Maurice Smith, one of Jamaica’s few medal favourites for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, has withdrawn from the team days before the team is scheduled to depart for the Games. Smith, a decathlon silver medallist at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics in Osaka, Japan, reportedly informed members of Jamaica’s management team yesterday after-noon that he is suffering... 

Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia celebrates. (Photo by Glen Andrews/SPK/Allsports) Haile Gebrselassie added another title to his list of distinguished accolades with a commanding victory in today’s Great North Run. The 37-year-old Ethiopian, the marathon world-record holder and two-time Olympic 10,000 metres champion, who was competing in the North-east half-marathon event for the... 

Jamaica could have had the fastest man in history in their sprint squad at the Commonwealth Games next month. Instead, they will have someone by the name of Slowly. Usain Bolt announced in June that he would not be representing his country on the Commonwealth stage in Delhi but neither will the other five speed merchants who, together with the Lightning Bolt, make up the top six places in... 

Triple European champion Christophe Lemaitre’s victory in the 100m and Blanka Vlasic’s dominating performance in the High Jump were the key highlights at the 23rd Super Track and Field meet at Todoroki Stadium in Kawasaki on Sunday (19). In the featured men’s field event, 2007 World champion Tero Pitkamaki prevailed over Japan’s Yukifumi Murakami, the reigning World bronze medallist,... 

Steve Hooker had a close shave in his final meet before the Commonwealth Games, the Olympic champion missing the mat in a leap in northern England. The pole vaulter failed to register a height in the gusty conditions at an Australia v England competition on the banks of the River Tyne in Newcastle, won 5-4 by the home nation. The world, Olympic and Commonwealth Games champion failed in his... 

Australian Commonwealth Games team chef de mission Steve Moneghetti admits extroverted and controversial runner John Steffensen will be missed in Delhi. But whether he is actually in any shape to have mounted a creditable defence of his 400 metres title next month is another matter altogether. Steffensen has not raced competitively since finishing second behind Ben Offereins at the... 

A lack of IOC commitment meant Sydney was ”a Games that had drug users who were not caught”, writes David Sygall. Somewhere, possibly now at the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee in Switzerland, a file containing the coded identities of seven drug cheats from the Sydney Olympic Games is secretly kept from the public. They are athletes who tested positive to... 

Craig Mottram sent national selectors a clear reminder of what Australia will be missing at next month’s Commonwealth Games by storming to victory at the Great North City Games. The former world championships bronze medallist powered away from the field in a two-mile race on the banks of the River Tyne in Newcastle in the Australia v England competition. Mottram believes he should... 

Jamaican Nesta Carter, returned home on Friday after a successful 2010 season which saw him becoming the world’s fourth fastest man ever over 100 metres. The Olympic gold medallist lowered his previous personal best time of 9.91seconds by a staggering 0.13s – to set a new mark of 9.78secs – during the course of the season. He told media personnel after arriving at the... 

All eyes will be on David Rudisha when he leads a delegation of 10 Kenyans as part of the Africa team in the IAAF Continental Cup action in Split City, Croatia, on Saturday. After crushing the opposition in their respective disciplines at the Africa Athletics Championship in Nairobi, the team will now focus of reclaiming the title from the grip of Europe. America and Asia/Pacific are the...