Athletics: The International Track and Field Annual - Softcover

August 4 2012 became a golden night for British athletes as in the London Olympic stadium, Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah and Greg Rutherford all won gold medals. But none of the trio grace the cover page of Athletics 2013. That honour goes to Kenyan David Rudisha. The book is the International Track and Field Annual and the editor, and other experts, considered Rudisha’s 800 metres victory to be the performance of the Games. His time of 1 min 40.91 sec was described by Games supremo Sebastian Coe as “one of the greatest Olympic victories”. Lord Coe, of course, know a thing or two about that, being the only man to have successfully defended the Olympic 1500 metres title. He also knows about 800 metres running, having held the world record for 16 years from 1981.

PETER MATTHEWS is a television commentator for the IAAF, and has covered all major athletics events since 1985 with ITV or the IAAF. For ten years before that he was a broadcaster on athletics for BBC Radio. A long-time ATFS member, he was formerly Editor of the Guinness Book of Records and International Editor of Athletics Today magazine. He is co-publisher of Athletics International.