Track And Field World Championships: A German Medal, A Kenyan Sweep and a Russian Diva

Finally I was able to watch two sessions of the World Championships in Osaka. They were showing some finals and some heat-races. A German guy won the silver medal in the Discus Throw competition, something the two commentators were very happy about. That guy absolutely went insane after he was sure the medal was his, ripping of his shirt in front of the spectators. Something you would expect from thiose crude German barbarians, right? But he had every right to be happy, leaving two times Olympic champion Virgilius Alekna of Lithuania behind him. The winner was Gerd Kanter from Estonia, in third came Rutger Smith from The Netherlands.
Then there was the awesome showing by young Kenyan runner Janeth Jepkosgei who was in front right from the start and delivered a great race. Oe of the great favourites, Maria Mutula from Mozambique collapsed only a few metres before the finish.
Just minutes before her three athletes from Kenya won all three medals in the men's 3000 m steelechase, something that had to be expected since Kenya has always been very dominant in this discipline.
The women's pole vault was won by Jelena Issinbajewa from Russia who is dominating all action. She is just playing the the rest of the pack only delivering two jumps when others are already struggling. The winning height was 4,80 m, but she also tried her luck with another shot at the world record (5,02 m). No wonder she is called the female Sergej Bubka.
Too bad I missed out on the final of the women's 100 m. Apparently from what I've read a lot of runners came in with the same time and it took long minutes to figure out who won this whole thing. Just look at the numbers:
1 Veronica Campbell (JAM) 11.01
2 Lauryn Williams (USA) 11.01
3 Carmelita Jeter (USA) 11.02
4 Torri Edwards (USA) 11.05
5 Kim Gevaert (BEL) 11.05
6 Christine Arron (FRA) 11.08
7 Kerron Stewart (JAM) 11.12
8 Oludamola Osayomi (NGR) 11.26
Heck, I didn't even know Christine Arron is still around...

Whatever results are achived at such competitions, since this summer German media are always anxious to point out that when an athlete improves rather rapidly there might be a chance that this is because of the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Although noone wishes to expose a lot of athletes the sudden rise of people like Janeth Jepkosgei always leaves room for some doubt. Interestingly enough comments on doping by athletes are rather rare. I read something about a British heptathlon competitor who was nagging about some of her opponents who had been doing drugs before and were banned for two years. But when the reporter started to ask questions about her teammates and trainers she suddenly bacme very quiet. Up until now I think there hasn't been a doping case during these World Championships but the threat is always looming over the whole event.

Track And Field World Championship in Osaka

The 11th Track & Field World Championships kicked off at Osaka, Japan this weekend and a few medals have already been won by some athletes. I was watching the 20 km men's walk last night when coming home slightly drunk. This is wonderful stuff to watch before you go to bed. There isn't happening anything, just a few guys walking through streets. But because the weather over there has been very hot and humid lately a few people weren't able to cope with the conditions. A German athlete was redirected by an official and had to turn around a few metres to get back on track. Some newspaper was guessing that he might have got himself a shock because he collapsed 200 metres before the finish line. The winner himself had cramps in his legs after crossing the finish line.
Later that day there was the final of the men's 100 metres competition which is always a huge fuzz. This year's favourites were world record holder Asafa Powell from Jamaica and Tyson Gay from the USA. Gay won, Powell came in 3rd but this final didn't have the flair and glamour like some finals of the past. Maybe it's because I didn't follow the 100 metres competition as closely as I did a few years back.

But the one thing I like about watching Track & Field is the commentators on German television. There is a station called Eurosport and the two guys doing the commentary there are Dirk Thiele and Siggi Heinrich. Those guys are on air for hours and hours and still they always give you the impression they are having the time of their lives. Even boring competitions become interesting when those two sit behind the microphone. They have a clear division on who is doing what, Thiele commenting on the long disctance running, Heinrich doing the sprint competitions. The same goes for throwing and jumping. They are hilarious at times but both experts on their respective fields. I love to listen to them and hope to do so over the next few days.

Bundesliga: Day Three - Bayern keeps rolling

Hamburger SV - VfL Bochum 1:2
VfB Stuttgart - MSV Duisburg 1 : 0
FC Bayern München - Hannover 96 3 : 0
Bayer Leverkusen - Karlsruher SC 3 : 0
1.FC Nürnberg - Werder Bremen 0 : 1
Borussia Dortmund - FC Energie Cottbus 3 : 0
Arminia Bielefeld - Hertha BSC Berlin 2 : 0
Eintracht Frankfurt - FC Hansa Rostock 1:0
VfL Wolfsburg - FC Schalke 04 1:1

Not many upsets on this day. All teams who were expected to win did so. Dortmund was able to at least get out of their slump for one day by beating Cottbus in style. Klimowicz scored twice after being on the bench at the start of the game.
Bayern meanwhile look like champions already. They beat Bremen a week ago and were very convincing again against Hannover who didn't have any chance to score a goal. Bayern are now clear at the top of the table with 9 points and 10 goals without having conceded even one goal themselves.
Strangely enough the two teams behind Bayern are Bochum and Bielefeld. Those two usually struggle against being relegated to the 2nd division but this year it seems they might have a chance to go far. Bielefeld beat Berlin and Bochum won against Hamburg.
Bremen got the winning goal against Nürnberg and it was scored by upstart Martin Harnik, a young Austrian striker who scored in this weeks international friendly against the Czech Republic and who was also responsible for 1.FC Cologne (who won against Jena in their 2nd division match by rallying in the 2nd half and scoring 3 goals in the last 15 minutes after trailing 1:3) crashing out of the Cup competition against the 2nd team of Bremen.
Schalke almost blew it again at Wolfsbrug where they left points in the closing days of last season's campaign for the title. Frankfurt won against Rostock who are clearly heading for relegation. They have no points and are in last place.

Although we are only three days into the season things are starting to clear up a little bit. But the top of the table sure looks very interesting:

1 Bayern 10
2 Bielefeld 7
3 Bochum 7
4 Frankfurt 7

A win in style: Summer Koushien is over

The summer tournament at Koushien Stadium is over and we have a winner. Saga Kita High School have won in style. A grand slam homerun in the bottom of the 8th inning took them to a 5-4 victory over Koryo High School from Hiroshima, who had advanced to the final for the first time in 40 years. This makes Saga Kita the first public school to win the title 1996.
I really enjoyed watching the few matches I was able to see. Although I know that there is a lot of talk about the pureness of "koko yakyu" (high school baseball) in Japan it definetely is different from what you get to see if you tune in to some major league games, whether it is MLB or NPB. The boys playing on the "sacred dust" of Koushien for their schools sure look like they are really enjoying themselves. You always have to keep in mind that the whole tournament is televised live throughout the entire country and of course the must be millions of sponsorship money in it as well. This is the big stage for those kids, this will determine their future as professional players. But when you watch the games at least I never had the feeling this was going through their minds at all. They looked like they had the fun of their lives. Even when they lost they still had some sort of snmiles on their faces. Yeah, I know, it might be fake but I'd really like to imagine that it isn't. Plus, the line up they do when the game is over shows real sportsmanship. Both teams congratulate each other on playing a good game. That's how it should be.
I'm really looking forward to the Spring Koushien. Hopefully it gets such a great coverage as well.

Another thing which I really found exciting is the way the teams were supported by their schoolmates. There are two major terraces in Koushien, one next to the right outfield, the other one right across the pitch at left field. Those are always filled with the supporters of each school and they make one hell of noise when their team is batting. The cheer for them constantly. Occasionally you get to see some players from the teams standing there, those must be the guys who didn't make it to the first team. But they are cheering for their friends really hard and they seem to be overjoyed when they finally get the win. Great.

If you are interested in a more in-depth article on how the game went be sure to read the article at Japan Times Online.

We won the first game at Wembley: Germany - England friendly

The big rivalry continues, although it might only be a onesided affair. Germany and England met at Wembley for the first time since Didi Hamann scored the last goal in the old stadium during a World Cup qualifier in 2000. There might have been the usual hype around such a match, but because it was a friendly and because there were a lot of players missing on both sides (Germany: Klose, Podolski, Gomez, Jansen, Frings, Ballack, Borowski - England: Rooney, Gerrard) noone really knew what to expect from both teams. Germany are well on top of their group in their campaign for a Euro2008 spot in Switzerland and Austria while England are struggling in their group. Germany have been playing fantastic football since the World Cup 2006 while England were so and so in eevry match they played. It seems that the enormous amount of talent assembled in the English team just doesn't fit together as a team. They tried their luck without Beckham, that didn't work out so they brought him back but the performances weren't very convincing either. This being the outlines of the game I wasn't really sure what to expect.

So with 1966 in the back of their heads (as usual) England got the better start by scoring on a mistake of Schalke defender and first time international player Christian Pander after 9 minutes. Germany had a lot of trouble adjusting to the game with a line up that never played together. Philipp Lahm was the screening defender in midfield, a part usually played by Thorsten Frings. He did well most of the time, but he, as well as his teammates, had a lot of trouble with Joe Cole who was always dangerous. After a few minutes Germany got a hold of the game and after a mistake by England keeper Paul Robinson Kuranyi was able to capitalize. Only a few minutes later the aformentioned Christian Pander scored a terrific goal from 30 metres range by hammering a shot past Robinson. The score stayed like this to the end, although England had a lot of chances in the 2nd half.

All in all it was a rather disappointing match but you always have to keep in mind that those were two teams who are still at the beginning of their seasons. Everything seemed to be a little slow.

Some highlights of the game, unfortunately with the horrible German commetary by Steffen Simon.

The strange story of an old punk turned model in Japan

So I never had a morning like this. I was waorking as usual and while there was nothing to do I was looking at spiegel.de which is one of the (if not the) biggest German news site. And guess what I find there. An article about a friend of mine. He went to Japan to study there for a few semesters and now he's a model there. Something we all here were going nuts about. That guy is anything but a model. He always looks like he's way too tired, he always sneaks around like nothing can bother him, he always wears old clothes, worn out sneakers, and so on. But he's a really nice guy and he's a very good friend of mine.
So some guy I know from my internship last year did an article about him and his story which can be found here >>> Big in Japan: Wie ein Altpunk zum gefragten Model wurde (German). It's kind of funny to read a story you have heard and told a million times before. Yes, he was "casted" off the street. Yes, he didn't have any interest in modeling at first but was persuaded by a friend who was visiting him in Tokyo at that time. Yes, he's worked for very big names. And, hahaha, yes, he is an old punk! This is great, if there is one guy who deserves this attention it's him. Congratulations, David!

Meanwhile his roommates back in Cologne are going crazy because the media is calling them. Apparently they there are more newspapers who want to do an interview with him. Maybe the fairy tale continues over here...

Remembering the good Times: Quest For Rescue Record Release Show

There are certain bands who, although they haven't released anything in a long time, are always there and you never lose track of what they are doing. Remember how long it took Social Distortion to put out the follow up to their classic "White Light, White Heat, White Trash" LP? Well, Leverkusen's finest Quest For Rescue are in that league as well. If remember it correctly the release show for their 2nd record "Turnip" took place at Cologne's "Underground" in 1998. And although they played new songs every now and then at some show the new record never came out. But that's history now, folks. It's finally here.

Last Saturday Quest For Rescue played their release show at Cologne's "Gebäude 9". This is a very nice place to set up shows. A lot of great bands played there over the years and during the later half of the 90s it could be considered the living room of Cologne's punk- and hardcore scene. Bands like Ensign, Highscore, The Get Up Kids, Braid, etc all played there and there always was a huge turnout. So this place holds a lot of memories for a lot of people. While I was talking to two friends before the show we all felt this mood of nostalgia while remembering the past.
So the stage was set for yet another memorable evening. Lots of old folks showed up, people you hadn't seen in months, even years. They were the only band playing so everything was focused on them. Before the show they were showing a nice slide show of old pictures and then without further ado they came up on stage and put on a nice set. They even played very old songs. One I was especially looking forward to was "90210", a song I had never seen them play live. Great.

I had to leave early because of that damn football tournament I was supposed to play the next day, but I managed to get the encores which were "Blister In The Sun" and "Some Times Good Guys Don't Wear White". A great way to end the show. So be sure to pick up their new record "Common Grounds"!

More pictures of the show can be found HERE.