Thursday, September 23, 2010

Season Wrap Up

Wow, what a year! I've had so much fun and had so many new and wonderful experiences I can hardly believe it. I was able to compete in new countries, was the only American to complete the IAAF World Hammer Challenge, finish with a world top 10 ranking, and win my first Outdoor National Championship Title. My last two meets of the year were probably my favorite two expeirences of the year. After leaving Germany, I spent a week in the little Italian town of Reiti. There wasn't a lot to do outside of training, but it was so pretty and peaceful that I didn't really mind. The town sits in the valley and is surrounded on all sides by very picturesque mountains. (I took some pictures and posted them to my facebook account. I'll put the links at the bottom.) The competition itself was not the most ideal setup for head to head competition. There were ten women in the Saturday competition and we all got 3 throws. But then only 4 advanced to throw on Sunday where they only got 4 more throws. As you may or may not know, you usually get either 4 throws with no final, or 3 throws plus three more throws in the final. Anyway, I took 6th in that comp and didn't compete Sunday. But I had a great time and watched Koji Murofushi of Japan launch the men's world leading throw, and a guy break the world record in the 800m AGAIN! After that I traveled to Paris, France where I trained with the world record holder in the men's hammer throw Youri Sedykh and his daughter Alexia. Alexia was fresh off of winning the very first Youth Olympic Games. We had some great training days and I learned alot. We worked on some concepts that I'm really excited to put into use next year.
My last meet of the year was the DecaNations meet in Anncey, France. I don't even have enough descriptive words to convey how pretty this town is. When I travel to different places I'm always taken aback at the beauty of the architure. So I have some pictures of random buildings as well. I don't know what most of them are, but they just looked really cool to me. Anyway, the meet was awesome and team USA did what we do best and won! I think the score was USA 133, Russia 90, Germany 89. Yea we kicked butt!
On another note...I'll be headed to my first red carpet even on Oct. 12th in NYC! Its the premiere of ESPN the magazine's "Body Issue" that hits a newsstand near you Oct. 18th!!!! I'm super excited to go. Its going to be a star studded event and I can't wait! I'm not sure what I'm wearing, but you all know I love the camera so there will be pictures to follow. Its been a great year, but I know the best is yet to come so stay tuned!

Love and blessing,
Amber

Twitter AmberCampbellThrows

Throws Information

Throwing formats
In Olympic throwing events -- men's and women's shot put, discus, hammer and javelin -- the competition begins with a qualifying round in which the entire field is divided into two or more groups. In this round, competitors take turns attempting to reach a pre-set distance that automatically advances them to the final. If fewer than 12 athletes meet the distance required from direct qualification, the 12 competitors with the best throws, plus any athletes tying for 12th, advance to the final. In the final round, competitors take turns until each has attempted three throws. At this point, the top eight-ranked competitors (plus ties) receive three more throws. The best throw of the six is counted and the athlete with the longest throw is declared the winner. In case of a tie, the second-best throw is consulted.

Amber In her MJOLNIR Armor

Amber In her MJOLNIR Armor
Amber takes Gold at the Indoor Nationals

Olympic Trials 2008

Celebrating with the Campbell's

Indoor Championship 2009