Antonio Pettigrew RIP

It's emerged in the last few hours that the 1991 World 400m Champion Antonio Pettigrew has died.  Pettigrew was 42 years old, and leaves behind a wife and child.  A drugs overdose is to blame - it's not yet known if that is accidental or otherwise.

Pettigrew was a controversial sprinter, given that he admitted taking performance enhancing drugs.  He handed back the gold medals that he won in the relays at the 1997 and 1999 World Championships, and his transgressions meant the USA were stripped of their 4x400m Gold Medals at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

It's too early to speculate what may have happened Pettigrew - I don't intend to do that here.  What I will say however, is that his untimely and tragic death is reminiscent of those of Marco Pantani, Florence Griffith Joyner and a host of other athletes who have taken drugs to improve the careers, but ultimately lost their lives at a young age.  Performance enhancing drugs, despite distorting competition, are also extremely dangerous to one's health and deaths such as these should be a reminder, as if one were needed, that they must never be tolerated.

I've included a video of Pettigrew in action, the best I can find.  May he rest in peace.

Usain Bolt - Again

I don't know what to say that hasn't been said already about Usain Bolt. heck, I don't know what to say that I haven't already said about Usain Bolt. 19.19s was his winning time in Berlin tonight, and all this when "tired" and "it wasn't a good race." His words.

My buddy Alan contends that these comments make him the most self-critical athlete ever. Possibly that's true. After two Olympic titles and two more World titles, all in World Record times, I'm going to ask a different question however. Make that two questions.

Has Usain Bolt had the greatest career of any athlete in any sport under the age of 22? (For the record I say yes, undoubtedly)

Now for another question...

At the tender age of 22, are we watching the greatest athlete of all time, in any sport? If not, who's better? I think that's a short list.

Wow

Usain Bolt.

9.58 seconds.

Watch. Marvel.

It may be the greatest sporting performance I have ever seen.

Hellie didn't get why this was such a big deal and I'm not sure if words can explain. Usain Bolt just knocked 1.5 metres off the 100m World Record. Usain Bolt has taken the 10 seconds 100m, a famed mark in sport, and made it redundant. Usain Bolt has changed what's possible, what it takes to win. He may be the most phenomenal athlete the world has ever seen, and all this in the space of just a year.

And what a year. It's exactly 365 days since his 100m final win in Beijing, since he ran 70 and celebrated 30 metres. I worked on that day, and I read the sports bulletin minutes after the race. My headline was simple... 'Wow'. I was speechless. I had that same feeling tonight, times ten. In the build-up to last year's Olympics, Bolt went from a star of athletics to the star of world sport. Tonight he lived up to that billing in a way no one dreamed possible. I felt he could have run 9.65. He did 9.58. Those seven-hundredths are a lifetime, and it may be a run the likes of which I never see again in my lifetime.

He better be clean.

***

I'd also like to take a quick moment to congratulate Olive Loughnane on her silver medal in the 20k walk this morning. She did our mutual home-town of Loughrea in County Galway proud with a mature performance which saw her outlast all of her competitors bar Olga Kaniskina, who is almost as dominant as Bolt. The Jamaican will rightly get the headlines tomorrow, but from one Loughrea native to another, well done Olive. You earned it.

All's Quiet On The Western Front

It’s a really quiet day in work today (the August Bank Holiday weekend is traditionally the slowest time of the year for news) and it’s also a relatively quiet time of the year for sport. Sure, Kerry are taking on Dublin in an All-Ireland Quarter Final today but since it’s a contest that’s as one-sided as a hippy missing his left-leg, it’s not coming close to stirring my sporting passions. Baseball is ongoing, but that has fleeting moments of greatness (Note to self: must post one I saw recently) and, sure, NASCAR is on today, but it’s Pocono. Don’t start me on the Ashes.

So not the most exciting couple of weeks but at the same time, there’s stuff on the horizon to whet our appetites. The Premier League will return in no time. The World Athletics Championships are only just around the corner. It won’t be long until Michael Schumacher returns.

All that’s exciting, but it’s not going to arrive for a little while yet. In the meantime, relax, enjoy something else like the football if that’s your shtick, and maybe spend time with your family and loved ones. Your favourite sports stars will be waiting for you to return in no time at all.