Osaka World Athletic Chmpionships 2007 . One word, spectacular!
It was truly a most enjoyable 9 days. Some stars of the future were born, some stars were confirmed and a legend or two needed to realise that their time had come to hand over to a new champion.
Our Top 10 performers of the World Athletic Championhips.
Tyson Gay USA 100/200m sprint double
Allyson Felix USA sublime 200m final and relay Golds
Janeth Jepkosgei Kenya superb series of 800m races to take Gold
Bernard Lagat USA fantastic 1500/5000 double
Carolina Kluft Sweden new European record Heptathlon win
Blanca Vlasic Croatia winning High Jump as favourite
Roman Å ebrle Czech finally winning Gold in Decathlon, only took lead in event 9
Catherine Ndereba Kenya winning Women's Marathon to further underline her 'Catherine The Great' tag
Maryam Yusuf Jamal Bahrain for coming of age to take the Women's 1500m title
Jana Pittman Rawlinson Australia taking the 400m hurdles title less than a year after giving birth
There were many other performances of note in the field events however the above mentioned 10 athletes personified that special ingredient that made them worthy champions in their respective events.
It was a stunning 9 days, how to improve things is difficult to assess. To shorten the days would place more pressure on the athletes, so instead of shortening the days, organisers need to provide other means of entertainment or bonuses to make it more interesting to the public.
My major grip of the World Championships was the suicidal temperatures the marathon athletes found themselves competing in. A solution needs to be found before a fatality occurs. This is an area Time-to-Run will be hoping to discuss in the future.
All in all, a magnificent 'Feast of Athletics'
Thank you
TheEd.
