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24 August 2008 - Beijing, China - There can be few better insults in Olympic history than Steve Ovett, describing the decathlon as, “nine Mickey Mouse events, followed by a slow 1500 metres”. Ovett, winner of the 800 metres gold in Moscow 1980 (and also a great 1500m runner) was taking the rise out of his British contemporary, Daley Thompson, who got the last laugh, by winning the 10-discipline decathlon gold in both Moscow and Los Angeles 1984.

26 August 2008 - Helsinki, Finland -  Esko Mikkola’s 80.06m Javelin Throw and an exciting pursuit competition in the men’s 2000m were the best moments at the final meeting of the Finnish 4Athletics GP series which took place in the Finnish capital tonight.

27 August 2008 - Zürich, Switzerland - The famous Letzigrund Stadium in Zürich played host to the yearly kids’ clinic named “Jugend trainiert mit Weltklasse” which is traditionally staged two days before the Weltklasse Zürich, which in 2008 is the penultimate meeting of the ÅF Golden League.

Two-time World Cup 3000m champion Craig Mottram of Australia was the major casualty of the heats, although Kenenisa Bekele remains on track to land the Olympic 5000m and 10,000m double and World champion Bernard Lagat began the first stage of his redemption after being surprisingly dumped out of the semi-finals of the 1500m.

27 August 2008 - Zürich, Switzerland - Olympic 110m Hurdles champion Dayron Robles is making no promises but his World record could be threatened when competing at the ÅF Golden League Weltklasse meeting in Zurich on Friday (29).

23 August 2008 – Beijing, China – “Some days are his, some days are mine,” said Andreas Thorkildsen, when asked about his rivalry with Finn Tero Pitkämäki. But their Olympic days so far belong to the Norwegian Javelin Thrower.

24 August 2008 - Beijing - As Wilfred Bungei entered the home straight at the end of the men’s 800m final on Saturday he looked up at the screen through his dark shades and realised he was in a rare position. Ahead of him was a prize, a big one. The biggest one, he says.

24 August 2008 - Beijing, China - At the age of 10 Viktor Röthlin dreamt of becoming a train driver one day. But then he watched the Olympic Games of Los Angeles 1984 on TV and changed his mind: Now he wanted to become a runner. That was because he had seen his fellow-countryman Markus Ryffel winning a silver medal in the 5000m. Ryffel became his idol from then on.