Shanghai Golden Grand Prix Preview and Results

[rainbowgirl28]

http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/301/2005/09/15/45@19745.htm

Athletics: Shanghai Golden Grand Prix Preview

2005-09-15 22:09:57 CRIENGLISH.com

The Shanghai Golden Grand Prix welcomes world class athletes to China.



Though last weekend's IAAF World Athletics Final formally concluded the season's competition, as has become tradition a small Asian leg of one day competitions still remains to be contested, and for the first time ever this begins with a meeting in China, which this Saturday (17 September) welcomes world class competition to Shanghai Stadium.

Athletics' great leap forward into China

The Shanghai Golden Grand Prix Meeting, China's first-ever IAAF permitted one-day meeting, marks Athletics' first 'one-day meeting' footsteps into geographically the world's fourth largest country whose 1.3 billion population is the powerhouse behind the world's emerging economic giant.

2004 and 2005 male and female World Athletes of the Year, Kenenisa Bekele and Yelena Isinbayeva, the Overall IAAF World Ranked number one athletes, Chinese national hero Liu Xiang, former four-time World 110m Hurldes champion Allen Johnson, and sprint ace Justin Gatlin are slated to be among the headliners at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix.

14 reigning World or Olympic winners

The field includes 14 current World or Olympic individual champions, as well as eight event winners from the World Athletics Final.

There will also be fourteen international events contested on Saturday. The men's competition will include the 100m, 200m, 800m, 3000m, and the 110m Hurdles on the track, and the High Jump and Long Jump on the field. The women's events will include the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 5000m races, along with the Shot Put and Pole Vault.

More than two local stars...

A total of twenty-eight Chinese athletes are entered in the meet, among them some solid title contenders. In addition to Liu Xiang and Xing Huina, the field includes sub-2:20 marathoner Sun Yingjie, who could challenge in the 5000m. Pole vaulter Gao Shuying, fifth in Helsinki, set the Asian women's record in the event (4.53m) at the recent Asian Athletics Championships in Incheon, South Korea, shot putter Li Meiju, who placed seventh in Helsinki and won the Asian championship earlier this month, could be a factor as well.

Event sponsor Chow Tai Fook, a well-known jewelry retailer in China, will provide golden dragon pendants made of pure gold to the champion of each event. For the widely-anticipated 110m Hurdles race, the company will provide an additional incentive: a one-carat diamond pendant to the winner of that race.

Expected highlights:

Pole Vault - World record holder Yelena Isinbayeva will be challenged only by the height of the bar; she'll likely try for a new World record of 5.02m. Most of her regular challengers headed by the Polish duo Monika Pyrek and Anna Rogowska will be on hand as usual. Gao Shuying of China could be inspired to increase her new Asian record (4.53m).

[BruceFlorman]

Photos of Isi & Bubka at Shanghai press conference: http://sports.sina.com.cn/z/iaaf_shgp/photo/19460/index.shtml

[BruceFlorman]

Live scoring here: http://sports.sina.com.cn/shgoldengp/live.shtml

Code: Select all

20:20 Shanghai
                            4.00 4.15 4.30 4.45 4.55
1  GAO, Shuying        CHN  -    o    o                  4.30
1  STEINER, April      USA  -    o    o                  4.30
1  BOSLAK, Vanessa     FRA  -    o    o                  4.30
4  WU, Sha             CHN  o    xo   x                  4.15 =SB
4  SCHWARTZ, Jillian   USA  -    xo                      4.15
6  GRIGORIEVA, Tatiana AUS  o    xxo  x                  4.15
   PYREK, Monika       POL  -    -                       NM
   ISINBAYEVA, Yelena  RUS  -    -    -    -             NM


[BruceFlorman]

Code: Select all

20:50 Shanghai
                            4.00 4.15 4.30 4.45 4.55
1  GAO, Shuying        CHN  -    o    o    o             4.45
1  PYREK, Monika       POL  -    -    o    o             4.45
3  STEINER, April      USA  -    o    o    xxx           4.30
3  BOSLAK, Vanessa     FRA  -    o    o    xxx           4.30
5  GRIGORIEVA, Tatiana AUS  o    xxo  xxo  xxx           4.30
6  WU, Sha             CHN  o    xo   xxx                4.15 =SB
6  SCHWARTZ, Jillian   USA  -    xo   xxx                4.15
   ISINBAYEVA, Yelena  RUS  -    -    -    -             NM

[BruceFlorman]

Code: Select all

21:00 Shanghai
                            4.00 4.15 4.30 4.45 4.55 4.65 4.75
1  ISINBAYEVA, Yelena  RUS  -    -    -    -    -    o         4.65
2  PYREK, Monika       POL  -    -    o    o    o    -         4.55
3  GAO, Shuying        CHN  -    o    o    o    xxx            4.45
4  STEINER, April      USA  -    o    o    xxx                 4.30
4  BOSLAK, Vanessa     FRA  -    o    o    xxx                 4.30
6  GRIGORIEVA, Tatiana AUS  o    xxo  xxo  xxx                 4.30
7  WU, Sha             CHN  o    xo   xxx                      4.15 =SB
8  SCHWARTZ, Jillian   USA  -    xo   xxx                      4.15


[BruceFlorman]

Code: Select all

21:15 Shanghai
                            4.00 4.15 4.30 4.45 4.55 4.65 4.75 5.02
1  ISINBAYEVA, Yelena  RUS  -    -    -    -    -    o    -         4.65
2  PYREK, Monika       POL  -    -    o    o    o    -    xxx       4.55
3  GAO, Shuying        CHN  -    o    o    o    xxx                 4.45
4  STEINER, April      USA  -    o    o    xxx                      4.30
4  BOSLAK, Vanessa     FRA  -    o    o    xxx                      4.30
6  GRIGORIEVA, Tatiana AUS  o    xxo  xxo  xxx                      4.30
7  WU, Sha             CHN  o    xo   xxx                           4.15 =SB
8  SCHWARTZ, Jillian   USA  -    xo   xxx                           4.15

[BruceFlorman]

No joy in Volgograd tonight ... or West Lafayette for that matter. Three more misses at 5.02 for Isi.

[rainbowgirl28]

Pictures:

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u ... 0709171559

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u ... 4uu_photo2

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u ... 054230.jpg

[rainbowgirl28]

Getty Images:

http://editorial.gettyimages.com/source ... d=55708960

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http://editorial.gettyimages.com/source ... d=55708992

http://editorial.gettyimages.com/source ... d=55708993

http://editorial.gettyimages.com/source ... d=55709001

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandfork ... 673291.htm

Isinbayeva tried three times to break her pole vault world record of 16 feet, 5 1/4 inches, eventually winning at 15-3 1/4.

"I was so, so tired today," she said. "I think next time it will be better."

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.iaaf.org/news/Kind=2/newsId=32120.html

Pole Vault: As expected, it was the Yelena Isinbayeva show, as the Russian World record holder only had to take one vault attempt to win the title. Her easy 4.65m clearance put her ahead of Poland's Monika Pyrek, who passed on her attempts at 4.65 to try for a personal best at 4.75. When she missed all three tries, the title belonged to Isinbayeva. Her three world record attempts at 5.02m weren't even close – she ran into the pit on her second attempt and hit the bar badly on her other two tries – but she'll surely keep chasing Sergei Bubka's record of 35 Pole Vault World records for many meets to come. China's Gao Shuying topped off an excellent 2005 campaign with a third-place finish here (4.45m).