GB Olympic Champion Al. Brownlee makes his return to action this weekend in Abu Dhabi

From BBC Sports

Olympic triathlon champion Alistair Brownlee is relishing his return to top-flight racing after a testing time since winning gold last summer.

Brownlee, who had an emergency operation to remove a swollen appendix a few months after his London 2012 triumph, competes at the Abu Dhabi triathlon this weekend.

He told BBC Sport: “When I first got back to training after the Olympics for a couple of end-of-season races, it was hard going on.

“But by the time I had had my appendix removed, been on holiday and done thousands of commercial commitments, it felt like the best thing in the world to return to training.

“Training is a constant in my life. It’s what I’ve always done and it feels very natural. It’s nice to be back to normal, cycling on the same familiar roads with the same people I’ve always cycled with.”

In Abu Dhabi, Brownlee will be racing over a different distance to his regular Olympic format, with a 100km bike ride – rather than the usual 40km – between the 1500m swim and 10km run.

London 2012: Alistair Brownlee wins triathlon gold

It is also much earlier in the calendar than he would usually race, but both those challenges suit his aims after such a high-pressure 12 months.

Brownlee suffered a serious Achilles injury early last year and faced a race against time to get fit for the Olympics, competing only once in a World Series event before London.

He admitted: “It’s a very early start for me. Usually I don’t like to race until the season reaches Europe in late May and early June, but I wanted to try something different this year.

“I wanted to have a different focus over the first few months of the year. I’m trying to learn from the past, where I seem to get a horrific injury every January, so having a bigger focus on the bike early on is a good thing.

“Looking forward, it’s good for me to try out some longer races, and this is an easy way to do it – early in the year, so it won’t affect my chances in the World Series, and with a long bike rather than a long run, which is the element which might cause most injury issues.

“It’s a non-drafting race, meaning I’ll be time-trialling on the bike, and that’s a good challenge for me – it’s not been easy practising time-trialling in -2C in Yorkshire, but it’s also a different skill; I’m used to lots of short, sharp efforts where this is two hours of steady-state riding.”

The course in Abu Dhabi begins with a swim in the Arabian Gulf before the bike leg crosses over onto Yas Island, home of the city state’s Formula One circuit.

Brownlee’s following race will be the World Series  event in San Diego in May, where he will begin his quest to win back his world championship title from younger brother Jonny.

Brownlee ‘massively proud’ of gold

He is then planning to race in Madrid, Kitzbuehel, Hamburg and Stockholm before ending in London in September, hoping to avoid the injuries that have dogged him over the past couple of seasons.

He said: “I had a sore knee over Christmas, but that has cleared up nicely.

“I’ve purposefully not been training quite as hard on the run – cutting back a little on both the top intensity and mileage – so that might be why I’ve been OK.”

Brownlee, 24, spent some of January training in Altea in Spain rather than at home in Leeds.

“The weather has been so bad at home, and one of the things that might have contributed to my injuries in the past was training in bad weather, especially snow,” he said.

“It was a good excuse to go to Spain. And the cycling there is fantastic – great roads, some fantastic cycling.”

The winter has also seen a change in Brownlee’s domestic arrangements, with Jonny moving out of the house the brothers have shared for three years and into his own place.

“Jonny hasn’t gone far – he’s just up the road, only a 500m run away – but it’s been good to have more space in the house,” said the older brother.

“We were joking this week that we wouldn’t fit in the same house any more, we have so much stuff. But we still do most of our training sessions together.”

Just to run with my kids would be enough, admits Radcliffe after triple operation

From Dailymail

On August 5, 2012 Paula Radcliffe sat in a London hotel room and watched Tiki Gelana of  Ethiopia win gold in the women’s marathon in a time of two hours, 23.07 minutes, an Olympic record.

Tears start to form in Radcliffe’s wide, pale blue eyes at the memory. That was meant to be her race, in her country; her final opportunity to add Olympic glory to world championship success and world records of a glittering long-distance running career; her time to bury the memories of  Athens and Beijing. And then the tears start to fall.

‘There’s a lot more suffering in the world and people put up with a lot more than me just missing a race,’ she says. ‘But, yes, it was hard. I think I could have  handled that for one Olympics and maybe for two. But for three? It just felt really unfair.

Tears: Paula Radcliffe finished the 2008 Olympic marathon in 23rd place

‘One of the most frustrating things was that I felt I was in good enough shape to run 2.19 or 2.20. That made me feel even sadder because it wasn’t as if they were miles ahead and I would only have been running for top five or top six. I could have been in there fighting for it.

‘You just think, why couldn’t the Games have just been six weeks earlier? Sometimes it all felt like a bad dream and I would wake up to discover I could actually do it.’

While Great Britain basked in an incredible year of sport, the woman who has been a figurehead for so long was an outsider, looking in. Some 10 days before the Games, the cartilage between the navicular and talus on the top of Radcliffe’s left foot cracked; the repercussions of an undiagnosed stress fracture sustained in 1994 were taking their toll.

Recovering: Radcliffe’s injured foot

The bones in the foot were rubbing against each other, causing pain that was so bad Radcliffe was told she may never run again.

‘It was hard because it was the end of the Olympics for me,’ she says, her voice faltering again. ‘It was hard because it was the  Olympics in London. Then to see what a brilliant atmosphere it was …it would have been amazing to be able to run in that.’

Instead, on August 22 in  California, Radcliffe had three operations on her left foot: a bone graft to correct the stress fracture, a procedure to separate two bones that had fused together and a micro-fracture to stimulate the cracked cartilage.

She was ‘immobilised’ for 10 weeks and then forced to use a knee scooter to get down to the beach to go aqua-jogging to help her rehabilitation.

When we met last weekend in Barcelona, where the IAAF were holding the World Athlete of the Year awards, Radcliffe still could not run. She is hopeful she will be back jogging before Christmas, but there are no guarantees.

The 2013 London Marathon — 10 years after she smashed the world record in the race — is almost  certain to come too soon. But she will battle on, as always.

Nobody could have criticised Radcliffe for calling time on her career at the age of 38.

She admits this was her immediate instinct, but two things changed her mind and forced her to have the operations. The thought of not being able to run — recreationally and with her children Isla, five, and Raphael, two — was unbearable.

All smiles: Radcliffe has had to go through extensive rehabilitation

‘I’ve always run,’ she says, simply. But Radcliffe is even more determined to ‘finish by finishing a race’. It does not necessarily have to be a major championship, although the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow or the 2014 London Marathon would be preferable, but she knows she has to sign off properly and on her terms.

She recalls: ‘I said to Gary, my husband, “That’s it. I’m not going to do this any more. It’s too many times I’ve been kicked down”. Then I got this feeling that I have to at least finish a race.

‘Even if I never manage to get back to elite level, I still want to be able to run with my kids. I’ve realised my potential and won world championships. It’s just the Olympics that’s going to be sad for me.’

London 2012 has changed everything for Alistair and Jonny Brownlee

Alistair, left, and Jonny Brownlee have been stunned by their new-found fame

Britain’s triathlon brothers Alistair and Jonny Brownlee admit that their lives have changed forever after their London 2012 Olympic heroics turned them into household names.

The Bramhope brothers, who took gold and bronze in the triathlon, took part in the parade of Olympic and Paralympic athletes through the centre of London and found themselves once more stunned by their new-found fame.

Alistair, the older at 24, said: “It feels like life has changed for ever, and it did after the race.

“We came down from Leeds to London on a train but we went home in a helicopter.”

His 22-year-old brother Jonny, the bronze medallist, added: “During the race we didn’t have time to take everything in, so to come round here and have people chanting your name is pretty amazing.

“In the week after the Olympics we couldn’t really go out to restaurants because people were wanting pictures but it has quietened down a bit now.

“When we go out training we go out in the woods near our house and we never used to get recognised, but now everyone is cheering you on.”

Source Wharfedal Observer

Norden and Gomez Win 2012 Hy-Vee 5150 Triathlon US Championship, Brownlee 14th

From Trijuice

London Olympic Silver medalist Lisa Norden of Sweden and Javier Gomez of Spain win today’s big pay day at the Hy-Vee 5150 U.S. Championship Elite Cup triathlon in Des Moines, Iowas.

Norden overcame jetlag, loose handlebars and an extra motivated Sarah Haskins to win the 2012 Women’s Hy-Vee 5150 U.S. Championship Elite Cup race for the second year in a row.

Today’s win was a perfect end to a nearly perfect month of racing for the 28-year-old world champion and London Olympic silver medalist, who missed out on a gold medal in an historic photo finish. But she bounced back quickly, first snagging a win this past weekend in her hometown race, ITU Stockholm, then taking care of business at Hy-Vee.

“I don’t think these last five weeks could have been any better despite the .09 seconds or whatever in London. But today definitely makes up for it,” Norden said.

From the beginning Sarah Haskins swam her way to a commanding lead. She came out of the water first on both swim laps and her strong showing continued on the bike course as she collected the first six lap premiums, worth $5,150 each, but Norden began gaining ground.

Haskins said she was bothered by the heat on the bike leg on a 90 degree day in Des Moines.

“It was brutally hot, and the helmet made it feel like a sauna,” she said. “I knew she was right behind me because I started the run conservatively. This course was hard.”

The hard course helped Norden stay close despite her handle bars coming loose.

Norden eventually caught Haskins on the first lap of the run, and from there the rest was history.

With today’s win Norden joined Rasmus Henning (DEN) as the only other back-to-back Hy-Vee champion.

Joining Norden and Haskins on the podium was Jodie Stimpson of Great Britain.

2012 Hy-Vee 5150 U.S. Championship Elite Cup Results:
Des Moines, Iowa – September 2, 2012

Pro Men Results	Time	Place	Pro Women Results	Time
Gomez Noya, Javier	01:51:21	1	Norden, Lisa	02:01:59
Kemper, Hunter	01:51:59	2	Haskins, Sarah	02:02:50
Bennett, Greg	01:52:24	3	Stimpson, Jodie	02:03:37
Docherty, Bevan	01:52:46	4	Naeth, Angela	02:03:46
Reed, Matt	01:53:24	5	Rollison, Melissa	02:04:02
Hayes, Stuart	01:53:38	6	Williamson, Kelly	02:04:26
Amberger, Josh	01:54:34	7	Bennett, Laura	02:04:30
Ellice, Clark	01:54:46	8	Blatchford, Liz	02:04:44
Thompson, David	01:55:18	9	Vodickova, Radka	02:05:53
Matthews, Paul	01:55:55	10	Ryf, Daniela	02:06:04

Gomez of Spain fought off oppressive heat and a spirited effort by crowd favorite Hunter Kemper today to win the 2012 Hy-Vee Triathlon 5150 Elite Cup and take home the $151,000 prize money for first place and $20,000 in bonus money.

“It was a really hard race. It was more about fighting the sun and high temperatures and trying to maintain a good pace,” said Gomez, who outdistanced the man who defeated him at the Summer Games in London, Great Britain’s Alistair Brownlee, with a strong run leg that saw him grab the lead from 2011 Hy-Vee champ Greg Bennett of Australia on the second lap and hold off Kemper by 22 seconds. Bennett finished third.

“It’s a strong man’s course,” an obviously drained Kemper said after the race. “The whole day was hard.”

With temperatures approaching 90 degrees and very little breeze, the 31-man field hit the water at Gray’s Lake and immediately set a furious pace. Aussie Josh Amberger was the first man out of the water on lap one, with former University of Iowa swimmer Cameron Dye and Gomez in hot pursuit. Gomez swallowed up Amberger’s lead on lap two and led the leaders into the first transition.

That’s where American Ben Collins took over. Just like he did in 2011, Collins took the lead on the bike and was gobbling up real estate when – just like last year – misfortune hit. A broken wheel knocked Colin off the lead lap. In 2011, it was a broken foot that sidelined him on the second lap on the run.

Australian Paul Mathews took the lead, but Bennett quickly chased down his countryman and led the field into the 10-kilometer run. Kemper, who battled back from a series of injuries to earn a berth on the U.S. Olympic Team (he finished 14th in London) made his customary charge, but he could not catch Gomez, the world overall champion in 2008 and 2010.

Brownlee who has dominated the sport at the Olympic distance the past three years, got off to a slow start, briefly threatened on the bike leg, but finished 14th.

“This race was completely different than the Olympics because of the heat,” Gomez said while sitting in a tub of ice after his victory. “But I pushed hard the whole time. It was a good race and a good win.”

Have you noticed that bottle thrown just before the 100m start?

The athletes were getting ready for the start at 100 meters final, at London Olympics 2012. Seconds before the gun shot, an object came flying behind the athletes. When i first saw it i wasn’t sure what was that, until i saw the race again in slow motion. Some clever guy thrown a bottle behind the athletes, probably trying to make them have fault start. Sebastian Coe has described as getting “poetic justice” when he was then smacked by a judo champion.

Holland’s world judo champion Edith Bosch swung into action after seeing the man lob the bottle just seconds before the race started.

She claimed on Twitter that she had “beaten” the person who had thrown the bottle.

She said: “A drunken spectator threw a bottle onto the track! I HAVE BEATEN HIM …. unbelievable.”

Speaking to NOS TV, Bosch said: “I had seen the man walking around earlier and said to people around me that he was a peculiar bloke.

“Then he threw that bottle and in my emotion I hit him on the back with the flat of my hand. Then he was scooped up by the security.

“However, he did make me miss the final, and I am very sad about that. I just cannot understand how someone can do something like that.”

Bradley Wiggins speaks out about road safety as cyclist killed in accident with Olympic bus is named

From The Independent

A cyclist killed in a collision with a bus on the edge of the Olympic Park was today named as Dan Harris, an amateur enthusiast who died while riding home from work.

The death of Mr Harris, who had only last week used his Twitter feed to highlight the responsibility of cyclists to obey the rules of the road, prompted a call from gold medal-winner Bradley Wiggins for all bike riders to wear helmets and laws to protect them on the road.

Speaking generally rather than about the circumstances of Mr Harris’s death, Wiggins, said: “Ultimately, if you get knocked off and you ain’t got a helmet on, then how can you kind of argue.”

The Olympic time trial winner added: “[People] shouldn’t be riding along with iPods and phones and things on and should have lights and all those things. It’s dangerous and London is a busy city with a lot of traffic. I think we have to help ourselves sometimes.”

There has been no suggestion that Mr Harris was not wearing a helmet.

Mr Harris was cycling across an interchange with the A12 at the northern end of the Olympic Park when he was in collision with a bus carrying journalists covering London 2012. The  65-year-old driver of the double decker was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and released on police bail.

An air ambulance was called following the accident shortly before 8pm but the 28-year-old was declared dead at the scene. The mangled remains of his bicycle could be seen beside a blue forensic tent covering the point of impact.

Mr Harris, a keen amateur cyclist, was riding home to Ilford, Essex, from his work as a social media strategist for an Internet company when the accident happened.

Only last week, the 28-year-old had underlined the responsibility on cyclists to obey the rules of the road. In a tweet, he wrote: “I’ve taken to loudly boo-ing cyclists who jump red lights. They give the rest of us a bad name and should be publicly shamed.”

The death is the tenth fatality of a cyclist on the capital’s roads in the last year, equalling the total for the entirety of 2010 and prompting fears among safety campaigners that the tally for 2011 – 16 – will be exceeded this year.

London Mayor Boris Johnson, who has made an increase in cycling across the capital a corner stone of both his terms in office, said he was not convinced that cycling helmets should be made compulsory, adding that there were no plans to provide them with the so-called “Boris bikes”.

He said: “It’s quite right to say that people should [wear a helmet] if they have got one, but we have absolutely no plans to make it mandatory.”

NBC accidentally live broadcasts bare breast during Olympic water polo match

On Wednesday, the network aired live coverage of the U.S. women’s waterpolo match against Spain. As the sports announcers covering the game commented that there was “a lot of suit-grabbing going on under water,” a replay of U.S. player Kami Craig grabbing her opponent’s suit filled the screen.

Paula Radcliffe out of Olympics marathon with injury

Paula Radcliffe will not compete in the marathon at the London 2012 Olympics because of a foot injury.

The 38-year-old, who has never won an Olympic medal in four previous Games, was declared unfit after a test run this weekend.

Radcliffe said the thought of competing at London had kept her “fighting, motivated and focused”.

In a statement, she added: “That is why it hurts so much to finally admit to myself that it isn’t going to happen.”

Radcliffe, who is still the women’s marathon world record holder and a former world champion, has suffered with osteoarthritis in her foot during her career.

Radcliffe added: “However hard today is, finally closing the door on that [Olympic] dream, at least I can know that I truly have tried absolutely everything.

“Now however, is the time to accept that it is just not going to settle in time. As desperate as I was to be part of the amazing experience of the London Olympics, I don’t want to be there below my best.”

UK Athletics and the British Olympic Association said they will nominate Scotland’s Freya Murray as the replacement for Radcliffe, to be approved under the Late Athlete Replacement policy.

She will join Great Britain’s other participants, Claire Hallissey and Mara Yamauchi, in the race on Sunday, 5 August.

UK Athletics head coach Charles van Commenee said: “This is obviously a disappointing day for Paula and our sport but it was important to her that if she made the start line it would be in the best possible shape.

“It wasn’t meant to be and she has taken the right decision to withdraw at this stage.

“I think it is important that we don’t look at Paula’s career in Olympic cycles. She is undoubtedly one of the greatest female distance runners of all times and still holds the marathon world record.

“When we look back at her career it should be in the context of what she has achieved and not what she hasn’t. I wish her all the very best for her recovery.”

Radcliffe’s marathon record

• 2002 – First in London and Chicago
• 2003 – First in London
• 2004 – First in New York, did not finish Athens Olympics
• 2005 – First in London and at World Championships in Helsinki
• 2007 – First in New York
• 2008 – First in New York, 23rd at Beijing Olympics
• 2009 – Fourth in New York
• 2011 – Third in Berlin

Radcliffe has been dogged by doubts about her fitness in the build-up to London 2012, leading to a trip to Germany for specialist treatment earlier in July.

She was rated 50-50 by Van Commenee as recently as last week.

Radcliffe has missed out on a medal in four Olympic Games appearances between 1996 and 2008, with her best performance coming on the track at the Sydney Games in 2000, when she was fourth in the 10,000m.

She won the marathon in the 2005 world championships in Helsinki and has won the London and New York marathons three times each.

The Bedford club runner broke the marathon world record in the 2003 London marathon in a time of two hours, 15 minutes and 25 seconds.

From BBC Sport

Fabian Cancellara to decide on time trial after his crash

LONDON (Reuters) – Switzerland’s Olympic time trial champion Fabian Cancellara will decide in the next few hours whether he will defend his title after crashing in the men’s road race on Saturday.

Cancellara hit the deck with about 15 km to go in the race, leaving him with a bloodied arm and ruining his chances of claiming a medal.

A Swiss cycling team spokeswoman said Cancellara was bruised but had not suffered any broken bones and a decision on whether the 31-year-old would ride in Wednesday’s time trial would be made in the coming hours.

Cancellara, who was in a leading group of 32, missed a right-hand turn and crashed into the safety barriers.

He managed to get back on his bike but struggled to hold his handlebar with his right hand.

“Have no words left. The tears are stronger then the pain. Now we are waiting in the policlinic in the athletvillage (sic) for the X-ray,” Cancellara had said on his Twitter account.

British Triathlon seeking Performance Director

British Triathlon Federation announcement:

British Triathlon is looking to appoint a Performance Director based at our headquarters in Loughborough to build on our current success and lead us through to Rio and beyond.

Britain currently boasts both the male and female world champion over standard distance triathlon as well as World and European title holders at long distance triathlon and duathlon and a pipeline of emerging talent.  Put simply, our top athletes are world class.

We are seeking a leader who has the creativity, passion and the vision to develop the strategic direction, inspire and engage and drive the shared vision to achieve sustainable, world-leading performance at all levels.  Your experience in delivering excellence will build confidence that this vision can be delivered, enhancing performance throughout our GB Triathlon teams.  The existing athletes, coaches, staff and the Board who have supported the journey to London 2012 have demonstrated that together, we have the talent to succeed; their engagement in the future performance journey is critical.

British Triathlon is a high performing organisation, twice winner of the prestigious Sports Industry Awards Governing Body of the year (2010 and 2012); our culture supports those who aspire to perform at the highest level.  Our mission is to promote excellence and create everyone’s personal triathlon challenge.  If “no stone unturned” performance delivery is the challenge that inspires you, then this is the role for you.

Applicants will have significant experience of high performing environments, a good technical knowledge of endurance sport, backed up by personal experience in the field of elite international competition.  You will be a leader with the ability to develop a shared vision and build a strategy around that vision. You will have the skills to build, manage, inspire and engage the teams to deliver that vision. Strong interpersonal and communication skills and the proven ability to lead a diverse, highly skilled team are essential.

Applicant must be able to spend periods of time away from home at weekends and evenings and travel extensively overseas for extended periods.

You can download the relevant application form and person specification by visiting the British Triathlon website, www.britishtriathlon.org

Closing date for applications is 18 September 2012. British Triathlon is an equal opportunities employer.  Details of our equal opportunities policy can be found on our website: http://www.britishtriathlon.org under ‘About’ and then ‘Policies documents’. British Triathlon aims to promote excellence in our sport, and create opportunities for everyone to achieve their personal triathlon challenges.