Sports Commentary - Times Online - WBLG

Do you think Dwain Chambers should represent Britain?

He has admitted taking performance-enhancing drugs and he has served a two-year ban for the offence, but Dwain Chambers's return to the track has caused ructions throughout UK Athletics (UKA) who feel they had no choice but to select him for the Great Britain team to run at the World Indoor Championships in Valencia despite being opposed to the idea.

Chambers, who won the 60 metres at the trials on Sunday, feels he is being treated like a "leper", saying: "Yes, I did something wrong, I did the crime - but I've done my time and moved on."

Hasn't he got a point? Isn't that what punishments are for: to re-educate the offender and ensure they learn their lesson? Do criminals not get released from prison after they have completed their sentence? So why should it be any different for an athlete, who has done nothing worse than cheat and then come clean about it?

Or does Chambers represent a deep flaw in the sporting system? Is he exploiting a loophole that is denying up-and-coming athletes their chance? Do we really want a cheat representing our nation? And should UKA have taken a firmer stand, not picked him for the team and fought the inevitable High Court writ that Chambers's lawyers had been instructed to file had this been the scenario?

Vote in our poll and send your comments - your voice counts.

Opinion Polls & Market Research

From Stretch Target to Stretch Limo

Dave Collins, the UK Athletics performance director, set what he described as a “stretch target” of three medals and 14 finalists for the Great Britain team going into these World Championships. Now he could order a stretch limo and still not have room to find a seat for all his medallists and their coaches.

In the final session of these nine-day Championships this evening, Britain’s 4 by 400 metres women’s relay team sealed an overall team performance which shows that Collins’s vehicle is gathering speed. After hitting the brakes at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki (only three medals won and barely enough finalists to fill a bubble car) there was a smoother journey through the European Championships last year.

Felix the Stat

Eating lunch today with Mark Butler, the IAAF’s Mr Statistics, I cannot resist asking him: “And the stat of the championships is?”

Mark comes up with Allyson Felix in the 200 metres. “Felix’s winning margin was 0.53, the biggest in a World Champs or Olympics since Fanny Blankers-Koen (1948).”

And I am grateful to Steve Smythe, journalist and a near ever-present participant in the London Marathon, for this. Felix, he tells me, having studied the split times, would have equalled Flo Jo’s world record had she kept going over the last 50 metres at the speed she covered 50 to150 metres.

Ovett and the Prince of Thieves

Thirty years ago Steve Ovett won the Dartford Half Marathon. How is this relevant to the World Championships here? This is not a gratuitous mention just because I am a former Dartford Harrier.

We are onto the subject of athletes turning up in the strangest places and I am coming, in a moment, to Paula Radcliffe. But let me finish off the story of Ovett first (and, by the way – now living in Australia – he is here commentating)

Watch for the Brit with the Japanese name

A full house, a first medal on the board for the Great Britain men’s squad, and victory on Day 8 for a man who you might want to call if you fail a drugs test.

Meseret Defar won the women’s 5,000 metres and were she to fail a test here – and I am not suggesting that she will or that she is doping – she would have a good excuse.

From Luton to Liu

Day Seven over and what a fabulous night - sheer quality. Three performances of the highest class by two Americans, Allyson Felix and Jeremy Wariner, and one Chinese, Liu Xiang. But I am worried about a new acquaintance, Chuu Pengg, who I met at the subway station three nights ago after we had both missed the last train home.

But I had better talk about the athletics first.

Spitting bubbles from Osaka

Day Seven and, just before we start the evening competition something to get off my chest. I pick up my Daily Yomiuri newspaper here this morning and find an article headlined "British Press Split Over Ohuruogu".

It quotes some of the less favourable comments and, as I understand it, these have been made largely by writers we never see at athletics, except at the Olympics. They do, though, spend plenty of time at football.

Powell (not me) Mr Popularity

Due to technical problems, last night’s post disappeared from my screen – so I wrote it again and it disappeared again, by which time it was 3am. After half a night’s sleep, here is how I remember it.

Day Six of the World Championships and there are three big talking points – the men’s long jump final, the men’s 200 metres final, and what Sanya Richards thinks of Christine Ohuruogu.

Star treatment? No, Starbucks treatment

Am I making this up?

If you do not believe me, I will call Victah Sailer, the US sports photographer, as my witness. I have just caught the last metro from Nagai Stadium - I have talked about this before - and as I get to the platform almost the first people I see are the wife and child of the man who has just won the World Championship 1,500m.

The 18-month old child is still wearing the bright yellow teeshirt with LAGAT! printed on it and which caught the eye of the television cameras during the lap of honour.

One of the best nights ever

What a night! As a British athletics writer at the last five Olympics and 10 World Championships, I haven't had many nights like this. I will need calming down before making up my mind how the 1-2 by Christine Ohuruogu and Nicola Sanders in the 400m here tonight rates against Liz McColgan's win at 10,000m in Tokyo in 1991, Jonathan Edwards's two triple jump world records and gold medal in Gothenburg in 1995, and the 1-2 by Colin Jackson and Tony Jarrett at 110m hurdles in 1993 in Stuttgart. But that debate is for another day.

First, the main facts -

1st Ohuruogu (49.61), 2nd Sanders (49.65) - the third and fourth fastest times ever by British women behind Kathy Cook's 49.43 for the bronze medal at the 1984 Olympic Games and Katharine Merry's 49.59 in the 2001 Athens Grand Prix.

Ohuruogu becomes the first British woman to win a World or Olympic 400m title - only three weeks after the end of a one-year suspension for missing three drugs tests.

Sanders is from Amersham, Ohuruogu is from Stratford, east London - which means that she is suddenly restored as the face of London 2012 - even though she has yet to convince the British Olympic Assocation to lift her life ban for her three missed tests.

And a bit of speculation

The BOA will lift her ban

Memories of Board as Ohuruogu and Sanders follow

Day five of these World Championships and a poor morning for Great Britain in the Nagai Stadium here. But, hey, we've got the women's 400m final in a few hours from now - this is no time for the sulks.

Nicola Sanders or Christine Ohuruogu for gold? Each has a chance but the resurgent Ana Guevara worries me. I would be worried more if Guevara was not in the outside lane but the Mexican who has won medals at the last four global championships - three Worlds and one Olympics - is running well again after injury last year. The Russian - Natalya Antyukh - is a danger too.

I'd forgotten about Bob

Since nobody has yet come up with any more potential British 'assists' - and isn't the timing of this sort of thing typical - let's bring in Bob Weir. I bumped into him less than half an hour after finishing my last post and he's a must for my list.

He didn't stop long to talk as our paths crossed in the mixed zone - where the athletes meet the press - but then he's a busy man. I wanted to ask him how many US medals he was claiming a hand in but he was rushing off.

Botswana for Gold (via Cardiff)?

As encouraging as the Great Britain team effort has been here so far - Kelly Sotherton and Jessica Ennis third and fourth in the Heptathlon, Christine Ohuruogu and Nicola Sanders in the 400m final tomorrow, and more to look forward to besides  - let's get greedy. What about the medals 'made in Britain' but exported to foreign fields.

Like the triple jump silver won by Jadel Gregorio, in a Brazilian vest, but trained at Gateshead Stadium by Peter Stanley, Jonathan Edwards's former coach. Or the silver won by Adam Nelson (USA) in the shot, long-time member of Birchfield Harriers.

Golden girl's manager goes underground

Funny the people you bump into here on the last subway train away from the stadium just before midnight. You expect athlete managers to be, at worst, in official buses or, more likely, in taxis and courtesy cars. Yet, having just seen his client, Veronica Campbell, win the women's 100m, I found Claude Bryant taking the punter's route back to his hotel.

Claude was telling me how proud he was of Veronica, of how brilliantly she coped with the pressure considering Asafa Powell's failure the night before. Now Campbell, not Powell, becomes Jamaica's first winner of an Olympic or World 100m title. Quite a feather when you think of the sprinters who have come out of the country.

BBC under fire

Simsy suggests that the BBC's main coverage is from a studio back in the UK and asks if it is to save money. As sure, I say, as no snow falling here before these championships are over.

Sanders, Ohuruogu in final

This will have to be quick but what self-respecting British blogger can resist the temptation to bring speedy news of a heartwarming sight - Nicola Sanders and Christine Ohuruogu each won their 400m semi-finals in two of the fastest times recorded by British women.

Sanders's 49.77 elevates her to No.3 all time, behind Kathy Cook (49.43) and Kath Merry (49.59). Ohuruogu, back less than a month after a year's suspension for missing three drugs test, clocked a personal best 50.17. With Sanya Richards, the 2006 world athlete of the year, failing to make the US team at the distance, dare we dream?

Why old ladies love the hammer

We are under way at the evening session and I am watching with particular interest Koji Murofushi in the men's hammer. Three months ago I was in this very stadium interviewing him and he was telling me about life as the biggest thing in Japanese athletics other than the marathon runners. Or, at 1.87m tall and 100kg, the biggest thing in Japanese athletics.

But tonight my main interest is the men's 10,000m and the 'Powell vs Gay' of distance running here - Kenenisa Bekele vs Zersenay Tadesse. In the meantime, I am content to watch the hammer and see if Murofushi can give the home fans a big celebration - and collect his medal in the stadium, unlike his last Olympic experience.

Gay takes no prisoners

The third day of the World Championships dawns and there's a 'Well said, Kelly' atmosphere among the British journalists while the global village of the Press Centre is still digesting Tyson Gay's victory over Asafa Powell in the 100m. Kelly Sotherton said at her press conference last night that Lyudmila Blonska, the Ukrainian who had taken the silver medal to our girl's bronzein the heptathlon, had cheated once and who was to say she wasn't cheating again?

Blonska served a two-year doping suspension but, for once, who might be on what wasn't the main theme with the media at the 100m post-race Press Conference. Gay replaced Justin Gatlin, serving an eight-year drugs ban, as world champion but the talking point was about fraud of a different nature. Lance Brauman, Gay's coach, is apparently due out of prison tomorrow after serving a year for deception.

Gay wins over Kluft - and Powell

As I leave Kluft for the 100m, the sprinters are settling into their blocks. Off they go - first time! How often do we see that? All too rarely these days. Normally there is a false start and have to wait. Asafa Powell is ahead but Tyson Gay steams through to take the title in 9.85. Powell, as soon as he senses that Gay going past, appears to give up. He is not interested in second or third but has enough of an advantage, even slowing down, to hold on to bronze (9.96).

Powell is not even the quickest in his family. He is beaten to silver by Derrick Atkins, a Bahamian whose family left Jamaica many years ago - Atkins says that he and Powell are distant cousins. Atkins clocks 9.91, Powell 9.96 while Marlon Devonish, Britain's sole finalist, takes sixth in 10.14. 

Kluft v Gay/Powell

Now I am down in the mixed zone - the mutual ground where the athletes, coming off the track, meet the journalists for interview. I have lost count how many interviews Carolina Kluft has given since winning the heptathlon - but I'll guess its 30 or more.

Now I have a big decision to make. Well its not so much a big one as an irritating one. Kluft is still in full flow, with her back to the screen about to show the 100m (we cannot see the track), but I have to tear myself away to watch the top billed race of these championships.

Record for Kluft, Sotherton bronze

The remarkable Carolina Kluft wins again - her third successive world heptathlon title, a European record score, and an unbeaten run that will go into a sixth year. But the big news for we British is that we are on the medals board thanks to Kelly Sotherton. She may have been a soft touch in the javelin but she fought magnificently in the last event, the 800m, to take the bronze.

Kluft broke Larisa Nikitina's 18-year-old European record score of 7007 with 7032. Lyudmila Blonska, from Ukraine, was second on 6832 and Sotherton overtook Austra Skujyte for third (6510)

Are you watching Justin Gatlin?

The 100 metres is traditionally the most important event of a World Championships or Olympics and we are now less than an hour away from tonight's final. Only a little while more and Justin Gatlin will no longer be the world champion. Not before time. Gatlin, you will recall, is serving an eight-year ban for drugs offences but, since it was April 2006 when he failed a test, his world title win from eight months before stands.

I wonder what he is doing tonight. Can he resist watching?

Ballet or darts? No, its Kelly with a javelin

Second day at the World Championships and I am not sure whether I have walked into the Bolshoi Theatre or Lakeside Country Club. I am watching Kelly Sotherton throwing the javelin, the sixth event of the heptathon. She begins in third place, behind the runaway leaders, Carolina Kluft and Lyudmyla Blonska, and the javelin has cost her medals at the last World Championships and Commonwealth Games.

The question to be answered is: has Kelly conquered her javelin demons? The answer is 'no'. Her throwing style and movement looks somewhere in between Darcey Bussell and Phil 'The Power' Taylor but, amazingly, even after managing only a paltry distance of 31.90m, she remains in a strong position to take Britain's first medal of these championships.

It is the early hours of Sunday morning here and, as first days at World Championships go, this wasn't bad. It is certainly the first time I have occasion to report on a gold medallist who once burned down the family home and was sent packing to an orphanage.

Among my working assignments here I am writing features on gold medallists for the website of the world governing body, the IAAF. Now I must confess that, when I received the list of 10 events I had been assigned to, I thought: 'First day, short straw - men's shot put. What!'

I could have had the men's marathon or the women's 10,000 metres - the other two finals on day one - and I got big blokes throwing lumps of metal. As I have mentioned before, distance running drew me into athletics more than 40 years ago and it has never been overtaken as my favourite thing in the sport. I certainly never had posters of Geoff Capes on my bedroom wall.

Hug a Heptathlete

The heptathlon moves on to the second event, the high jump, and by now the camararderie is in full swing. Multi-events are proud of their 'All for one and one for all' spirit, taking a pride in the performances of others. Well, some of the time, anyway.

Fortress Carolina (you know who I mean by now) has wrapped those long arms of hers around Jessica Ennis in congratulations after the Briton's hurdles victory in the first event. Now we see Lyudmila Blonska engaged in rhythmic clapping to help Kluft over 1.92. Fair play to the once unfairly playing Blonska. Suspended between 2003 and 2005 for a doping violation, the Ukrainian is a serious danger to Kluft and the British pair of Ennis and Kelly Sotherton.

Kibet (and Warburton) taking no prisoners

I wake up to The Daily Yomiuri, the English-language newspaper here and a conversation I had at dinner last night with Alfons Juck, the promoter of the Ostrava grand prix meeting, is brought to mind. Alfons was expressing his concern that these championships had not caught the imagination of locals yet and that attendances may be poor. The Yomiuri's back-page sports lead story reports on "lagging ticket sales".

The local organising committee president, Yohei Kono - doing what any local organising committee president would - sent out a 'Don't Panic' warning. They would pick up after the marathon, the opening event this morning. "It was the same situation before the championships in 1991 (in Tokyo)," he was reported to have said. "Then a great marathon performance for Japan brought a flood of sales."

You can try this at home

The World Championships start tomorrow - this evening  in Europe - and we begin with the men's marathon. What to expect? In a moment, I will offer a tip on how to imagine you are in Osaka while you are watching the race at home on TV. But first the facts and informed comment.

Even though the race begins at 07.00 local time, the heat and humidity will ensure that we see nothing like the fast, paced races of the big city marathons such as London, New York City, Berlin and Chicago. It will be tactical and slow. Slow if you call Paula Radcliffe's world record slow.

In search of news, I find a leak

As promised earlier, news of my luggage. After losing it in Paris at a Golden League fixture this season, and without a change of clothes for three days, I got smart for this trip. I split everything into two - six shirts in one bag, six in another; one trousers in one bag, one in another, etc, etc. If one goes missing, I'm still neat and clean for a few days.

At the aiport I was delighted to find both bags had arrived but there was bad news in store when checking into my hotel. A leaking hair-dye had penetrated a toilet bag and ruined three shirts and a pair of shorts. Still, I won't be needing them for the media race, will I?

Marlon 'False Start'

Devonish was reported yesterday as saying that he did not think that both Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay would turn up for the 100 metres. Powell, the world record holder, and Gay, the man-in-form this season, have not met lately and Devonish's comment was taken on by some of the papers which took the line: 'Why settle for $50,0000 in prizemoney here when they can meet for a joint $500,000 at the Zurich Weltklasse meeting in two weeks time?'

Since Powell is entered for the 100m only here and Gay for both, the suggestion was that the latter was one likely to back out. "Call it 'False Start Devonish' came the disdainful response from Jon Hendershott, a long-established writer for Track and Field News, the leading athletics magazine in the United States. "That's not in the equation," Dick Patrick, of USA Today, another longtoothed wordsmith in the sport, insisted.

Up and limping

So here I am, in Osaka for the 11th IAAF World Championships. Two days in town and already I could have been out of the Championships. In his eagerness to help me retrieve my luggage (of which more later) from the boot of his vehicle, my taxi driver to the hotel left his handbrake off - and his back wheel rolled over my foot! While I limp on, with excuse not to enter the traditional World Championships media race, let's hope the injury count here is restricted to the British media and that the athletes have the luck this time (chorus: 'They'll need it')

Back in the days when Britain were global gold medal contenders, I remember Kelly Holmes arriving as favourite to win the 1500m at the 1997 World Championships in Athens only for her to suffer a leg injury which slowed her down to a near walk in her heat.  She didn't do too badly on a subsequent visit to Athens, though, did she?

World Athletics Championships

The 11^th IAAF World Championships are being hosted by Osaka, the second time that the sport’s biggest occasion outside the Olympics has gone to Japan.

The 1991 World Championships, in Tokyo, were, in the opinion of our correspondent David Powell,  the best of the 10 World Championships so far and Osaka is seeking to deliver a similarly memorable occasion.

A super-fast track – according to Jeremy Wariner, the world and Olympic 400m champion – and the high heat and humidity should guarantee fast times in the sprints and high standards in the jumps and throws. But the distance runners face challenging conditions, with tactics taking precedence over times. 

David will be covering the games live from Osaka so check back regularly to read his detailed coverage and informed comment on the Championships right here.