European XC Championships

Fantastic performance from our athletes. Heartbreaking for Fionnuala, and for the men's team: if I recall correctly, under the older system it used to be four runners to score, which would've gotten them the bronze.

One slightly sour note was the coverage/lack of coverage in today's papers. Ok, I wasn't expecting a feature on Adams State, but there were no interviews, and a quite demeaning photo on the cover of the Irish Times sports supplement. These are international standard elite athletes, yet the only way for front-page coverage is to have a photo-op 'jump' like they're doing a charity fun dip at Christmas. (I know, we're supposed to take our friends where we can find them, and any publicity for the Irish teams is better than none, but I feel there are achievements being diminished by this sort of coverage: why not a photo of the medal haul?)

murpho999 wrote: »

I really doubt coverage in other countries was ignoring the athletes in 1st and 2nd place and were entirely focused on the Irish individual trying to win a a bronze and the team places.

That's not what I said though was it?! :rolleyes:

I said the race for 3rd was the only medal up for grabs, as first and second were decided long before the race was over.

If your preference is to watch a "Turk" strolling on their own to another European title that's fine. My preference is watching an actual competition. Especially in cross country where times mean nothing, so someone destroying the field has even less meaning for the viewer than on the track.

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

Africans running for European countries is kind of crazy ?

Depends on the Africans, many are genuine citizens and integrated into their new countries or asylum seekers. Some, such as the Turks are paid to transfer country and race and win medals despite not living or training in their new countries. The loophole has been partly closed by the IAAF but the current people are entitled to keep competing.

Regarding Efrem who competed for Ireland, anyone aware of his story and the conditions of life in Eritrea should not begrudge him his new start.