On a fast track to irrelevance

Tori Pena failing to clear a single height in the pole vault, Ciarán ó Lionáird finishing 13th in the heats of the 1,500m and his subsequent TV Mad Scene, Catriona Jennings trailing in last in the marathon, 17 minutes behind the second last runner, Fionnuala Britton being lapped in the final of the 10,000m, the reliably disappointing Alistair Cragg plodding in 17th in his 5,000m heat in a time 44 seconds slower than the one he ran to qualify for London.It’s been a truly nightmarish Olympics for Irish athletics as one awful image has succeeded another.Where does Irish athletics go from here? And why has everything gone so terribly wrong? After all, it’s only three years since a World Championships in Barcelona seemed to promise great things. Olive Loughnane won silver in the 20km walk, Derval O’Rourke was fourth in the 100m hurdles and David Gillick sixth in the 400m, both of them the first Europeans over the line, Paul Hession narrowly missed out on the 200m final.   more http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/on-a-fast-track-to-irrelevance-3197116.html

Summary: the men’s vault

By Larry Eder

The men’s pole vault competition in London was a dog fight. In the end, Renaud Lavillenie needed to use his experience to win the pole vault. Here is how they won…..Steve Hooker, the defending Olympic champion, just could not get started yesterday.He made three attempts at 5.65m, and while his first attempt looked close, Mr. Hookerseems to have his demons, we hope that he can overcome them. But for London, SteveHooker was out of the competition. Brad Walker of the US, also no heighted. His third attempt looked like it was a clearance, but the bar dropped as he was over it. The competition was really between Bjorn Otto, Raphael Holzdeppe, and Renuad Lavillenie. The revelation of the competition was Raphael Holzdeppe, of Germany, who cleared 5.65m on his second jump. At 5.75m, he needed two attempts. Then, it got interesting, Raphael cleared 5.85m on his third attempt, which was a personal best. Bjorn Otto, also of Germany,was jumping quite well. Bjorn cleared 5.50m, 5.65 on his first attempts. Bjorn took two

Scott, Saxer soar to victory in Street Vault

HENDERSON, Ky. — Jordan Scott had to build the suspense before he set a meet record in Saturday night’s Jammin’ and Jumpin’ Street Vault, and Mary Saxer took a relaxed approach to claim another “big” check from the event.Scott, the 2010 NCAA pole vault champion from Kansas University, had to clear his final attempt at both at 17-10 1/2 and 18-2 1/2 before claiming the men’s title.“I hadn’t made a third attempt in a while. When I made that first one, I was like ‘Oh, I can still do that,’” said Scott, who was the only male competitor to make 18-2 1/2 — the highest height to be cleared in the 6th annual meet on the Henderson riverfront. “I don’t like third attempts because you start thinking, ‘I can’t miss this.’ You can’t think negatively like that.”With the prize money being split evenly between the men’s and women’s competitors this year, Scott took the $1,000 first-place prize for the men.Saxer, who was the defending champion, claimed the top prize as the only female competitor to clear 14-7 1/2. The former Notre Dame  

Rochester New York leads country in Olympic athletes

The Summer Games in London conclude Sunday and then begins the withdrawal.No more Abby, Gabby, Michael or Usain. No more watching sports you know nothing about or will care about again for four more years. No more badminton scandals or beach volleyball debates. No more Bob Costas as your favorite TV uncle.Only the Olympics can captivate us like this.And the fascination and inspiration is even more powerful when there are local connections to this great global five-ring circus. The Rochester region contributed six athletes to Team USA for the London Games, and they weren’t just there for the free uniforms made in China.Swimmer Ryan Lochte, pole vaulter Jenn Suhr, soccer player Abby Wambach and rowers Henrik Rummel and Meghan Musnicki brought home a combined nine medals, including five golds. If Rochester were a country, we’d rank 24th in medals won, tied with Denmark, Romania, Kenya, Azerbaijan and Czech Republic.And while air pistol shooter Jason Turner, who took a bronze in Beijing, didn’t medal this time, he wore the red, white and blue with pride in his third Olympics.While enjoying your tea and kippers, you may have wondered, “Does any other community the size of Rochester produce as many Olympians?” The answer is no, and somebody finally did some number crunching. According to The Atlantic Cities, which analyzes demographics, data and trends for clients, Rochester, N.Y., led the country in athletes per capita for the London Games with 1.7 per 100,000 people. Great Falls, Mont. (1.2) and Cheyenne, Wyoming (1.1) followed   read more http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20120812/SPORTS0103/308120021/Leo-Roth-Rochester-struts-its-stuff-London-Olympics?nclick_check=1