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.

Bolt Is Boring?

Just watched Usain Bolt run in Zurich.  He did the 100m a time of 9.81 seconds, a time which has only ever been beaten (legally) by three other men, and he did it in an odd way.  Bolt was pressured by Asafa Powell and then seemed to change up in gear to overtake him, in a manner which defies the normal flat-out nature of the shortest outdoor sprint.  Without a doubt, it was impressive.

Yet...  I'm feeling ambivalent about the run.  Meh, even.  Bolt has set such a high standards with his heroics in Berlin recently that a 'mere' 9.81s is disappointing.  It's like Michael Schumacher winning repeated Grand Prix, it gets boring.  It shouldn't, because it is so impressive, but if Usain Bolt fails to build on his Berlin brilliance, then I get the feeling that this ambivalence will return.

Caster Semenya

This is Caster Semenya, the woman at the heart of a gender verification scandal at the World Championships in Berlin.

I don't think this is a Stella Walsh situation. Semenya, is not a cheat, at least according to a statement from the IAAF. This is more likely to do with genetics, and for it to be played out on such a public scale has to be tough for her.

What you all think?

As Irish As Big Jack

Like many of my countrymen, I’m proud to be Irish. Being Irish brings certain traits with it: a general (and abhorrent) dislike of them from across the water, a pride in our arts and heritage, and a devotion to our sports teams. We love being Irish and we love following our sports teams. No matter where we play, there is always a large and vocal presence of Irish people to support our own and while I’m in no doubt that the importance/uniqueness of this is overstated by ourselves, we are a nation of sports lovers.

In return for this devotion, we expect many things in return, most notably pride in the shirt/flag. We want our sports stars to represent Ireland with dignity, honour and most importantly passion because they are representing more than just the island of Ireland; they’re representing the sport mad community that lives here too. Be it rugby, football or Gaelic games, when our men/women represent Ireland, they become an extension of each sports fan in this country.

Yet the essence of this Irish-ness, and indeed of other nationalities, has become weakened in recent times. In athletics we have seen Africans such as Rashid Ramzi, Stephen Chorono (Saif Saaeed Shaheen) and Albert Chepkurui (Ahmad Hassan Abdullah) defect from their home nations and instead compete for Asian countries such as Qatar and Bahrain, often for no reason other than financial reward. We here in Ireland aren’t immune to allegiance switching – who can forget the ‘Oi-rish’ football legends such as John Aldridge, Ray Houghton and Terry Phelan. These are players who were adored by the Green Army for their exploits on the field, as was their English manager, even if their passports and birth certs weren’t from this country.





So does it matter where someone comes from? There are reports that Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni will look to take advantage of new citizenship rules from FIFA and invite players such as Kevin Nolan to line out for Ireland. He’s become available now that FIFA say he and other players are eligible, even if they’ve played for other nations at an underage level, in Nolan’s case England. He qualifies for Ireland under ancestry rules, though oddly he also qualifies to play for the Netherlands. Would the Dutch be happy to see a Scouser called Nolan lining out for them?


In an increasingly globalized world, people’s nationalities have become less defined than they once were. A growing number of athletes will have a choice between two or more countries, as Aldridge and Houghton had in the 1980s. They chose Ireland, and represented us well, so maybe being from this little island isn’t that big a deal after all. Maybe we just want our sports stars to play as if they are one of our own.

Bolt From The Blue

So how have they been for you? The Almost Daily Sports Blog has been thoroughly enjoying the Games at the expense of many other aspects of my life...such as The Almost Daily Sports Blog.

Ireland are doing magnificently. Well, certainly our boxers are. Don't rule out Denis Lynch tomorrow though...nor Olive Loughnane later on tonight. Ok Olive is unlikely, but since she's from my hometown that's a real homer pick.

The Games have belonged to two people - Phelps and Bolt. So, who's the star?

Let's assess the facts. Michael Phelps has won 8 gold medals in Beijing. More than Spitz. He's won 14 overall. More than Ireland. He set seven World Records along the way, in every event bar the 100m Butterfly, which he did win despite the claims of some people.

Usain Bolt on the other hand, so far, only has two gold medals and two World Records. However, to me, he is the star of these Olympics. He is the first man in 24 years to complete the 100m/200m double. He is the first ever to win both in World Records. He also has the chance to win a third medal this weekend in the 4x100m relay with the all dominant Jamaican sprinting team.

So which tally is most impressive?? For me... it is Bolt. Just.

Phelps' records have as much to do with a technological fluke than anything else. The pool is deeper and wider than most and the new LZR suits from Speedo add an estimated 2% to an athlete's performance. Sure, everyone else has the use of the same technology, but that gives him a distinct advantage over those who went before him. As for these games, but for Jason Lezek, and the previously mentioned squeaky bum touch over Milorad Cavic, there would have been no gold rush.

Bolt, on the other hand, is in a different class. He set the 100m World Record by running only 85 of them and today, broke one of the most impressive records in the book, Michael Johnson's 19.32 in Atlanta in 1996. Both performances were phenomenal. Simply stunning. His winning margins are impressive. In events where margins are measured in the hundredths, he won by a chasm. He is brilliant.

I confess that I had my doubts about Bolt. Too often athletes have shown us flashes of brilliance, only to rob us of the joy of what we have seen. Like someone in the audience of a magic show, I wondered where the rabbit came from. However, I have been assured that he is clean. I sincerely hope he is. Track and fired needs a star. It needs an instantly recognizable face. It needs an L.T., an A-Rod, a Wayne Rooney. It needs a Michael Phelps. Usain Bolt is that man. Usain Bolt is a super-star. Usain Bolt is the greatest athlete in the Games of the 29th Olympiad.