The retired Slovenian sprinter was never world champion, or even European champion. In fact, Bikar is famous in internet circles because of a particular body part. Underneath all the admittedly tasteless close-ups, however, was a fairly decent world-level sprinter.
In a career spanning two Olympic Games and five outdoor world championships, Bikar had set personal bests of 11.21s and 22.76s in the 100m and 200m dashes, respectively.
Her best event was the 200m. In the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton, Bikar finished a strong fifth in the final, stopping the clock at 22.76s, matching her lifetime best. Indoors, the Slovenian was just as powerful. In the 2000 European Championships in Gent, Bikar won her first and only major international podium, a silver medal.
I left the office at precisely 5:00 PM yesterday. I caught the rush hour MRT surprisingly early. I arrived at the Trinoma station by 6:15 PM. The drive to Ateneo took just 30 minutes, due to the relatively light traffic. I was amazed at how the uncontrolled forces of Manila traffic cooperated in what was supposed to be a hectic night of training. I missed out on two consecutive days of training due to lack of sleep.
Yesterday, I wanted to try something new (for my work night routine) by combining a track workout with a quick gym session – all in one night. This might not be much for full-time athletes or student-athletes even, but for a passionate sprint hurdler with a friggin’ day job, this is a major innovation!
Since I lift weights at a friggin’ fitness gym, wide open spaces for sprints and plyo’s are impossible to find in the venue. And because I’m too stingy to cough out additional cash for a gym membership in my old collegiate training base in Ateneo, I have to make do with the fitness gym. But then again, the Celebrity Club and Ateneo are just a few minutes’ drive from each other – if traffic cooperates!
I did running drills and sprints for around 40 minutes at the Moro indoor track. I loved the feeling of actually sprinting on a running track (instead of making do with the roads near my home). I was at the gym by 8:00 PM, after a surprisingly hassle free 12-minute drive. Not wanting to stay up too late, I cut short the gym workout by 9:15 PM.
It was somewhat proud of my juggling act at the end of it all. Since I got home a little past 10:00 PM, it took quite some time for body to fully digest the recovery meal, and to shed off the effects of a potent endorphin high. Hence, I slept at around 1:00 AM and woke up around 5 hours later, two hours less than the bare minimum!
This is a work in progress. I’d have to take care of my recovery if I’m to find some measure of success in this balancing act.
A few days before my last UAAP in February 2008, I had my first ever athletics photoshoot! My former teammate, Kristl, needed shots for an HR presentation for IBM. Since I wanted new profile pics, I agreed for a shoot despite the proximity to UAAP swan song!
We were supposed to take pictures inside Moro, transferring to the high school football field instead since we lacked the necessary permit for the shoot.
It was early afternoon. The weather was perfect. Kristl’s colleague, Sam, took nifty photos of myself! I just love how the green field and the blue sky stand out.
The shots, the photographer and the setting were top notch, only the subject was lacking! I absolutely hate my form in the rightmost photo above. I look like a novice!
Nevertheless, these shots were fantastic, iconic even – at least at a personal level!
For the final shot, Sam asked me to do a victory pose. I could only think of one, emulating Liu Xiang’s grand guts pose from the 2004 Athens Olympics.
After our basketball game last Saturday, my friend and high school classmate remarked how bored he was training alone during weekends. I replied, saying that I’ve been working out solo for more than a year!
Things weren’t always like this. Back in college, I was part of a lively, dynamic training group. Each and every training day was fun – and I looked forward to it. I was both intrinsically-driven and extrinsically-motivated. Now that I’ve gone down the Hill, I find myself alone amidst the sport that I love. My former teammates are now long since retired from the sport. My non-track peers have other pursuits ranging from career, academics, basketball and football. None share my passion for athletics.
There’s this small group of national athletes and former collegiate track & field standouts, but the sheer distance between our training bases makes it impractical to synchronize our schedules. Hence, I have no other recourse but to remain solo.
There are hardly any external distractions in my training sessions. The main culprit is laziness. There are times when I’m just tempted to slack off, since I have no training partners or trainers to consider. In my one-man training group, I am the big boss! Most of the time, I just listen to music whilst engrossed in various exercises. To stave off lackluster urges, I picture myself on the track, hurdling towards times previously unimaginable.
I’m not going to let these unorthodox circumstances derail my preparations for this summer’s National Open. It’s a challenge, definitely. I have a strong sense of purpose, a superhuman desire to sprint over those ten, one-meter high barriers again. I love what I’m doing. Athletics gives my life meaning, makes my journey in finding my life’s true calling easier to bear. I feel that I have much untapped potential in my event; I just have to give it one more shot, no matter how dire my circumstances are. Most importantly, I’m doing this for my ailing father. Livestrong is my battle cry.
I grew up watching boxing matches. Manny Pacquiao was still unknown. Professional boxing matches at that time were aired live on RPN 9 without much fanfare. I remember watching fights of Luisito Espinosa during lazy Sunday mornings. And like most Filipinos in 1996, my heart sank when Mansueto Velasco narrowly lost the gold in Atlanta.
National pride aside, the infamous Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield match stands out. I used to idolize Iron Mike. The name Tyson was synonymous to boxing, for the wide-eyed, ignorant kid that I was! I marveled at the way he knocks out people. In the Tyson-Holyfield fight, I rooted for Mike – until he bit off a piece of the latter’s ear.
I cannot comprehend how a sportsman can do such a thing to a competitor. But then again, boxing is a cruel sport, where death and permanent disability are dire possibilities.
French triple jump sensation Teddy Tamgho rewrote his 11-month old world indoor record yesterday in Aubiere. The 21-year old leaped 17.91m in the 4th round, improving his old mark by 1 cm. Tamgho, now trained by long jumping legend Ivan Pedroso, hardly had any competition at the French National Indoor Championships. Yoann Rapinier won 2nd with 17.02m, the first time he went beyond the 17m barrier. Tamgho worst mark, a 17.08m in his fifth attempt, was still good enough for first place.
The Frenchman powered through the runway, as he hopped, stepped and skipped to a new world indoor best. As soon as he landed on the pit, Tamgho knew something big was afoot. With nary a look to confirm the official distance, Tamgho immediately sprinted from the jumping area in celebration, out of the track and into the stands.
The savvy, shifty Nonito Donaire landed a solid left on the Mexican WBC/WBO bantamweight champion in the second round. The Filipino Flash was methodically efficient in the short, abbreviated fight. He displayed composure in the first round, in typical Donaire fashion, as he sized up Fernando Montiel. The US-raised Filipino boxer connected with a left hook in the first round, rocking Montiel – who had never been knocked out in a championship bout until now.
Barely three minutes into the second round, Donaire shocked the predominantly Mexican crowd. In a move reminiscent of the infamous Vic Darchinyan Վախթանգ Դարչինյան knockout, Donaire countered Montiel’s right with a crushing left to the latter’s head.
Montiel fell to the mat and threw his arms up, as the fallen champion jerked involuntarily. True to his nickname, “Cochulito,” the proud Mexican did the chicken dance as he barely made the count. The 31-year old valiantly attempted to soldier on, but the referee stopped the bout as Montiel proved defenseless against the Donaire onslaught.
Donaire was gracious in victory, respectfully going to Montiel’s corner after the bout. There were no brazen displays of machismo. The two fighters, according to the commentary, are good friends off the ring.
Familial conflicts aside (not to mention Dyan Castillejo and Ronnie Nathanielz’s less-than-stellar commentary), it was a highly entertaining match for the knockout hungry Filipino sports fan.
I was about to sleep at the wee hours of Sunday morning, when I read tweets from the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham. I read about 2004 Athens Olympic champion Felix Sanchez winning a 400m hurdles race – INDOORS! Other tweets mentioned something about the athletes being allowed to cut to the first lane after lap one. This, naturally, piqued my interest.
A Google search led me to several informative articles. It turned out that such a race originated in France. The innovative 400m indoor races are held in various races in continental Europe. The Birmingham meet was the first time such a race was held in British soil.
To date, the event hasn’t been added to the major indoor meets. I can understand the reticence. The cardinal rule for hurdling is to stay in your own lane. Although one tends to hit an opponent with one’s arms in the high’s, or in more drastic situations veer into another’s designated lane, lane invasion is a major no-no.
I found a one-year clip of a race in France featuring Sanchez. El Superman, as former world champion and Olympic champion, is the biggest name who has competed in the indoor intermediates. It was an exciting race to say the least! Hurdlers chasing down other hurdlers without segregated lanes is a refreshing sight for spectators – a scary spectacle for sprint hurdlers like myself!
Here’s a rundown of the event setup and some basic rules. Four hurdles are set on the 200m indoor track. There are hurdles at the start and end of each straightaway, with a distance of 30m separating each barrier. The hurdles, if I’m not mistaken, are set at intermediate height (of course, I’m not mistaken! Clearing 0.99m high barriers for 400m is.. is.. beyond belief!). According to a tweet by Sanchez himself, cutting to the inner lane “depends on the track… but the break is the same as in the 400 indoors, just after the 2nd bend.”
In the outdoor 400m hurdle race, hurdlers typically follow a 15 step pattern in between barriers (13 for the elite, 17 for non-elite). Since fatigue is a major factor, most intermediate hurdlers shift lead legs in the course of the race; hence, taking 14 or 16 steps in some phases. In the indoor race, it takes 10-11 steps in between the barriers. After which, the athlete runs immediately on the curve, which takes about 25-26 steps.
The finish line greets the hurdler shortly after the 8th and final barrier.
The fundamental tenets of hurdling remain – athletes cannot touch or go under the hurdle. But since the second lap entails an inner lane free-for-all, hurdlers observe some basic ground rules. For instance, when two athletes are running head-to-head (with but half a step separating both), the leader clears the barrier on lane 1, whilst the trailing athlete clears the hurdle in lane 2 and so on.
The Birmingham Race: Sanchez Prevails
Wacthing the clip of the landmark Aviva race, I couldn’t help but gasp at the pure excitement of it all. Sanchez sped to the lead early on, easily making up for the stagger. The 2003 Paris World Champion overtook Britain’s Richard Yates by the 120m mark. The exuberant Yates, matched Sanchez stride-per-stride. Yates swerved to the inner lane the earliest, grabbing the lead in the process.
In the final 100m, Yates, Sanchez and Reuben McCoy were engaged in a mad dash to the tape. Sanchez ran like a man possessed, as if it was an Olympic final, not wanting to yield to Yates. The US-born Dominican hit the last two hurdles and literally stumbled to the finish line.
Being the true showman that he is, Sanchez bowed to audience as soon as he recovered his bearing.
The Athens Olympic champion stopped the clock in 49.76s (three hundredths of a second off Sanchez’ world best). McCoy was second in 49.78s whilst Yates clung on for a 50.21s UK record.
After our ill-fated ABL game this morning and a post-game trip to McDonald’s, I went to home to get some shut-eye. I was actually thinking twice about training. My right quads got banged up pretty hard, thanks to an errant knee from an opposing player I was defending. I wasn’t all that tired, having played a total of around 2 1/2 quarters.
I was feeling a little lazy. But when I saw how sunny it was outside, I shelved all thoughts of scrapping my afternoon workout. Since I train mostly at night, I savor these rare moments under the sun! Besides, I always look forward to wearing my shades!
For the second straight week, I did sprint work at the good ole high school oval. Sprinting on grass is a quite different from the solid feel of synthetic tracks. Since I’m still at the GPP stage, I did not put on spikes. Focus was on maintaining proper form all throughout the anaerobic workout. The emphasis I put on core strength the past month was quite evident. My core felt stable all throughout the sprinting action. There was significant improvement in my flailing right arm swing (this I have to validate!).
All-in-all, I had a fun weekend. I’ve shunned vice. I’m on track for this summer’s nationals.
Athletics is a sport where mature, full-developed athletes rule. In fact, athletes below 16 years old cannot compete in the Olympics or the senior IAAF World Championships. Clarke is a rare, once in a generation talent. As a 16-year old, the Aussie competed in front of thousands of her screaming countrymen during the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
The Geelong-born middle distance runner went as far the semifinals – a big achievement for any athlete, especially for a teenager. Clarke narrowly missed the third slot in the 800m run, losing out to veteran campaigners.
Clarke won her first national title at the age of 14. As a 16-year old, she ran the second fastest 1500m by an Australian (4:06.77). Her personal best in the 800m run in 2000 was a world class 2:01.73, faster than middle distance greats Steve Ovett, Steve Cram and Sebastian Coe when they were at the same age, according to a Cool Running article. Prior to the Sydney Olympics, Clarke lived in Europe to compete at the prestigious European circuit. An informative feature article by Running Times Magazine, accurately depicted the athletics prodigy’s difficulties in living out the elite athlete life. At such a young age, she was uprooted from her comfort zone. Clarke was unhappy, according to the article.
Since her stellar performance at the Sydney Olympics, Clarke has been hounded by injuries, missing the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. She suffered fractures in her spine. There came a point where the once-promising middle distance prospect could hardly walk without pain. But still, the 2001 World Youth Champion persevered. In 2008, despite running with a stress fracture on her foot, she missed qualifying for the Beijing Olympics by two-hundredths of a second. A few months later, her foot broke.
True enough, Clarke is still at it. Most recently, the now 26-year old former child prodigy is at the top of the distance category in the 2011 Australian Athletics Tour. She ran a competitive 4:17 in the 1500m to finish first palce in the Brisbane Track Classic.
Indeed, her running days are far from over. With the London Olympics barely 2 years away, the prospects for an injury-free Georgie Clarke are bright.
At the end of the first half, the team was down 9-23. The superior ball rotation of AHS 4H 03 and their height advantage boded ill-for our pell-mell offense. Man-per-man, they were the much better team.
With the absence of main-man Merrill Lazo, the team could not set a disciplined offense. We relied on the hardworking Ryan Agas for dangerous one-on-four forays into the paint and on the sweet shooting Adi Dimaliwat for outside sniping. Yayo Puno and Velden Lim were also missing in action, leaving a wide hole in our defensive life and offensive rotation, respectively.
Despite our decent defensive effort, we were outrebounded. And since the objective of a basketball game is to score as much points as possible, a muddled offensive system is a major handicap.
To be honest, I had the impression that all was lost after the dreaded 1st half. But the guys pushed through, not wanting to give up the fight so early. The usually cool Agas exhibited a fiery demeanor. For the first time in recent memory, the former UAAP juniors standout became vocal, exhorting the rest of the guys to collapse on the big men, to run fastbreaks – to fight for every inch!
Slowly, gradually we cut down the lead. The entry of man mountain Jave Maceda was the catalyst. Even if we were still outrebounded, his hulking presence deterred many a shot taker. Marc Ruiz’s inspired play brought life into our sagging game.
At the game’s dying minutes, back-to-back three pointers by Dimaliwat and the mercurial Paolo “The Machine” Rosales saw the team going as close as 3 points, with 3 minutes remaining in the final quarter. Turnovers and missed free throws cost us the game.
But then again, our motley crew did the best we could under the circumstances. Besides, this morning’s game was a marked improvement from the double digit shellacking we took from the very same team at the start of ABL 2011.
Nevertheless, a loss is still a loss. We have a long way to go before we can ourselves a “basketball team.” Defeat, after all, is the best teacher.
Something remarkable happened at the Russian Indoor Championships. Yevgeniy Borisov Евгений Борисов and Konstantin Shabanov Константин Шабанов both timed 7.63s in the 60m hurdles. According to an EAA report, the “judges could not split” Borisov, the 2010 World Indoor Bronze medalist, and Shabanov. Sprinting events are usually won in hundredths of second. In the aforesaid case, not even a thousandth (or ten-thousandth!) of a second could determine the winner!
Borisov (in orange) and Shabanov (in blue) are both crowned Russian Indoor Champions (Photos from Athletics Russia)
This is a peculiarly unique case! In the years I’ve spent devouring all things athletics, this is the first time I’ve encountered a dead heat in the sprints – in the Russian national indoor championships at that. Truly, this is a win-win situation!
I’ll try to scour the net for a video clip of the race.
Commuting takes up a good amount of my day – approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes for a round trip. I usually wake up at 5:15 AM, leave the house a little past 6:15 AM to beat the morning rush hour traffic. Work ends at 5:00 PM. To get to my training venues in Quezon City, I have to travel a good 2 hours from Makati, the central business district.
One of the main challenges of juggling a non-athletics career with track & field aspirations is getting a full night’s sleep. With such a schedule, my weeknight training sessions are limited to approximately 2 hours. Even with such a cap, I hardly get the minimum 7 hours of shut-eye. If I train too long, I’d lose valuable sleeping time.
I must admit that I was quite reckless when I was younger. I lasted through four years of high school with an average of 4 hours of sleep per weekday. My sleeping habits improved in college, in light of the more flexible schedule. But still, I couldn’t avoid burning the midnight oil. As a student-athlete, my academic responsibilities held more weight than my dreams of athletics glory.
During the nascent days of my track & field comeback, I read a startling article about an Indian telecoms executive who died of heart failure. He led an active lifestyle, regularly taking part in marathons and following a strict physical fitness routine. But he only slept for an average of 4 hours a day – something we have in common!
There and then, I’ve made a resolution to sleep better. I’ve dramatically cut back on unnecessary nights-out. I became more conscious of my schedule as I dusted off my sprinting spikes and wore those oh-so-comfy track kits.
A year after I came back to my sprint hurdling ways, I can say that I’ve improved considerably, increasing my average sleep time during the workweek to about 6 hours a day. At the times when I’m sleep-deprived, I make it a point NOT to train, to save my body from further damage. At the expense of my bloated sense of pride, I am now listening to the whispers of my body.
I am still a long way from my goals in life. I know for a fact that sleeping adequately is more than just baby steps.
He retired at the end of the 2009 Berlin World Championships, but returned to high-level competition early this year. In several indoor meets in Germany, the sprinter from the small island country of Saint Kitts and Nevis, rewrote the 2011 top lists twice. He stopped the clock at 6.52s in Dusseldorf. A few days later, he bettered this mark by two-hundredths of second in Karlsruhe. Unfortunately, a thigh injury prevented Collins from replicating his razor sharp form in the final.
The 34-year old had won his fair share of accolades. Collins was crowned world champion in the 100m dash in 2003. Aside from this, he had won a bronze in the same event in Helsinki 2005 and a 200m bronze at the 2001 Edmonton World Championships.
In Paris, Collins outclassed a star-studded (some, steroid-laced) field which included the likes of disgraced former world record holder Tim Montgomery and Briton Dwain Chambers. From Lane 1, Collins had a blistering start. He clung on first place (10.07s) in a blanket finish with 100m world junior record holder Darrel Brown (10.08s) from Trinidad and Tobago and Britain’s Darren Campbell (10.08s).
It was the slowest winning time in Championship history, tying Carl Lewis’ 10.07s time at the inaugural edition in Helsinki back in 1983. Nevertheless, a world champion is still a world champion. Not many elite athletes can call themselves that.
To be honest, I only appreciated the significance of Collins’ feat whilst writing this entry. Compared to his competitors, the Caribbean sprinter was minuscule in terms of both height and heft. He was far from the stereotype of a burly speedster. There were no brash displays of arrogance when he won; Collins did not showboat. He just smiled as he proudly waved his island country’s flag, basking under the warmth of his first major crown.
Collins last dipped below the 10-second barrier in 2003, where he ran 9.99s in Zurich. He has a personal best of 9.98s from way back in 2002 and 2003 (he ran this four times) – modest by today’s standards. He has qualified for the Olympic 100m dash final twice, in Sydney and in Athens. In Beijing, the affable Collins placed 6th in the 200m final.
It’s good to see old hands such as Collins achieve stellar marks. He has claimed the scalp of fiery upstarts like Mike Rodgers and the under-performing Christophe Lemaitre. Rodgers is 9-years younger than Collins, whilst Lemaitre is around 14-years Collins’ junior. At the rate Collins is going, he might just surprise everyone (but himself!) in Daegu come August!
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