Category — Hurdles

Argh! This is bad news to the fans of Australian hurdler Jana Rawlinson and to those of us who are certified members of the Dara Mama Fans Club.

Jana, according to reports, will not be participating in the Beijing Olympics because of a toe injury. Bad, bad, bad toe. Why did it “decide” to get injured at this time. Jana is currently the world record holder in the 400 meter hurdles so she really has a good chance of bagging the gold medal in Beijing.

Anyways, we here at The Olympics Blog hope that Jana Mama — she’s mom to one year old Cornelis Levi — will emulate Dara Torres and that she will continue to pursue her Olympic dreams despite this recent setback.

By the way, the Dara Mama Fans Club — named after Dara Torres — are composed of those of us cheering for mom Olympians who are proving that neither motherhood nor old age is a hindrance to Olympic success. Go, Dara Mamas.

Related:
Dara Torres Makes Another Olympic Bid
Dara Mama Club: Melanie Roach

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Liu Xiang and Dayron Robles may be rivals in the track but they’re great pals outside of it. The top photo shows Liu consoling Dayron when the latter was eliminated during the World Indoor Championships last March 2008.

PHOTO SOURCE: IAAF

Oh boy. Seems like an Olympic gold for Liu Xiang in the Beijing Games isn’t a sure thing after all. Who could grab the gold from him? Cuban Dayron Robles who just set a new world record in the 110 meter hurdles.

From the AP:

Dayron Robles of Cuba has set a world record in the 110-meter hurdles, clocking 12.87 seconds at the Golden Spike meet.

The 21-year-old Robles was 0.01 seconds faster than the previous mark, set by China’s Liu Xiang in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2006.

Terrence Trammell of the United States was second in Thursday’s race, in 13.21 seconds, followed by Ukraine’s Sergey Demidyuk in 13.42.

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Liu Xiang, the first Olympian we blogged about, records his first victory in 2008 during the recently concluded IAAF Japan Grand Prix in Osaka.

Panama’s Olympic bound athletes. It has three so far: Fencer Jesika Jimenez, long jumper Irving Saladino, and hurdler Bayano Kamani.

Saladino is the current world champion in men’s long jump. He won the gold medal during the 2007 World Championship in Osaka, Japan when he registered a jump of 8.57 meters in his last attempt.