The Ultimate Told You So

The Road To Beijing The results are in for today's Liverpool Tiathlon and Michelle Dillon came in second a full minute behind Liz Blatchford (who had failed to make the Australia team for the Athens Olympics). Other implications have appeared in the reporting of the event because after gaining dual citizenship, Blachford is eyeing a place in the British Commonwealth Games Team instead which could push Dillon out of going to Melbourne in two years -- and todays performance isn't going to hurt that bid. Early days yet though and many more races to come. As Michelle says: "There's still a bit of Athens in my legs, the race was only 10 days ago. I was absolutely shattered and knew reaching Liz would prove to be too much." Even with that she managed to post the quickest 10k run of the day. I think one of those great rivalries is in the offering here though.

Meanwhile, The Independent are talking about Abi Oyepitan as a new role model:

"Having clocked 11.17sec for 100m at the Norwich Union International in Birmingham in July, missing Cook's British record in that event by just 0.07sec, the slightly built Oyepitan, one of the featherweight breed of speed merchants, is threatening to drag British women's sprinting out of the distant past and back to the future.

"I am pleased with what I've achieved this summer," she reflected as she waited for the awards presentation for her event on Friday night. "I just want to build on it for next year. I need to get stronger and I also need to run the bend better in the 200m. I'm hanging back too much. I'm too scared of getting tired in the home straight."

The room for further improvement merely underlines the depth of Oyepitan's talent - talent that earned her the World Student Games 100m title in Beijing in 2001. After four more years under the direction of Tony Lester at the Thames Valley Athletics Centre in Eton - training in the company of Marlon Devonish, the third-leg runner in the Olympic champion 4 x 100m relay team, and Tim Benjamin, who reached the 400m semi-finals in Athens - she could well return to the Chinese capital as an Olympic medal contender in the summer of 2008.

I don't think this is hyperbole. There is a real buzz surrounding Abi which can only grow.