David Oliver. Photo courtesy of Kerstin Winterkamp

World number one hurdler David Oliver believes a sell-out crowd at next week’s Aviva London Grand Prix could set the stage for his maiden World title, but warned fans it’s now a race against time to secure seats for his clash with Olympic champion Dayron Robles and European and Commonwealth champion Andy Turner on 5 August.

The American record holder, also the third fastest hurdler of all time, is one of the favourites to land the coveted IAAF World Championship gold medal in Daegu next month after a whirlwind 15 months where he has won 32 out of 34 races.

However, in his path for glory in both South Korea and at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre next week, stands Beijing gold medallist and World Record holder Dayron Robles, the Cuban athlete who has inflicted one of Oliver’s two defeats this season when recording his first victory over the American in more than three years with a win in Paris.

And with only a final few tickets remaining for Friday to see the 110m hurdles competition, in addition to Asafa Powell in the 100m and Mo Farah in the 3000m, Oliver has urged athletics fans in London not to miss out on what he insists will be one of the showpiece events at next year’s Olympic Games.

He said: “I love competing in the UK, I’m really excited to get back there and get back on the track and run the best I can. This year has been great for me so far and I’ll be hoping to keep my good form in London.

“The field will be good in London, it will be great to get back up against Dayron [Robles] again, he’s had a great season and I always look forward to competing against him because he is the best and it will be a true test of where I’m at in my last competition before Worlds.

“One year out from 2012 I want to get a good result in London. I want to leave the city in good form and with a great feeling for when I return next year. The World Championships are obviously on the cards and this will definitely be preparation for that so I’m not going to be holding back, I want to get a good result.

“I hear that the Saturday is sold out now but there’s still some tickets left for when I’m racing so I’m really hoping that people get out and buy tickets so it’s a packed stadium for the race. I think the 110m hurdles is one of the most interesting events out there at the moment, there’s a field packed full of talent and every race is a great one.”

Like Oliver last year, Robles has enjoyed one of his finest seasons to date this campaign and until his last race in Barcelona – where he hit a hurdle in a freak accident and finished last – he had won every race he had entered.

He goes head-to-head with Oliver once again this Friday in the Samsung Diamond League bout in Stockholm, the last before they clash on UK soil next Friday, and is keen to test himself against the best in a world class Aviva London Grand Prix field that will also include world number four Aries Merritt.

The event is also a good opportunity for Aviva Great Britain and Northern Ireland star Turner to notch another victory over Robles after the Cuban’s calamity in Spain and also test himself against good friend and frequent training partner Oliver.

Turner is in outstanding form after a top performance at the SPAR European Team Championships in Stockholm in atrocious weather, followed by a personal best of 13.22secs in Lausanne just last month, and the Sutton-based hurdler believes he has a big performance stirring within him and has set his heart on putting in a strong performance in front of his local fans.

“It’s going to be great competing at the Aviva London Grand Prix, it’s one of my favourite meets on the circuit as I love to race in front of a home crowd. There’s a high level field racing so it will definitely be a tight one. David and I have raced a few times this season but it will be great to add Robles to the mix as well.

“It’s unbelievable that we’re now only one year away from 2012, it’s really going to hit home when we’re lining up before the race and I really hope that I get some good support from the crowd.

“I’m happy with how 2011 has gone so far.  I know I have a big performance in me and am feeling positive about the second half of the season.”

Oliver, Robles and Turner join an all-star cast of British and international athletes set to head to the Aviva London Grand Prix. Mo Farah (3000m), Asafa Powell (100m), Mark Lewis-Francis (100m), Jenny Meadows (800m), David Rudisha (800m), Abubaker Kaki (800m) and Kim Collins (100m) will all be joining them in action at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre on Friday 5 August, while Christine Ohuruogu (400m), Sanya Richards-Ross (400m), Phillips Idowu (triple jump), Felix Sanchez (400m hurdles), Dai Greene (400m hurdles), and Carmelita Jeter (100m, 200m) will take to the track on the sold-out Saturday for the final Aviva Series contest of 2011.

With the majority of people focusing on the development of the  ‘top-site’ in the LDA’s Masterplan, we are missing a  huge issue – which is the redevelopment or loss of the [qype id="83358"] and the Crystal Palace Athletics stadium. This notice is tucked away in the Masterplan document.

Read Jerry Green’s excellent summary: http://wp.me/p11HBY-mR The two main caveats on our sporting facilities are the conversion of the NSC to ‘dry’ only sports and the dismantling of the Jubilee stand at Crystal Palace athletics track. A new regional sports centre would be built close to the station according to the Masterplan. But when and where exactly? It is pretty vague to say the least and gives cold comfort to local sportsmen and sports fans.

The reason for the planned infill of the 50m pool is that the humidity from the pool affected the ‘dry’ sporting facilities (the basketball courts and the squash courts). If these facilities cannot coexist, then surely it would be cheaper to build a separate ‘dry area’ rather than fill in and rebuild a new swimming pool. The National Sports Centre is a listed building it cannot be demolished, it’s recently had a £1.5 million refurbishment to the pool and dry facilities.

Why look to downgrade the National Sports Centre to a regional sports centre and duplicate facilities at an extra cost to the tax payer? Will we see another 50m pool in Crystal Palace? If ours closes then the only other Olympic pool in London will be the London Aquatics Centre opening in 2012. Not great news for future Olympic swimmers.

The Crystal Palace Grand Prix has now become the London Grand Prix, I assume the change of name will make the transition away from Crystal Palace easier with less fuss. I have been going to the event for the last ten years and what has always struck me is the support of the fans and the genuine appreciation of this support by world renowned sports stars. Its a shame there seems to be no campaign to save our existing sports facilities. We have less that a month before we find out the Secretary of States decision on the LDA’s proposal.

When the Crystal Palace Football & Athletic Club were formed eventually in 1905 the feeling of our formative chairman Mr E.F. Goodman was that in time Palace had the potential to compete eventually with the best in the land. He arrived (bringing the famous Claret and Blue kit with him) from Aston Villa’s backroom staff, having lost a leg playing for them, to build a club from scratch…something which he achieved with distinction. OK, we’re still not quite European Champions yet, but when Edmund made that bold prediction in 1905, neither he nor anyone else could have predicted what a thrilling roller coaster ride supporting Crystal Palace would become.

As early as January 12th 1906, 10 man Palace overcame all odds and created a sensation, defeating perennial FA Cup Finalists and then current League Champions Newcastle United at St James’ Park. My own Grandfather’s early experiences of following the Glaziers started way back in 1914 when the Club were forced to move out of the Palace Grounds by the Admiralty to Herne Hill Velodrome. He told me tales of many of those early heroes including the great Peter Simpson (our all time top scorer) and Albert Harry, a bow-legged winged wonder of his day, instrumental in so many of Simpson’s goals.

So, in 2003, a small band of Palace enthusiasts including myself embarked on the mammoth task of gathering recollections of Palace fans’ through the ages on tape for our web-site, with the aide of a grant from the National Heritage Lottery fund. So far, we have collected and collated some amazing full length interviews, covering a wide variety of aspects of supporting The Palace through all their many eras. We still hope there are many more out there waiting to be discovered which can cover literally any aspect or stories about the Club, especially if you have anecdotes to pass on about family members whose association with the Club goes way back. Anyone also interested in the recording of oral history for posterity of future generations or have any rare memorabilia or ephemera they’d like us to photograph for the Virtual Museum

aspect of our web-site can equally get involved and help this Lottery funded Project along. Log on and listen to the stories on the web-site at: www.eagles100.org and contact us via the web-site or me at: don@eagles100.org

If you are not online don’t worry, please still write to us at the “Crystal Palace fans’ Centenary Project” at: CPfCP. PO Box 2005, London SE25 5EN. ‘Hy On Palace’ is still available from Bookseller Crow at just £19.90. It has over a thousand of the legendary Hy Money’s stunning photos of the club taken from the 70′s to the present day. Why not pop in and sneak a peek!

First Published in the Palace Mag Jan 07