I am very much enjoying watching the world championships in Russia it's definitely great to watch the very best in the world compete at the highest level. From a British perspective two gold medals with about four days to go is not too bad. Both Mo Farah and Christine Ohuruogu are inspirational sports people and neither of them really get enough credit for what they are achieving.
I remember watching both Christine and Mo at an athletics meet at Crystal Palace about eight years ago and at that time both where in there early twenties and both where good but not winning medals. So it is so nice to watch them eight years down the line not only winning medals but setting British records.
I am quietly confident that team GB could win at least two more gold medals hopefully Mo in his 5000 metre race and the women's 4x 400 metre relay race. Other than Christine and Mo it is pretty difficult to identify who in the team can realistically when gold medals.
The US team have had an interesting championships so far they are not winning as many gold medals in sprints as they used to and now seem to be wining medals at the longer distance which I am still getting used to. The US team were always the team to aspire to however these days with the one or two them being caught for cheating the team does seem little different these days and not as unbeatable as they used to be.
The Jamaican team have been dominating the sprints for the last five years, however there team this year does seem little smaller in this championships. Usain Bolt and Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce are both amazing athletes and between them they both ran such amazing races and both are truly inspirational.
African countries are doing reasonably well the Ethiopian's and Kenyan's still dominating the long distances. What I have found very interesting is that countries like Ivory Coast who don't normally even send a team have now won a silver medal in the women's 100 metres. The Ivorian's are truly becoming a sporting nation not just in football now they are spending money in athletics and now they have a medal I am sure it will encourage their sporting authorities to invest even more.
It is also good to see that Nigeria have also won a silver medal in the long jump and they have sent fifteen athletes to Russia so one silver medal is very good. Ghana used to be quite good at athletics and even recently started winning medals, however the wheels have slowly come off and the first sign of this was at the London 2012 games where Ghana sent a handful athletes and came back with no medals. This championships Ghana as sent one female athlete to compete in the 200 metres and her chances of even getting to the semi-finals is slim if not remote.
Russian team are the home team and it looked to me like their championships started yesterday. As more people turned up to watch Elena Isinbayeva win the gold medal in the pole vault. At first I thought it was the local ticket prices but yesterday the stands were fuller.
So maybe the Russian fans are only prepared to spend money to watch their own and if that is true then it is sad. Its an honour to host an international event like this and half empty stands is not good for Russia nor the competing athletes. As there are few more days to go I hope this will mean that more Russians will no go and watch this competition.
I remember watching both Christine and Mo at an athletics meet at Crystal Palace about eight years ago and at that time both where in there early twenties and both where good but not winning medals. So it is so nice to watch them eight years down the line not only winning medals but setting British records.
I am quietly confident that team GB could win at least two more gold medals hopefully Mo in his 5000 metre race and the women's 4x 400 metre relay race. Other than Christine and Mo it is pretty difficult to identify who in the team can realistically when gold medals.
The US team have had an interesting championships so far they are not winning as many gold medals in sprints as they used to and now seem to be wining medals at the longer distance which I am still getting used to. The US team were always the team to aspire to however these days with the one or two them being caught for cheating the team does seem little different these days and not as unbeatable as they used to be.
The Jamaican team have been dominating the sprints for the last five years, however there team this year does seem little smaller in this championships. Usain Bolt and Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce are both amazing athletes and between them they both ran such amazing races and both are truly inspirational.
African countries are doing reasonably well the Ethiopian's and Kenyan's still dominating the long distances. What I have found very interesting is that countries like Ivory Coast who don't normally even send a team have now won a silver medal in the women's 100 metres. The Ivorian's are truly becoming a sporting nation not just in football now they are spending money in athletics and now they have a medal I am sure it will encourage their sporting authorities to invest even more.
It is also good to see that Nigeria have also won a silver medal in the long jump and they have sent fifteen athletes to Russia so one silver medal is very good. Ghana used to be quite good at athletics and even recently started winning medals, however the wheels have slowly come off and the first sign of this was at the London 2012 games where Ghana sent a handful athletes and came back with no medals. This championships Ghana as sent one female athlete to compete in the 200 metres and her chances of even getting to the semi-finals is slim if not remote.
Russian team are the home team and it looked to me like their championships started yesterday. As more people turned up to watch Elena Isinbayeva win the gold medal in the pole vault. At first I thought it was the local ticket prices but yesterday the stands were fuller.
So maybe the Russian fans are only prepared to spend money to watch their own and if that is true then it is sad. Its an honour to host an international event like this and half empty stands is not good for Russia nor the competing athletes. As there are few more days to go I hope this will mean that more Russians will no go and watch this competition.