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Tag Archives: Athletics
Athletics Junkie 2.0
August 31, 2011
Posted by on Since I live in a country ignorant of athletics, televised competitions are a rarity. Before Eurosport Asia started airing the Diamond League events and the European Team Championships, Star Sports/ESPN offered the occasional track & field event (such as the 2010 World Indoor Championships). Don’t even get me started about local and regional meets. Local broadcasters don’t even bother to show athletics events (Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games) featuring Filipino athletes. If I’m not mistaken, the coverage of the 2002 Busan Asian Games was the most comprehensive.
The advent of Youtube and Twitter has done wonders for this athletics fanatic. Nowadays, I can watch clips of the most obscure European races, thanks to the kind souls who find the time to upload. The micro-blogging site, Twitter, has given new dimension to how fans and athletes interact with each other. Those in the immediate vicinity provide a constant stream of updates, whilst the athletes themselves post their thoughts freely online. In a sense, this heightens the sporting experience, despite being oceans away from the scene of competition.
Hence, I was particularly pleased when my suprisingly fast broadband connection (we subscribe to the cheapest package. I used to be able to download stuff at 40 KB/s. Now it has ballooned to 90 KB/s!) became sufficient to stream the ongoing World Championships in Daegu. I spent the past two days glued to my computer watching the live feed from South Korea.
While watching the events unfold, I make it a point to read various tweets from relevant tweeps. The dedicated sports websites (Athletics Weekly) and the journalists (Joe Battaglia and Tom Fordyce) provide the most concise tweets. Certain elite athletes, both active (Kelly Sotherton, David Oliver and Felix Sanchez) and retired (Ato Boldon and Kriss Akabusi), offer unique and oft-poignant perspectives. The viewing experience can be likened to watching a sports event in an (online) sports bar. These, in conjunction with live updates from the IAAF detailing each and every discipline, provide an informative set-up. Surely, this beats reading news articles and watching Youtube clips!
Nothing can ever compare to being in the actual venue, but this combination offers this Filipino track fanatic the next best alternative.
SPAR European Team Championships
June 21, 2010
Posted by on Europe is the hotbed of track & field. Even if most of the talents hail from the United States, Jamaica and Africa, most of the big money meets like the Golden League and Diamond League are held in Europe. Based on the clips I’ve seen online and the articles I’ve read from net, various forms of athletics clubs exist in Europe.
Aside from the Europeans’ appreciation for athletics, what I find remarkable are the team competitions held between countries. In the recently concluded SPAR* European Team Championships in Bergen, Norway; Russian men and women outclassed the competition (Total points scored by the men and women contribute to the overall ranking of a country). Britain at 317 points was a far second from Russia’s 379.5 points. Defending champion Germany languished at 7th place, with host Norway finishing 2nd to the last – facing regulation to the lesser divisions of the Championships.
Like the ongoing World Cup in South Africa, there were several upsets. Hometown hero Andreas Thorkildsen managed only second place in the javelin (82.98m). The two-time Olympic Champion lost to Germany’s Mattias de Zordo‘s 83.80m heave. French youngster Teddy Tamgho, who jumped 17.98m in the Triple Jump last week, was far from his world-beating form as he finished in 3rd place (17.10m) behind Ukraine’s Viktor Kuznetzov (17.26m – PB) and 2009 World Champion, Philips Idowu (17.12m)
The format of the competition resembles Tennis’ Davis Cup. The top division or the so-called Super League is the most prestigious. Less athletically-endowed countries compete among themselves in the First, Second and Third Leagues. The top 3 (or 2) placers in the minor leagues are promoted to the next most prestigious rung, while the bottom 3 (or 2) are relegated. The “bottom three teams of the Super League [Greece, Norway and Finland] were relegated to the First League for 2011.” Conversely, the top three teams in the First League (Czech Republic, Sweden and Portugal) climb up to the main draw.
Watch the highlights of Russia’s road to the top from this Eurosport link.
An older albeit smaller team level meet is the Finnkampen ( “The Finn Battle”) or the Ruotsiottelu (“The Sweden Match”). It’s a yearly, dual meet type of competition held between Sweden and Finland.
I hope that a similar format of competition take root in Asia. The team aspect – where entire countries are pitted against each other for an overall crown – is an interesting innovation. Us Southeast Asians have the SEA Games (a multisport, regional spectacle), where a general champion is proclaimed. But then again, a smaller meet like the Finnkampen/Ruotsiottelu would be a splendid, cost-effective way to promote the sport.
*SPAR – “is the world’s largest food retailer, with approximately 20,000 stores in 35 countries worldwide.”
Additional Links:
SPAR European Team Championships Wrap-up
Photo Credits:
Video Credits:
French Athletics Commentators Rock!
As a hardcore athletics junkie, I satiate most of my track & field cravings through Youtube. Aside from the times when Eurosport Asia airs the Diamond League or a high-level European meet, I have to settle for clips uploaded on the popular video streaming site. Since athletics is a predominantly European sport, the broadcasters I encounter come from a hodgepodge of countries.
Amongst the myriad of languages, I prefer the French commentary over the rest (after the English feed, of course). In the countless times I’ve watched athletics clips online, the French almost always stand out for their unbridled passion and sheer excitement. The British and American pundits tend to be more restrained. The French seem more animated, at some point even shouting with much fervor (please watch the clips below).
Perhaps my preference for French stem from its exoticism to my English-reared ears. See and hear for yourself. Be the judge!
* For consistency, I chose the 2011 Daegu World Championships Men’s 100m dash final.
1.) French:
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