@ATHLETICSWEEKLY

Scottish marathon project

THE most emotional and arguably most

popular moment of the Müller Anniversary

Games came on Saturday when Goldie

Sayers belatedly received her 2008 Olympic

javelin bronze medal in front of a home

crowd in London.

Russian Mariya Abakumova was stripped

of silver in 2016 for doping, which means

Sayers was elevated from fourth to third.

“It’s been a long time coming. At least I’ve

got my Beijing tracksuit on,” the 37-year-old

said.

“I got the opportunity to decide how I

wanted the medal to be presented. It felt

significant to be presented with the medal

in the Olympic Stadium and be able to have

a lot of friends and family in the crowd,” she

added.

“I’ve had to dig out my 2008 Olympic kit.

I was still quite proud I could fit into it. It’s

had a wash because it’s been in a bag for

over 10 years.”

On Abakumova’s doping ban, Sayers

said: “I probably thought there was a high

likelihood that she was cheating. I liked

at the time to remain naive. I don’t have

anything against her at all.

“You can get bitter and twisted about

it and be angry, but I just don’t see there

being any point. It’s in the past now and I

can take this medal as proof that if you

set yourself goals and make powerful

dreams that mean a lot to you, then you

can achieve little by little what you want

to, but for some of us it takes a bit longer

than expected.”

Finally, the medal

moment for Goldie

That’s the name of the game

n THE Kenyan 800m winner at the Diamond League in Birmingham,

Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich, changed his name aged 12 from Simon

to Ferguson in honour of the former Manchester United manager Sir

Alex Ferguson.

Fourth at the 2015 Worlds and fifth at the 2016 Olympics, he looks

in fine form this year with a best of 1:42.54 and is a contender for

gold in Doha.

Wlodarczyk endures

Doha heartbreak

n HAMMER world record-holder

Anita Wlodarczyk (left) is unable

to go for her fourth consecutive

world title this year. The Polish

athlete underwent arthroscopic

surgery on her knee this month

ending her season.

Cross-country season is coming

n THE Westward Cross Country League kicks off on October 6 in

Plymouth followed by November 10 in Newquay, December 1 at

Exeter, December 15 in north Devon, February 16 at Redruth and

March 1 at Stover School near Newton Abbott.

Send your winter league fixtures to [email protected]

and look out for our cross-country fixtures calendar in the autumn.

Race walker reaches milestone

n RACE walker Ed Shillabeer, a former British champion and record-

holder, celebrates his 80th birthday on August 2.

The Ilford AC athlete has also worked as a veterinary surgeon for

more than half a century and celebrated that milestone by walking

from the West Country to London for charity.

World indoor ‘champion’ banned

n THE Nigerian-born Bahrain athlete who won the 2016 world indoor

400m title, Kemi Adekoya, has been banned for four years after

testing positive for stanozolol.

In brief

’

Quote of the Week

’

It is a genetic flaw of the

Ingebrigtsen family –

we talk too much!

GERT INGEBRIGTSEN breaks up an

interview with son Filip in London in

order to get him to warm down

MARK SHEARMAN

ROBERT HAWKINS, the father of international runners Callum

and Derek, has been appointed head of a new marathon

project in Scotland.

“The marathon project looks to build on the tradition

of strong Scottish performances over 26.2 miles down

the years,” he said. “One of the key objectives is have full

marathon teams at future Commonwealth Games.”

Goldie Sayers: Olympic bronze medallist

MARK SHEARMAN

A decade on:

Sayers in

Beijing