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On 7 September, 1960, Dixie Willis lined up in the final of the women’s 800 metres at the Rome Olympic Games. Almost 52 years later, it’s about time she was told she finished the race.

From that point on, it’s not exactly clear what happened. Nor does the available evidence provide a complete picture of Willis’s run up the final straight. But it does present a compelling case that she crossed the finish line and should be regarded as a finisher, rather than the non-finisher she is universally reported to have been.

In summary, the evidence is: host broadcaster film shows Willis crossing the finish line at a jog-walk some 20 seconds after the winner; the official Australian Olympic report lists her as a finisher; further host broadcaster film shows Willis off the track with around 70 metres to run after either stepping on the plinth, or being contacted or baulked by other runners and slumping briefly to hands and knees; finally, a picture of the finish in the official Games’ Report shows all nine finalists on the track as the winner crosses the line.

The film (which you can find at YouTube, ‘Brenda Jones (Carr) Silver 800m’) shows four women in contention for the medals in the final straight– Willis and her Australian teammate Brenda Jones, Shevtsova and Germany’s Ursula Donath.

With 70 metres to run, Willis loses the lead and is then tightened for room as the Soviet runner and Jones press past. A stride or two later, she loses balance, throws an arm in the air, and steps onto the infield.

It is not obvious what caused Willis to step off the track. Perhaps she was clipped as the others moved past or trod on a heel as they moved in, perhaps she trod on the track border, perhaps she just lost concentration. In any case, her reaction indicates it was not intentional. Another excerpt (‘Rome Olympic Games 1960 Women’s 800m’) shows her slump briefly to her hands and knees just after stepping onto the infield.

And there Dixie Willis’s Olympic final appeared to come to an end. In any case, her fate was submerged by Jones’s silver medal less than a step behind Shevtsova’s world record-equalling win in 2:04.3.

There is no unanimity about the reporting and recording of Willis’ result, either in contemporary reports or compilations since. Among the annotations are: “fell 90 meters from the finish”, “fell in final”, “fell in final and did not finish”, “with 150 meters (sic!) to go, she suddenly threw her hands in the air and staggered off the track,” “scratched” and “tired badly and fell when she tripped over the track border”.

Not even the IAAF World Record Progression book gets it right, stating in the description of Shevtsova’s equal world record - “led at the 700m mark, then fell over and did not finish”.

The ‘historical results’ section of Athletics Australia’s website records “did not finish (fell).”

The official report of the Rome Olympics lists Willis as ‘scratched’. Clearly this does not have the meaning we assign to it (i.e. did not participate). From other middle-distance results in the report, however, it would seem to mean ‘did not finish’.

As for Willis, she just assumed she had been disqualified and took the matter no further. 

And there it seemed destined to rest, until Athletics Australia statistician Paul Jenes was sent the YouTube footage by Trevor Vincent as part of research he (Jenes) was doing on Jones (now Brenda Carr). To his astonishment, he noticed Willis jog/walk across the line more than 20 seconds after the medallists.

So Willis had got to the finish.

Further evidence emerged. A picture in the Games official report (Vol. II, p.190), taken as the first two crossed the line, clearly shows nine runners on the track. Given that the eighth finisher – Zbikowska of Poland – recorded 2:11.8, 7.5 seconds slower than the winner, the depth of the picture must have been at least 45 metres, indicating Willis had come straight back onto the track then jogged slowly to the finish.

Finally, the smoking gun: the Australian National Sports Museum unearthed a copy of the official Australian 1960 Olympic report. Willis’s performance was recorded as “ninth in final, no time taken.”

The athletics section manager in Rome was Judy Patching – subsequently secretary-general of the Australian Olympic Federation (now AOC) and the team manager was Syd Grange, subsequently AOF president. They were hardly likely to have got it wrong, which seems to take care of the (admittedly remote) possibility Willis may have been disqualified.

After all these years, then, it seems the only possible conclusion is that Dixie Willis did finish the 1960 Rome Olympic women’s 800 metres final. It’s long since time to acknowledge that fact.

Dixie Willis went on to set world records for both 800 metres and 880 yards in 1962 and to win the gold medal in the latter event at the 1962 Commonwealth Games.

Trevor Vincent, who has been the driving force in digging out the facts of the 1960 race, was the 3000 metres steeplechase gold medallist at those Games.

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I stubbed my big toe on a rock. It’s purple now, maybe tomorrow it will be black, blue, or a bit of both.

Two days into a stay at Falls Creek, I decided to run Spion Kopje, the brilliant 24km run the ‘out’ section of which ends with an undulating climb to the summit of Spion Kopje. Tough, but widely regarded as one of the best runs at Falls.

I wasn’t expecting a ‘pb’. I was prepared to pepper my run with judiciously-timed walks. Having survived all the hard bits, I was back on the dirt road up the back of Mt Nelse. It is one of my favourite sections of the run, a steady, not-too-steep climb on a good surface.

Good until I encountered the rock, that is. Smooth, round, about the size of a volley ball, buried in the dirt. Like an iceberg, its bulk – and menace - was below the surface. I could have stepped clean over it, could have scuffed it with my left shoe and merely stumbled: instead, I caught it flush on, stubbing my big toe, rolling over, and ending up staring into, and cursing, the clear blue sky.

After a few minutes’ limping, I was able to run again, albeit painfully. Oh, and also not downhill, because that jammed my throbbing toe into the toe-box of the shoe. Seeing about 70 percent of the distance left was downhill, that was somewhat of a problem.

Still, as the only member of our group to attempt Spion Kopje, with a multi-coloured toe to show for it, the silver lining of the cloud over my big toe has been having bragging rights without the necessity to back up with another epic run. This period of barely-earned respect and admiration will probably have expired by the time you’re reading about it.

 It also offered the perfect excuse to watch the next day’s session of 400s out on the Langfords Gap aqueducts. With over 120 runners taking part, both the logistics and the spectacle were formidable. Falls at Christmas-New Year is a great time to be a distance runner.

Most of Australia’s top runners are here, together with a far bigger number who either want to reach the same level, or simply get better. It is a time for building bases and relationships, a sound foundation of aerobic fitness and the realisation you are not alone in what is often referred to as a solitary sport both being valuable assets.

Inevitably, it is also a time to reflect on the year just past. Australian middle and long-distance running had a mixed time of it in 2011, memorable achievements balanced by disappointments.

In May, after Ben St Lawrence had broken the national record for 10,000 metres, Eloise Wellings had qualified for the Daegu 10,000 and Kaila McKnight had got the A-standard for 1500 in Korea, I wrote a column titled, “we’ve been here before”. It pointed out that we had been producing distance championship qualifiers for a few years now without any of them breaking through to perform on the bigger stage.

Some apparently viewed this as a negative sentiment, or as criticism. It was neither. Instead, it was an expression of hope that one of our distance representatives would make the same impact in Daegu as Craig Mottram had in Helsinki 2005 and Melbourne 2006.

In any event, it didn’t happen and distance running copped it in the neck somewhat in post-world championships reviews for under-performing. One obvious response is, “at least they got there” – unlike sprinters, 400m runners, high jumpers, hammer throwers. Our track and field team in Daegu, as in Delhi the previous year, had more holes than a Swiss cheese.

Most of these athletes are beginning their Olympic year at Falls, and you’d imagine one of their stronger motivations at the moment is to do better at London 2012 than Daegu 2011. Falling short of expectation one year is always a strong motivator to do better the next.

Not all of them will do better, of course. That’s the nature of athletics. No-one ever prepares to fail, but, inevitably, some do. One minute you’re flying, the next you’re flat on your back, staring into the blue sky, cursing your throbbing big toe.

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We’ve ticked into December, so talk about Christmas is no longer the sole province of the commercially voracious.

So let’s start this ‘all I want for Christmas’ list with a wish for a couple of Olympic 10,000 metres qualifiers on 10 December to celebrate the opening of Melbourne’s new Lakeside Stadium.

The chances that we will get them have just been enhanced with the announcement that Beijing 2008 Olympic bronze medallist Micah Kogo will run the men’s race. Kogo is the sixth-fastest man all-time with his personal best 26:35.63 set in winning at the Van Damme Memorial in Brussels in 2006.

With Kogo – plus a couple more yet to be announced – helping drive the pace, Ben St Lawrence and Craig Mottram will have every opportunity to run the 27:45 Olympic A-standard.

Something similar in the women’s race looks beyond even the most optimistic Christmas wish-list, but if the likes of Emily Birchacek, who had a great run in the Chiba Ekiden Relay, and Jess Trengrove can get down into the 32-minute range there will at least be a platform to build on.

Speaking of Mottram brings me back to one of last year’s wishes. Back then, I was speculating on the comeback prospects of Mottram, dual 400 metres hurdles world champion Jana Pittman and 50km walk world champion Nathan Deakes.

Mottram certainly made a big step back in 2011. Deakes got half-way there, completing his first 50km since Osaka 2007 and then leading the world championships race in Daegu for over 30km before succumbing to hamstring cramps. Pittman took one step forward – beating Lauren Boden in 55.75 in Perth – before taking one back almost immediately.

So it would be great to see all three up and firing again in 2012.

Our 2009 world champions – Steve Hooker and Dani Samuels – were also down on form in 2011, so a return to previous performance levels is also on the wish-list for them. Hooker is approaching – but, crucially, not yet at - that stage of his career at which anything further is a bonus. Samuels, though, the youngest ever world champion in her event, surely has plenty more to give.

Speaking of world champion curses – if there is such a thing, may Sally Pearson avoid it in her build-up to London.

Another high performer who has been on the injured list is national shot put record holder Scott Martin. The big fellow is listed to compete at the Zatopek meeting, along with Dale Stevenson, so let’s hope he gets there and gets going.

Fingers crossed, too, for Ryan Gregson, who managed to progress to the semi-finals of the 1500 in Daegu despite significant injury worries for the second year in a row. Gregson is a major talent, but it is hard to do much if you cannot get to the line fit and in good shape.

What about from an international perspective? The most fervent wish, I guess, is that Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, Tyson Gay and, now, Yohan Blake, all get to the line in London fit and running well. On recent history, it is probably a forlorn prospect.

Can Kenenisa Bekele build on his late-2011 return in the long-distance track events, to regain the form and fitness to not just run fast, but also to do it in a championship race. He’ll need to be at his best to withstand Mo Farah, Ibrahim Jeilan, Galen Rupp and whatever new talent comes forward.

Ethiopia also needs an injection of fresh talent, or a revival of the existing talent, to challenge Vivian Cheruiyot and Linet Masai in the women’s distance events.

I hope, too, that David Rudisha can add an Olympic title to his world record and world title in the 800 metres.

I hope that the Polish revival in men’s pole vault and the emergence of a couple of Cuban stars continues.

Finally, let’s hope the wonderful blossoming of marathon talent we have seen through 2011 comes together for a pair of memorable Olympic marathons in London.

If all those Christmas wishes are granted, it is going to be a grand Olympic year.

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Interclub competition is the neglected child of Australian athletics. Occasionally we need a reminder of what an asset it is.

The quote came from an article in The Argus, the Melbourne daily which ceased publication in 1957. Fired up with pre-Melbourne 1956 Olympic fever, the paper had sent a columnist down to check out the opening round of the 1953-54 inter-club athletic season.

Describing the “weekly, non-stop athletic carnival,” the writer asked readers: 

“Imagine, if you can, trying to watch: 

“A gruelling finish to a mile race; A mad dash over a 120-yd flight of hurdles; Breathtaking pole-vaults; Heroic, well-timed pole-vaults; Prodigious flights by the long-jump men.

“It happens, right here in Melbourne,” our columnist assured us. “And at 1:30pm today, it will begin again.”

Acclaiming the “scope and organisation of the Victorian Amateur Athletic Association’s weekly interclub contests”, our scribe continued:

“No city, anywhere in the world, conducts such complex, regular meetings, with so many athletes in action at the same time.”

(You can access the whole article, complete with pictures, at http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/23310897 .)

Apart from minor quibbles - the correspondent being so excited he mentioned pole vault twice – the picture is substantially the same today. Oh, and there’s women, too. Back then, women’s competitions, indeed women’s associations, were separate. If readers of The Argus wanted to see women back in 1953, they either sought out reports of the women’s competitions, or turned to other, more salacious sections of the newspaper.

There is one other substantive difference, too, and I didn’t have to go to the archives to bring that one to mind. The prompt came later the very same day when Tamsyn Manou (Lewis) happened to come into the same cafe at which a group of us were having lunch.

Three days of warm spring weather in Melbourne had been replaced by the sort of classical, grey day, accompanied by persistent drizzle, which gives our city a poor reputation climate-wise.

“Just in time for interclub tomorrow,” Tamsyn remarked, a reminder not just of Melbourne’s mercurial spring weather but also of the fact she is a regular competitor in club competition. It’s part of her training.

Back in 1953, any visitor to interclub would have seen some of the country’s best athletes. John Landy ran the mile on the day The Argus reporter attended. The Monday paper, two days later (no Sunday editions then) carried two back-page reports of the competition along with a picture of a competitor in the hop, step and jump (triple jump).

There was a further report of a national junior record in women’s high jump in Brisbane. That made three stories on athletics on the back page of a major metropolitan daily. Oh, happy day.

In fact, all the way through to the 1980s, regular club competition was part of the diet of all Australia’s international stars. Landy, Betty Cuthbert, Marlene Matthews, Herb Elliott, Pam Kilborn, Graham Crouch, Raelene Boyle – you’d be likely to see all of them out in their club colours. As for Ron Clarke, his racing program for Glenhuntly was similar to his international program – prodigious.

Nor was it just club competition. There were interstate matches – Victoria v New South Wales, Victoria v South Australia – as well as a surprising number of invitational meetings. The sponsored international meeting is not a recent phenomenon.

Athletes did not ignore their training. The training bloc is likewise not a recent invention, not even the high altitude training bloc. A report of a half-mile race won by Ralph Doubell mentions that he had just returned from four weeks’ training at Falls Creek.

No, the model up until fairly recently was simply that athletes competed more often. Now, the model seems to be one in which competition is something that gets in the way of training.

It’s a mistake to over-simplify comparisons. There’s also a danger that, in looking back, we tend to examine what champions did and try to apply it across the board.

Arguably, though, our very best performed athletes still do compete often. Cathy Freeman certainly did; Sally Pearson had a full domestic season this year, as did Mitch Watt.

It didn’t do any of them any harm. Maybe there’s a lot to be said for competing more often. Melbourne’s (and Sydney’s, and Brisbane’s) weekly, non-stop athletic carnival is still running.

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As many an opponent found, Cathy Freeman was a very hard person to catch.

In a sense, it was a belated recognition of a status long since awarded by most Australians. From her laps of honour with the national and aboriginal flags in Victoria, Canada, after winning the 200 and 400 metres at the 1994 Commonwealth Games, through her epic losing battle with Marie-Jose Perec in the Atlanta Olympic 400 metres final and her two world championships gold medals, to the final climactic moment in Sydney – they had long since associated her with heroic deeds.

Fans sometimes accord legend’s status too freely – how often is the match-winning goal or game-saving mark or tackle hailed with the words: “(insert player name here), you legend!”

Similarly, those who exhibit sporadic brilliance, or endearing characteristics seen as embodying the spirit of their sport or team, can be too readily elevated to legend standing.

But rarely are fans wrong in recognising and acclaiming ‘legends’ those they have given more considered reflection. Never under-estimate the collective wisdom of those with an emotional connection to a sport.

Bodies such as the Sport Australia Hall of Fame must follow a more rigorous and more consistent process before, usually, arriving at the same outcome.

So it was with Freeman, who was elevated as the 2011 legend when most of the audience had had her there since 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999 or, if none of those, since 2000. As Bruce McAvaney (who else?) took Freeman through her career it was amazing how the goose bumps still came watching her wins in Victoria, Athens, Seville and, especially, Sydney 2000.

It was also a moment to reflect on the power of television. How fortunate we are to have available the brilliant footage of the past 20-30 years. How great would it be to see the feats of Jackson, Strickland, Landy and Elliott in such vivid detail.

Freeman becomes the seventh track and field athlete to be accorded legend status. For a sport which, justifiably in this writer’s view, sometimes sees itself as under-rated, it is an impressive number, almost double any other sport.

Tennis is next with four, each of swimming and AFL has three.

Athletics’ ‘magnificent seven’ are Freeman, Edwin Flack, Marjorie Jackson-Nelson, Shirley (Strickland) De La Hunty, John Landy, Betty Cuthbert and Herb Elliott. Tennis has Margaret Court, Evonne (Goolagong) Cawley, Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall. Swimming’s legends are Dawn Fraser, Murray Rose and Shane Gould.

Cathy Freeman is these days Catherine Murch. She, and husband James, have just become the proud parents of baby daughter Ruby Anne Susie. Her passion is now channelled into the Catherine Freeman Foundation which works on closing the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians through education. The focus so far has been on Queensland’s Palm Island, the fourth-most disadvantaged community in Australia (according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures), where Freeman’s mother and grand-parents lived.

Sport Australia is an umbrella organisation for all Australian sports. Its 33 legends reflect this, representing 15 sports in all. Looking at the list, and the nominees and award winners on the night, it must be said that SA does an excellent job of acknowledging excellence and achievement across the board.

The main annual award is ‘The Don Award’ named after the first inductee into the Hall of Fame, Sir Donald Bradman. ‘The Don’ honours the current athlete who, by their achievements and example over the previous 12 months, has done most to inspire the nation.

Sally Pearson, the 100 metres hurdles world champion, US women’s open tennis champion Sam Stosur, and swimming’s sprint world champion James Magnussen would all have been worthy winners, but it was a bad year to be anyone other than Cadel Evans. The man who was responsible for more sleep deprivation than anyone else in Australian history was a runaway winner with his historic Tour de France victory.

Evans’ performance and Freeman’s in Sydney 2000 were also enshrined in the Hall of Fame as great sporting moments.

The seven inductees into the Hall of Fame included former Sun News Pictorial (and then Herald Sun) journalist Judy Joy Davies (the others were cricketers Glenn McGrath and Belinda Clark, triathlete Greg Welch, basketball player, coach and administrator Lorraine Landon, boxer Kosta Tszyu and surfer Layne Beachley).

A former Olympic and Empire Games swimmer, Judy Joy (as she was pretty well universally known) covered athletics, swimming and other ‘minor’ sports for 34 years.

I’m not aware - and I’m not going to risk spoiling things by asking – of Judy Joy ever covering Australian Rules football. In a lifetime reporting sport in football-mad Melbourne, that would be some kind of record.

By Bryan Green

"Running from the front requires more energy.  But then again, so does catching up to the leader."

I wish I knew where I first heard that quote, but it always sticks with me when I watch championship racing.  If you could pick one place to be in the final lap, it would be 2nd place, one stride back from the leader, on the outside of lane 1 (preferably without Imane Merga slapping your arm and pushing you outside).  You're not in the front, but you're at the front, and you have to work the least to catch the leader.

You know who is always in that position?  Bernard Lagat.

Bernard Lagat just won a medal in his 6th outdoor championship, dating back to 2001 (and he likely would have medaled in 2003 and 2005 had he not been forced to sit out).  Obviously, Lagat is one of the most talented runners to ever lace up a pair of spikes.  But the fact that he continues to place so well against the world's best at age 36 is a matter of more than just talent.  He's no longer the best runner in the world, but he's arguably the best tactician.

All you can aim to do in a race is give yourself the best chance at placing as high as possible.  Lagat always puts himself in that position.  In fact, the art of executing perfect race tactics should just be named after him at this point.  We should all agree to call perfectly run races "Bernards" and to describe the right move at the right time as "Lagatesque".  Shouldn't we?

Why is it that Lagat can always run this way and others can't?  

To Mix It Up, Or Not To Mix It Up

Johnny Gray's shins were never touched by a competitor's spikes.

We first need to look at racing styles.  In general, there are three distinct race styles, and athletes tend to fall into one of the following: front-runners, big kickers, or mixer-upers.

Front-runners are a rare breed.  They go for it at the gun and challenge you to beat them.  Front-running, especially in championship settings, requires a unique combination of outstanding ability and what we might call delusional confidence.  Pre's myth centers around his front-running approach.  Another classic front-runner was Johnny Gray, who never met a race he didn't need to lead.  I think we can fairly assume his shins were the least spiked in history.  Charles Jock may be the next Johnny Gray.

Big kickers are the opposite of front-runners.  They hang as far back as possible--often dangerously far back--and rely on a huge kick to catch everyone as late as possible.  These guys are equally one-dimensional, albeit more thrilling to watch than front-runners.  The big problem for big kickers is that at some point, someone else in the race will have the same big kick and if you're at the back when the race really starts, you'll probably lose.  Nick Symmonds appears to be learning this, to his credit.  Maggie Vessey, Andrew Wheating, Robby Andrews, there are a lot of young American athletes who continue to use this approach exclusively to devastating success...and failure.

Mixer-upers are the guys who change their tactics for every race.  They mix it up with everyone, fight for position, aim to be in the right place at the right time, and are always trying to manufacture the perfect race.  Mixer-upers need to be constantly aware and reacting to the dynamic changes taking place mid-race.  This leaves them susceptible to other problems, like getting boxed in, kicked in the shins, tripped up, etc.  But when it works, these athletes are most likely to put themselves where you really want to be at the bell: 2nd place, one stride back, outside of lane 1.  

Most athletes are mixer-upers, if only because they don't have the necessary kick and/or they aren't delusional.  But most are not capable of consistently running ideal races in a championship setting.  Bernard Lagat is an exception, a mixer-uper who thrives in championships.  Have you noticed that Bernard Lagat never loses to big kickers?  That's because a) he has a pretty damn good kick, and b) when the kicking starts, he's always in better position than the big kicker.

If you're going to beat Bernard Lagat, you're going to have to both mix it up with him and be better than him.  A pretty hard task, as very few combine the consistently superior tactics with the finishing kick needed.  Mo Farah did, and he won the men's 5000m as a result.  But no one else did.

Bernard Lagat on the last lap in Daegu - right where he wants to be.

Can Lagatesque Tactics be Taught?

Are superior race tactics a skill that can be taught, or is the answer simply, "Some people get it and others don't"?  

I think Lagat's approach can be taught, for the most part.  The challenge is in maintaining the composure to execute it.  The first step is to simply understand what it is he does.  Luckily, Bernard Lagat has been running the same race for the past decade.  It is so predictable as to be boring.  

A "Bernard" can be summed up in 6 parts:

1.  Stay out of trouble early-mid race.  If possible, stay on the outside of lane 1.  If you have good position mid-race, don't give it up.  It's better to start at the back and move up on the outside than get trapped on the rail mid-race.

2.  Be in the top 3 by the last lap.  Sacrifice position early to have the freedom to move up by the last lap.  Aim to be on the outside of lane 1.

3.  Don't take the lead.  You should only take the lead once, when you are sure nobody can catch you.  For Bernard that's usually with about 100m to go.

4.  Don't go at the bell.  Everybody goes at the bell.  Too hard and too fast usually.  If you're aiming to win, you need to go just enough to keep contact with the leaders.  But you don't need to be right with them.  Most races are won in the final 100m, not the backstretch.

5.  Don't give up.  How many times have we seen someone open up a big lead from the bell to the final straight, only to get reeled in by the strongest finisher in the last 100m?  People who go early almost always come back.  So stay close enough to not lose faith.

6.  Have a good finish.  The first five don't matter if you don't have it at the end.  

It's simple but devastatingly effective.  Of course the X-factor is number 6.  Take Galen Rupp in both of his races.  He ran very good tactical races but didn't have it at the end.  So it goes.

A couple other Americans did have good finishes, however, and came home with medals as a result.  Jennifer Simpson took a page out of Lagat's book to win the women's 1500m gold, and Matt Centrowitz surpassed all expectations and snuck a bronze in the men's 1500m.



Simpson is a world-class steeplechaser who chose to run in on "off-event", the 1500m.  She has a 3:59 PR in the event, so it's not as though she had no credentials heading into the meet, but she was far from the favorite.  Still, she's a tenacious competitor, and is always mixing it up with the lead pack.  The final in Daegu was no different.  She stayed right near the front, didn't respond when everyone went too hard too soon at the bell, got to the outside and then picked people off down the homestretch to take the title.  

And Centrowitz was an even bigger surprise.  A 21-year old senior at the University of Oregon, he won the NCAA title (not a surprise) and then the US title (kind of a surprise), but if he'd been eliminated in the semis in Daegu everyone would have considered the experience a success.  Instead he controlled and won his semi (a race in which reigning champ Yusuf Saad Kamel failed to qualify), ran in perfect position at the front throughout the final, maintained his poise as the crowd jumped him at the bell, and kicked home faster than a slough of veterans to take bronze.  It wasn't just a Lagatesque final, it was a Lagatesque season.

What did Jennifer Simpson and Matt Centrowitz have in common with Bernard Lagat?  They executed a simple plan.  They always got themselves into the position they wanted to be in.  When they had good position, they didn't give it up easily.  They didn't get excited and go too early.  Even when they were gapped, they maintained enough connection to stay competitive.  And of course, they finished.

That's the part that can be taught.  In order to do it, however, they had to stay composed and disciplined as each round and each lap of the final heated up.  They couldn't get caught up in the moment and make a mistake.  You don't know if someone has that ability until they show it.  

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By Len Johnson

Bugger! What else can you say.

Mitch Watt fell one place and 12 centimetres short in his quest for a gold medal in the world championships long jump final, beating his own bronze medal from Berlin as the best Australian performance in the event, and equalling the Olympic silver medal performances by Theo Bruce (1948), Gary Honey (1984) and Jai Taurima (2000), as the best Australian performance in a global championship.

The fact that he lost to the winning-est man in world championships history – Dwight Phillips now has four gold and one bronze from five consecutive finals – will have been of little consolation. Nor that he has battled an ankle injury in his take-off leg for most of his time in Europe any excuse.

Phillips lived up to his bib number – 1111 – and there was little Watt or anyone else in the competition could do about it.

Indeed the last four rounds were as deflated as Australian spirits. Watt could not find anything, try as he might. Nor could anyone else. Phillips’ winning jump came in the second round, as did Watt’s silver medal performance.

Zimbabwe’s Ngonidzashe Makusha wrapped up his country’s first world championships medal, the bronze, even earlier. His first-round 8.29 stood up all the way through. He also had an 8.14 from 26 centimetres behind the board in the third round, an 8.40 jump presuming that technology is centimetre-perfect.

None of the top eight improved after the second round.

So there it was. A lacklustre championships for Australia got a lot better, but still failed to hit the jackpot. Still, one more medal and we have matched Colombia.

That could come in the 100 metres hurdles final on Saturday night. Sally Pearson has a habit of producing first-round zingers – she charges out boldly where others ease their way into things. But her 12.53 in the heats on Friday morning suggests she will be wearing a medal of some colour on Saturday night.

And there was a sixth place in the javelin final from the under-rated Kimberley Mickle. What a final this one was, with Maria Abakumova of Russia just 29 centimetres short of the world record in taking the gold in 71.99 metres and Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republic second with 71.58.

But what really caught the eye were the two ‘show me what you’ve got, and I’ll beat it’ performances by Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya in the women’s 5000 metres and Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica in the women’s 200.

Cheruiyot ran in front of Ethiopia’s Meseret Defar and Sylvia Kibet of Kenya for the last three laps of the 5000. ‘You think you’ve got the kick’, she challenged Defar, ‘let’s see if you have.’

Defar, of course, had no hesitation in adopting the kicker’s role. Ultimately, she also had no kick, at least not one explosive enough to get past Cheruiyot.

With a sub-59 second final 400 Cheruiyot became the first double champion of these championships and emulated Tirunesh Dibaba in Helsinki in 2005 in winning the 10,000 the same year she made her debut at the distance. What a year it has been for her – the world cross-country title, a win at the Kenyan championships (almost as tough as the world final!) and now a distance double in Daegu.

Kibet also got past Defar in the final straight, so the medallists finished in the same order as they had in Berlin two years ago. The pendulum in women’s distance running has certainly swung decisively Kenya’s way.

Campbell-Brown likewise faced two American opponents, the silky smooth Allyson Felix and the threateningly powerful 100 winner, Carmelita Jeter. As they entered the straight, Jeter in four and Felix in three were poised to strike at Campbell-Brown out in lane five. But the Jamaican, who runs with a pronounced forward lean, somehow leaned even further and accelerated away. She has won two Olympic gold medals at 200 and one world championship 100, but you can bet her first world gold at 200 was as big a thrill as any of them.

The Jamaican star did have some outside assistance. The ever-ambitious daily program upped the ante on its curse, this time taking them out in pairs. Jeter and Felix were on the cover. Neither of them won.

What can they do for 50km walk day. Surely it must be three Russians.

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By Len Johnson

None bigger than Usain Bolt, well not unless it was Kenenisa Bekele. Bolt keeps saying his goal is to become a legend of the sport, Bekele already is that.

Incredibly, both men lost their world titles on the same day. Neither finished their race. Bolt did not even start his. Two Olympic and two world titles in consecutive years, all of them in world records.

The joke was that the only way a fit Bolt could lose was by a false start. To the amazement of all that was exactly what happened. None could recall a previous false start by Bolt – certainly not since his breakthrough year at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

When it happened, though, it was not even close. The field was on its blocks for the final. Bolt had done his usual shadow-play on being introduced, pointing either side of him and shaking his head. The charitable interpretation was that he meant to focus on his own lane, the harsher one that teammate Yohan Blake to his left and Walter Dix of the USA to his right were not in the race for the gold.

Minutes later, Blake, Kim Collins – the 2003 world champion part of whose career revival was to run this year’s Stawell Gift! – and Walter Dix were fighting out the gold medal, a stunned Bolt having retreated to the bowels of the stadium. If he entered the mixed zone at all this Sunday night, it was not from the usual direction.

No Bolt, no Powell, no Gay – a new low in the non-clashes between history’s three fastest men. Thank heavens for Berlin 2009 is all I can say. We may never see these three race each other at their top again.

So, who do you think won the gold medal, a Jamaican, that’s who. Blake overtook Collins mid-race and went on to win by over a metre in 9.92, the only sub-10 of a championships’ final that was expected to produce them by the buckets full.

But there’s trouble for Jamaica’s relay, too, with Nesta Carter never looking comfortable in the 100 final and strolling through to the line in 10.95. At least he beat bolt.

Bolt’s reign may be resumed as early as the 200 metres, but it was interrupted just as it started in Beijing. Lightning Bolt indeed – more like thunderstruck on day two in Daegu.

Whether the unthinkable happened before the incredible is a moot point, but the sight of Bekele walking into the mixed zone after 15 laps of the 10,000 was only less amazing than Bolt’s exit down the tunnel because it was a little less obvious.

Bekele had not raced since the Edinburgh cross-country in January 2010. Soon after that he ruptured a calf muscle. Until word came out of his management camp that he was running in Daegu, it was anticipated that he would not. He had won four 10,000 titles in a row (plus two Olympics), had a world championships and an Olympic double in successive years in 2008 and 2009 and, perhaps a minor consideration, perhaps not, he had an unbeaten record through 12 races at the distance with a slowest winning time of 27:08.

What did he have to gain. But here he was and for half the race looked capable of putting up a good fight. The abdication, when it came, was swift. Like a torn sail, a little break become a bigger one and then – that she blew. He walked straight off the track into the mixed zone.

It was a race that had it all, including a winner no-one rated (as a gold medallist at least).

Ibrahim Jeilan, a world junior champion at 10,000 a world junior cross-country champion (like Bekele)  chased down Mo Farah while the British runner was cranking out a 53.36 final lap.

Farah looked to be the winner after non-one proved capable of shaking his grip on the race. Zersenay Tadese tried – when does he not, throwing in a series of 64-second laps around and past the half-way point. But when he looked for someone else to sustain it, no-one could. Martin Mathati of Kenya was the only one who tried.

So as Farah moved up to fifth past half-way, to fourth with eight laps to run, to third at 8000 metres and to the lead as they came up the straight to the bell, the result looked inevitable. “It’s Farah unless someone can do something,” I noted with four laps remaining.

Maybe, when he thinks about it, Farah will reproach himself for going a little early. But he ran 53.36, for gosh’s sake. Jeilan took it off him more than Farah threw it away.

So down they went on day two in Daegu. A genuine legend in Bekele and the closest thing to one, if he isn’t already, in Bolt.

What will day three bring.

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Tokyo 1991, the third IAAF world championships, the last following the four-year cycle, the first in Asia – and a showcase of amazing 800 metres running.

Billy Konchellah had won the men’s 800 in Rome four years earlier. He had done precious little since, but here he was storming home along the final straight at the national stadium to retain his title. It was a win few saw coming – even within the race.

The 1:43.06 Konchellah ran in Rome remains the men’s world championships record. Maybe David Rudisha can break it in Daegu, on the third occasion the world championships will have been hosted by an Asian city. If someone beats Rudisha, maybe they will have to run that fast.

Konchellah was a confident fellow, outwardly at least. “The track will burn,” was one of the descriptions he used about his own running. But he faded almost into obscurity after Rome, beset by asthma and tuberculosis, only reviving himself when he shifted his US base from the haze and smog of Los Angeles to the clear mountain air of Albuquerque.

Johnny Gray, a wonderful US runner who did not know any other way to race 800 other than leading at a fast pace, led through 400, followed by Brazil’s Jose Luis Barbosa and Olympic champion Paul Ereng of Kenya.

Barbosa looked the winner in the straight, but Konchellah had been smoking since the 200 mark (where he was fourth) and now he burst into flame. He flew home in 1:43.99, ahead of a despairing Barbosa, Mark Everitt of the US, and Ereng.

The tracks were burning again.

The women’s 800 was almost as good, featuring an unknown winner, a beaten favourite, a near fall and a world junior record.

Liliya Nurutdinova of the old USSR had only ever won a European championships bronze medal (in 1990). But she led the Tokyo women’s final pretty well every step, through 400 in 56.44 and then to the finish in 1:57.50.

Ana Quirot of Cuba was Nurutdinova’s anthithesis – very well known and the favourite. When she snuck through on the inside to put her nose in front with 100 to go, the race looked all over even though five others remained in contention.

But it was Nurutdinova who remained strongest. She quickly regained the lead and held Quirot off all the way along the straight to win by 0.05. Ella Kovacs of Roumania was third in 1:57.08, but her finish was controversial as she drifted into the path of the event’s rising star, Maria Mutola of Mozambique.

The two collided and Kovacs fell across the line, but a protest by Mutola was dismissed. Her consolation was a world junior record 1:58.63 as 0.12 seconds covered the first four women.

A quick digression here: Nurutdinova’s win is the last by a USSR/Russian athlete. Since then it has been minor medals only, none at all in the past two championships. In 2005, the fastest five performers of the year were the first five in the Russian national championships, yet Helsinki brought just a bronze medal to Tatyana Andrionova.

So is there a less reliable form guide than the Russian women’s national championship 800 metres. By comparison, following Melbourne Cup and Stawell Gift form is a soda.

Ron Carter was covering the world championships for The Age that year, so I travelled there independently (and wound up helping out, but that’s another story). I went with Pat Clohessy, and I remember a joke about our room in the Tokyo mega-hotel in which we stayed – room 2740.

At the time, Ron Clarke’s 27:39.4 national record for 10,000 had stood for 26 years (it had a few more to go). We were offered room 2738 or 2740, but we chose the latter, saying it was good to be close to Clarkie, but we wouldn’t want to be seen as better.

‘Clo’ also let me know that he had arranged to take a call from ABC Radio’s Tim Gavel each morning at 8am and would that be all right. He neglected to add that it was 8am Australian eastern standard time, which was 6am Tokyo time.

The other feature of Tokyo was the heat and humidity, which descended upon you like a heavy cloak the minute you stepped outside. There was only one clear sunny morning – you guessed it, men’s marathon day.

There were many highlights. Carl Lewis beat teammate Leroy Burrell in the 100 and regained the world record from him, 9.86 to 9.88. An unprecedented six men broke 10 seconds on a track a subsequent investigation showed not to be short, but to exceed the maximum hardness allowed under IAAF specifications. Lewis was a huge figure in Japan, where he had major sponsorship deals.

Then there was the fabulous long jump duel between Lewis and Mike Powell which finally saw Bob Beamon’s long jump world record bettered by Powell’s 8.95 metres.

Lewis was involved in a third world record event, the USA winning the men’s 4x100 in 37.50.

German’s Katrin Krabbe won a double in the women’s 100 and 200, turning back Gwen Torrence of the USA both time. Krabbe was suspended the next year for tampering with a testing sample while training in South Africa.

Marie Jose Perec introduced herself to the world stage with a win in the women’s 400.

Hiromi Taniguchi thrilled the Japanese with a win in the gruelling men’s marathon, his face dissolving into tears as he crossed the line after best surviving the hot and brutal conditions. Steve Moneghetti was 11^th – with typical self-deprecation he said after finishing 48^th in the following year’s Barcelona Olympic marathon; “I thought that was a bad run – until now.”

The women’s 10,000 was made for a tough competitor, held in some of the worst of the Tokyo swelter, and it was won by a tough competitor in Britain’s Liz McColgan. Moses Tanui won the men’s 10,000, building up a substantial lead before almost being run down by his teammate, Richard Chelimo.

On the field, Germany’s Heike Henkel won the women’s high jump with a 2.05 clearance, while the other ‘Heike’ – Heike Drechsler – narrowly lost a long jump duel with Jackie Joyner-Kersee, 7.29 to the American’s 7.32.

And Sergey Bubka cleared 5.70, passed to 5.90, and then to 5.95 after a first-time miss at 90. He missed again at 5.95. Now, faced with either clearing at his last jump or finishing seventh, he soared clear to win his third consecutive title.

It was a grand week. I hope Daegu is as memorable.

Footnote: Billy Konchellah’s son, Gregory, won the Berlin 2009 1500 metres for Bahrain under his adopted name of Yusuf Saad Kamel. 

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Australian discus record holder Benn Harradine will be joined by an equally accomplished trio of throwers on the Australian Flame team in Daegu (KOR) later this month as the 28-year-old gets set to make his second IAAF world championships appearance after winning his first major title at last year's Commonwealth Games.

 

Harradine won his fourth national crown (63.15m) and earned automatic selection to the Flame team at the AustralianAthletics Championships in April, before making his annual pilgrimage to Pottsdam (GER) for a solid block of training and competition in Europe.

 

A season best throw of 66.07m, just 38 centimetres shy of his own national record, and six podium finishes have followed, with the Victorian confident in his training to date as the main event, which begins with qualifying rounds on Monday, August 29, fast approaches.

 

“Training wise I am pretty happy after a solid few months where I have been crunching good numbers,” Harradine said.

 

“I was juggling a bit of an issue at the bottom of my calf near my achilles that was making it a little difficult to convert power to speed, but I am on top of it now and building really well.

 

“I’ve been happy about how I’ve been putting together some consistent weeks of training before heading to Daegu.”

 

An inaugural member of the Australian Flame team at the 2009 championships in Berlin (GER), Harradine unfortunately missed the final after a best throw of 61.74m. In Daegu, he hopes to rectify this and make a play for top-eight.

 

“At world champs I am just really keen to compete at a level that I know I have the potential to,” Harradinecontinued.

 

“I want to secure a spot in the last 12, and then use that as motivation for a strong back-up performance in the final and the ideal start to a big build for London next year.”

 

“The plan is to train and compete like I will be a medallist in Daegu and London – simple, splendid and fun.

 

“It’s about enjoying my throwing, and making sure that I always have a smile on my face.”

 

Harradine, who is coached by Gus Puopolo, has competed against the top three performers from the 2009 world championships - Robert Harting (GER), Piotr Malachowski (POL) and Gerd Kanter (EST) - several times this season and has more than held his own. The Commonwealth champion finished runner-up to Malachowski in Poland and has twice placed in the top-three when Harting has been throwing. 

 

However, not one of the medallists from Berlin holds the world lead this year; that honour falls to Zoltan Kovago (HUN) who threw 69.50m in Budapest (HUN) at the end of last month. World champion Harting's best throw came in Halle (GER) back in May when he recorded 68.99m.

 

Harradine isn't the only Flame athlete looking to make a statement in Daegu either, with reigning world champion Dani Samuels (discus throw), Olympic finalist Jarrod Bannister(javelin throw) and Commonwealth Games silver medallist Kim Mickle (javelin throw) joining him in throws events. Combined, the quartet boast two national records, two Oceania records, four Commonwealth Games medals, one Summer Universiade gold, a world title and 20 national crowns.

 

For more information on the 2011 IAAF world championships including Australian Flame team information, athlete profiles, news and results, please visit athletics.com.au