The following month in Berlin, Said Aouita claimed the record. An Olympic 5000m gold medalist taking the 1500m world record. Amazing stuff.
After the brilliant Noureddine Morceli broke the record in 1992, he again lowered it 3 years later in Nice. In total took a full 2 seconds off Aouita's time. I believe it's Steve Cram doing the commentary. His hopes for Morceli's chances were wonderful to hear. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Morceli 1500m 1995 world record
Then along came Hicham El Guerrouj. The name says it all. His final last lap was breath taking. Smashed the record. That was 20 years ago and still stands.
1st day of Alastair Cook's last game for England starts today. The series is done and in my view hasn't been the feast of cricket some of the media has reported. The quality of the batting (with a couple of notable exceptions) has been largely awful. Cookie hadn't excelled but I'd love to see him go to the well one last time and get a big un. He will go down as one of the greats of the English game imo and though in latter years his form has been patchy the fact that England have tried and discarded 12 openers to partner the great man since Straus' retirement demonstrates how tricky it is to open the batting at test level. He's played 158 tests on the bounce too. An amazing stat.
I love this race and commentary. The 100m splits from two laps our are something to savor. 14.4, 13.8, 13.4, 13.3, 12.9, 12.9, 12.7 & 13.5. Watching his change of gear was sensational.
I've long been a fan of Alastair Cook Chanin. Having scored 12,000 runs for his country, nobody can say the left hander hasn't served his country well. I didn't know he hadn't missed a game though. A real stalwart. Congrats on a great career Cookie.
He made a very fine 71 in tricky conditions before succumbing. I was listening to TMS on my commute home. When he was out he got a great ovation from the crowd and the commentator was pontificating on whether that would be his last dig. In his opinion England would be getting a big score and the tourists would be mentally on the plane home. Has he not watched us bat this summer I thought. We were 133/2 when he was out. Less than 20 overs later and we're 177/6. He'll be having another bat alright . Edit: and in the time it took me to type this we've lost another one .
For the under 40s on here there is an obscure Channel (189 Property on my TV) currently showing re-runs of the Indoor League from the 70s. This was what passed for Sport on the telebox back in the day. Bar billiards, arm wrestling, shove ha'penny . The good old days eh?
A big well done to Ben Maher, and his 9-year-old Dutch horse Explosion W, in winning the overall LGCT title in Rome. https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/09/...ions-tour-rome-equestrian-spt-intl/index.html
Sport can be a beautiful thing, but it can also be an exercise in both emotional an physical pain. In sumo at the present time, Grand Master Kisenosato finds himself staring at the end of his career. Due to injury, the Yokozuna has not completed any of his last 8 tournaments, something that puts the champion on the threshold of a forced retirement. As sumo is a sport of promotion and relegation, all fighters with the exception of the Yokozuna can battle their way through a rough patch, but no so the Grand Champions. If they fail to live up to top level expectations, they are asked to resign or if they refuse, they have their career pulled from under their feet. No fighter in the last 90 years missed as many consecutive tournaments. In this September basho, the word is that if Kisenosato doesn't win at least 10 of his 15 bouts, he'll likely be finished. If the reaction of today's crowd is any indication, he won't be on his own during the next 15 days.
Nice to see Alastair Cook going out on a bright note. The century he just scored puts him in celebrated company, being just the fifth man in history to score a 100 in his first and last tests. The others being Reg Duff, Bill Ponsford, Greg Chappell and Mohammad Azharuddin. Other milestones: Fifth highest test runs scored and most runs by a left handed batsman.
I'm troubled; 5/1 against Albania defeating Scotland this evening! Virtually the full first eleven for Albania play regularly for teams in good grade European leagues; I am sorely tempted.
Day 2 of the September basho. Some big effort gave the crowd much joy. The 3 Yokozuna along with Abi and Takayasu made a nice day for me, win ,lose or draw.
****ing whingers the lot of them - time they got a life. The plague of social media that gives a voice to these people who think they have a god-given right to expound their views on anything and everything. Shut the **** up.
Don't you know Serena Williams was fighting for women's equality when she totally ruined a young woman's finest victory and first major and reduced her to tears. Admittedly she had the help of the baying mob and she did asked them to tone it down when she saw the damage her actions had done to her young opponent. For me, though clearly a legend of the sport, she was just a piss poor loser on the night. As for telling an official she will ensure he never umpires her again. Unbelievable! Just another view from a social media whinger
"American Billie-Jean King, one of the founders of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), initially backed the 23-time Grand Slam champion, saying in the aftermath of Saturday's final: "When a woman is emotional, she's 'hysterical' and she's penalised for it. When a man does the same, he's 'outspoken' and there are no repercussions."
