Blog
Zurich, Switzerland
Wednesday 7th September 2011
This week is my first experience of the Diamond League circuit, which is the 14-stop global tour of the elite professional athletics circuit.  Tomorrow night, we will be at the Letzigrund Stadium in Zurich for the event, which seems to be the favourite of all the dates according to all the athletes I have spoken to.  This popularity stems from the fact that the stadium is normally sold out (as indeed it is already for tomorrow night), with 20,000 enthusiastic Swiss athletics fans, who really understand & appreciate the sport.

After I checked in to my hotel, I touched base with all the Team GB athletes who have come here, fresh from the World Champs in Daegu & started to assess & review those in need of some input after the competition in Korea & the long flights home.  Whilst some of the British guys have withdrawn due to injury or deciding it was best to end their season after Daegu, we still have our men's 4 x 100m relay team (this week Marlon Devonish, Mark Lewis-Francis, Harry Akines-Aryeetey, Craig Pickering & James Ellington), Jenny Meadows (currently lying in second place in the Diamond League standings for the women's 800m), World Champ bronze medallist Andy Turner, fellow 110m hurdler Will Sharman, Goldie Sayers, Helen Clitheroe & Martyn Rooney all looking to entertain the Swiss crowd.

The hotel is already pretty full & many of the big names are milling around - Dayron Robles, the massive David Oliver & World Champ Jason Richardson are here for the 110m hurdles; Asafa Powell, Yohan Blake, Walter Dix, Michael Frater & Kim Collins are the 100m chaps I have spotted in the restaurant; Caster Semenya was in their too & several of the familiar faces in the athletics media world are also wandering around.

Later on, I will be joined by Pedro Philippou, a soft tissue therapist that is back working for UK Athletics since recently finishing working in football with Chelsea.  I haven't met Pedro yet but hear he's a good guy & am looking forward to some banter!

Anyway, on with my work but check back tomorrow for some more on the Diamond League!   
blog comments powered by Disqus