Tales of San Sebastian spread around the world
The world meet’s been over for almost two weeks. But the glories continue. Hometown newspapers from England to India covered their local masters athletes in San Sebastian, and through the magic of Google News, one can read about their exploits large and small. One of my favorites: A 68-year-old UK woman who took silver in the marathon (with temps in the 90s) and then won bronze in the 4×4 relay two hours later!
Of course, many Americans were featured in local newspaper stories.
Here are some of them:
Jeff Kingstad, M50 vaulter, found something more valuable than a medal in Spain — a reunion with a man who saved his life in 1984.
Martha Mendenhall, W45 winner in the high jump, tells how she came back from an embarrassing experience at 2003 worlds in Puerto Rico.
Jim Broun, the M50 hurdler, in a story abbreviated for the Web (drat!)
Dan Bulkley, the M85 decathlon winner, got some ink in southern Oregon.
Steve Robbins, M60 sprinter, shared space with other faces in the Seattle sports crowd.
John Keston, a triple-gold-medal winner in M80 distances, made the Portland Oregonian.
Kip Janvrin, M40 deca winner in a world record, made news in Iowa — because that’s where his parents live.
Mary Roman, W65 thrower, competed in Spain and returned to work as an assistant city clerk in Norwalk, Connecticut, with lots of stories to tell.
Ruth Anderson, W75 runner, was the subject of a long profile in Track Town, USA, on the ever of the meet.
Caren Ware, W40 mult-eventer, also got a great advance story, with lots of quotes, in her local California newspaper.
Robert Thomas, who won four sprint medals in M35, was part of a roundup in the Indianapolis paper.
Among international athletes whose names popped up in a Google News search were:
Prem Lal Sharma of India traveled two hours daily to train for the M75 javelin. It paid off, as he won silver.
Sisters Manndy and Wendy Laing (W45 and W40) of Liverpool won hers-and-hers silver in the heptathlon.
British thrower Steve Whyte, who set an M40 world record in the weight pentathlon.
British sprinter Wendy Dunn, who won several W45 medals.
Chris Grant, M35 winner of the 400 hurdles (beating American Don Drummond), was big news in Jamaica.
New Zealand athletes got some pop in the Hawke’s Bay paper.
A local Basque newspaper covered the WMA world meet’s Opening Ceremonies.
Pam Jones, W65 runner from Britain, took silver in the 8K cross country, then bronze in the 5000, then fourth in the 10,000. Whew!
Geoff Walcott, M50, of England struggled all season with Achilles; problems and didn’t win a medal (after reaching three finals) until the 4×4 relay on the final day.
And 11 athletes from one UK club were chronicled for their “bucket full of medals” at San Sebastian.
And these are just the English-language links. Someday I’ll look for the German news accounts. Whooooeeee!
2 Responses
Local coverage in San Sebastian during the meet was very good. The main local paper was one of the sponsors, and they had more than a full page every day, with lots of pictures. Another sports paper also had extensive coverage, including full medal listings.
Quick Silver
Hong Kong
Personal comment on San Sebastian: Awesome event, awesome city. I appreciate there were a number of glitches that ruined some competitors events but I was highly impressed at the organization and facilities. It was a memorable experience as both a spectator and competitor and overall has to have been judged a logistical success. The choice of location was inspired…San Seb. is one of Europe’s finest summer cities with a perfect running climate and top notch facilities.
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