http://www.yardbarker.com/users/Velo74 Recent Yardbarker Articles: Velo74 en-us Jenn Stuczynski set an American Record in the pole vault (16-1.75) last Sunday at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials - Track & Field at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. For her efforts she was named USA Track & Field's Athlete of the Week. Sat, 12 Jul 2008 10:06:13 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/289472 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/289472 Three tops cyclists can stop holding their collective breath. The nine-person selection committee of USA Cycling has announced its nominations to complete the 24-member Team USA cycling roster. Californian's road cyclists, Amber Neben (Irvine, Calif.) and Christine Thorburn (Sunnyvale, Calif.) along with Massachusett's mountain biker Mary McConneloug (Chilmark, Mass) will fly the red, white and blue in Beijing. Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:54:54 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/289468 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/289468 If there is one consistent theme in each of the athlete-busted-for performance-enhancing-drugs stories, it is that the accused always claim the testing is flawed. Rarely do they ever claim innocence. To me that seems odd. If I were an athlete who was wrongfully accused I would shout my innocence from the mountain tops. Hiding behind lawyers and legalese pointing to errors in testing is suspect. While its reasonable to assume that lab errors and screw-ups occur, the most egregious cases involve female body builders. Come on, it doesn't seem reasonable or humanly possible to pump enough iron to develop muscles that invert your boobs and make them pop out your bum. Sun, 29 Jun 2008 20:35:45 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/283952 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/283952 Dana Torres is a four time Olympian owning nine Olympic medals in swimming. The 41 year old mom is aiming to make history and qualify for her fifth Olympic games at the US Olympic Swimming Trials next month in Omaha. There is no question that the collective sport radar will be squarely fixed upon Torres if she successfully lands herself a spot on the US Olympic team. After all, it is now 24 years since she first won a gold medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Were Torres to return to the Olympics it is likely critics will be fast to claim she got there by something other than hard work. No worries swimming fans, Torres has volunteered to be a participant of a pilot program called, "Project Believe." Torres, along with 11 other athletes will be human guinea pigs tested for a wide range of potential performance enhancing agents. You can cheer this mom with confidence. Let's hope she swims once again into the record books and makes it to Beijing. Sun, 29 Jun 2008 20:25:46 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/283949 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/283949 The 9th World University Games were contested yesterday, June 28th, in Erdek, Turkey. American Justine Whipple led Team USA winning the 1.5k/40k/10k triathlon in 2:15:07. Team USA combined to earn the team bronze medal behind the gold medal winning team from Spain and the team from Great Britain bringing home silver. The men's race was won by Daubord Brice of France (2:01:32), followed by Switzerland's Rusterholz Charles (2:02:19) and Casadel Alberto of Italy (2:02:23). Sun, 29 Jun 2008 20:12:04 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/283942 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/283942 Aquathon is a unfamiliar sport to most. A close sibling to triathlon, aquathlon sees competitors start with a run, then swim and then finish with a 2nd run. The 2008 Monterrey ITU Aquathlon World Championships were held in Mexico today showcasing the world's best over the 2.5km run, 1km swim, 2.5k run distances. Mexico swept the podium for the elite women with Claudia Rivas finishing first, Melody Ramirez second and Dunia Gomez in third. For the men, it was Brent Foster of New Zealand in first, Antonio Mansur of Brazil in second and Mexico's Cristano Grajales rounding out the podium in the third. The meager $10,000 USD prize purse which was split between men and women equally likely contributed to what most multisport fans would consider a weak field for a world championship event. Sun, 29 Jun 2008 20:03:02 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/283937 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/283937 Austria's Luke McKenzie set a course record en route to winning the 2008 Ironman Japan triathlon. McKenzie lead wire to wire covering the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run in 8:29:11. Japan's Naomi Imaizumi repeated as winner of the women's professional race. Imaizumi's finished in 9:33:59 with American Bree Wee crossing the line second in 9:37:12. Sarah Pollett of Austria rounded out the top three. Sun, 22 Jun 2008 21:08:47 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/280882 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/280882 Australian Emma Snowsill took top honors at the Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon World Cup in Des Moines, Iowa today. Snowsill overcame her demons from a DNF at Hy-Vee in '07 to win convincingly and take home the $200,000 first place prize. This is Snowsill's third world cup win of the year. Countrywomen Emma Moffat and Great Britain's Helen Tucker rounded out the top three. Sun, 22 Jun 2008 20:59:12 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/280880 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/280880 The Olympic Torch made a brief visit to Tibet. 150 torch bearers passed the torch along a 5 mile route. In sum, reports say the torch spent approximately two hours in Tibet. If the earthquake tragedy had not taken place it seems likely this visit would have had much more play and a lot more press. Its surprising and disappointing that officials could 'sneak' the torch in and out so quickly. The mere presence of the torch in Tibet, under the circumstances that exist there, seems to go against everything the Olympics represents. Sun, 22 Jun 2008 19:00:57 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/280860 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/280860 Following her record setting performance in the women's steeplechase at the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Colorado University's Jenny Barringer has been named USA Track & Field's Athlete of the Week. Barringer won her second consecutive NCAA steeplechase title and set a new collegiate record in the process. Barringer's time, 9 minutes 29.20 seconds, is the second fastest time run by an American and the fastest ever on US soil. Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:52:32 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/280859 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/280859 Lenny Krayzelburg, four-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming, has officially announced his retirement. Krayzelburg will continue to parlay his aquatic athletic success to further develop the sport of swimming. Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:46:06 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/280856 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/280856 Olympic swimming ace Natalie Coughlin, opened the Janet Evans Invitational at the University of Southern California, by swimming a new American record in the 200 I.M.. Coughlin's time, 2:09.77, is the third fastest all time for the distance. Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:41:26 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/280854 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/280854 Slovenian long distance runner, Helena Javonik has been cleared of doping charges by her country's athletic association. Javornik, who has maintained her innocence, is Slovenia's national record holder in the 10,000 meters (31:06). What is sad about cases like these is that once an athlete is accused of doping it casts a shadow over their past, present and future performances. Of course this shadow lurks over the athlete whether they are innocent or guilty. We can only hope that Javonik is indeed innocent. Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:31:51 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/280853 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/280853 The European Broadcasting Union is threatening to reduce coverage of sporting events if European sport federations don't fall in line with steps to fight against doping. The EBU is asking sport governing bodies to comply with the rules and standards put forth by the Wolrd Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Failure to comply will likely result in the reduction of event broadcasts and coverage. As much as I don't want to see innocent athletes harmed by lack of tv coverage, kudos to the EBU for taking a stand. If the is any hope for doping to be reduced on the world sporting scene, individual sport governing bodies need to aggressively pursue the preservation of drug-free sport. To do anything less sends the message that cheating is tolerated, just don't get caught. Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:20:49 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/280852 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/280852 It is good to know there are guys like Travis Tygart, the CEO of USADA, who are on a mission to clean up sports. I think there will always be cheaters, but its encouraging to think that would-be cheaters will have to be considerably smarter than the anti-doping agents and scientists to beat the system. Clearly, cheaters have done it In the past. However, it looks like that tide is changing. Perhaps the sporting public will once again be able to recognize athletic performance for what it is, the result of hard work, discipline and determination, not drugs. Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:09:19 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/280850 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/280850