OSAKA — Little-known Kenyan Luke Kibet cranked up the pace in the final stretch en route to winning the men's marathon gold in the opening event of the 11th IAAF World Athletics Championships on Saturday. Kibet, who took a nasty spill on the course near the end, clocked a pedestrian time of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 59 seconds to win his first major title in the hot and humid conditions in Osaka.

Asian Games winner Mubarak Hassan Shami, a Kenyan-born athlete who switched nationality to Qatar, took second in 2:17:18 while third place went to Viktor Rothlin of Switzerland in 2:17:25.

Some 2,000 athletes from a record 203 member federations will take part in the championships, held every two years and last hosted by Japan in 1991. There will be gold medals handed out in 45 events and a worldwide television audience of some 6.5 billion is expected to tune in over the course of the athletics extravaganza.

Only nine of the IAAF's 212 nations failed to enter for the Aug 25-Sept 2 championships. The United States and Russia are expected to dominate the medals tables. Up for grabs is a $160,000 (18.5 million yen) cash prize for any athlete winning their event with a world-record performance

World Championship Sports Network (WCSN) will stream the entire championship live and on-demand at www.wcsn.com/osaka.

(Wire reports)

Bookmark to:

Japan Today Discussion

Post Your Opinion!

the results of which
hosomaki (Aug 25 2007 - 10:34)	Rate \| Report

will be another necessary reminder that japan is not really the best at anything

streaming?
xenolith (Aug 26 2007 - 09:57)	Rate \| Report

might check that out as the TBS coverage is pathetic! unbelievabably loaded with ads - every 3-4 mins and stupid J-pops music blaring in the background while the presenters are interviewing people like Carl Lewis yesterday. The god awful theme song picked by TBS is already on my nerves. Sigh... guess its like the Olympics and the incompetent coverage served up then.

xenolith
RomeoRamen (Aug 26 2007 - 10:05)	Rate \| Report

Not only that, but TBS are also using J-talentos as sports commentators.

The least they could have done was to hire Japanese athletes who actually participated in past events to give TV viewers a better perspective on what they are watching.

RR

streaming
xenolith (Aug 26 2007 - 10:08)	Rate \| Report

""World Championship Sports Network (WCSN) will stream the entire championship live and on-demand at www.wcsn.com/osaka."

Nice reporting and research there JT. Not much use to anyone here in Japan.

TRACK AND FIELD: All track and field video (live and on-demand) is available for viewing only in the United States, Virgin Islands (US), Guam, Puerto Rico, Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands unless otherwise mentioned below.

Doh !!!
3xband (Aug 26 2007 - 10:16)	Rate \| Report

"Nice reporting and research there JT. Not much use to anyone here in Japan."

Yeh, I concur... the coverage last night was just horrible ! J media overhypes J participant only to witness J meltdown !

It was comical to watch the faces on the locals as their beloveds fell by the wayside to far superior athletes from around the world.

However seeing the face of the befallen J sprinters, hurdlers, distance runners, etc as they finished waaaay back in the pack kept me glued to my set all night ! Epic !!!

Empty Stadiums !
3xband (Aug 26 2007 - 11:11)	Rate \| Report

I'm sitting here, Sunday morn, watching these "World Athletic Championships" from Osaka. The first thing that comes to mind...Where are the fans ??? The stadium is virtually empty ! Another sure sign that the glory days of the juggernaut economy in Japan has gone... ppffflllttt !

Sports governing bodies need to seriously reconsider awarding these types of events to nations like Japan or Vietnam. The economies in South Asia and Japan are in trouble. Locals simply don't have the money to attend these spectacles. Not like the USA, where attendance figures are always excellent, especially on the weekends ! Americans know how to support these major tournements like no where else on the planet.

Kibet wins gold in men's marathon as World Athletics Championships kick off in Osaka
freakashow (Aug 26 2007 - 11:51)	Rate \| Report

I gotta agree. This Track and Field Championships seem a little boring compared to The World Swimming Championships being shown now. That thrilling finish between Japan, the U.S., and Australia (1, 2, and 3 respectively) in the 4x100 m. men's medley was "on-the-edge-of-your-seat" stuff. The coverage of it seems to be a lot better (and the ex-swimmers who are now the correspondents covering it are a lot cuter). Lots of records being broken there. As for this Track and Field stuff, can't wait for the more exciting races to start, like the 100 m. and 110 m. hurdles.

crowds
xenolith (Aug 26 2007 - 14:54)	Rate \| Report

morning crowds wont be that big, there are only heats at that time, there should be much bigger crowds for the evening sessions with the final rounds.
Also its so blimmin hot in Osaka at the moment - much more comfy watching from your lounge room chair

Xenolith...
3xband (Aug 26 2007 - 19:05)	Rate \| Report

It is now 7:00 pm and... well, by the looks of the things, the stadium is probably less than half full. In fact, it looks like those folks that had tickets in the nose bleed sections have simply wandered down closer to the action.

Anybody got the attendance figures for today ? Lemme guess, the Japanese are reporting "sold out" venues ! Too bad JT doesn't have a larger scale picture than the one presented here, you can kinda see what I'm talking about... just look at all the empty seats behind the TDK sign.

Today's Posts | All Topics By start date | By last post date | By total posts

Japan Today	Login \| Register	Visit our Forum \| Japan Today Friends >>

SPORTKibet wins gold in men's marathon as World Athletics Championships kick off in Osaka

Japan Today Discussion

SPORT
Kibet wins gold in men's marathon as World Athletics Championships kick off in Osaka