International

Margit Jungmann will succeed Stan Perkins as WMA prez (in my vernacular), but with a true electoral mandate.

International November 23, 2018

WMA legal costs and ‘guest/gift’ expenses skyrocket, but Prez Margit won’t say why

What is World Masters Athletics trying to hide? Six days ago, I stumbled on the final report to the Malaga General Assembly — where Germany’s Margit Jungmann was elected the first female president of WMA. Buried was a financial summary of recent years. Two line items jumped out at me: skyrocketing legal expenses and costs of “guests/gifts.” So on Nov. 17, I sent this query letter to Margit and her predecessor, Stan Perkins of Australia (with CC to WMA Treasurer Jean Thomas of France): Greetings, Margit and Stan Hope you are well. I notice on page 35 of the 2018…

International October 23, 2018

Was it a good idea for WMA to spin off marathon champs from world outdoor meet?

Close to 4,500 ran in Sunday’s Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, with many (if not most) over 35. It was designated the World Masters Athletics Marathon Championships — the first time a 26-miler was held outside the WMA world outdoor track meet since 1975. So how many folks competed for WMA medals? Would you believe 35? Yup. Forty-three years after the first WAVA gold medals were awarded in the marathon — at Toronto worlds — runners couldn’t care less about a “world title” at Scotiabank. One reason: You had to pay an extra $110 to enter the WMA event, run concurrently…

International October 17, 2018

Butterdome awaits 2021 indoor worlds athletes — Edmonton meet previewed

I’m getting excited for 2021, and not just because I might burn my mortgage that year. Indoor worlds comes to Edmonton that year (as noted in Malaga coverage). A report last month in the local paper has a great quote: “It’s a very attractive event from the city’s perspective because it’s not a group of athletes coming on a government-funded program, who stick around their hotel and eat Ramen noodles. They’re out spending money, they’ve got disposable income.” So says James Rosnau, executive director of Athletics Alberta. I’m also eager to compete in the coolest named arena — the Butterdome….

International September 29, 2018

Banned Nazi version of German national anthem played 2 days at Malaga medal ceremonies

In Germany, singing “Deutschland, Deutschland über alles” (Germany, Germany above everything) is a Bozo No-No. Although the lyric was written in 1841 by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben — and had nothing to do with the Nazis — it was adopted by Hitler and sung at the opening of the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Since 1952, the German national anthem has dropped the “Deutschland über alles” stanza. But WTF. Guess what was played for two days at Malaga medal ceremonies? Yup — the “banned” version. According to the German masters website Lampis.net, the nonkosher version (with the correct 1797 melody by…

International September 26, 2018

WMA posts results of pre-Malaga survey: Y’all like sprints most. Biggest group? 50-54

In mid-May, I surveyed y’all about surveys — specifically: “Should WMA regularly post them?” About 91 percent said sure. Now we’re seeing the survey (May 15 to August 5) that prompted the question. WMA has posted results of a 25-query athlete poll. It’s in the form of a slide show, so look for the little arrows at lower left, just underneath the survey. Click them to change pages. The sample size isn’t great — about 560. (Perhaps this should have waited until Malaga, with 8,200 entries. But I guess that isn’t representative of average masters.) The gender breakdown was 68…

International September 25, 2018

Relaygate at Malaga worlds: Will Yanks move up from silver to gold in W55 4×400?

Angela Sonn was a prolific W55 sprinter this season in Great Britain. She recorded nearly five dozen races between 60 and 400 meters. But I doubt she ran the W55 4×400 relay at 5:05 p.m. Sept. 16 at Malaga worlds and the W45 4×4 about 50 minutes later. Yet that’s what results show. In fact, she ran only once — dropping down to anchor the W45 relay, which took sixth behind Team USA’s fifth. So how does her name appear in the W55 results, which shows her team winning gold? I wrote WMA officials (crickets) and British meet manager Maurice…

International September 19, 2018

Shooting stars made Malaga magical: Photos by Tom, Rob, Dave, Alex and ‘Shaggy’

Four years ago, Jim Ryun came to San Diego and I was over-the-moon. Not from seeing the mile legend (I’d interviewed him a half-dozen times since the mid-1970s). I was ecstatic to meet Rich Clarkson — a fellow KU alumnus who photographed Jim since high school and became the National Geographic’s photo editor for a while. I also have schmoozed with Pulitzer Prize winning shooter Don Bartletti, who retired a few years ago from the Los Angeles Times. So who were my heroes at Malaga? You betcha — the lensmen and woman (Alex Rotas) whose work I’ve been envying the…

Edmonton will be the second Canadian host of WMA indoor worlds, after Kamloops, British Columbia, in 2010.

International September 11, 2018

WMA picks Edmonton for 2021 indoor worlds, Gothenburg for 2022 outdoor worlds

Canada gets a double dose of major masters action starting soon — hosting the 2020 WMA world outdoor meet in Toronto and the 2021 world indoor meet in Edmonton, Alberta. It’ll be only the second indoor worlds in North America since Kamloops in 2010. See meet site here. Edmonton was chosen at Saturday’s General Assembly in Malaga. I was busy covering some guy named Obama and overlooked the news. Also revealed: 2022 outdoor worlds will be in Gothenburg, Sweden — site of the second world WAVA meet in 1977. (Since Toronto was the first worlds in 1975, the pattern would…

Margit Jungmann will succeed Stan Perkins as WMA prez (in my vernacular), but with a true electoral mandate.

International September 8, 2018

Margit Jungmann, beating Yank and Finn, becomes first female WMA president

Margit Jungmann of Germany, a former high school teacher and coach, schooled her competition Saturday and easily won election to the presidency of World Masters Athletics, becoming the first woman in that role in the body’s 43-year history. Margit won 110 votes — ahead of American Gary Snyder’s 12 and Finland’s Vesa Lappalainen with 19. (Corrected vote from original post.) The former WMA Vice President succeeds Australia’s Stan Perkins, who must be envious (since he won his first election by one vote, albeit under fraudulent circumstances.) The German masters website says she had given up her position as chairperson of…

International September 3, 2018

Nagasaki atom bomb survivor sets Malaga goal: Complete 17 events at worlds

Malaga worlds begins in a few hours, starting with the W50 hammer. Start lists are up, with results expected early Tuesday. (Malaga is six hours ahead of East Coast time, nine ahead of Left Coast.) Opening ceremonies pictures are flooding Facebook, and I’m reminded of a great breakdown of entry stats by Dmitry Babenko. His engrossing spreadsheet of the 5,503 men entered and 2,694 women is already out of date, though. Canada’s great W80 multi-eventer Christa Bortignon writes: “I had to cancel Malaga because my husband’s hip problem turned out to be very serious. After several weeks in serious pain…