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Twenty20 Cricket - will it kill off "real" cricket? 2007-09-11 22:05:00 It's only been two days, but the Twenty20 Cricket tournament has almost surpassed the excitement levels achieved through the ENTIRE snooze-fest of the 50-over World Cup in the West Indies earlier this year. That tournament was beset by problems, ranging from poor attendances, off-field incidents, and let's face it, boring cricket. Last night's opening match between SA and the West Indies suggests that the next 2 weeks will be anything but boring. Fans are filling stadiums, the action is exciting, and suddenly cricket seems a little more exciting than "baseball on tranquilizers" (a quote attributed to Robin Williams). In fact, it's cricket on amphetamines (speed).And therein lies the problem. Twenty20, Pro20, call it what you will, is proving so popular that there is almost a danger that it will 'cannabilize' its own brand. After all, once you've experienced cricket on amphetamines, who'd go back to the tranquilizers? And so a lot has been written and debated about whether the i
Asafa Powell sets a new 100m world record - 9.74s 2007-09-09 02:33:00 It came at the most unexpected of times. That is really just a euphemism for saying that it happened in a low-key, obscure meeting, in the absence of any major competition, and must be one of the least exciting world records ever, but Asafa Powell
has broken his own (shared) world record in the 100m.It happened in the qualifying heats of a one-day meet in Rieti, Italy. Powell, who finished a very disappointing third at the IAAF World Champs last week, chose to run this meeting rather than the IAAF Golden League meet in Zurich on Friday night, and promptly knocked 0.03s off his time, running 9.74 secs.In terms of times, Powell now has three clockings of 9.77secs and this one of 9.74secs, giving him a pretty good case for "fastest man in the world" honours (Maurcie Greene has a very valid argument for being the best ever in terms of times - he has more of the times in the top 100 than anyone else, but for absolute speed, Powell has cracked 9.8s four times...)The problem for Powell, how
Exercise in the heat - Craig Mottram undone in Osaka? 2007-09-08 19:27:00 Craig Mottram was one of the "hot" (excuse the pun) favourites for the Men's 5000m final at the recent IAAF World Championships in Athletics. As we all know by now, he finished 13th out of a field of 14, who ran the race in the slowest time in Championship history! Hardly the performance of a pre-race favourite.In the immediate aftermath of that race, Mottram was reported as "struggling to find the reasons", saying only that he was "gutted". A week has now passed, and Mottram's coach is suggesting that it was Mottram's failure to adapt to the heat that was responsible for the disastrous performance.Nic Bideau, who has coached Mottram for eight years, was of the opinion that Mottram should have finished second at worst in that race. In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, he stated that "He just couldn't run. He didn't deal with the conditions well."Apparently, Mottram did not travel to Osaka
in the weeks leading up to the race to adapt to the hotter conditions. In a p Read more:Exercise
, Craig
African dominance in sprinting? Some interesting stats... 2007-09-05 00:07:00 Here at The Science of Sport, we don't shy away from controversial topics (within reason!) and are always on the lookout for interesting
, substantiated, and discussion-provoking articles, provided there's basis for them. In the past, we featured a post on African
running, but only scratched the surface behind why the East Africans dominate middle and long distance running.With the recent IAAF World Champs now over, it was again an opportunity to witness this dominance - in the men's and women's 5000m and 10000m events, 11 OUT OF THE 12 medals on offer were won by an athlete who was born in East Africa! The only exception was Kara Goucher, of the USA, who took bronze in the women's 10000m. The other possible "exceptions" would be Bernard Lagat and Elvan Abeylegesse, who now represent different countries, but were born in Kenya and Ethiopia, respectively. Similarly, if you look at the world's best times, you see a similar pattern. In the men's 5000m event, for example, the la
The IAAF World Championships - a recap and the Best and Worst of... 2007-09-04 01:51:00 So the IAAF WorldChampionships
in athletics concluded on the weekend, and we’ve tried to bring you as much analysis and insight as possible here at The Science of Sport. So in our final post on the World Champs, now that the dust has settled, we bring you a wrap up of our “best” and “worst” for the week of athletics. Obviously, we’re biased in favour of the track events, and especially the longer distance running, but we’ll be as objective as possible. Feel free to throw your hat in the ring… Best male athlete In terms of medals, our vote goes to Tyson Gay, who claimed three golds, winning a sprint (100m-200m) double and gold in the 4 x 100m relays. This particular double has been pretty common in recent years, with Maurice Greene and Justin Gatlin both achieving it. Hopefully, Gay will not go the same was as Gatlin! Gay is a big-race runner, his greatest strength seems to be his ability to put all other athletes out of his mind and withstand the pressure o
IAAF World Champs - Day 9 analysis and insights 2007-09-03 00:10:00 The final day of the IAAF WorldChamps
brought with it some memorable performances, some bizarre racing tactics and many multiple medal winners. Below is our analysis of the racing actionMen's 5000m - A double for Bernard Lagat on what the field must have thought was his birthdayBernard Lagat came into these World Championships having never won a world title. Four days ago, he took the 1500m gold medal in an intriguing race (see our analysis of that race here). And tonight, he won a second gold medal by taking out a 5000m race that can be described as somewhat bizarre.Lagat must have felt that all his birthdays and Christmases had come at once. From now on, he will surely celebrate the 2nd of September as a day for gifts, because the field basically handed him the race. Of course, he may have won regardless of the early pace, as he is a quality runner with a 5000m PB of 12:59. But had you said to him that the pace for the first 4000m would be 11:22, he probably would have asked
Haile Gebrselassie World Record - the splits and pacing analysis 2007-09-30 18:55:00 OK, so we promised a more detailed look at the splits from yesterday's amazing WorldRecord
performance by Haile Gebrselassie in the Berlin Marathon. In case you missed it - 2:04.26!Truth is, these are still "unofficial splits", but I suspect that the difference (if any) will be a matter of seconds, and so I think it's fair to look at them a little closely, as we wrote yesterday.The table below shows the split times at each 5km interval, and also shows the time and pace (rounded) for that particular 5km segment. The fifth column is a projected time based on the split time at that distance point - this method is a little dodgy, because it represents a kind of "moving average", which is what makes it so tricky to calculate required times in real time.So the sixth column is added to show the pace REQUIRED FROM THAT POINT in order to crack the world record of 2:04.55, which was held by Paul Tergat. I thought this would be a good way to illustrate how the pacing fluctuated relative to Read more:World Record
Marathon World Record - 2:04.26 to Haile Gebrselassie! 2007-09-30 04:10:00 If there was any doubt remaining, Haile Gebrselassie confirmed that he is indeed the greatest current distance runner, probably the greatest in history, by breaking the 4 year old marathon world record in Berlin!His time? 2:04.26, which eclipses the old record of his rival Paul Tergat (2:04.55) by 29 seconds.Some notable splits from the 'race' (for want of a better word - it was more of a "paced time-trial" for Geb and a race for the others!) include a first 10km split of 29:25, which was too fast, projecting a 2:04.07 finishing time! They then slowed down over the next 10km, eventually reaching halfway in 62:29, which projects a finish time of 2:04.58. More worrying was that the pace had dropped by almost a minute, and so something drastic had to happen in the second half to reverse this trend, and it did...At this stage, it was touch and go, because in his world record of 2003, Paul Tergat ran an astonishingly fast second half - sub 62 minutes! And so Gebrselassie was running f Read more:World
, Record
, Marathon
Drugs in sport - could it possibly be bigger than we thought? 2007-09-28 23:56:00 In a companion post to this article, we discussed three MAJOR doping stories of the last week, and how we seem apathetic to them. First, Floyd Landis was stripped of his 2006 Tour title, then Michael Rasmussen returned a "non-negative" result during the 2007 Tour, and then perhaps the biggest sport
s drug bust in history went down in the USA. Yet it seems to be business as usual. In this post, we take a closer look at this huge drug bust, named Operation Raw Deal, and what it means for doping control in sport.Operation Raw Deal exposed - a summary of the bustOperation Raw Deal, a campaign run by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), is the story that should be sending shivers down our spines. Just look at the numbers again:124 arrests56 labs shut down across 27 states$6.5million worth of steriods240 kg (530 lbs) of raw steroid powder! Most of the raids took place in "quiet, suburban neighbourhoods, with reports of DEA agents "knocking down doors in suburban cul-de-sacs and push Read more:Drugs
, thought
Drugs in sport - our apathy reveals the state of the sport 2007-09-28 23:07:00 Two days ago, we interrupted our series on running technique to bring you news of a massive steroid bust, named "Raw Deal". Incredibly, this story barely reached South Africa, and certainly didn't make the impact that it should have, given the numbers, and the possible implications of this operation. Of course, it may yet do so, if WADA gets hold of the names of some high-profile athletes who have "benefited" from the 11.4 million doses of steroids that were confiscated!Other doping news - just "by the way"This is not the only doping related article to hit the headlines in the past week or two. In other news, Michael Rasmussen, of "You can trust me" fame, returned what is bizarrely called a "non-negative" test at that Tour de France. According to news reports, the Dane, who was kicked off the Tour by his Rabobank team for failing to inform them of his location leading up to the Tour, had traces of a substance called "Dynepo" in his urine. This chemical is similar to EPO, but unde Read more:Drugs
, sport
Running techniques - the same as Medical Products? 2007-09-28 04:33:00 This post is an addendum to the previous post and is based on a comment left in response to that post, and some discussions I had with others.It suddenly occurred to me that what the running techniques are doing is the SAME THING as is done in the medical industry. For example, let's compare an anti-inflammatory tablet, prescribed for the relief of pain and inflammation, with the running techniques.How is an anti-inflammatory similar to running technique products?Both will make promises. An anti-inflammatory promises pain relief, return to normal function and perhaps will allow you to perform normal daily activities that otherwise might be impossible. Pose and Chi Running make the promise that you will run faster, more efficiently and be less prone to injury.Another similarity is that both have recommendations for use, either direct or implied. In the case of your anti-inflammatory, it says take two tablets, twice a day, with meals. Pose or Chi might suggest a reduction in traini Read more:Products
Running technique Part IV: Running technique 101 - some simple changes 2007-09-27 21:30:00 In our previous posts, we've moved from asking whether the way we run "naturally" might be incorrect, to discussing that there is such a thing as sound running technique, but that this technique is not necessarily the same for everyone, to looking (in yesterday's post) at the scientific evidence behind the Pose theory in particularThe fineprint of learning a new running technique In that post, we looked at how intensive training with the Pose method was able to alter certain running biomechanics, resulting in reduced loading on the knee, but increased loading on the ankle. The principle behind "wholesale" changes
to running technique was questioned, because it seems as though there is fine print that the athlete is not necessarily guaranteed to be injury free or faster, as the techniques promise. The success of the training seems to depend entirely on the ability of the athlete to learn the technique properly, which means there is little liability on the teachers of the technique -
A personal experience with Pose 2007-09-26 21:04:00 This has been a fantastic series and has generated many comments and much debate. We suspect this is because when you talk about something as close to people as their running, it is bound to strike a nerve! Running is a personal experience
, and most of you probably run because of the vast benefits it brings you on a physical, personal, mental, and even spiritual level.Having presented the scientific basis and principles of Pose and Chi running, and having weighed in on the pros and cons of teaching running technique, this post will approach this issue from only a practical and personal level to try to explain the implications of changing technique.In the prior post Ross mentioned the mental cost of changing running technique, and also evaluated the injury aspect of running Pose. I volunteered to be a subject in the training study because at that time I was suffering from a soleus injury and was right in the middle of a peak training period for a November marathon. I was desperate
Post-Chicago analysis continued: One patient's details 2007-10-11 21:21:00 The news media are slowing down a bit here in Chicago
, but the questions still remain---and we are not talking about why the race ran out of water, if they even ran out of water, or why they shortened the course. Rather, we are most interested in the runners who remained in the hospital on Monday evening. News outlets stated on Monday that 10 remained in the hospital, although no details
were ever divulged about the diagnoses of these runners, which raises questions about the reasons they were admitted overnight.Heat stroke - diagnosis?First, if indeed the diagnosis is heat stroke then the first thing that must be done to confirm this diagnosis is a rectal temperature. As we have stated here previously, this is a crucial measurement that must be made for this differential diagnosis. Without it, you simply cannot confirm if the person has heat stroke or postural hypotension or something else. If the individual does indeed have a rectal temperature at or above 42 C (107.6 F), then Read more:patient
Women vs Men Part III: Women find their "niche" in longer distances 2007-10-11 02:35:00 Yesterday, we looked at the performance differences between men and women across the entire range of distances from 100m to the Ultra-marathons, in an attempt to see whether the theory that women are better long distance runners than men is true. Yes, we acknowledge that there are flaws in this method, because far fewer women run the long distance events in particular (which reduces the depth of ability available), and also women have only been running for perhaps 40 years, compared to almost 100 for the men.However, that analysis showed that rather than catching up to men as the distance gets longer and longer, women (the world’s best time, anyway) are in fact always about 10% slower than men. The reason for that at the shorter distances is the testosterone advantage enjoyed by men (called the ‘hormone gap’ by one scientist!), very interestingly demonstrated by the observation that in the last 10 years, as drug testing has become tighter, women are in fact falling even further Read more:Women
, niche
Investigating heatstroke: How fast do you actually have to run? 2007-10-10 02:45:00 Recent marathon running news has been dominated by the Chicago Marathon and the heat which forced the closure of the race at around 11h30. There has been a great deal of reaction to this, with many people suggesting that even attempting to run in such conditions was "suicidal". Take this quote from one particularly scathing commenter:"If you are foolhardy enough to run a marathon when the temperature outdoors is up to 88 degrees, then it is your fault, no one else's...when 35,000 people jump off a ledge, you can only catch so many in safety nets. The rest are going to fall. This is a professional competition that the public sometimes confuses with a company picnic."But is it heatstroke?Yet the other day, we featured a post which suggested that actually running yourself into true heatstroke is incredibly rare. We said that one should be cautious about making a knee-jerk reaction that just because it was hot, heatstroke and heat illness was the problem. And here it's really importa
Women vs Men Part II: The physiology of difference 2007-10-10 02:20:00 Yesterday, in Part I of our series on men vs. women, we looked at the evolution of the world record in the marathon event, and how the relatively late entry of women into the event threw a few “scientific” predictions off course! The theory has long been that in the longer distance events, women would close the gap on men for two major reasons. Firstly, the strength advantage enjoyed by men is less significant to success in those longer events, and so women might be able to hold their own when it is endurance, rather than power that is important. Secondly, the theory is that women have a greater store of body fat that would allow them to produce energy more effectively than men, resulting in better performances in the events where the use of fat may be an important determinant of success (that is, marathons and longer) Examining performance across the spectrum In today’s Part II, we look at this issue in a little more detail, and expand our scope from marathons to incl Read more:Women
, difference
Women vs Men Part I: World record evolution 2007-10-09 02:22:00 It seems like an age ago, but on the weekend, we promised an upcoming series on Men vs. Women
in the running events. Since then, the Chicago Marathon, and a series of posts ranging from race analysis to discussions of heat stroke and the sad death of a participant have dominated. But today we begin what will be a four-part series on this topic, looking at the following areas:Women in running – a historical overview and the evolution of the marathon world record Performance differences between men and women in all running events, and a physiological discussion of why this difference existsWill women ever outperform men? And more interestingly, does it already happen! Finally, we look at a scientific paper published earlier this year examining American women in the marathon The history of women in the marathonTo begin with, we have to show our hand a little in order to open the discussion. The theory has long been that during shorter duration running, women will always be a Read more:World
Chicago Marathon death - autopsy result and further insights 2007-10-08 03:03:00 Autopsy result on Chad SchieberThe medical examiner's office has announced the results of the autopsy
performed on Chad Schieber, who died during Sunday's ChicagoMarathon
. Schieber had a heart condition known as mitral valve prolapse and did not die as a result of the oppressive heat, as had been widely speculated.Schieber, a 35-year old policeman from Michigan, collapsed at the 18 mile mark of the Chicago Marathon, and was later pronounced dead. This tragic event, together with approximately 300 other medical cases, prompted the race organizers to take the unprecedented step of shutting the course down after about 4 hours of running.In the aftermath of the race, many have expressed opinions about whether this was the right decision. What is clear is that the race exerted a massive toll on those taking part. In a post earlier today, we looked at some of the science and physiology behind what is obviously a highly topical issue. To date, the prevalent theory for what happened to Read more:death
Who is Patrick Ivuti? 2007-10-07 21:46:00 By now you have heard all about the absolutely amazing finishes in both the men's and women's races at this year's 30th La Salle Bank Chicago Marathon. In case you did not, see our post below this one for the details of the races.When we did our race preview last week, we left him out of the contenders as the field was so deep with champions such as Limo, Cheruiyot, and Gharib as Ivuti's credentials seemed paltry in comparison to his competitors:5th in Chicago 200511th in Amsterdam 20065th in Rotterdam 2007However as we have written about previously, speed counts, and here we overlooked Ivuti's fast pedigree:2nd at World XC champs 1999 (NOTE: Paul Tergat won this year)4th at World XC champs 20002nd at Word XC champs 2003 (NOTE: Kenenisa Bekele won this year)59:31 in the 2000 Lisbon half-marathon4th in 10,000 m at Sydney Olympics (Recall Gebrselassi/Tergat photo finish)59:27 in the 2007 Rotterdam half-marathonWhat should have tipped us off in particular to Ivuti was his 59:27 at t Read more:Patrick
Death at the Chicago Marathon: Report and view on heat stroke 2007-10-07 19:11:00 Yesterday, we featured a race analysis on the 2007 ChicagoMarathon
, which featured two of the most amazing finishes in marathon history. However, the spectacular racing has been somewhat detracted from by the very sad news of a death in the race, attributed to the extremely high, record temperatures on the day.The high temperatures and humidity were deemed so bad that the organizers made the unprecedented step of actually cancelling the race midway through! Three hours and thirty minutes in, at about 11:30am Chicago time, organizers sent all athletes who had not yet made haflway back to the start line, while those beyond the halfway point were advised to drop out or board cooling buses.Statistically, it is clear that the heat affected the race. Of 45,000 entrants, about 10,000 did not even attempt the race, and of the remaining 35,000, only 24,000 actually finished.The primary reason behind the decision to shut down the course was that organizers were concerned that the medical per
Chicago Marathon Report: UNBELIEVABLE racing 2007-10-07 03:24:00 FIVE HUNDRETHS OF A SECOND! That is the winning margin in the men's 2007 ChicagoMarathon
! Patrick Ivuti of Kenya pips Jaouad Gharib of Morocco on the line in what must surely be the greatest finish in marathon running! When Paul Tergat and Hendrik Ramaala raced it out in New York two years ago, that was special, but this was an astonishing finish, the two runners racing side by side towards a finish line that clearly didn't bargain on two athletes crossing it together. The poor guy holding the one side of the tape was almost cleaned out by the finishing Ivuti, who was awarded the title by the tiniest of margins.The winning time, not great, "only" 2:11:11.00 (amazing that we have to refer to the hundreths of seconds, but then Gharib's time was 2:11:11.05)!!!The splits from the raceThe race itself was pretty slow from the outset. It's difficult to find exact splits, because the TV wasn't much help and the official race website was so busy after the race that we were unable to get
Introducing an upcoming series on Women vs. Men in the marathon: 4-part series 2007-10-07 03:20:00 Last weekend, Haile Gebrselassie knocked 29 seconds off the four-year old marathon world record with a time of 2:04:26. As tends to happen after these performances, everyone began questioning what the limits to human performance might be? Is it possible to break 2-hours? Geb himself spoke of his own feeling that he would run 2:03 at Berlin someday. Depending on what he meant by 2:03 (that is, 2:03:59 or 2:03:00), I’m sceptical of that ambition, since it requires some extra-ordinary performances to knock 86 seconds off a time that is becoming more and more difficult to crack. We wrote about this possibility in a post a few days ago. But another way to approach this “limits of performance” issue is to consider whether women might ever outperform men? Last week saw a debate around the men’s world record – well, when Paula Radcliffe ran 2:15:25 in London in 2003, the discussion was deafening. Suddenly, everyone was convinced that the marathon was the event where women Read more:Women
, Introducing
, series
New Zealand fails at the Rugby World Cup! Chokers or mis-timers? 2007-10-06 18:45:00 Well, we have to date resisted the urge to post something on rugby. Not because it's not particularly interesting to us, but because we know that there's a good deal to be written on running, cycling and athletics, and because many of our North American readers probably think of rugby as a more random version of American Football! But to those in the USA, you do have a rugby team and in fact, have provided one of the highlights of this World
Cup, when your winger, Ngwenya, put his jet shoes on and raced past the South African winger Bryan Habana to score a wonderful try (call it a touchdown!) in a game last weekend! In that moment, Habana moved from being the fastest rugby player in the world to the second fastest!But, this post is necessary, because it comes after the pre-tournament favourites New Zealand
were bundled out of the competition by the French in Cardiff last night. New Zealand
, who are the dominant force in world rugby, the team everyone fears and values defeating mo Read more:Rugby
, World Cup
Marion Jones: Self-confessed drug user (but there's a catch)... 2007-10-05 03:49:00 "I want to apologize to you all for all of this. I am sorry for putting you all through this after you have been there for me through everything. I want to apologize to you, in advance, for the questions that you will be asked about me and about your relationships with me. And lastly, I am sorry for disappointing you all, in so many ways. My intent was never to hurt any of you."A confession and a guilty pleaThese words, penned in a letter from Marion
Jones to close family and friends, represent a confession that many have been waiting for since the BALCO scandal hit the news years ago. Marion Jones, winner of three Gold and two Bronze medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, the figurehead of those Games, the most recognizable face in world athletics for many years, has finally confessed to the use of the now infamous steroid, THG, also known as "the clear". This anabolic steroid drug, developed specifically to avoid detection by Victor Conte and Patrick Arnold, was one of the key '
Chicago Marathon Update 2007-10-04 17:55:00 UPDATE, 7 OCTOBER - Race report and analysis:The 2007 ChicagoMarathon
has come and gone, and was one of the most remarkable marathons ever run, for both men and women. Click here for our post-race report and analysis!We have no idea why the organizers have waited until three days before the event to announce this, but both winners from last year will be returning to defend their titles.In the womens field that makes it effectively a two-horse contest between Benita Johnson and Berhane Adere, although on paper Adere has more experience and a faster PB (2:20:42 vs. 2:22:36).On the mens side, as if the field were not already deep enough and ultra competitive, Robert Cheruiyot will be on the start line to defend his title. Cheruiyot is smoking hot lately, winning Boston and Chicago in 2006 and repeating his Boston win earlier this year. Can me make it a double-double?Worth noting is his PB of 2:07:14 which was run at Boston last year. Why is this special? Remember, folks, Boston is not kn Read more:Update
Chicago Marathon - Preview of Sunday's Race 2007-10-04 02:54:00 In case you did not notice on Sunday
, the fall marathon season is upon us, and this Sunday sees the 30th annual ChicagoMarathon
kicking off in the heart of downtown Chicago at 0800. The forecast is for morning temps around 15-16 C and peaking above 25 C! Perhaps not quite cool enough for record-breaking performances, but definitely conducive to a fast winning time.The women's field does not have much depth and this year's race cannot claim any real world beaters among its women racers. Four of the ten elite women will be running their first marathon on Sunday, and among the veterans Australian Benita Johnson has the best time at 2:22:36. Notably absent is Constantina Tomescu-Dita, a previous winner and normal competitor. Also absent is last year's winner Berhane Adere from Ethiopia. So on paper Johnson has the best time by two minutes, but as we all know the marathon distance can quickly evaporate these kind of differences on the day, and so no one runner among the women looks to d Read more:Preview
Haile Gebrselassie - "I can run 2:03, but I believe one day two hours will be broken". 2007-10-03 04:28:00 In the last few days, we've analysed the performance and the split times/pacing of the magnificent marathon world record of Haile Gebrselassie in Berlin. In the aftermath of that race, there has been much hype about the prospects for the world record moving forward, and soon. People are suddenly talking about a sub-2:00 clocking, and even Haile himself has been speaking in those lofty terms (though a little more cautiously!).Some predictions - the crystal ball and the marathonThere is a tendency to whip out the crystal ball after world records are broken. It is as though our view of the horizon was obscured by a barrier, which is then suddenly lifted, and we look out into the distance and wonder where we will head to next? And for Gebrselassie, "next" means 2:03, at least, that's what he is talking about now. In an interview, he said that he believe
s:a) That he can run 2:03, andb) The world record will go under 2 hours one dayAdmittedly, he hedged his bets on b), saying that "ma
Cricket - Twenty20 "fallout" - too much money, too much cricket? 2007-10-03 04:04:00 The Twenty20 Cricket World Cup is now a thing of the past, seeming to have departed as quickly as it came, and as rapidly as a ball off Yuvraj's bat over a mid-wicket boundary.The game continues to battle its way through the complexity of what this new and (potentially) improved version of the game offers. Recently, Malcolm Speed, Chief Executive of the International Cricket Council, declared that "We have a problem of fitting Twenty20 into the international calendar". This is of course true, there's too much cricket being played these days - the subject of our article further below. The point, however, is that Twenty20 offers a way to ease the congestion by reducing demands on players. More importantly, the ICC may face a problem of getting enough money to fund the game, if the market demand for the 20 over game reaches levels that detract from the 50-over game. It's a delicate problem, and the ICC hardly inspire confidence that they will handle it correctly.In other cricket r
Doping - Could it be any worse? 2007-10-01 20:53:00 On the back of the recent doping news, namely Operation Raw Deal and the fact that Michael Rasmussen returned a "non-negative" test from this year's Tour de France, comes a perhaps not so shocking admission by Canadian mountain bike superstar Genevieve Jeanson. In an interview with Radio Canada, she admitted to taking EPO since she was sixteen years old. She is now 26 and has been out of racing since July 2005 when she tested positive for EPO at the Tour of Toona. She received a lifetime ban from USA Cycling (from whom she had a racing license) which was later brokered down to a two-year ban ending in July of this year.For anyone who has read Matt Rendel's The Death of Marco Pantani, Jeanson's case is yet another in which an athlete's entire career was based on the abuse of EPO. More to the point, it is another career filled with medals and victories based on the systematic use and abuse of performance enhancing drugs.Both Pantani's and Jeanson's stories show us that although Read more:Doping
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