London Olympic Games 2012

Jamaican runner Novlene Williams-Mills ran in the 2012 Olympics with a secret. She took fifth in the 400m and won a bronze with the Jamaican 400m relay team with information that only she, her husband, and select close friends knew. … Continue reading → (via Yahoo! Sports)

WIN VIP Treatment at a Canadian Marathon near you © Copyright - 2013 - Athletics Illustrated As has been widely reported, Cameron Levins has joined the Nike Oregon Project. After having won the NCAA 5,000m and 10,000m Championships while running for Division 1 Southern Utah University, then competing for Canada at the 2012 London Olympic Games in the 5,000m and 10,000m events, it appears that this is the next logical step for his running career. Race Results Weekly reported that going-forward he will also be working with famed coach Alberto Salazar. Levins told Athletics Illustrated, “I knew very quickly that this is a program I wanted to be a part of, and that I could do very well training with such fantastic athletes.”https://can.milesplit.com/articles/101578-simon-bairu-interview

So how was your Christmas? Mo Farah celebrated his by getting taken for a possible terrorist. The two-time gold medal winner for Great Britain at this past summer's games was traveling in Oregon and was questioned by U.S. Customs officials … Continue reading → (via Yahoo! Sports)

NEW YORK -- Nobody plays the character of Usain Bolt quite like Usain Bolt. The grand (planned) gestures. The baritone. The playfulness that turns deadly serious for a little less than 10 seconds, or a little less than 20. The ability to make the transcendent look not just easy, but joyful. The pure, unmistakable Jamaican-ness of it all. His press conferences are theater. Who else gets away clean with a casual utterance like "Bask in my glory,'' as Bolt commanded after winning the 200 meters, his second individual gold medal of the London Olympics? (via SI.com)

Manteo Mitchell didn’t get to stand atop the podium at the Olympic Games. Mitchell’s Olympic appearance lasted roughly 45 seconds as he ran an unspectacular first leg in the preliminary round of the 4x400m relay. Mitchell didn’t turn heads as people watched the race at home, and he wasn’t mobbed for media interviews after the race.  (via www.usatf.org)

After the Jamaican 4×100 relay team, anchored by Usain Bolt, had lowered the world record to 36.84 seconds in the final event on the track at the London 2012 Olympics, there was one last news ... (via 3 Wire Sports)

Gowda becomes seventh Indian to qualify for final round of Olympic track and field event (via Gazette.net Gazette Maryland Community News)

Prince George’s track stars redirect their focus towards the 2016 Olympics (via Gazette.net Gazette Maryland Community News)

Thanks to Mo Fan, Will for his Submit-A-Mo. (via mofarahrunningawayfromthings.tumblr.com)

Cooper Head Cross Country Coach Eric Van Laningham has scored out the Olympic Track Men's Events in the standard team scoring formula in the chart below.  The men of the United States take the title with a 177 over Kenya with 66.  

    Graphic: a complete guide to the medal records of every country at every Olympic Games Compare the medal performance of every country at every Olympic Games from Athens 1896 to London 2012 with a sport-by-sport breakdown of where the medals were won. Select your country, year and/or sport and click on the total for full details.

This is Not a Zoo, U.S. Men's Marathon (via www.runblogrun.com)

LONDON—With the pressure of qualifying for the London Olympic Games off her shoulder, Tahesai Harrigan-Scott was thinking big for the marquee sporting spectacle.  

 Aug. 10, 2012   Princess Anne, Md. --The day has finally come for Lenora Guion-Firmin, when she will make her XXX Olympiad debut in London, England. Guion-Firmin, a student-athlete for the University of Maryland Eastern Shore will run in the 4x400-meter relay for her native country of France Friday. First round competition will take place at 2:15 PM Eastern Time, with the finals scheduled for Saturday.   Guion-Firmin is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) First-Team honoree for her performance in the 400-meter dash. She currently holds several UMES records in outdoor track events. Guion-Firmin set a school record time of 23.49 seconds in the 200-meter dash, as well as a 52.20 seconds record in the 400-meter dash. Her performances on the track led her to finish in the top 10 in the country in the 400-meter event.   Academically, Guion-Firmin finished her junior year at UMES with a 4.0 grade point average in exercise science, and received recognition by school and industry associations. The United States Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association named Guion-Firmin as an USTFCCCA All-Academic Honoree. 

On the final day of competition Meb Keflezighi backed up his Athens 2004 silver medal in the marathon by placing 4th in an impressive showing!  More coverage inside! (Photo courtesy of Kirby Lee, imageofsport.com)

Social Media Sphere Reacts to Manteo Mitchell's Heroic Performance at the Olympic Games.

Running the opening leg for Team USA in Thursday morning’s 4x400m relay semifinal, Manteo Mitchell (Cullowhee, N.C.) was a pivotal part in helping his team to the final. The Bahamas and United States finished 1-2 in the heat in identical times of 2:58.87, the fastest time ever run in the first round of the relay at the Olympic Games. Without a doubt, it was the fastest time ever run in the Olympics by a team whose leadoff runner broke his leg midway through the race.(via www.usatf.org)

If the Algerian runner had stayed disqualified. If a fellow American hadn't surged past him near the finish line. If he had run .05 of a second faster. Matthew Centrowitz almost medaled in the... (via Baltimore Sun)

Frederick High grad reaches final round in his third appearance for India at the Summer Games (via Gazette.net Gazette Maryland Community News)

Janay DeLoach fulfilled her lifelong dream of wanting to become an Olympic medalist by placing third, thus earning a bronze medal, in the long jump Wednesday. (via www.csurams.com)

LONDON -- Middle-distance star Taoufik Makhloufi of Algeria was expelled from the Olympics for not providing a "bona-fide effort" in his preliminary heat of the 800 meters, having quit in the early going. (via latimes.com)

Andrew Valmon understands how to compartmentalize a schedule. Coaching six different Maryland athletic teams the past seven years has ensured as much. (via baltimoresun.com)

American sprinters at the London Games will have the option of wearing new uniforms from Nike that the sportswear company claims are the “swiftest track apparel to date … [and] also the most sustainable.” The tracksuits, which include material from 13 recycled water bottles apiece, incorporate patterned patches on the... (via Slate Magazine)

Compared with the athletes in the first modern Olympics, today’s gold medalists can run faster, swim stronger, and jump and throw farther. But how slow and weak were the champions of yore compared with the best of the 21st century? In which events could the cream of the crop from... (via Slate Magazine)

LONDON – Monument resident Jenny Simpson has traveled to England with a lazer-like focus.... (via Colorado Springs Gazette, CO)

Stay on top of all the latest results right here!

LONDON, Aug 4—J’Maal Alexander makes his Olympic Games debut today and becomes the territory’s 26th Olympian since 1984.

    A ‘silent pistol’ is being used in the 2012 games that is connected to speakers behind each athlete competing in a heat ensuring all athletes hear the pistol simultaneously. By Aziz Ali on August 3, 2012. @plusaziz

Officials at this year's Olympics in London have been using these tiny RC model versions of the MINI Cooper to load up and transport javelins, shots, hammers, and discuses around the track and field events. The tiny one-fourth scale model MINI Coopers, which are being called Mini MINIs, are about 43 inches long, 20 inches wide, and 16 inches in tall, and can carry close to 18 pounds. (via Complex)

U.S. Olympic gold medal gymnast Shawn Johnson poses with Ronald McDonald at the McDonald's flagship restaurant in Olympic Park. Johnson endorses both McDonald's and Coca-Cola. (Getty) (via News, Lifestyle, and Social Action on TakePart)

LONDON, August 3—When she steps on the track on this evening to face the starters gun, sprinter Tahesia Harrigan-Scott will become just the fourth BVI Olympian to compete in successive Olympic Games.

Ex-Raider, representing Antigua and Barbuda, runs Friday in women�s 400 (via Gazette.net Gazette Maryland Community News)

Asbel Kiprop, the defending champion and world leader, leads a daunting Kenyan trio who will arrive in London well-armed to take home the first Olympic 1500m medal sweep in 104 years.

Full schedule of the TV schedule for the track events at the Olympic Games in London

In the sunshine of Birmingham, the world's second-fastest man was fairly exploding down the track. Shirt off, muscles pounding, Tyson Gay looked in the form to dominate as he rose from that sprinter's crouch. (via Mail Online)

See how your personal best in the 100m, 10km, 100m freestyle swim and bicycle road race compares against the all-time greats - and whether your time would have ever earned you a place on the podium. You can also share your results with your friends on Facebook, become a keyboard warrior, unlock secret codes and much more. Find out how we built it

  Ttrack & field head coach Andrew Valmon will lead Team USA in London

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Edrick Floreal’s summer continues to get busier. Less than a week after being named the first new Kentucky track and field head coach in 28 years, Floreal is in London as an assistant coach for USA in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

BIRMINGHAM, England -- The first two tears came in unison, not from the sides of Jeneba Tarmoh's brown eyes, but straight from the bottom. They rolled down her cheeks, paused on her chin as if considering whether to jump off, and then fell to the floor at her feet. Others followed with some urgency, until Tarmoh began blotting them with the sleeve of her sweatshirt, a losing battle that she waged intermittently. Public tears can be relentless when they've been denied freedom for more than three weeks, like Tarmoh's had. Because tears are the truth. (via SI.com)

LONDON, JULY 25—BVI London 2012 Olympic Games sprinters Tahesai Harrigan-Scott and J’Maal Alexander, wrapped up their training camp in Aston on Tuesday and moved into the Olympic Village later in the evening, ahead of Friday’s Olympic Games opening ceremonies.

As the Olympic Flame finishes its trip around the globe, a school-record 19 Penn Staters are gearing up to represent their school and countries at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Opening ceremonies at the Olympics take place July 27. (via www.gopsusports.com)

LONDON, JULY 19—The BVI Olympic Games Delegation got two days of international recognition and advertisement, ahead of next week’s opening ceremonies for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Sebastian Coe, the London 2012 chairman, made an unscheduled appearance in the Olympice Village here this afternoon for the first of what will be 204 Welcoming Ceremonies at the Games – with the two-strong British Virgin Islands team receiving the first official greeting. (via www.insidethegames.biz)

Michael Johnson sure is chatty this year. First it was commentary on how slave descendants have a genetic edge on the track. Now the 400-meter world-record holder and four-time U.S. Olympic gold medalist is calling out South African sprinter and … Continue reading → (via Yahoo! Sports)

Matt Centrowitz Sr. does not recall ever sitting down with his son Matthew to regale him with tales of being an Olympian, or to explain the thrill and responsibility of representing the United States on the world's most-watched athletic stage. (via )

Today's blog post comes from Lopez Lomong, who will be running with Team USA in the London 2012 Olympics. Lopez was born in South Sudan, and kidnapped by a rebel group at the age of 6. He escaped to a refugee camp in Kenya, and was adopted by a family in the United States. While Lopez runs for Team USA, he hasn't forgotten his home country of South Sudan, that celebrates one year of independence today. (via )

In the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, LaShawn Merritt earned gold medals in the 400m and 400m relay. In the winter of 2009, he failed three drug tests. This summer, Merritt is competing in the London Olympics, trying to overcome preconceptions about his past. 

LENORA GUION-FIRMIN MEMBER OF 2012 FRENCH OLYMPIC RELAY TEAM Guion-Firmin Earned a Silver Medal in the European Championship to Earn a Place on the Team

Gowda holds Indian national record in discus throw with 66.28-meter performance in April (via )

It all caught up with University of Maryland swimmers and divers, men's cross country runners, women's water polo players and other athletes young enough to have rarely confronted limits on their talents and dreams. (via )

  Dendy eyes leap across the pond Middletown grad to vie for spot in Olympics

Middle distance runner Robby Andrews is competing in New York, with an eye toward the U.S. trials and a spot in London for this summer’s Olympics. (via )

She’s already won 3 Olympic medals, but Allyson Felix is chasing that elusive individual Olympic gold. (via )

Usain Bolt ended his six-month relationship with a Slovakian fashion designer in order to focus on the upcoming Summer Olympics. News reports suggest Bolt's breakup with Lubica Slovak, 28, was because of his desire to repeat his double-gold/world-record Olympic performance … Continue reading → (via )

Unless Usain Bolt eschews the athletes village in favour of the delights of Brockley, south east London, he won’t face the same commute as I did on race day. (via The Independent)

Ohio State senior hurdler Christina Manning, with the fastest 100-meter American time this year, has a college season to finish before setting her sights on London. (via )

Although the U.S. is expected to lose the medal count at the London Olympics, there's still one event Americans are expected to dominate: the decathlon. (via )

Scary. It can describe the future of a world-class athlete after a diagnosis that could've ended her track days. Instead, Sanya Richards-Ross pushed p... (via )

View the 15 Faces to Watch at the 2012 London Olympic Games photo gallery on Yahoo! Sports. Find more news related pictures in our photo galleries. (via Yahoo! Sports)

Running Man: Usain Bolt readies for London 2012 Olympics 100 days from now, the Olympic flame will be lit in London.  Arguably no spotlight is greater than the one shining on Usain Bolt, the fastest man on the planet. NBC's Lester Holt traveled to Bolt's homeland of Jamaica to meet the king of the track.  Watch Lester Holt’s full report, “Running Man” Wednesday April 18 at 9/8c on NBC’s Rock Center with Brian Williams.  

In a race such as the 1,500 meters, knowing when to run in front or hang back can be the difference between triumph and disappointment. (via Washington Post)

Coverage of the 2012 Olympics in London by NBCOlympics.com includes exclusive video, results, schedules, athletes, news, photos, & TV Listings. (via www.nbcolympics.com)

He is the fastest man on two legs, the greatest sprinter of all time – and Usain Bolt can also claim another superlative. He alone has caused the other top athletes in the world to run faster. (via The Independent)

Usain Bolt reckons London's thriving Jamaican community could help propel him to another monumental Olympic performance as the sprinter seeks to repeat his triple gold-medal haul from Beijing four years ago. (via www.universalsports.com)

'Carmelita Jeter takes five strides in the time it takes to say (via The Washington Post)

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Mind over matter? Or nature over nurture? What is it that separates Olympic legends like Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps from the millions of enthusiastic amateurs around the world? (via CNN)