AAA, or Triple-A, may be a three-letter acronym or may just mean something that is high-quality, premier, or excellent.

As a proper noun, Aaa is found only in the species name Cavaticovelia aaa (Aaa Water Treader), an insect from Hawaii.

As an acronym or abbreviation, the term AAA may refer to:

Economic, political, and social

AAA Bond credit rating

American Ambulance Association

American Arbitration Association

American Automobile Association a motor club, also called "Triple A",

Australian Automobile Association, a member of the FIA

American Academy of Actuaries

Political

Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, US federal legislation

Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, US federal legislation

Argentine Anticommunist Alliance, an Argentinian far-right death squad of the mid-1970s

Alianza Americana Anticomunista ("American Anticommunist Alliance" in Spanish), a paramilitary far-right Colombian organization, 1978–1979

Alianza Apostólica Anticomunista, in Spain; see 1977 Massacre of Atocha

Social

Adopt-An-Alleyway Youth Empowerment Project, San Francisco, California

Arts

Allied Artists Association, an exhibiting society in London founded in 1908

American Abstract Artists, an artist-run organization formed in 1936 to promote and foster public understanding of abstract art

Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution archive in Washington, D.C.

Associated American Artists, an art gallery and art marketing business

Architecture

Alberta Association of Architects, a regulatory body

Literature

A. A. Attanasio, Science fiction writer.

AAA, a Japanese manga by Haruka Fukushima

Language Arts

Accurate, adequate, and appropriate (AAA), words used to describe the quality of information, details, facts, evidence, etc. in nonfiction reading and writing

Music

AAA, a series with comtemporary art and music initiated by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam

AAA (band), a Japanese pop band

"AAA", the sixth track on City (1997), by Strapping Young Lad

Access All Areas, a series of music CDs by the Scotland rock band Runrig.

Adult album alternative, a radio format

Against All Authority (-AAA-), an American ska-punk band

American Accordionists' Association

Angels & Airwaves, an American alternative rock band, also commonly referred to as "AVA"

AntAcidAudio, an independent record label

The lowest note on a piano (Sub-Contra)

Theatre

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, a British actor

Games

TripleA Computer Game an open source wargame

AAA, the default name on many arcade machines

Sports

Triple-A (baseball), the highest level of North American minor league baseball

American Airlines Arena, a sports and entertainment venue in Miami, Florida, and the Miami Heat's home stadium

Asistencia Asesoría y Administración, a Mexican wrestling promotion

Amateur Athletic Association of England

Arkansas Activities Association

Asian Athletics Association

Montreal AAA, Canada's oldest athletic association

Science and technology

Astronomy

Amateur Achievement Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific

Association of Autonomous Astronauts

Aviation

Anti-aircraft warfare, also known as Anti-aircraft Artillery or "Triple A"

AAA, IATA airport code of Anaa Airport in French Polynesia

AAA, ICAO airline code of Ansett Australia, an Australian airline

AAA, FAA airport code of Logan County Airport (Illinois)

AAA, Advanced Aircraft Analysis (Aircraft design, stability, and control analysis software)

Chemistry

Acetic anhydride

Arylalkanolamine

Amino Acid Analysis

Computing

AAA protocol, "Authentication, Authorization and Accounting", an access control, policy enforcement and auditing framework for computing systems

Amiga Advanced Architecture chipset, hardware for a proposed Commodore Amiga computer

ASCII adjust after addition, an Intel BCD opcode

The highest of the three levels of web site accessibility measured by Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

Mathematics

Angle-angle-angle, see Similarity (geometry)

Medicine

AAA proteins (ATPases Associated with various cellular Activities)

Triple A syndrome

Abdominal aortic aneurysm

American Association of Anatomists

Social science

American Anthropological Association

Ghotuo language (ISO 639-3 language code)

Technology

AAA battery, a standard size of dry cell

Analog-analog-analog, a designation for audio. refer analog recording

Category:Initialisms

cs:AAA de:AAA es:AAA fa:AAA fr:AAA ko:AAA id:AAA it:AAA nl:AAA ja:AAA no:AAA pl:AAA pt:AAA ru:Ааа fi:AAA sv:AAA tl:AAA th:AAA zh:AAA

/ }} Stephen Michael James "Steve" Ovett OBE (born 9 October 1955), is a former middle distance runner from England. He was gold medalist in the 800 metres at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, U.S.S.R., and set world records for 1500 metres and the mile run. To this day, he holds the UK record for , which he set in 1978.

Early life

Born in Brighton, Sussex, and educated at Varndean School, Ovett was a talented teenage athlete. As a youngster, he showed great promise as a footballer, but gave it up for athletics, because he did not want to do a sport where he would have to rely on teammates.

Athletics career

Early promise

His first major athletics title came in 1973, when he won the European junior 800 m, followed the next year in Rome with a silver in the senior event. He won AAA titles in the 800 m from 1974 to 1976, in the 1500 m in 1979 and in the mile in 1980. At age 18, he won the silver medal at 800 metres in the 1974 European Athletics Championships, setting a new European Junior 800m record of 1:45.77 in the process.

Ovett gained some Olympic experience in 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada when he ran in the final of the 800m and was placed fifth, behind winner Alberto Juantorena of Cuba. Ovett finished fifth because he ran the first lap too slowly. He failed to reach the 1500 m final, having been obstructed in the semi-final.

He gained prominence in 1977 when, at the inaugural IAAF World Cup in Athletics, he commenced a "kick" with 200 m to go, running the final turn in 11.8 s and the last 200 m in 25.1 s. He left Olympic 1500-metres-champion John Walker, and the rest of the field behind. Walker was so astonished by Ovett's kick, that he dropped out of the race with 120 metres to go. He won gold ahead of his good friend, West German Thomas Wessinghage. As Ovett raced away from the field, Ron Pickering, commenting for the race on BBC Television, said "and there's one man's blazing speed, that has torn this field asunder".

The British public by now showed a keen interest in Ovett, and it was at the European Championships in 1978, that he raced against Sebastian Coe for the first time in their senior careers, beginning a rivalry that would become newsworthy. He led Coe in the 800 m and appeared to be on his way to gold, before being surprisingly caught by the East German Olaf Beyer. After the fall of the GDR, Beyer's name would be found in the Stasi files of athletes alleged to have doped. His time of 1:44:09 turned out to be his fastest ever 800 m run. Coe finished 3rd. At the time the British press reported that Coe and Ovett had clashed after the race but Coe later revealed: “When Steve came over, he put his hand on my shoulder and said something. The media thought we were having a row, but what Steve actually said was, 'Who the **** was that'?" Ovett recovered to win the gold medal in the 1500 m, in which Coe did not participate. In that race, Ovett waved to the crowd on the home straight and clearly slowed down in the last metres and still won by a second from Ireland's Eamonn Coghlan.

The 1978 season for Ovett was notable for the superb times recorded at disparate distances. He ran an 800 m in 1:44.09 (world record at the time was Alberto Juantorena's 1:43.44 ) and set a 2-mile world's best with an 8:13.51 clocking, (an event the IAAF no longer recognised for record purposes), handing Track & Field News Athlete of the Year Henry Rono one of his few losses in his remarkable record breaking season. It's been speculated that if he'd spent that season preparing specifically & repeatedly attempting to run fast times in pacemaker led Grand Prix races, he was capable of breaking the 1000 m, 1500 m, 1 mile & 2000 m world records that year, based on his 800 m & 2 mile times.

Middle distance domination with Coe

Ovett arrived at the 1980 Moscow Olympics as most people's favourite to take the 1500 m title. Earlier that month, he had established a new mile world record of 3:48.8 and two weeks later equalled Sebastian Coe's world record of 3:32.1 in the 1500 m. He had been unbeaten over the 1500 m and mile for three years. The Moscow Olympics marked only the second time that Ovett and Coe had met each other in international competition (the first being the 800 m in the 1978 European Championships) and there was huge media speculation over which would emerge as the greater.

Ovett's participation in the 800 m would serve as a test for the 1500 m. In the 800 m final, Ovett was only in sixth place at the halfway mark, but pushed his way through the crowd to second place. Seventy metres from the finish, he shot into the lead and held off Coe to win by three metres. In the 1500 m, contested six days later, Coe won and Ovett had to settle for third place. More specifically, Ovett ran behind Coe's shoulder for quite a long time, but on the final bend he fell two metres behind Coe and could not get closer to Coe anymore. East Germany's Jürgen Straub, who had accelerated after 800 metres, held off Ovett for the silver medal.

Though in 1980 Ovett had tied Coe's 1500 m world record of 3:32.1, new timing rules would come into effect in 1981, which would recognise records over 400 m to the hundredth of a second. This would have the effect of giving Coe sole possession of the record, as Coe ran 3:32.03 to Ovett's 3:32.09. However, Ovett avoided this unusual removal of a record via rule change by setting a new record later in 1980 of 3:31.36.

During 1981, both Ovett and Coe were at their peak. They didn't meet in a race that year but exchanged world records in the mile three times during a 10-day period. Ovett suffered a famous upset in a 1500m race in Oslo that year. With Ovett and Coe so dominant and Coe not involved in the race, Ovett was hot favourite. During the race Tom Byers, who had been asked to act as a pacemaker set off quickly and the pack, mishearing the split times being announced and believing that they were going faster than they were, declined to follow his pace. As a result, by the start of the last lap Byers was leading by almost ten seconds and decided to finish the race. Ovett ran the last lap almost nine seconds quicker than Byers but finished second by 0.53s, later commenting "We ran like a load of hacks."

Ovett's 1982 season was wrecked by injury. When out training on the streets of Brighton in late 1981, he ran into some railings and badly twisted his knee. He had recovered by the spring of 1982, but further injuries hampered his progress.

Later career

He returned to action in 1983, although once again his season had been hampered by injuries, which resulted his not being selected for the 800 m at the World Championships in Helsinki. He was selected for the 1500 m, but ran a poor tactical race in the final and finished 4th, behind winner Steve Cram. He was yet to reach his peak for 1983, which followed with a 1500 m world record of 3:30.77 in Rieti. A few days later, he finished a close 2nd to Steve Cram in an epic mile race in Crystal Palace.

In 1984, after a successful season of winter training in Australia, Ovett's progress was slightly hampered by minor injuries and bronchitis. He attempted to defend his 800 m title in the 1984 Olympic Games, but after arriving in Los Angeles he began to suffer from respiratory problems. He was unlucky to be drawn against eventual winner Joaquim Cruz in each of his two heats and also the semi-final, in which he only narrowly qualified for the final, lunging for the finish in 4th place and appearing to collapse over the line. He had run 1:44:81, his second fastest time at the distance. He recovered in time to make the final, but was clearly below his best, and finished eighth, after which he collapsed and spent two nights in hospital. Against the advice of his friends and doctors he returned to compete in the 1500 m. Running in fourth place at the beginning of the last lap of the final, Ovett dropped out. He later collapsed with chest pains and was taken away on a stretcher.

His career then wound down, although in August 1986 he won the 5000 m in the Commonwealth Games at Edinburgh. However the following month, in the European Championships, he failed to finish in hot conditions, allowing Jack Buckner (GB) - whom Ovett had beaten in Edinburgh - to win the gold. In the 1987 World Athletics Championships, he finished a lacklustre tenth in the 5000-metres final. He then failed to make the 1988 Olympic team, and retired in 1991, a year after Sebastian Coe.

Post retirement

He has been a Track & Field television commentator for the CBC since 1992. He now lives in Australia and was a part of the BBC's on-location commentary team for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. In 1987 a bronze statue of Steve Ovett was erected in Preston Park, Brighton. However, it was stolen in 2007, and has not yet been replaced. There is now a street ("Ovett Gardens") named after him in Gateshead. (All the streets on the new estate are named after sports personalities, usually with some link to Gateshead.)

His times, though still impressive by today's standards, are arguably not indicative of his true talent, as he preferred winning races to chasing after world records (though on occasion he did do the latter). He was often content to wait on the shoulder of the leader until either the last 100 or 200 metres, at which point he would usually sprint past for victory. Nevertheless, the times he recorded over a wide range of distances were impressive, showing great versatility. They ranged from 47.5 and 1:44.09 in the 400/800 meters to 13:20.06 for 5000 meters on the track, while on the roads he ran 22:24 for 8k (Oxford, 1986), 28:16 for 10 K (London, 1983), and 1:05 for the half marathon (Dartford, 1977).

Personal life

During the Moscow games, the British press zoned in on a signal Ovett had made to a TV camera in Moscow after his 800m win. It later transpired that the signal represented the letters ILY and were intended for his girlfriend, Rachel Waller (whom he later married but is now divorced from). This later led to a rift between Ovett and his parents, in particular his mother, who had remained a key figure in his career and had carefully managed the media's requests for his time (Ovett was still living at home).

Steve's brother, Nicholas Ovett, represented Great Britain at luge in the Winter Olympics of 1988 and 1992.Steve's younger sister, Susan Emma Warner, was a highly successful Green Bowler, gaining great success within the field at national standard.

Personal bests

!Distance

|	Mark	Date
400 m	47.5
800 m	1:44.09
1000 m	2:16.0
1500 m	3:30.77
Mile	3:48.40
2000 m	4:57.71
3000 m	7:41.3
2 Miles	8:13.51
5000 m	13:20.06

Sebastian Coe|title=Men's 1500 m World Record Holder|years=27 August 1980 – 28 August 1983|after= Sydney Maree}} Sydney Maree|title=Men's 1500 m World Record Holder|years=4 September 1983 – 16 July 1985|after= Steve Cram}} Sebastian Coe|title=Men's Mile World Record Holder|years=1 July 1980 – 19 August 1981|after= Sebastian Coe}} Sebastian Coe|title=Men's Mile World Record Holder|years=26 August 1981 – 28 August 1981|after= Sebastian Coe}} Sebastian Coe Steve Ovett|title=European Record Holder Men's 1500 m|years=27 August 1980 - 15 July 1985|after= Steve Cram}} Virginia Wade |after= Sebastian Coe|years=1978}}

References

Category:BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners Category:English middle distance runners Category:English athletes Category:Olympic athletes of Great Britain Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Category:Olympic gold medalists for Great Britain Category:Olympic bronze medalists for Great Britain Category:People from Brighton Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:Former world record holders in athletics (track and field) Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Category:Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Category:Olympic medalists in athletics (track and field)

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