Track Beauty of the Week: Yuliya Zaripova Юлия Зарипова

Yuliya Zaripova (Yuliya Zarudneva Юлия Михайловна Зарипова) is this week's Track Beauty!

The women's 3000m steeplechase is one of the newest events in athletics. It made its first appearance in the World Championships in Helsinki back in 2005. Since then, the Russians have dominated the event, with Gulnara Galkina (Гульнара Самитова-Галкина) holding the world record of 8:58.81 set at the Beijing Olympics.

Yuliya Zaripova at the 2010 European Championships. (Photo from Erik van Leeuwen)

Zaripova is Galkina's heir apparent. She is the third fastest in the event, having a personal best of 9:07.03, which she set en route to bagging gold at the 2011 World Championships. Zaripova trails only Galkina and compatriot Ekaterina Volkova in the all-time list.

She made her major championship debut at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, snaring a silver medal behind Marta Domínguez of Spain. Galkina won bronze behind Zaripova. A year later, Yuliya topped the European Championships in Barcelona.

Coming into the London Olympics, the prolific Ethiopians and Kenyans have run faster times this season than Zaripova. Amidst the African challenge, Yuliya will be Russia's strongest bet for the Olympic title. 

Sources:
Yuliya' Wikipedia Profile
IAAF

An Iraqi Olympian: Dana Hussein Abdul Razzaq دانة حسين عبد الرزاق (Abdulrazaq Danah)

My blogs have been getting quite a lot of hits thanks to Iraqi sprinter Dana Hussein Abdul-Razzaq دانة حسين عبد الرزاق  (Abdulrazaq Danah). Dana had the honor of carrying the Iraqi flag at the London Olympics Opening Ceremonies.

Read: "Track Beauty of the Week - Dana Abdul Razzaq"

Dana definitely has the talent to excel in the world stage, having personal bests of 11.76s and 24.49s in the 100m and 200m. Remarkably, Dana trains in Iraq despite the security situation.

At the 2011 Arab Games, Dana came second to Lebanon's Gretta Taslakian. 

The Iraqi sprinter's hopes of an Olympic medal might be dim at the moment, but in light of the circumstances of her home country, her mere presence in London is an achievement in itself.

Godspeed, Dana!

Track Beauty of the Week: Olga Rypakova Ольга Сергеевна Рыпакова

Olga Rypakova Ольга Сергеевна Рыпакова is this week's Track Beauty!

The Kazakh triple jumper is one of the best in her event. Rypakova has jumped 15.25m outdoors and 15.14m indoors, both Asian records. She also has a world-class personal best in the long jump at 6.85m. Olga is the 7th best triple jumper all-time. 

Photo from Erik van Leeuwen

Aside from the triple jump, the Kazakh has had respectable performances in the long jump and the heptathlon. In fact, she started out as a long jumper, making her international debut at the 2000 World Junior Championships in Chile. As a youth heptathlete, Rypakova missed the podium at the World Youth Championships in Debrecen back in 2001.A year later at the World Junior Championships in Kingston, the then 18-year old Rypakova snared a silver medal in the heptathlon.

Learn more about Rypakova

The Kazakh had won Asian Games titles in the triple jump and heptathlon and an Asian Games silver and bronze in the long jump, demonstrating her dominance in continental competition.

She came into prominence at the 2010 World Indoor Championships in Doha, outclassing Cuba's Yargelis Savigne in the final. Rypakova's two best jumps of 15.14m and 14.93m were enough to put the Cuban out of contention. With her victory in Doha, Rypakova climbed up to third place in the World indoor all-time list.

Read: "London Olympics Preview - The Triple Jump"

Since her breakout 2010 season, Olga has yet to go beyond 15 meters. In the runup to the London Olympics, Olga (14.73m SB) is trailing world leader Olha Saladukha Ольга Саладуха (14.99m SB), Cathrine Ibarguen (14.95A SB), and Kseniya Dziatsuk (14.76m SB) in terms of season's bests. Nevertheless, her strong showing at the Daegu World Championships (2nd place) and the Istanbul World Indoor Championships (2nd) puts her in strong contention for Olympic gold.

Additional Link:
Focus on Athletes - Olga Rypakova

Sources:

Olga's IAAF profile

Wikipedia

Holly Bleasdale vs. Yelena Isinbayeva

Pole vault world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva (Елена Исинбаева) always makes her first jump when everyone else had made theirs. The Russian usually isolates herself from the other competitors, opting to cover her face with a towel and nap. British Olympic hopeful Holly Bleasdale was not amused. She called Isinbayeva "disrespectful" and likened her to a "tramp."

Read Tom Battaglia's column on Bleasdale's comments 

Holly Bleasdale at the Palais des Sports d'Orléans. (Photo from Defeder)

Track athletes nowadays feature non of the banter and trash talk prevalent in other sports. Although Bleasdale's words could somewhat help in drumming up interest in the sport, it would have been better if she had been a little more respectful of Isinbayeva.

Yelena Isinbayeva at the Doha World Indoors. (Photo from Erik van Leeuwen)

The sight of tens of thousands of British spectators cheering for a Bleasdale victory would be a sight to behold. I would love to see Bleasdale on top of the Olympic podium, but I'll have to root for Isinbayeva on this one. Despite Yelena's tag as the most dominant female vaulter in history, she has not been in top form of late, showing chinks in her armor the past few years.

Read: "London Olympics Preview - The Pole Vault"

After everything that Yelena has been through it would seem just for the Russian to strike gold one last time.

Christine Sonali Merrill’s Balancing Act and Olympic Hopes

Christine Sonali Merrill deserves a shoutout.

Christine Merrill. (Photo from Djh57/Wikimedia Commons)

The American-born Sri Lankan hurdler will compete in the London Olympics as a wild card, having missed the Olympic “B” standard by almost two-hundredths of a second. She has a personal best of 56.83s, set during the preliminary rounds of the Asian Athletics Championships last year in Kobe. Merrill eventually wound up in 3rd place, thanks to a strong finish.

Click this link to read the full article...

Xue Chen 薛晨 and Zhang Xi (CHN, Beach Volleyball)

Beach volleyball is one of the youngest sports in the Olympics. Because of its unique setting and interesting play, the event has seen its following grow the past few years. 

 

Xue and Zhang at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. (Photos from leon li)

The duo of Xue Chen  薛晨 and Zhang Xi are China's best beach volleyball pair. Since their partnership began in 2006, Xue and Zhang had won bronze medals in the Beijing Olympics and the 2011 World Championships, on top of an Asian Games gold in 2006. The Chinese duo also have two Asian Beach Volleyball Championships titles.

Xue, the more popular of the pair, is younger by Zhang by four years. In 2006, the then 17-year old Xue grabbed Women's FIVB World Tour "Top Rookie" award.

They had a memorable run in 2010, when they broke the winning streak of the Brazilian pair of Franca-Silva at the FIVB World Tour Women's Final in Finland. 

Xue and Zhang will again compete for flag and country at the London Olympics. Grouped in Pool C of the preliminary round, the Chinese pair is slated to go head-to-head with Russia (Vasina – Vozakova), Switzerland (Kuhn – Zumkehr), and Greece (Arvaniti – Tsiartsiani).

Source:

Wikipedia