London 2012 Olympic Preview: Track Athletics

By Jimmy Booker

As part of MM’s series of Olympic sports guides, today we look at the track -  what events it entails, and Team GB's hopefuls of bringing the medals home.

Track events are the most publicised and scrutinised of the entire Olympics, with it’s athletes being made or broken in a flash. 

Staged in the brand new Olympic Stadium, the 24 track events (12 for men, 12 for women) will be held over distances ranging from 100m to 10,000m. Some events will also feature obstacles to negotiate, as in the 400m Hurdles and the 3000m Steeplechase. 

Whilst Britain does not have the man-power of America, Russia or China to compete across the board, there are a few shining lights that are highly-fancied to add significant medals to the eventual haul. 

Jessica Ennis, the unofficial pin-up girl of the 2012 campaign, will hope to grab the heptathlon title with what she describes as a performance that will ‘break the British record’, currently held by Denise Lewis. 

Manchester’s own Diane Modahl, former Commonwealth 800m champion, has singled out Ennis and 800m runner Jenny Meadows as two of our hopefuls for the games. 

She added that, despite the added pressure and scrutiny of the home advantage and the track, she believes that our athletes will come out ‘all guns blazing’ and do us all proud.

Also hoping for gold is Welsh 400m hurdler Dai Greene, who will be hoping to add the Olympic crown to his haul of Commonwealth, European and World Championships.

Whispers of changes to the controversial false start ruling before London 2012 have been swiftly denied, with the rule staying at one false start means immediate disqualification.

Under the old rules, athletes had the right to make one false start and then the whole field was given a warning with any subsequent false starts leading to disqualification.

There are many running clubs all over Greater Manchester so why not give it a go? We could be cheering you on at Rio 2016.