By Mike RowbottomAs Vladimir Nabokov once wrote: "The more you love a thing, the stronger and stranger it becomes." The émigré Russian writer was very possibly not referring to marathon running when he gave voice to this perception - but it expresses the sense of complexity which this distance evokes among its serious protagonists.Ethiopia's multiple Olympic and world champion Kenenisa Bekele is not yet among that number, although he plans to be by next Spring, when he will make his debut over 26 miles 385 yards.Like the man who succeeded him as Olympic 5,000 and 10,000 metres champion in 2012, Britain's Mo...

so many years, amassing three Olympic and five world titles, not to mention an extraordinary 11 gold medals

Haile was looking over at me two or three times. Farah was checking me all the time."

holder and five-times World Cross Country champion Paul Tergat, said that it "would not be easy" for

There are a lot of new guys now training harder who want to go for the record.

He has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, The Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian.

By Nick Butler at the Ethniki Conference Centre in AthensNovember 23 - Two of the outstanding stars of London 2012, British wheelchair racer David Weir and Dutch tennis star Esther Vergeer, were the big winners here at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Awards Ceremony.

She added how it was "extra special" over all her other awards, how "loving" her sport was the key to

wheelchair basketball player Patrick Anderson, Australia's wheelchair rugby star Ryley Batt and Brazil's six-times

I fulfilled my dream of coming away with four gold medals at a home Games."

double-amputee sprinter Marlou van Rhijn won Best Female Games debut, after taking gold and silver medals

OrderSeptember 2013: Paralympic champions lead 2013 IPC Sport Awards shortlistsJuly 2013: IPC receives record

By Duncan Mackay at the Sandton Convention Centre in JohannesburgNovember 13 - Critics of Jamaica's anti-doping programme which has cast a shadow over the achievements of the likes of Usain Bolt are "uninformed" the head of the country's National Olympic Committee has claimed here. 

Fahey that they had "dropped the ball" damaged the reputation of Bolt, winner of three Olympic gold medals

"All of this is being done."

 "All our top international stars are continuously being tested because they are in the registered

is familiar with athletics who can say that Jamaica has only come onto the world [stage] in recent times

Neita-Headley claimed that a spate of recent high-profile positive drug cases, including former world 100m record

I was in the stadium in 1993 on the night Jan Zelezny of the Czech Republic threw a world javelin record

latest injury to run a sub-45sec 400m in the late 1990s.Kelly Holmes shows off her two gold Olympic medals

Perhaps the local Council will lay an all-weather surface in the shopping aisles as a gesture towards

For Coe, who was then MP for Falmouth and Cambourne, and who did all his running as a youngster in his

He has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, The Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian.

Winners and you will find written in bold text "NO WINNER" written in the column marked "winner" seven times

top of the podium at the "podium ceremony" each of those years and wasn't he crowned the winner seven times

His longest hop, skip and jump exceeded the Olympic record only to be quickly red flagged by the Russian

So his amazing and historic Olympic performance was stricken from the record books and his titles and

It is a valuable life skill and in sport it is visible for all to see.

By Mike RowbottomIt tells you everything you need to know about Peter Elliott that the greatest disappointment of his sporting life was neither failing to earn selection for the 1984 Olympic 1500 metres despite having beaten eventual winner Seb Coe at the trials, nor missing out on gold at the Seoul Games four years later- and 25 years to the day on October 1 - behind Kenya's 21-year-old unknown Peter Rono, although that was a savage and enduring source of hurt.No. The biggest disappointment for a man who hung up his spikes in possession of Olympic and world silver as...

stadium in 1974 when he lived up to his somewhat rash promise of marking the occasion with a world record

metres time of 7min 37.6sec as he clocked 7:35.2.Brendan Foster, pictured in 1973, set a world 3000m record

Coe, run out of the medals an 800m final that was to be his last competitive outing, had withdrawn from

And early in the race the 38-year-old local hero Walker, the former world mile record holder and 1976

He has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, The Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian.

Gary and Heather Oakes, the husband and wife who won bronze medals at the 1980 Olympics.

Coe – double Olympic 1500m champion and multiple world record holder at 800m, 1000m, 1500m and the mile

You have to have the right calibre of people all coming together at the same time to be able emulate

Athletics Club, event hosts for the day, and Mars was hoping they might challenge the national age record

what Mars acknowledged was a "tough community", all his young sprinters turn up four times a week, encouraging

By David OwenSeptember 29 - The greatest sprinter of the 1970s has offered Usain Bolt advice on how to improve his starts.

by, for example, dropping a coin onto a metallic surface.Said Borzov: "I practice five, 10, 15, 20 times

slightest contact.After such training, Borzov said, "When you are starting for real, you learn to switch on all

It's a big, big difference," he said.Though he has a perfect record in the past two Olympics, winning

three gold medals at each, Bolt famously false-started at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, and

was, as a consequence, disqualified from the 100m.While the Jamaican's world record stands at 9.58sec

By David OwenThe lithe physique and matinee-idol good looks are long gone. But those bright blue eyes still hold the attention. They soften around the edges as I coax the man who was once the greatest sprinter in the world on a spellbinding and frequently startling excursion down memory lane.Today, Valeriy Borzov is a 63-year-old, navy blue-blazered member of the most powerful club in world sport: the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and a former Minister and politician in his native Ukraine.Four decades ago, however, he was the most potent weapon in the extensive "soft power" armoury at the disposal of...

news of the day was that Eddie Hart and Reynaud Robinson, American co-holders of the world 100 metres record

second leg of the sprint double - even though he had not originally intended to run in the 200m at all

It's not easy to run four times 100m, four times 200m and three times relay.

All the Village could see the terrorists on the balcony like in the cinema..."

He cannot remember which film.I should record that in response to the obligatory doping question, Borzov

some of those earlier bad Olympic dreams.Tokyo 1964 was a happy Olympics for Britain, who collected 20 medals

These really were a happy Olympics, especially for Britain, who collected 20 medals overall with long-jump

His 10.2sec for the 100m was a British record that lasted for eight years and he once broke a 53-year-old

record for the rarely run 300 yards.

suited in civvies, checking passes at the gate.However, entry to journalists was restricted to certain times

By Emily GoddardSeptember 4 - A star-studded list of London 2012 champions, including the likes of Cuban sprinter Yunidis Castillo, Italy's handcyclist Alex Zanardi and Brazil's five-a-side football squad, have been named on the shortlist for the International Paralympic Committee's (IPC) 2013 Paralympic Sport Awards.

for the best team award.Yunidis Castillo, who became Cuba’s most successful Paralympian after winning all

three sprint golds in world record times at London 2012, is up for the best female awardBetween them

, the shortlisted athletes won 38 gold medals at the London 2012 Paralympics, while a record number of

writer of this story at [email protected] storiesJuly 2013: IPC receives record

4x400m relay - both events the United States might have expected to win - put the home nation top of the medals

5in Bolt stepped off the gas, the slight figure of fellow Jamaican Warren Weir was still firing on all

occasion.Jamaica's Usain Bolt celebrates with teammate Warren Weir after the won the gold and silver medals

I want to go to the [2016] Rio Olympics and become the first man to win the 100 and 200m three times.

Barrett made first time clearances all the way to 2.03, but stopped there.Only Francena McCorory, the

Tarabin's last throw of 86.23m took him beyond Kenya's Julius Yego, who had to settle for a national record

By James CrookAugust 15 - Australia retained their world men's 4x100 metres relay world title with a stunning performance at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Swimming Championships, whilst Britain climbed to second in the medal table with another four golds at the Parc Jean Drapeau in Montreal

in the final, setting a record of 3:04.41 to take her second gold of the Championships and retain her

I was quite nervous going into the race but I knew that if I relaxed and gave it all I had I'd be okay

I'm so chuffed to break my world record and to win another gold medal is brilliant."

Some people in that race weren't swimming the times they were in London but fortunately for me I just

when she stormed clear in the 100m freestyle S11 to set an Oceania record of 1:9.61 and finish clear

By Nick ButlerAugust 4 - Malaysia's world number one Nicole David secured a record third consecutive

Seven-times World Open champion David has topped the world rankings unopposed since 2006 and the 29-year-old

titles for Australia before switching nationality in 2008.Yet despite posing an impressive threat, her all

I'm so happy to contribute to the gold tally of medals to my country," said Gaultier, alluding to the

All the conversation was about the Olympic vote next month and how squash would be a great addition if

By Gary AndersonAugust 2 - American Ryan Lochte added another two FINA World Championship medals

the 4x100m freestyle relay and gold in the 200m individual medley last night, Lochte claimed two more medals

I was able to post those times and become a world champion tonight so it gives me a lot of confidence

holder Britta Steffen of Germany and America;s Missy Franklin who already has four medals to her name

It's weird to be striving all your life to achieve something and then achieve it in under a minute."

I was really pleased about yesterday's world record."