The New York Times profiles Yelena Isinbayeva - a Russian pole vaulter, who I had never heard of - and according to this piece, I'm not alone - she is pretty amazing and "has broken 19 world records (both indoor and outdoor) and won a gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens"
Interesting column on ESPN.com about Ruqaya Al Ghasara, a Bahraini sprinter who is Muslim and wears national team gear designed by Nike, including a hijab that she wears when racing. There was a bit of debate because in her final race (she won gold) at the Asian Games - her hijab now had the infamous Nike swoosh emblazoned on the side and was this in poor taste to "brand" a religious item. But it turns out Al Ghasara chose to wear the swooshed hijab and is hoping to be an inspiration to Muslim women to compete in sports. Here's the AP account of her win.
The U.S. track team - both men and women - have been raking in the gold medals at the world champsionships, but many Americans, including some media outlets, don't seem to care. Although when sprinter Lauryn Williams won the 100M last week, she did make the front page of a few sports sections. Track & Field is one sport where I think you see lack of coverage/exposure on television for both men and women equally - except when it's the Olypmics. The New York Times addresses this in the lead of "The U.S. Sets a Record by Winning 14 Golds" Christopher Clarey writes ...
"So much for a post-Olympic lull. With a vast majority of Americans
paying no attention and with no live television coverage of these track
and field world championships at home, the United States team responded
with a record of 14 gold medals between the raindrops and baton drops
in the Olympic stadium." (NYT, 8/15/05)
In Boston, we are lucky to have sports journalist John Powers - who covers Olympic sports like Track & Field, Gymastics, Skating - on a year round basis for the Boston Globe. He does so much more than write round-up pieces on events. He writes in-depth articles - sometimes profiles of athletes who are not household names - covering both men and women equally. Here is his latest piece from the Track & Field World Championship.
