Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Sports World |
Posted: 27 Jun 2012 06:54 AM PDT Ashton Eaton has been reaffirmed his status as one of the favourites among the Betfair.com Olympics punters for gold in the decathlon after setting a new world record at the US trials. The previous mark was held by Czech athlete Roman Sebrle in 2001and it had even been questioned whether or not the mark of 9,026 points over the 10 disciplines would ever be broken. However, Eaton passed the record by 13 points, thanks to a stunning performance in the final event, the 1,500 meters, where he managed to shave four seconds off his personal best. The 24-year-old has been seen as one of the favourites to for the gold after winning silver at last year's World Championships in Daegu and is by far the form athlete in the event, having set a new world's best in the heptathlon at the World Indoor Championships in March. The record is even more special as it is came in front of his home crowd in Oregon and at his relatively young age, he still has plenty of time to improve on the mark. After the event, Ashton was understandably over the moon about his performance and admitted that he can't believe he is now ranked as the best ever. "There are few words to say to describe it," Eaton said after the event. "To have that score and what I did, it's like I worked so hard to do that. It's hard to explain. "I like running and jumping. To me, it's my whole world. To do the best I possibly could in my world makes me very happy "I knew there might not be another opportunity so I had to make the most of it," Eaton added. Team GB supporters, meanwhile, would be well-advised to keep an eye out for young boxer Anthony Joshua, who will make his Olympic debut in London and is rated as a dark horse to earn a medal by the Betfair boxing betting community. |
Posted: 27 Jun 2012 05:47 AM PDT Dwain Chambers booked his place at this summer's Olympics by winning the 100m at the GB trials in Birmingham on Saturday, much to the delight of his fans from within the Betfair community. The victory takes him one step closer to an incredible comeback after he was only cleared to compete in the games last month following the court of arbitration's decision to abolish the British Athletics' by-law that prohibits people who've been banned for taking performance enhancing drugs from competing in the planet's biggest sporting event. Chambers previously spent two years away from athletics after testing positive for a number of stimulants, in which he tried his hand at a number of sports, most notably American football and rugby league. However, he controversially returned in 2008 and has impressed, winning gold in the 60 metres at the 2010 World indoor championships in Doha. He once again proved his class by winning the trials in a time of 10.25 seconds ahead of impressive youngster Adam Gemili and will now head to Helsinki for next week's European Championships where he'll aim to achieve the Olympic qualifying time of 10.18. The 34-year-old was understandably delighted to have won the trials and is desperate to back-up his performance and guarantee a place in the games in his home city. "I was so scared because the heat and semi-final had not gone well," said Chambers. "I had great pressure here but I relied on my experience and that's what pulled me through today. I felt Adam coming and I was saying to myself, 'Stay ahead, stay ahead.' "Now this is over I can concentrate on getting the time. I've still got a journey to go but I am hoping to be there as part of the British team at the Olympic Games." Elsewhere, excitement is building ahead of the Olympic Boxing events, where Team GB will welcome several new faces, including youngster Anthony 'AJ' Joseph, a promising young pugilist from London who will be out to defy the boxing betting odds. |
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