Where are the British MEDALS???? (Edmonton 2001)

Member Name: Snoop Dogg!

Product:	Edmonton 2001
Date:	12/08/01 (62 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some Fantastic Athletes

Disadvantages: Britains lack of Medals

As you know that this year is the year of the World Athletics Championships and everyone was looking for the Brits to do well and claim some medals. Well that has not happened this year and this is due to that we had injury’s and we have not really performed in some cases. Well I am going to take you through each event and who from Britain was participating and who were also the winners.

THE MENS MARATHON
Well to be honest I don’t think many people would of saw this race and maybe I don’t need to write about it but I will. There was no British runners in this race so no British fans would have been watching it but to no surprise it was an Ethiopian that won it by the name of G.Abera and S.Biwott (Ken) came second and S.Baldini (Ita) came third.

MENS 20KM WALK
Also this is another event that not many people would have got excited about. There was once again no British interest taking part and a lengthy race came to an end with R.Razzkasov of Russia coming first, I.Markov (Rus) coming second and V.Burayev (Rus) coming third so it was a clean sweep from Russia in this event.

MENS SHOT FINAL
With no British men making it in to the final cut of 12 it was again very Disappointing. The favorite for the title was Godina with him being the holder of the title and it was to no big surprise that J.Godina of USA top the list with A.Nelson (USA) coming second and A.Harju coming in at third.

WOMANS HEPTATHLON
Britons thought that we had a chance of winning this with Denise Lewis but one of the favourites pulled out before it started so our hopes were felled there. This left it open for Eunice Barber who was now the favourite to take the title. Another shock was that she was Disqualified for 3 fouls at the shot put so it left the field wide open. In the end it was N.Sazanovich of Belarus winning it with Y.Prokhorova (RUS) coming second and N.Roshchupkina (RUS) coming third.

MENS HAMMER FINAL
Again
with no British entries making it into the final 12 it was down to the other countries finest to fight it out for this title. The 2 athletes at the top were meters better than the rest of the field with S.Zislkowski of Poland throwing the hammer 83.38 to win the title with K.Murofushi (JPN) throwing 82.92 to claim second and I.Konovalov (RUS) throwing 80.27 to get Bronze.

MENS 100M FINAL
Britons had a lot of interest in this event with Lewis-Francis, Malcolm and Chambers entered. It was looking good in the semi final with them three making it but Lewis-Francis got a poor start in his and did not make up the ground and did not qualify for the final but the other 2 did. So it came down to the final with the favourite being Greene. In the end it was Greene that came throw in 9.82s ahead of T.Montgomery (USA ) by 0.03 of a second with a time of 9.85 and B.Williams (USA) coming in with the Bronze with a time of 9.94. Chambers was disappointed with 5th with a time of 9.99 behind a favorite to win the title Ato Boldon who could only manage 4th with a time of 9.98. Malcolm who was not expected to get a medal because he is a 200m runner came through in 7th with a PB time of 10.11.

WOMANS SHOT FINAL
Again with no threat in this event from Britain it was down to the other European countries to fight for the medal. It was Y.Korolchik of Belarus winning with a throw of 20.61 and N.Kleinert-Schmitt (GER) coming second with 19.86 and V.Pavlysh (UKR) coming third with 19.41.

MENS TRIPLE JUMP
Britain has 3 people participating in this and we had the favourite for Gold In this as well. As expected it was J.Edwards who won with a mammoth jump of 17.92 to claim Gold but the other 2 Britons did nor get anywhere which was a disappointment considering that they performed well in the qualifying. L.Achike came in at 7th with a jump of 16.79 and P.Idowu came in 9th with a jump of 16.60. It was C.Olsson (SWE) came in second with 17.47 and I.Spasovkhodski
y (RUS) coming third with 17.44.

WOMANS JAVELIN FINAL
Once again no British interest making it to the final 12 so not a very exciting event for us to watch. In the end it was won by O.Menindez of Cuba winning it with a throw of 69.53 with M.Manjani Tzelmli (GRE) coming second with 65.78 and S.Bisset (CUB) coming third with a throw of 64.69

MENS 400M FINAL
We had I my opinion only 1 main contender for a medal which was Richardson but the disappointment was he crashed out I the semi final so our favourite was out. I.Thomas also competed but was not backto full fitness ans also went out in the semi finals so no Britons were in the final. The final was won A.Moncur of Bahama’s with I.Schultz (GER) who surprisingly came through in second and G.Haughton who Mchael Johnson tip for Gold coming in third. On of the favourites from Poland R.Mackowiak didn’t even get out of the blocks so it was wide open.

WOMANS POLE VAULT
We did have someone from Britain in this event and it was J.Whitlock. In my mind I didn’t think that she would be able to get into the medals and I was right with her only being able to get 4.35 which was only good enough for 9th. It was won by the favourite S.Dragila of America winning from S.Feofonova (RUS) only on count back after they both cleared 4.75 but not the next height. M.Pyrek (POL) came third with a vault of 4.55.

WOMANS 100M FINAL
Everyone was saying before the final that M.Jones was going to win and I also thought that she was going to win it. But in surprise fashion it was Z.Pintusevich Block of the Ukraine who won with a time of 10.92 and M.Jones was in second with a time of 10.85 and E.Thanou (GRE) taking third with a time of 10.91.

WOMANS 10,000 METRES FINAL
We did have P.Radcliffe in the race who was a firm favourite to get a medal this year. She ran a perfect race but could not shake off 1 of the 3 Ethiopians chasing her and with about 200m to go they poun
ced on her and she could only clain 4th with the winner being D.Tulu and second going to B.Adere and third going to G.Wami.

WOMANS HAMMER FINAL
Again we had some British interest in there with it being in the form of L.Shaw. She fought well but could not get the distances that others were and she ended p being down in 6th place. The winner ended up being Y.Moreno of Cuba with second going to O.Kuzenkova (RUS) and third went to B.Eagles (AUS)

WOMANS 400M FINAL
With there being no Cathy Freeman or no Catherine Merry the race was for anyone to win. G.Breuer was then one of the favourites to get Gold but in the end she ended up 4th. It was A.Mbacke Thiam of Senegal coming through to get Gold with L.Fenton (JAM) getting Silver and A.Guevara getting Bronze.

MENS DECATHLON
Our athletes for this was the one and only Dean(The Machine) Macey. On the first day after the High Jump were he got a new PB and a good 400m run he was at the top of the table. On the second day though he has several injuries but still took part and ran a new PB in the Hurdles but because of his injuries it hindered him in the rest of the events and he dropped valuable points. He ended coming 3rd behind T.Dvorak (CZE) who came top and E.Nool (EST) claimed 2nd.

MENS 800M FINAL
As Britain don’t really have a good 800m runner we did not have anyone in the final. It was quite a close run thing but it was A.Bucher of Switzerland who came through to get Gold with W.Bungei (KEN) getting 2nd and P.Czapiewski (POL) getting third.

WOMANS LONG JUMP
The favourite for this event was the British born F.May who was now jumping for Italy. It ended up being a very close thing for first and second with F.May getting a final jump of 7.02 just ahead of T.Kotova (RUS) who got a jump of 7.01 and N.Montalvo (SPA) getting third.

WOMANS 1500 FINAL
The favourite for this event was always going to be G.Szabo but there was some doubt if she would
run after one of the athletes caught of taking drugs but was reinstated. In the end she still came through to claim once again anther Gold in this event and V.Szekely (ROM) getting second and N.Gorelova (RUS) getting third.

MENS 10,000M FINAL
Again with the lack of British Men’s distance runners we did not have anyone in this event so it was lest for the Africans to win this again. That was the way it went with C.Kamathi of Kenya coming first and A.Mezgebu (ETH) coming second and the favourite for the Gold, H.Gebrselassie only got a Bronze.

MENS DISCUS FINAL
The favourite for this was the man who had dominated this event for years L.Riedel. He showed why he was the best by coming out on top again but only just claiming Gold by just 32 centimetres over V.Alekna (LTU) and third going to M.Mollenbeck of Germany.

MENS HIGH JUMP
With some experienced competitors out there it was going to be very tight. At this stage our only jumper B.Challenger did not qualify for the final. My favourite for the title J.Sotomayor only managed fourth place so I was disappointed. In the end it was the German M.Buss getting Gold with Y.Rybakov (RUS) getting second on countback over V.Voronin (RUS) who got third and Sotomayor.

MENS 300M STEEPLECHASE
Again Britain had nobody in there due to the lack of distance runners. The result was inevitable before the race with the favourite from Kenya R.Kosgei doing what he does best winning this race by a good second over the second place athlete A.Ezzine (MAR) and third place went to also one of the favourites B.Barmasai.

WOMANS 400M HURDLES
This again was not a great race to watch because it was not jam packed withany really big names. One of the favourites D.Hemmings disappointed in the race only manging to get into 7th place. The out right winner in the end by a good distance was N.Bidouane with second place going to Russia’s Y.Nosova and third place went to D.Pernia (CUB)


MENS 200M FINAL
Britain was all hyped up for the fact that we had one of the favourites in the race C.Malcolm. He had performed excellently in the qualifying heats breaking his personal best twice but in the final he looked out of sorts and finished outside the medals in 5th place. It was a very tight race and the only medal you were certain off was the Gold to K.Kediris (GRE) and the next 3 places all had times off 20.20 with C.Williams managing to get Silver and S.Crawford and K.Collins tying for Bronze. Malcolms time in fact was 20.22

MENS 110M HURDLES
Our best hope in this was T.Jarret but he got to the semi final and had 2 false starts so he was DQ. There was always going to be tight between the World Champ A.Johnson from America and the Olympic champ A.Garcia. It ended up that A.Johnson won the race beating A.Garcia into 2nd place by 0.03s. Third place went to D.Dorival (HAI)

MENS POLE VAULT
This event was wide open because there was not really a favourite to win it and there hasn’t really been since the retirement of S.Bubka a few years back. The Gold medal went to D.Markov (Aus) breaking the championship record with a jump of 6.05. Second place went to D.Averbukh (Isr) and third went to N.Hysong (USA)

WOMANS TRIPLE JUMP
Britain had a participant in this at it was A.Hanson. She qualified very easily only needing one jump to do it but as it was in other events she couldn’t produce it in the final and mange a lonely 7th place. The winner was T.Lebedeva of Russia winning with a huge jump off 15.25 with second going to F.Mbango Etone (Cmr) and third went to T.Marinova (Bul).

WOMANS 200M FINAL
After the disappointment of her 100m run M.Jones also came into this race a firm favorite but it was not going to be easy. She did come through in the end pushing D.Furguson (Bah) into second place and third place went to K.White (USA)

MENS 400M HURDLES
C.Rawlinson before the final
looked very comfortable in the qualifying rounds and it came to the final and he was looking for the Gold. It didn’t happen again and he came 5th this was due to that he hit the second hurdle which made him lose his stride and he could never get back into it. The winner in the end was F.Sanchez of the Dominican Republic with second place going to F.Mori (Ita) and third went to D.Tamesue (Jpn)

WOMANS 4 X 100M RELAY
With Britain being in the final of this event we were looking for another medal for the country but it was going to be hard with our best 400m runner injured so they tried there best. It wasn’t enough and Britain came through in 6th place so no medal this time. It was the strong American team that came through to win the Gold with the German team following with the silver and France picking up the Gold. M.Jones had a blostering run for the Americans so she now has 2 Gold medals too her name.

WOMANS 5000M FINAL
Britain with J.Pavey in this event were looking for a good run even though the field she was in was a lot stronger then she was. She could not keep up the pace with other athletes and she came in a 11th a whole 25 seconds after the winner. The winner was O.Yegorova the woman who was reinstated after being found positive for drugs and the woman who made the most fuss about it G.Szabo came through in 8th place. The second place went to N.Dominguez (Spa) and third went to A.Worku (Eth).

MENS LONG JUMP
This also did not have any British athletes in it so we saw the other world class performers doing there work. I.Pedroso was always favourite to win it because he was the older of the title. It was I.Pedroso who won it and he won it comfortably with a jump off 8.40m with second place going to S.Stringfellow (USA) and third going to C.Colardo (Por)

MENS 4 X 100M
Now that the Americans had lost M.Greene Britain had a very good chance of getting the Gold medal. In the qualifiers Britain were loo
king good for the next round being in the lead at the last change over but like at the Olympics it went horribly wrong. Barbour went off too early and Malcolm couldn’t get the baton to him in time and they were disqualified this also happened to 2 other teams that were hoping for medals who were Cuba and Germany. America were reinstated after J.Drummond had touched the white line but was let off because he incurred an injury at 60m. In the final it was the Americans that came through to win it with the team that was going to be there rivals Brazil did not finish. The South Africans came through in second place with Trinidad and Tobago getting third.

WOMANS 4 X 400M RELAY
Britains woman got to the final of this event and we had an outside chance of claimimg a medal against some strong competition. It was the Jamaican woman who claimed Gold ahead of the Germans and the Russians came through in third. The American womans came through in 4th and the British woman came through in 5th .

MENS 4 X 400M RELAY
Once again the British men were not really expected to win a medal and they didn't. They ended up getting 6th place due to inexpierienced runners and also unfit ones. The Americans won another medal in this claiming the Gold with the Bahamas team getting Silver and the Jamaican team getting Bronze.

MENS JAVELIN
With are best thrower not making the final it was down to Mick Hill to try and do something special. He was already carrying an injurt and it did effect him only able to through 77 metres at best. It was a very eventfull time with Parviainen throwing 91 metres in the first round but Zelezny threw a monster 92 mters to win it and third place went to Gatsiozdis getting the bronze.

WOMANS 800M
We had Kelly Holmes in this and was looking good for a medal in previous rounds. She started off well against some vey strong competition with Vriesde being the pace maker and was the leader all the way until 200m t
o go but Graf and Mutola came back with Mutola taking it on the line from Graf and Vriesde coming third. Kelly was down in 6th.

So there you go that is what happened at the world championships and as you can see we hardly won anything again this year. If we are going to win anything in years to come we are going to have to perform better on the day and stop covering up the athletes when they haven't performed.

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