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PaulA2012

Listed below are comments made by PaulA2012 between Monday, 17th August 2009 and Friday, 11th December 2009.

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What Jessica did next 11:52am on 11 Dec 2009 Good interview and I can confirm that Jess is genuinely nice. I was backstage at the Bedfordshrie International Games this eyar checking throwing implements etc. She caleld in very normal, no prima donna. Not surprised about the cheque either because she almost forgot to come back and get her Javelins after the competition. She got a Javelin PB that day.

It is great that our British Athletes like Jess and Paul Radcliffe can be world beaters and yet remain really down to earth, nice people.

I will definitely be voting for Jess on Sunday night and if she wins in Sheffield perhaps there will be an open-top bus ride. Mind you at 10pm on Sunday that might not be that great!!

Also great to see her response to the Christmas day training question. Exactly my view. You have a rest day so why not make it Christmas day. To not do that seems to be bad planning to me.

Finally I thought not building up the Jess vs Kelly rivalry was good. I suspect Jess would have ducked the issue anyway. I think Jess has now taken over but Kelly has always been a fierce competitor so lets hope we have them both competing next year,
What Mercedes buy-out of Brawn could mean 12:17pm on 18 Nov 2009 Well A British Team with two British Drivers who are the current and previous world champion is just brilliant from my perspective. It will make it very interesting next year and EVERYBODY (not just Brits) will be watching McLaren for the battle of the champions.

Different styles is good. OK development of the car may favour one but both drivers have their own set of mechanics and can set-up differently. Indeed being different will enhance the battle as the two cars may have very different set-ups.

Button- Foolish? Perhaps but personally I think brave. He is taking on arguably the best driver in the same car. Also he should get a bigger pay-day as world champ and it is still far less than Hamilton, Alonso and incredibly Raikkonen who is being paid a mint to do NOTHING in F1. He is off in a huff to rallying.

I hope the two drivers they maintain a reasonsable relationship. Hamilton will be slightly favoured, he has been brought up there but the Mercedes buy-out would likely have marginalised Button at Brawn/Mercedes GP anyway.

Personally I think this is intriguing and although KERs is going I am sure that McLaren will have one of the best cars out there.

Mercedes have shown a lack of ambition already and I wonder how much their call will move on next year. Red Bull (with Newey) will continue to be competitive I am sure. Not sure what will happen with Ferrari....
When panic shapes policy 4:08pm on 14 Sep 2009 I can understand how it got here BUT really concerned.

There are two separate things here
CRB - based on a legal conviction. So it is clear and we should check people against the register otherwise why have it. Only checked every 3 years though so can be a lag between an offence and being stopped. Also why do you need to be checked for every different instance. If you are a teacher and also a coach at an athletics club and also do drama classes you need three different checks !!

VBS - This is a separate register. Continually checked rather than everyv three years once you are on it BUT contains information that might not be convictions. Where does this come from? Other official sources it stays in the Blog but basically it is hear-say. This relates to Soham, 'There had been various concerns about Huntley' but whereas unconfirmed concerns can be right they can also be malicious to the person being checked.

This might well lead to people not wanting to do this. I am the Chairman of an Athletics club and can see real issues with getting coaches and team managers. Also who needs to be checked? Hopefully the frequently, intensively and overnight line means I don't need to get anybody who might volunteer to marshall our ONE annual home cross country match checked or indeed the parent we drag out of the crowd to rake the sand-pit in the long jump. If we do then either I am cancelling home matches or saving up to pay the club's, and probably my personal, £5,000 fine.

This is the problem. People will say if it protects just one child then it is worth doing but the problem is that not letting any child do anything will achieve that and that is the route we are going down. Except that if many abusers are within the family then not letting them leave the house might be a problem as this year's case in Austria showed.

We are probably damaging slightly ALL children in a bid to prevent serious damage to a few.
Capello can plot World Cup glory 11:44am on 10 Sep 2009 I think everybody is saying much the same thing here.

Great performance last night.

Croatia are a good side but not great and we will need to be able to reproduce a performance against a good side.

Ignore last saturday it was a friendly, the team lifted their form for the competitive game and that is what counts. They will need to lift it again for the finals as qualifying doesn't count for anything once you get to the finals.

One big credit to Capello is that he has managed to get Lampard and Gerrard to play together in the same team. I had reached the point where I didn't think it could happen so has proved me wrong. We are still shipping the odd goal unneccesarily and in the finals need to avoid that.

Can we win - YES absolutely but there will be a lot of other teams there who can also do it and I don't think we will be favourites at the outset. Still a long way to go, form to be maintained, injuries to be avoided. The key this time is that we are always there or thereabouts up to the quarter finals and often looks like semi-finalists but this time we need to make it to the final match and then bring the golden bauble home.

There will be plenty of teams to fear but I honestly think WE will be on everybody else's 'to fear' list as well.
World medals only half story for GB 4:40pm on 25 Aug 2009 Great World Championships - really enjoyed them.

Also really pleased with the British team performances.
Can people please stop saying we were lucky as the US got disqualified. That happened because they changed outside the box. If we had done that, then people wouldn't have said we were unlucky, rather we were idiots and why can't we practise baton change-overs.

Also nobody's fault but Jepkosgie fell over in the 800M heats and should NOT have been re-instated so Silver for Meadows. The Spainard was disqualified in the 1500M because she pushed somebody over (they may have got a medal.

The numbers in the final IS encouraging. Finally lets be careful. Asafa Powell said he was pleased how well Jamaica did in Track and Field. Well actually they didn't do anything in field and on the track is was only the sprints - although they dominated them. Not to play down Jamaica's great games but lets not follow their example by improving our medal performances by just focusing on one event. We should look to have entries in all events in 2012. That means an improvement in the throws and in men's middle and long distance.
Semenya left stranded by storm 2:50pm on 20 Aug 2009 I agree that thwe IAAF are ina difficult situation.

If they did nothing soembody would still raise the query and complain they hadn't done anything and at least this will clear the situation up one way or the other.

The timing is the issue. The fact is they were trying to d oit quietly. I suspect they heard somebody was about t obreak the story and decided to comment first. There have been rumours about a positive drugs test i nthe men's 100M - not true and other flying around so suspect their hand was forced.

As for does her performance improvement lead to suspicions? Yes it does. It doesn't mean that any are true but does mean possible reasons need to be investigated.Teh IAAF said they have already done a number of doping tests on her and now the gender issue has come up.

yes a number of women can look like men (and men like women) but if you put everything together I think this needs to be done. As I say it will clear it up for her as well, otherwise the rumours and comments will follow her.

It is also clear that the IAAF do NOT believe she has cheated. i.e. that she has deliberately claimed to be something she isn't. There are conditions which might mean she is inter-sex, hermaphrodite as others haev already mentioned.

If the IAAF had left this until after the champs then people would havae said 'If you had suspicions before, why didn't you do soemthing?', especially if the tests showed there was an issue.

I do however feel very sorry for the person concerned. It is not a very pleasant question to be raised for any individual but for it to be done to a global audience must be hugely embarassing for her.
All hail the Berlin comeback kids 10:41am on 19 Aug 2009 Anybody else feel that Medal Ceremonies should happen on the same day at the event? OK can be difficult if the last event of the day but the crowd that has supported an event should be able to see the ceremony for it. Particularly true for Jess Ennis. The crowd had supported her through three events and indeed a number of Brits may have gone for the weekend and missed her actually getting her medal. I think that major champs should endeavour to present the medals on the day whenever possible. They manage it on the last day, albeit people are sticking around for the closing ceremony.

At least Jess got her medal from Seb Coe and even more Appropriately Phillips will get his from Jonathan.
All hail the Berlin comeback kids 10:10am on 19 Aug 2009 Yes we haev waited a long time for Idowu but people, includind Jonathan himself, seem to have forgotten about Edwards career. He had potential very early but took a long time to start winning big medals, admittedly partly due to his early 'not on a Sunday' rule. Even when he made it to the top; the World Record in Gothenburg made him the stand-out favourite for Gold in Atlanta and he only got Silver before finally getting Olympic Gold in Sydney. So yes it has been a while, remember last year Phillips jumped well and didn't lose the Gold, Evora won it and only by 5cms; but Phillips has finally got his global title and now needs to concentrate on staying fit for 2012 - a Gold there would, like Edwards, banish all thoughts of missed opportunities.

Christine's 5th was a result of an injury plagued preparation. She might have got closer last night if she had kicked earlier, as she herself admitted, but it wasn't going to be Gold.

Well done to David Greene as well. Perhaps a race too far but he has come through really well in these champs, the final was always the main aim for him and it was only the fact he qualified so well that raised hopes of an outside medal. Hopefully much more to come from him.

Biggest disappointment for me yesterday was Steph Twell. Just don't know what happened there????
Steely Ennis has golden glow 11:41am on 17 Aug 2009 Great weekend from Jess. Superb first day (she jointly hols the British High jump record and almost has the British High Hurdles record !!) and then a solid second. 6.29M off a remodelled Long Jump take off and a solid Javelin as well.

Possibly went off a bit fast in the 800M BUT in all honesty with a 12 second cushion she had the Gold unless something happened. All that could really happen was that she might get tripped in a pack so taking off and running clear was actually the best strategy, although a 61 second first lap would have been pretty reasonable for a Simpson, Meadows or Okoro :-))

A bit of a shame for her that the 100M went off next and was earth shattering but she will still have the medal round her neck today to remind her what she achieved.

Talked to her at the Bedford International Games in May. She really is as nice and normal as she appears. A huge asset to British Athletics.

Finally glad she didn't break Denise's record as it will give her something to chase as she now builds to 2012. I'd like to hope she won't be put under too much pressure but fear that is almost inevitable. Lets hope she keeps fit between now and then.
Ghost of Owens inspires Bolt 11:05am on 17 Aug 2009 First that was an unbelievable race by Gay. 9.71 is a phenomenal time especially as he has had a groin injury and was clearly protecting it in relatively unimpressive rounds. So how do you describe a performance that left him stranded!! Although, apart from the glance, Bolt did have to run this to the line for the first time. I do think he could still go faster. Also agree that 200M and 400M could be even better. He does have a massive stature but that must impair his start and ability to get going which should mean that over 200M he should be better and will probably reach a higher speed than in the 100M.

How long can he continue? If he can keep injury-free and motivated then probably quite a while but once he has set unattainable records and he already is a global superstar then the mental effort to keep training hard will be difficult. A step up to 400M and that challenge may actually be needed to heep him engaged.

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