i love soccer. that should be obvious by all the posts i do about beckham, the galaxy, real madrid, the rangers, u.s. soccer, the fuego and so on.
some of you know i'm a track coach. as much as i love soccer, i love a track meet. so, i've been loving this week and cable tv. versus network, you know, used to be oln but changed to versus. anyway, they've been showing footage everyday of the world championships of track and field that is going on in osaka, japan.
since it's just a track meet, you actually get to see most of the events. i don't have to watch diving, or the floor routine of some 26 year old lady that hasn't hit puberty yet. i mean, i got to watch hammer throw. not as it happened, mind you, but i still got to see several throws. the women's 100m was fantastic. photo finish between like 4 ladies, just amazing.
i mean, you get to see preliminary rounds, semifinals and finals. good stuff.
some other highlights: some german dude, relatively unheard of, finished 2nd in the discus, a real shocker. the u.s. men finished 1-2 in the shot put. tyson gay winning the 100m, 200m, and helping the u.s. win the 4x100m. the heptathlon (women's multi-event) was great. kluft from sweden, that won, is so dominant.
and the sportsmanship of track...i love it. i mean, there is plenty of chest thumpin and what not, but there is also a lot of camaraderie in the sport. after the heptathlon, all the competitors took a victory lap together, holding hands. after the men's 4x100, an event full of bragadocious characters, guys were shaking hands out of respect for each other's talent and a great race.
if you have a chance on sunday, look for some track and field on either nbc or versus. for comprehensive results of the whole week, hit up the iaaf site.
1 comment:
THat post-heptathlon lap was really touching.
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