achievements. They might not be the most talented athletes on the circuit, but they get more coverage and better sponsorship deals than world record-holders and Olympic gold medallists. Why? Because they know how to sell themselves.

Some athletes may say that they’re not too fussed about getting more coverage. But if you hope to make a living from being an elite sportsperson, then it is in your interest to capitalise on that position as much as possible; make hay while the sun shines. This is the professional era of sports, after all, so like it or not it is part of the job. Often, more exposure leads to better sponsorship deals and even lanes in top grand prix meetings.

I have put together a few pointers, and by following this advice athletes (and their relatives) will have no need to ask for more exposure, because it will come naturally. It could also help maximise athletes’ potential earning power.

Talk to the press

One of the biggest reasons why athletes do not get more coverage is because they do not take time out to speak to the press. Athletics writers are generally a friendly bunch, so there is no reason to fear them – it’s not like they are tabloid journos looking to expose the dirt. Quite the opposite, in fact. Athletics writers are naturally big fans of the sport, and so are always on the lookout to write positive stories about track and field.

Not everyone finds it easy to speak to people they do not know, but it is worth taking the time to do so. The better you get to know athletics writers, the more they will want to write about you and the more coverage you will get. Conversely, if an athlete storms through a mixed zone with a face of thunder, it’s not going to give the best impression to the sribes who were waiting to speak to them. Everyone has a bad race once in a while, but a simple “not today thanks” can help get the message across to the press in a polite way.

Tell us something we don’t know

When speaking to reporters (both written press and TV interviewers), try not to use clichés. After a year or two on the job, I refused to include the line: “once I make the final anything can happen” when writing a report. If that was the only thing an athlete said to me, then they wouldn’t get much of a mention in the piece. The same applies to all the other lines we’ve heard a hundred times over.

Everyone loves to hear something new, or to be told a story that no one knows. As difficult as it might be to think of something original to say after a race when the brain is starved of oxygen, a little imagination can go a long way.

Chris Thompson is a great example of an athlete who doesn’t shy away from saying something off-beat. His post-race interviews are always entertaining and quote-worthy. Who can forget classics such as: “I just thought I cannot come this far, and not get a medal. I didn’t know what colour it was going to be, but that was going to depend on how much I got my balls out – and they were hanging low today.”

Don’t forget the fans

Always try to make time for the fans. The athletes I alluded to at the start of this piece routinely take a few minutes out after their race to sign autographs. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t take that long to do, and the value of building up a good rapport with the sport’s followers is immeasurable. Same goes for fans wanting to take a photo with you – it takes just a matter of seconds of your time, but provides hours of joy afterwards for the fan who just had their picture taken with you.

Even in the odd occasions when you are pushed for time after a race and cannot afford a few minutes for autographs, then at least try to smile to the fans and thank them for their support. After all, these fans have taken time out to watch you and spent their money on buying a ticket – money which goes towards paying athletes’ appearance fees and prize money.

It is definitely worth your while creating a good impression to fans, because a bad reputation can spread like wildfire. Even before she ended up in jail, I’d heard about numerous bad encounters that fans had had with Marion Jones. So when it was finally uncovered that she was a liar and fraudster, it did not surprise me in the slightest.

Maximise social networking

We are living in a time whereby social networking is fast becoming the biggest communication tool. Millions of people use sites like facebook and twitter to connect with their friends and to find out more information about the things and people they like.

If you don’t want to start accepting people you don’t know as friends on facebook, then create a ‘page’. That way you can keep a healthy distance, while still keeping your fans happy. The good thing about twitter is that it naturally keeps that distance anyway. If you do choose to start a facebook page and a twitter feed, the most important thing is to keep it updated. You might think “why do people want to know what my new car (guys)/haircut (girls) looks like?” but remember – athletics fans see you as a kind of celebrity. The very nature of celebrity culture is about giving your followers an insight into your life. You needn’t have to sell your soul to the public – the odd snippet of info (however trivial) every now and again will keep your fans happy.

Ya gotta have a gimmick

Of course it helps that Usain Bolt is a superhuman freak of nature. But a big part of his success in becoming a global superstar is down to his on-track antics – the dancing, the pose, the pre-race jokes. They are all things that help make him stand out.

When Joe Bloggs watches the sport, all they see is a bunch of Africans in the distance races, a load of Americans and Caribbean athletes competing in the sprints, and a group of East Europeans taking part in the field events. The more you can do to ensure you don’t become a faceless athlete among the stereotypes, the better.

Bolt has his pose, Yelena Isinbayeva speaks to her pole before each vault, Haile Gebrselassie has ‘the’ smile, Carolina Kluft used to prop up her cuddly toy and get super-motivated before each event. Alongside winning medals, these gimmicks help make athletes more memorable to the fans watching them on TV.

You can go too far, however. Exhibit A, Ramone McKenzie.

As ever, I’ve compiled a list of such athletes. It’s not an exhaustive list, and to try to limit it somewhat, I’ve restricted it to athletes who won gold at a major championship (World, Olympic or European) without winning any other major medal of note before or after.

Obviously, no one expects every athlete to have the longevity of the recently retired Haile Gebrselassie or Merlene Ottey, but it makes you wonder what the reasons are behind being a flash in the pan. Most of the time injury will be a big factor in athletes being unable to maintain their best form. Other times, the stars will fall perfectly in line for athletes and with a little bit of luck they’ll achieve something they know is a true one-off and so lose motivation in the years that follow. And sometimes drugs can be the reason for a ‘dream’ season.

But without getting too bogged down with the whys and wherefores of these one-hit wonders, here’s a brief summary of a select few.

10. Edward Sarul

Having finished 11th at the 1982 European Championships indoors and out, the Polish shot putter wasn’t on anybody’s radar as a potential champion just 12 months before the inaugural IAAF World Championships. But in 1983 Sarul added almost two metres to his PB, throwing a then national record of 21.68m and backing it up at the World Championships with a winning throw of 21.39m. In the years that followed he never came close to replicating that form, finishing a lowly fifth at the 1986 European Indoors with 19.73m.

9. Pamela Jelimo

The only reason Jelimo has not ranked higher in this list is because she is still young and active, so has a chance of getting back to her best. But the Kenyan undoubtedly warrants a mention for the stark contrast between her 2008 season and the years that came before and after. No one had heard of Jelimo before 2008, but she came out and dominated the 800m, winning all of her races (including Olympic gold and the Golden League title), and ran 1:55s and 1:54s with regularity; times that even the great Maria Mutola would only approach once or twice during her long career. And to top it all off, Jelimo was just a junior, smashing the world junior record that had stood since 1993.

But in 2009 she just squeaked under two minutes and only won one race before dropping out of the World Championships. 2010 has been even more of a low-key year and with a best of 2:01.52 she is ranked just 74th in the world.

8. Xu Demei

Like waiting for a bus, after years of no gold medals at the IAAF World Championships, suddenly two popped up in quick succession at the 1991 edition in Tokyo. But while shot champion Huang Zhihong went on to win many more major championship medals, javelin gold medal winner Xu Demei – who threw 68.78m to win – pretty much disappeared afterwards. With a throw of just 59.98m, Xu failed to make the final at the following year’s Olympic Games in Barcelona.

7. Jong Song Ok

The marathon is an event that often throws up a surprise winner, and there are many examples to choose from – 1993 World Championship winners Junko Asari and Mark Plaatjes, 2007 World champion Luke Kibet, and 1992 Olympic champion Hwang Young-Cho. But Young-Cho’s compatriot, Jong Song-ok, is my choice for this list.

Most of the more knowledgeable athletics fans had never heard of Song-ok before the 1999 World Championships. Up until that point her career highlight had been a second-place finish at the 1996 Pyongyang marathon. But for one day in Seville in 1999 Song-ok was unbeatable and at the World Championships she defeated the likes of 1996 Olympic champion Fatuma Roba, 2001 World champion Lidia Simon, 1995 World champion Manuela Machado.

The following year Song-ok finished 12th at the Pyongyang marathon.

6. Avard Moncur

When Michael Johnson retired after the 2000 Olympics, it left a bit of a void in the men’s 400m with no heir apparent ready to step into his shoes. Of course no one expected there to be a second coming of Johnson straight away, but equally the lack of star quality in the event was just as unanticipated.

Far from being a USA-dominated field as had traditionally been the case in this event, the 400m final at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton featured athletes from Mauritius, Saudi Arabia and Grenada. But it was Bahamian Avard Moncur who came away with gold in a time of 44.64. He dipped under 45 seconds a few more times during his career, but never improved on his 44.45 PB after 2001. Since 2008 Moncur has not broke 46 seconds for the 400m.

5. Snežana Pajkić

When athletes finish seventh in their heat at a major championships, it is usually safe to assume that they will not do much damage in the final – especially when the athlete in question is one you have never heard of. Similarly, very few athletes set PBs in tactical championship races. But Snežana Pajkić turned both of those theories on their head at the 1990 European Championships.

It may not have been a final for the ages, yet there were still some quality athletes in the field – like Olympic champion Doina Melinte – who should have been able to take advantage of such a race. But it was Yugoslavia’s Snežana Pajkić who seized the opportunity and became the surprize champion. Her national record of 4:08.12 set in that race still stands.

4. Nouriah Mérah-Benida

Pajkić is not the biggest surprise female 1500m champion. That accolade belongs to Nouriah Merah-Benida – the 2000 Olympic champion. Unlike the 1990 Europeans, this field was stacked – Olympic 5000m champion and three-time World 1500m champion Gaby Szabo, double Olympic champion Kelly Holmes, multiple World silver medallist Violeta Szekely, World Cross champion Kutre Dulecha, 1997 World Champion Carla Sacramento, and world leader Suzy Favor-Hamilton.

Mérah-Benida was a little-known Algerian athlete, who had achieved some fast times but not much else. In a little more than four minutes and five seconds, however, Mérah-Benida’s life was transformed as she became the Olympic champion. Apart from a few good performances in 2006, she never came close to replicating her feat from Sydney.

3. Yuriy Krymarenko

There were several surprise winners at the 2005 IAAF World Championships in Helsinki – due in so small part to the terrible weather – but the most notable was high jump champion Yuriy Krymarenko. The Ukrainian started the year with a best of 2.23m and set a PB of 2.33m early in the 2005 season.

One month before the World Champs, Krymarenko finished just third at the European Under-23 Championships, so he was not expected to do much damage in Helsinki. But with a third-time clearance at 2.32m, he won a surprise world title. Just days later, competing in his first competition as the reigning world champion, Krymarenko finished just sixth at the World University Games. At his three appearances at major championships since Helsinki, Krymarenko has never got past the qualification stage.

2. Peter Rono

Such is Kenya’s strength in depth at distance running, it’s not too unusual for Kenyan distance runners to have one great year and then never come close to topping it. 2001 World 5000m champion Richard Limo, 1996 Olympic steeplechase champion Joseph Keter and 2001 World 10,000m champion Charles Kamathi are just a few examples, but the most memorable example is 1988 Olympic 1500m champion Peter Rono.

British duo Steve Cram and Peter Elliot had been tipped to win gold, while not much was expected of Rono, who didn’t make it past the semi finals at the previous year’s World Championships. But the 21-year-old caused one of the biggest upsets of the Games to walk away as the champion in 3:35.96.

1. Paraskeví Patoulidou

It is the kind of thing that Hollywood sports film flops are made of. Big favourite falls – literally – at the final hurdle, with the small-town girl coming through to steal a surprise victory. USA’s Gail Devers had won her secondary event, the 100m, earlier at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, so it was generally assumed that she was a shoo-in to win her best event, the 100m hurdles. The fact that Greece had an entrant, let alone a medal contender, in the sprint hurdles went pretty much unnoticed.

Paraskeví Patoulidou squeaked through each round, finishing fourth in her heat, third in her quarter-final and third in her semi-final. Given that she had reduced her PB from 13.07 to 12.88 by this point, it was assumed that Patoulidou had no more room in which to improve. She had already become the first Greek woman ever to make a track final at the Olympics – becoming the first Greek female Olympic track medallist seemed a dream too far.

Gold for Devers, meanwhile, seemed a certainty. And it remained so for the first 90 metres of the race as she built up a sizeable lead over the rest of the field. Then disaster struck and Devers hit the final hurdle, losing momentum and tumbling to the ground. Patoulidou had put together the race of her life and came through to sneak the gold medal in another huge PB of 12.64. Devers, despite her fall, still managed to clock 12.75 (faster than the UK record), but it was little compensation for missing out on Olympic gold.

Patoulidou ditched the hurdles after 1992. She attempted a switch to the long jump and the sprints, but never again came close to the dizzying heights of a major championship gold.

I do like to put together a good list, so I have ranked ten of my favourite athletics flash games. Please feel free to leave your comments below as to which one is your favourite, or mention what your best scores are in the various games. And be sure to bookmark this page so that you never lose track of where to find these games.

10. Pole Vault Game

Simple, to the point, and addictive. What more do you need from an athletics flash game? The controls are easy enough to get the hang of (bash the right arrow key to run, hold and release the space bar to plant the pole) and if you put it all together in a good vault, then breaking the world record is an easy enough task. As charming as it is though, the graphics look like pictures I used to draw in paintpot, and once you’ve broken the record then, much like a top athlete, there’s nothing left to do but retire.

Rating: 

9. Sprinter

This game has been around for almost as long as Merlene Ottey, but the old ones are the best! Okay, not quite the best, but good enough to make it into this top 10. It simply involves pressing the arrow keys to sprint as fast as you can in order to progress through the rounds, starting off at school competitions, through to national competitions and then the Olympics. Win the Olympics, and you then race aliens. The thing I love about this game is the little touches like the way that female opponents run with flailing arms, and how in the Olympic final you’re racing against seven Jamaican athletes (even though their names are “M. Greene”, “C. Lewis”, etc).

Rating:

8. Minilympics

This has the feel of the early track and field games on the Play Station, which isn’t a bad thing. For an online game, it’s quite impressive and the animation makes you feel like you’re almost in the stadium. Well, kind of. But because this is a shockwave game, it may mean that your computer will struggle to load it. It also loses points for including sports like archery in what is supposed to be a track and field game – a pet peeve of mine.

Rating:

7. Hurdle race

Okay, so it doesn’t matter that there are 39 hurdles on the straight in this race (I’ve always felt that the 110m hurdles is too short an event), nor that the runner looks like Susan Boyle, but dammit this game is addictive! The opponent on the left hand side is a tricky one to beat, but once that has been achieved then the game gets a bit boring. It’s a gudden nevertheless.

Rating:

6. Trackstar

Select your country, choose your athlete, enter your name, and you’re good to go! It’s the same old principle – bash the arrow keys to build up speed, press space to jump. The graphics are aesthetically pleasing enough, but the drawback of this game is that it’s just not very challenging. It’s not that difficult to run sub-6 in the 100m, or to clock sub-10 in the 110m hurdles (knocking down barriers along the way) or to triple jump almost 40 metres. But everyone dreams of having super-human athletic ability and this game can help fulfill those ambitions – at least virtually.

Rating:

5. Summer Games

This game was created as part of the build up to the 2005 IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, so it’s no surprise that the javelin features as one of the four events. Start with the 100m, then the long jump, javelin and hurdles. If you make the qualifying mark in each event then you ‘win’ the opportunity to compete in a long distance race – which involves tapping your keys for 12 minutes. That element aside, this game is quite a lot of fun.

Rating:

4. You vs Bolt

Ever wondered what it’s like to race Usain Bolt? Well now you can find out. In this clever game from Puma, you are represented by a giant hand, which mimics the actions of your fingers as you tap away at your keyboard, trying to keep up with Bolt. What makes this game stand out is that you’re not simply racing a computer graphic – you see Usain Bolt in actual video mode. But if this game reaffirms anything, it’s that it’s tough to beat Bolt!

Rating:

3. Bear Square Track & Field

This is a real gem of a game and one of the most addictive. I dread to think just how many of my lunch breaks have been taken up by trying to get this line-drawing of a bear to break world records in the javelin or the triple jump. The graphics are simple to the extreme, but that’s part of the charm (see above for example of the bear looking drunk when he lands in the jumps pit). The other plus point is that you don’t have to bash keys to build up speed in this game (something your computer will thank you for!). It’s simply all down to strategic clicks and timing. The performances are realistic too – I mean, it would be stupid to think a bear could run sub-12 in the hurdles. But 12.95, now that I can believe.

Rating:

2. SPAR Ultimate Athletics Game

This is a relative newcomer on the athletics flash game scene, and my what an impact it has made! Tap the arrow keys as fast as possible, just like previous games, but the skill here is to press the space bar as the white outline circle reaches the smaller green circle. Compete in the 100m, 110m hurdles, javelin, triple jump and pole vault. The field events are probably more fun and all of the events (bar the hurdles) is easier to play on a PC than a mac. It’s a great game, but not quite the ‘ultimate’ athletics game as its title suggests – that accolade belongs to…

Rating:

1. Denise Lewis Heptathlon

The original and the best! This game was one of the earliest athletics flash games I can remember and was created in the lead up to the 2002 Commonwealth Games at which Denise Lewis was planning to compete (before she fell pregnant). But the fact that she wins gold and smashes the world record every time this game is played goes some way to making up for her absence in Manchester that year. This game was quite ahead of its time and many other games have tried to imitate it, but not come close in terms of overall enjoyment. Sure, it’s impossible to run 8.43 seconds in the hurdles or to throw 36.82m in the shot, but that is all part of its charm. It’s fun to see how those other-worldly marks translate into a heptathlon score. And the better you perform, the better your opponents perform, so it’s not unusual to see an athlete from Papua New Guinea (all the random Commonwealth nations feature in this game – another plus) break 7300 points to finish runner-up – behind your 18,194 winning tally!

Rating:

It’s a bit like the Euro Meetings recommendation not to invite athletes who have tested positive to their meetings – none of the meeting organisers seem to be applying that rule to their competitions. Or they uphold the rule for some athletes, while letting the majority of other drug cheats compete in their meeting without even a second thought.

Tomorrow 2004 Olympic champion Justin Gatlin will be making his comeback to competitive athletics. Because of the Euro Meetings ruling, Gatlin’s first race back will not be in the Samsung Diamond League series, nor will it be in any of the World Challenge grand prix competitions. Instead he will be lining up at a low-key meeting in Rakvere in Estonia.

In theory, the Euro Meetings decision makes sense. Many fans feel that a two-year ban is too short and isn’t enough of a deterrent. If potential dopers know that it will be nigh on impossible to make a living after coming back from their ban, then maybe it will be enough to steer them from going over to the dark side in the first place.

On the other hand, there is probably a strong legal argument to be had on the basis of restraint of trade. If an individual’s ability to earn a living – especially in a niche industry – is overly limited, then the individual will usually have a strong case in an employment tribunal. But at the same time, grand prix competitions are invitational meetings and meeting directors are entitled to invite any athlete they want.

However, if meeting directors are prepared to invite some drug cheats, then why not others?

The Euro Meetings agreement originally came about in the winter of 2007, when Dwan Chambers was preparing his second comeback after temporarily trying to forge a career in rugby. Even though he actually returned from his drugs ban in 2006 and competed in some of the biggest meets on the circuit that year, for some reason his return in 2008 was met with much more stern opposition (no doubt in part due to the way he conducted himself in some interviews around that time).

Initially it seemed as though the ruling was some sort of personal vendetta against Chambers – especially when just months later other drug cheats popped up in the indoor season competing in Euro Meetings competitions. But later that summer even Chambers found a lane in one of the Euro Meetings competitions in Kalamata, Greece. Of course, drug cheats of lower ability than Chambers have competed in much higher level competition in the Euro Meetings competitions, but it was a break in consistency nonetheless.

At the Golden League and Samsung Diamond League competitions, meeting promoters are a bit more strict in trying to abide with the Euro Meetings decision, but high-profile drug cheats have still managed to get in. Perhaps the most notable – and farcical – example of this happened last summer when American hurdler Damu Cherry snuck into the Berlin Golden League and was a surprise winner. Such was the nature of the Golden League – where athletes tried to remain undefeated across the series – Cherry’s victory in Berlin earned her a lane in the following competition in the series. And so Cherry was given a lane in Oslo, and duly won again. It was third time unlucky for her though as she finished sixth in Paris, her third Golden League meeting – by which time she had doubtless earned thousands of dollars in prize money; thousands more than what the other drug cheats earned who were blocked from competing in Euro Meetings competitions.

But Cherry is not alone. Despite this ruling, there have been dozens of appearances by drug cheats on the European circuit between 2008 and 2010 – more than 150, in fact. The tables at the bottom of this page show a list of Euro Meetings competitions that have featured drug cheats. The ones highlighted in gold are Golden League or Samsung Diamond League meetings. With so many athletes slipping through the net, it begs the question – what is the point in having this Euro Meetings recommendation?

Whether drug cheats should be allowed – or even invited – to compete in the biggest athletics meetings in the world is a debate in itself that could rumble on forever. I still don’t know where I personally stand in the debate. As I said earlier, I think it’s a good deterrent, but at the same time if I were a meeting director I wouldn’t want to find myself in a legal battle.

Part of me thinks that if the likes of Chambers or Gatlin were to compete in lower-profile events, then they would probably have an easier time finding their way into the higher tier competitions, in the same way that Olympic long jump champion Maurren Higa Maggi has, or former European 400m champion Vania Stambolova.

But my main gripe is that there should simply be some consistency with the application of the Euro Meetings recommendation. If they’re going to stop the high-profile drug cheats, then they should stop the lower-profile cheats too. Similarly, if they are going to let some cheats compete and not others, then they should explain why they choose to do so.

Given the sheer number of former drug cheats who find their way into competitions, perhaps it is easier to simply scrap the ruling altogether? Either way, a little consistency would go a long way, because at the rate things are going, there will soon be more men in Vermont giving written permission for their false-teeth-wearing wives than Euro Meetings directors refusing to allow drug cheats into their competitions.

Euro Meetings competitions that have featured drug cheats.

Truth be told, I have had a fair few losses (although the bookies didn’t learn their lesson with Ohuruogu and I enjoyed a similar healthy payback when she won gold in Beijing in 2008). I am not perfect and sport is unpredictable. The very nature of betting means that it is always tricky to make a decent return, and I will not accept any responsibility for any losses you may make on the back of my advice. But should you make any profit, by all means feel free to send me a 10% commission

With rank outsiders, it’s usually best to back them alone. But if you’re confident that a handful of favourites are almost certs to win, then stick them in an accumulator, mix them up a bit and see what happens. Websites like Odds Checker allow you to compare the odds on events across a range of bookies (and if you’re new to it, be sure to take advantage of the free bet offers for new registrations).

So, without any further ado, here are some events that might be worth betting on.

Women’s 100m

This is a classic example where bookies simply glance at ranking lists and pick out the favourites from there. But the ranking lists in this event do not tell the whole picture. Alena Neumiarzhytskaya supposedly leads the European rankings with a 11.05 clocking in her home country of Belarus. But outside of that competition, she has been nowhere near that form, following it up with a 11.74 in Barcelona. Some may argue she could be the next Yuliya Nesterenko (2004 Olympic 100m champion from the same country), but Nesterenko was at least able to replicate her form on the circuit and had some good victories against quality opposition. Neumiarzhytskaya simply competed in one extremely dodgy race.

As much as I would love Laura Turner to win gold for Britain, her 11.11 (for second place in the European rankings) was set at altitude with maximum wind. So the next likely candidate appears to be Veronique Mang of France. She set a PB of 11.20 in almost still conditions and backed it up with a few more 11.2 clockings. She also won the European Team Championships 100m, so has already proved herself against the best in Europe.

Some betting sites have Mang down as just the third favourite with odds as good as 9/2. Her odds are shortening though, so get in there quick.

Men’s 200m

Christophe Lemaitre tops the European rankings in this event, but he will be doubling up in the 100m. The 200m final will potentially be his sixth race in four days, so the big question is will he be able to bring his best form (20.16) to the final, or will he be tired?

Personally, I think Norway’s Jaysuma Saidy Ndure could be the one to back here. He is doubling up too (so may also be tired), and can be inconsistent. But the plus side of inconsistency is that he could be having a good day – like the time he ran his surprise 19.89 in Stuttgart three years ago.

He has not since matched that form, but this season I have seen flashes of brilliance from Ndure (a windy 9.98 in Doha, his 20.31 into the wind in Gateshead, finishing a whisker behind Walter Dix and Wallace Spearmon, guys who have dipped well below 20 seconds this season) that tell me he could just return to his best. And at 4/1 he is worth a few quid.

Women’s hammer

It looks as though the bookies are backing Anita Włodarczyk, which on the surface seems fair enough. She is, after all, the world champion and improved her own world record to 78.30m earlier this year. But perhaps the bookies are not aware that Włodarczyk has been injured, to the extent that her participation in Barcelona has been in doubt.

She may well be able to get one big throw out there and it could be enough to win gold. But if you’re after a safer bet, then look elsewhere. Former world record-holder Tatyana Lysenko is next in the rankings, but she is nowhere near as consistent as she used to be. And she is a drug cheat, so I’d rather she didn’t win.

So the best option here may be the uber-consistent Betty Heidler. She has several 75m+ throws to her name this year and threw a season’s best of 75.82m in her last competition before Barcelona, so could be coming into form at the right time. Some bookies are currently offering odds of 11/2 for her.

Men’s discus

Another event where windy conditions skew the rankings. Gerd Kanter is a renowned wind-hunter and tops the world rankings with 71.45m. But take away his marks set at wind farms in the furthest corners of the USA, and the Estonian’s best is 68.76m, which immediately puts him on a par with the other leading contenders. He is no longer the athlete he was a year or so ago when he notched up a 28-competition winning streak, but similarly he has medalled at the past five major championships, so can never be completely discounted.

If I had to pick a winner, though, I’d look no further than last year’s gold and silver medallists from the World Champs. Robert Harting (currently 7/2) has this year produced two of his best ever three throws so is clearly in good form. Piotr Malachowski (15/8) meanwhile recently set a national record of 69.83m in Gateshead and is a good championship thrower.

Women’s 400m hurdles

This is shaping up to be one of the most competitive events of the championships. There are six or seven athletes who have a genuine chance of winning gold. Because it is so competitive, even the favourite’s odds can be decent value.

Russia’s Natalya Antyukh is currently the favourite at 15/8. The likes of Zuzana Hejnova and Angela Morosanu have SBs just a fraction behind Antyukh, which perhaps makes the event appear more competitive than it actually is. But in terms of head-to-heads, Antyukh has not been beaten by any European athletes this year. Plus, she is known for bringing her best to championships, so will likely run faster than her 54.00 season’s best.

Her odds might not be tempting enough to back her alone, but if you’re looking for an event favourite to mix in an accumulator, then Antyukh is a great one for this.

Men’s 5000m

I would love for Mo Farah to win the 10,000m and return later in the week to take the 5000m title too. His best chance of doing the latter would be to take it out hard, stick to Alemayehu Bezabeh (the only other guy capable of near-13:00 pace) and try out-kicking him at the end.

But as this will potentially be Farah’s third race of the week, he will likely be too tired to run at near-PB pace meaning the 5000m will become a kicker’s race. On the European scene, the Spaniard distance runners are known for being the best kickers, so perhaps defending champion Jesús España could be the guy to back here. He recently won the Spanish title, beating all of his kick-finishing compatriots. With current odds of 4/1 he is only the third favourite, but España is better than that.

Women’s 1500m

I have not yet seen any odds for this event, but if I had any advice it would be to back Natalia Rodriguez. The Spaniard crossed the line in pole position at last year’s World Championships, but was later disqualified for pushing another athlete. She bounced back earlier this year to take World Indoor silver, proving that she is still a danger.

Her season’s best (4:06.7) ranks her outside the top 40 in the world this year, but don’t be fooled as she is undefeated on the European level this year. Rodriguez may not run fast times in pace-made races like this year’s top three in Europe (Anna Alminova, Hind Dehiba and Lisa Dobriskey), but she is at her best in tactical races with a last-lap burn up – which is exactly what most championship races are like. And never underestimate the benefit of home-crowd support.

This could be one of the highest-quality events of the week, but when odds do appear for the 1500m, if Rodriguez is listed as being anything other than the favourite, then she is worth backing.

Hopefully this distinction can finally be laid to bed and Lemaître can get on with the rest of his career without having to carry a burden on his shoulders that has seemingly got in the way of previous talented white sprinters progressing.

Before today, there had been 446 legal sub-10-second performances in the men’s 100m; all of them achieved by 69 different sprinters of African-Caribbean descent and one of Aborigine descent. Lemaître has become the 62nd fastest athlete of all time with his performance of 9.98 at the French Championships.

It’s not racist to acknowledge the difference between the number of African-Caribbean sprinters and white sprinters to run sub-10 seconds for 100m. Racism is discriminatory or abusive behaviour towards members of a particular race. Realising that athletes of African-Caribbean descent have historically been more successful in the 100m is simply being observant, and we shouldn’t be afraid of noticing that.

People took note when Tiger Woods broke out onto the international golfing scene because very few black golf players had reached such a high level in that sport before. The Williams sisters also garnered a lot of attention when they first made an impact in the tennis world as it had mainly been a sport in which many white people had previously succeeded.

What we should be afraid of, however, is getting carried away with such accolades and recognising them as an athlete’s greatest achievement. Winning a medal at a global championships or setting a world record should far outweigh any arbitrary achievement. I’m sure Dieter Bauman values his 1992 Olympic gold medal more than his achievement of being one of the fastest white men over 5000m.

It begs the question – does Lemaître have the potential to become an Olympic champion? While it’s impossible to predict who will win gold at future championships (especially while Usain Bolt is still around!), we can compare Lemaître’s times to what other sprinters ran at the same age, in their first year of being a senior.

Jamaica’s Yohan Blake, who is one year older than Lemaître, last year clocked 9.93 seconds for 100m to set a world age-19 best. Before that Nigeria’s Seun Ogunkoya possessed the fastest time by a 19-year-old with 9.97. After that, Lemaître is the next fastest with his 9.98, closely followed by Samuel Francis (9.99) and Carl Lewis (10.00).

Put simply, Lemaître is the third fastest sprinter ever at age 19/20. Faster than Carl Lewis, faster than Dwain Chambers, and significantly faster than what former world record-holder Asafa Powell and former double world champion Tyson Gay achieved at that age. See the diagram on the right for a visual indication of how Lemaître compares to other sprinters at age 20. (In case you’re wondering, Usain Bolt didn’t attempt the 100m until he was 21 years old; it was a 10.03 clocking).

On pure potential alone, Lemaître could become one of the greatest sprinters ever. Of course he could fade away and never again improve on his PB, but all the signs are pointing towards him having a pretty successful career. What I like about Lemaître is that he is looking beyond being the first white guy under 10 seconds and wants to achieve tangible success – namely championship medals.

Lemaître is still some way from being the next Usain Bolt, but he is already well on his way to being an accomplished elite sprinter. Similarly, we should also have just as much anticipation for the future achievements of the likes of Yohan Blake, Ryan Bailey, D’Angelo Cherry, Ramil Guliyev and all the other talented young sprinters emerging right now, regardless of their skin colour.

Tiger Woods went beyond simply being ‘the best black golfer’ and became arguably the greatest ever in his sport. The Williams sisters didn’t stop at being the best ever black tennis players; they transformed the game and have now secured their place in the tennis hall of fame. Now that Lemaître has this sub-10 clocking to his name, he (and we) can move on from him being ‘the fastest ever white man’ and look forward to him potentially becoming one of the greatest sprinters, period.

In a couple of decades’ time, we could be looking back on what Lemaître has accomplished during his career; recalling a handful of championship medals (some gold maybe), a European record, and then somewhere towards the end there will be a recollection of: “oh, and remember that time when he first broke 10 seconds?” If that were to become the defining moment of his career, it would quite simply be a travesty.

As a spectator/photographer, it was my first outdoor athletics event of the summer, and despite some high-profile withdrawals it was a pretty good weekend all in all. Here’s hoping that some of the winners last weekend go on to replicate those victories on the bigger stage at the European Championships in Barcelona next month.

I have posted below a selection of some of my shots from Birmingham. More can be seen here.

Men's 5000m

Rhys Williams

Andrew Steele

James Dasaolu and Dwain Chambers

Hatti Dean

Emma Jackson

Men's 200m

Phillips Idowu

Freya Murray

Ezekiel Ewulo

To have such a short period at the top is disappointing for fans who enjoy seeing world-class performances, but that letdown cannot compare to the sheer frustration felt by the athletes themselves who have to battle with the injuries, illnesses and other issues that often lead to these short-lived international careers.

In the cases of the 13 athletes I have listed below, pretty much all of them are still young enough to make something of a comeback. Whether their bodies and/or motivation allows is another thing altogether. It would be great to find out exactly what has happened to some of these, so if you do happen to know, please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this blog entry.

Margus Hunt © Action Images / Jessica Rinaldi

Margus Hunt

The young Estonian thrower made a huge impact at the 2006 IAAF World Junior Championships, winning the shot and discus titles with a world junior record of 67.32m in the latter. His dominance of the competition, combined with his imposing build (203cm & 100kg / 6′ 8″ & 200lb) gave the impression that he was the next Big Thing. But since moving to the senior ranks he has seemingly struggled with the senior implements. He is yet to break 60 metres (197 feet) in the senior weight discus and his PB dates back to 2006.

Hunt may be a prime example of an early developer who simply isn’t cut out for the heavier senior throwing implements. Either way, he is at least still active in the sport – maybe his big break is yet to come.

Yuliya Nesterenko

Not many people had heard of Yuliya Nesterenko before 2004, but many knew about her afterwards. The Belorussian sprinter won the women’s 100m title at the Athens Olympics, becoming the first woman since Florence Griffith-Joyner to run sub-11 in every round en route to winning Olympic gold.

But one year later she had lost that air of invincibility and finished a distant eighth at the World Championships, followed by a sixth-place finish at the European Championships. She failed to make the final at the Beijing Olympics and last year she only qualified as a relay runner for the World Championships in Berlin.

Otis Harris

The men’s 400m at the 2004 Athens Olympics was all about Jeremy Wariner, the young gun who came from relative obscurity to win gold on the biggest stage. Those who finished behind him went almost unnoticed, but Otis Harris’ silver medal was just as surprising as the 22-year-old American reduced his PB to 44.16, making him the 14th fastest performer in history at the time.

In the weeks that followed those Games, Harris broke 45 seconds two more times before the end of the season, but instead of coming back stronger the following year, his performances went backwards. To date, he has not broken 45 seconds since September 2004.

Kateřina Baďurová

For years Czech pole vaulter Kateřina Baďurová wasn’t even the most successful athlete in her family unit – her husband, Tomáš Janků, had enjoyed considerable success in the high jump, winning the 2006 European silver medal and the 2006 World Cup gold. But in 2007 Baďurová had a dream season which culminated in the silver medal at the IAAF World Championships in Osaka. Having started the season with a PB of 4.52m, she improved to national records of 4.65m indoors and 4.75m outdoors.

But instead of it being the start of something big, Baďurová was hardly seen competing again after 2007. She cleared 4.35m in a low-key competition in 2008 before crashing out of the qualifying round at the Beijing Olympics.

Susanne Wigene (leading) © superjon

Susanne Wigene

Not since the days of Grete Waitz and Ingrid Kristiansen had Norway enjoyed success in the world of international women’s distance running, but the breakthrough in 2005 of Susanne Wigene looked as though it was the third coming. The former steeplechaser reduced her PBs down to 8:40.23 for 3000m and 14:48.53 for 5000m, but her biggest achievement came at the 2006 European Championships where she won the 10,000m silver medal with a superb 30:32.36.

Just two races in 2007 followed – a 15:24 for 5km on the roads and a 15:24.25 for 5000m on the track in Rome – but Wigene hasn’t been seen competing since.

Nicholas Kemboi

Kenya has such astounding depth in the distance events, many great athletes come and go with few fans even batting an eyelid. But the one that sticks in my mind is Kenyan-turned-Qatari Nicholas Kemboi. In 2003 Kemboi clocked 26:30.03 for 10,000m, finishing within a few strides of the legendary Haile Gebrselassie at the Brussels Golden League meeting. At the time, it was the fourth fastest performance of all time and with Kemboi being just 19 years old, it seemed as though he had a great future ahead of him.

But seven years on and that performance remains Kemboi’s PB. He dipped under 27 minutes again in 2005, but has not really made the impact that his 2003 form promised, despite having the financial backing of his new adopted country. Last year he failed to finish in the 10,000m at the IAAF World Championships in Berlin.

Abby Westley

Great Britain has enjoyed a good run of middle-distance women over the past decade or so, and in 2007 it looked as though another star of the future was set to emerge. Abby Westley improved her 1500m PB from 4:16.23 to 4:08.74 at age 19. She went on to win all of her 1500m races over the following couple of months, including winning the European Cup division 1 title and the European Under-23 gold. Her only 1500m loss of the year came at the IAAF World Championships in Osaka, where she got tripped and lost a shoe. It was a baptism of fire for Westley on her senior championship debut, but hopes were high that she would rebound and come back stronger.

Three years have passed since that great season and Westley has not competed at all since. Her training partner, World Championships silver medallist Lisa Dobriskey, has a great knack of returning after being set back by injury. Hopefully Westley will follow in her footsteps and make a swift return.

Dominique Arnold

The 2006 Athletissima grand prix in Lausanne was one of the greatest one-day meetings in recent history. Not only was it the setting for Xavier Carter’s international breakthrough performance of 19.63 in the 200m, but it also staged an historic 100m hurdles race. Liu Xiang broke the world record with a 12.88 clocking while USA’s Dominique Arnold finished a whisker behind in a US record of 12.90 – a time that also dipped under the previous world record. To break a national record that was co-shared by Roger Kingdom and Allen Johnson takes someone very special.

Arnold had one more race that season before having an erratic 2007 campaign, which was curtailed by injury. He remains the third fastest 110m hurdler in history, but Arnold’s best time from the past three seasons has been a 13.55 clocking.

Derrick Atkins © run turn

Derrick Atkins

The Bahamas have produced many female sprinters of note in recent years, so it was something of a nice surprise when in 2007 it looked as though they finally had a speedy male sprinter to be proud of. Derrick Atkins, a distant relative to Asafa Powell, dipped under 10 seconds early in the season and backed it up throughout the summer with fast times on the circuit. His season culminated with a silver medal in the 100m at the IAAF World Championships in Osaka, finishing in-between Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell – no mean feat in itself! Atkins’ time was 9.91, run into a -0.5ms wind. To put that in perspective, it translates to 9.78 with the maximum allowable 2.0ms wind.

But that would be the last time Atkins broke the 10-second barrier. He failed to make the 100m final at the Beijing Olympics one year later and crashed out of the heats at the IAAF World Championships in 2009. However, Atkins did clock a 200m PB of 20.35 last year, and so far this season he has a 10.13 to his name, so he may yet return to his best.

Kym Howe

The Commonwealth Games appear something of a Mickey Mouse championships to the outside world, but for those countries involved, it is kind of a big deal. Australia’s Kym Howe won the silver medal in 2002 and seemed to be stuck at the 4.40m level in the years that followed. But the prospect of a Commonwealth Games on home soil in 2006 appeared to give her an extra bit of motivation, winning all of her competitions leading up to the Commonwealths and then winning the gold with an area record of 4.62m.

She returned the following year in even better form and improved her own area records to 4.72m indoors and 4.65m outdoors. But since finishing 11th in the World Championships final in 2007, Howe has been nowhere to be seen on the international circuit.

David Fiegen

It is not often that Luxembourg has a world class athlete, so when one does come along fans sit up and take note. After showing good form as a junior, 800m runner David Feigen enjoyed a breakthrough onto the senior scene in 2006 by winning the silver medal at the European Championships and setting a national record of 1:44.81 a few days later in Zürich.

Since then Fiegen’s seasons have been somewhat limited with his fastest post-2006 time being 1:46.03. With the European Championships looming within a few weeks, here’s hoping Fiegen can make it back to the track in time to defend his silver medal.

Rachelle Smith

For an athlete whose rise to the top happened pretty suddenly, Rachelle Smith’s breakthrough in 2005 seemed to go almost unnoticed. Having never before qualified to represent the USA at an outdoor championships, Smith not only booked her place on the team with a 22.22 PB at the US Championships, but she backed it up with the silver medal at the IAAF World Championships in Helsinki.

But despite clocking some fast times in 2006 and 2007, Smith has not made it back onto the US team for any major championships since Helsinki.

 

Melvin Lister

Such is the standard of track and field in the US, it’s a pretty tough ask to simply make the team with their ‘first three past the post’ selection policy – especially in Olympic years. The US Olympic Trials always throws up unexpected results, and Melvin Lister’s winning leap in the triple jump in 2004 was one such moment. Up until that point, Lister had mainly been known as a long jumper, but he finished a distant seventh in his specialist event at the Trials so turned to the triple jump.

Having only broken 17 metres on one occasion beforehand – and that was five years prior to 2004 – Lister produced the jump of his life. Recovering from a spot of mid-jump inbalance, Lister leapt out to a staggering 17.78m, putting him at 11th on the all-time list. Two weeks later in London he jumped 17.20m, but that was to be his final 17m+ jump. He bombed out of the qualifying round at the Athens Olympics that summer, and in the years that followed he failed to break even 16 metres outdoors.

A perfect example of this was on Friday at the Bislett Games Diamond League meeting in Oslo. In the men’s 5000m, two Americans – Bernard Lagat and Chris Solinsky – dipped under 13 minutes, with Lagat’s time breaking the American record.  An outstanding feat, and another example of USA’s improved form in the endurance events.

But with all the post-race talk revolving around this pair, you’d be forgiven for thinking that one of them had actually won the race. In reality, Lagat was third and Solinsky was sixth. As I write this, just three days have passed since Oslo and I bet many fans have already forgotten who won the 5000m.

So let’s just reflect for a moment on the winner, Imane Merga from Ethiopia. The 21-year-old is a real talent too. While it has taken Lagat 35 years to run 12:54, Merga is running faster (12:53.81 to be precise) at a much younger age. He also finished fourth over 10,000m at the IAAF World Championships last year.

Merga is now the sixth fastest Ethiopian of all time over 5000m and all of his compatriots who rank ahead of him have won a bag load of medals at World Championships, Olympics, World Indoor Championships and World Cross Country Championships.  In short, should Merga stick around and continue progressing, we will most likely be seeing him on the podium at a major global championships very soon.

Another example of race winners being ignored came in 2006. I remember flicking through the coverage of the Commonwealth Games in Running Fitness magazine. In their report of the 5000m, the focus was almost exclusively on Australian runner Craig Mottram – the headline, pictures, captions and 95% of the story was all Mottram-related. At a quick glance, it would have looked as though Mottram was the winner.

In truth, he won the silver medal behind Augustine Choge, who clocked the fastest ever championship 5000m of 12:56.41 to win the gold medal, and did so while still a junior athlete too. He probably got one or two mentions in the whole report in that magazine.

A very similar thing happened one year prior to that at the IAAF World Championships in Helsinki. Everyone remembers Mottram winning the bronze medal in the 5000m (indeed, I don’t recall any athlete ever getting so much press from a bronze medal), but does anyone recall who won the gold and silver medals ahead of him? To wit, Benjamin Limo of Kenya was the victor with Sileshi Sihine of Ethiopia taking the silver medal.

I think it’s fantastic that Western distance runners are finally conquering their fear of competing with the Africans, and the four American athletes who have broken 13 minutes for 5000m in the past 12 months are fully deserving of all the praise they get for their outstanding achievements.

But at the same time, it would be great to see just as much adulation heaped on the Ethiopian and Kenyan athletes too. They are just as talented (if not more so), work just as hard (if not harder), and they actually win races and take gold medals!