Athletes have interesting facets
Welcome to the Circus’ historic first all-athletics edition, right after this note:
Bus pulls up the other day to the multi-sport Excel complex, venue of the combat sports, and the driver opens the door to an attractive volunteer who tells him to just keep going because she’d not be going inside to look for passengers.
Said the young woman: “They’re wrestlers. Russians, Armenians, Belarusians … and I’m not going anywhere near them.”
A title of distinction: Russia’s Yevgeniy Ektov, a 17.22-metre triple-jumper, and his wife, Irina Livienko-ektov, PB 14.48, are described in a London 2012 bio as “the best husbandand-wife triple-jump combination in the world.” We hope to find the other couple.
That explains the rubber cord that follows him over the bar: German decathlete Pascal Behrenbruch has a fear of pole vaulting, a bit of a drawback seeing that pole vault is one of 10 decathlon events, so he’s been bungee-jumping to try to overcome the phobia.
Big fish, small pond: Jangy Addy is Liberia’s national record-holder in pole vault, shot put, discus, javelin and decathlon. Probably a TV quizmaster and scrap-metal dealer, too.
Every hundredth of a second counts: Australia’s Luke Adams shaves his body before every important international event. Swimmers do it to streamline their bodies and increase sensitivity in the water. But Luke Adams is a 50-kilometre race walker.
And Jose Theodore tested positive for something that grows hair: Long-jumper Maurren Higa Maggi of Brazil was barred by her sport from 2003-05 for doping. She was later cleared when she argued that her positive test was the result of an ingredient in a hair-removal product.
Javelin junkies: Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republic, nicknamed Bara, has her own devoted band of rowdy fans called the Bara Ultras.
It’s not superstition, it’s a ritual: If Russia’s Mariya Abakumova is successful with a javelin toss, she’ll use the same javelin the rest of the meet. If not, all bets are off.
Keep the medal, this is better: Defending Olympic 20-km race-walker Olga Kaniskina won her first national women’s title at age 14. Her prize was “some sweets.” A Games bio says that Olga “is one of the few Russian athletes who knows by heart all the words to the State Anthem of the Russian Federation.”
Seems she won lots of sweets: Turkey’s Tugce Sahutoglu is the largest of the women throwing the hammer here — 115 kilograms, or 254 pounds.
Famous if thin bloodlines: British 110-metre hurdler Lawrence Clarke’s great grandmother’s first cousin once removed was Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the U.S. That, and 75p, will get him a cup of instant coffee here.
No news is no news: American race-walker John Nunn served as a missionary in Las Vegas (now how can that be possible?) from 1997-99, during which time he was forbidden to watch, read or listen to anything in the media. Happily, that included NBC.