News of the Worlds ... from Edmonton

Worlds broadcast second-highest rated sports show of weekend

Sunday's ABC broadcast of the IAAF World Championships continued the upward trend of USA Track & Field's Golden Spike Tour telecasts, achieving a 2.4/6 overnight rating.

The Worlds broadcast was second to NBC's broadcast of the Brickyard 400 and beat CBS' coverage of the PGA International tournament, the WNBA on NBC, and others. Saturday's ABC broadcast of the IAAF World Championships achieved a 1.7/4 national overnight rating.

Frye Girls …

Team USA’s women’s 400m crew provides a who’s who of University South Carolina track and field, and a walking advertisement for coach Curtis Frye, the USC head coach.

Demetria Washington is the 2001 NCAA indoor 400m champion and two-time outdoor runner-up. Miki Barber is the 2000 NCAA Indoor 200m and Outdoor 400m champion, the ’99 runner-up outdoors, and fifth-place Olympic Trials finisher. Her twin sister, Me’Lisa, is a 12-time All-American for the Gamecocks. The sisters have encountered success off the track as well, having been featured on Oprah Winfrey’s Oxygen Sports network and in Sports Illustrated. Washington is running the 400 meters in Edmonton; the Barber twins and Washington are in the 4x400 pool.

Not surprisingly, South Carolina won the 2000 NCAA indoor 4x400 relay in a record time of 3:28.64.

Olympic 4x400m relay gold medalist Monique Hennagan, a 1998 graduate of North Carolina, currently lives in Columbia, S.C., and is trained by Frye as well. Hennagan is running the 400 at Worlds and is in the 4x400 relay pool.

In addition, hammer thrower Dawn Ellerbe is a ’97 grad of South Carolina. The American record holder has returned to Columbia to train and is an assistant coach for the USC team. She will compete Monday in hammer qualifying.

… and Frye Guys

Frye also coaches two-thirds of Team USA’s men’s 110m hurdles delegation, mentoring South Carolina’s former six-time NCAA champion Terrence Trammell - the 2000 Olympic silver medalist and 2001 World Indoor gold medalist - and Allen Johnson, the 1996 Olympic gold medalist, two-time world champion, 1995 World Indoor champion and co-American record holder.

Men’s hurdles rounds canceled

The first round of the men’s 110m hurdles, originally scheduled for Monday, have been canceled. The four-round competition has now been reduced to three. Competition in the event will begin on Tuesday for American hurdlers Allen Johnson, Terrence Trammell and Dawane Wallace.

Saying goodbye to Bert

Longtime Associated Press track and field reporter Bert Rosenthal in Edmonton is making his last official appearance at the World Championships.

Rosenthal has covered track and field for AP since 1973 and is retiring this year. His stories on American athletes have appeared in newspapers around the world over the last 28 years, helping to raise the profile of the sport of track and field and its athletes for nearly three decades.

USATF honored Rosenthal at the GMC Envoy USA Outdoor Championships in June.

A native of the Bronx, Bert plans to relax and relocate to Arizona in his retirement with his wife of 29 years, Emily.