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**Baddaz** · June 29, 2009, 10:12 AM

really, when i watched the race i thought someone movd and the race would be called back...

saf was just too far out in front... it just seemed unreal... damn, saf is like a bullet... with a start like that, she could beat any male sprinters to 30 meters...

my feel good story is annie mclaughlin... she is on her way back... i hope they take her to berlin...

**Jangle** · June 29, 2009, 10:29 AM

We still have to give credit to Kerron Stewart for that run-down. Can you imagine if she learns how to start properly? She is just like Bolt when it comes to their styles of racing.

**Historian** · June 29, 2009, 11:24 AM

Good Observation

Originally posted by Jangle View Post

We still have to give credit to Kerron Stewart for that run-down. Can you imagine if she learns how to start properly? She is just like Bolt when it comes to their styles of racing.

Shelly-Ann Fraser’s start is explosive, just like Gail Devers’ used to be. In fact, this rivalry between Fraser and Kerron Stewart brings to mind those Merlene Ottey vs. Gail Devers performances! Devers always had the explosive start, while Merlene’s strength was her top end speed. Merlene wasn’t the greatest starter, but she had a powerful finish (marred only by her continued failure to lean at the tape effectively).

**Gamma** · June 29, 2009, 12:48 PM

for real historian!!! never thought of that comparison....mi bex seh mi neva notice it beofre..

**Don1** · June 29, 2009, 10:16 PM

Originally posted by Historian View Post

Shelly-Ann Fraser’s start is explosive, just like Gail Devers’ used to be. In fact, this rivalry between Fraser and Kerron Stewart brings to mind those Merlene Ottey vs. Gail Devers performances! Devers always had the explosive start, while Merlene’s strength was her top end speed. Merlene wasn’t the greatest starter, but she had a powerful finish (marred only by her continued failure to lean at the tape effectively).

Merlene's finish was generally marred by doped up Americans. Not leaning at the tape was a secondary problem.

**Historian** · June 30, 2009, 07:22 AM

Leaning Sufficiently Was a Major Problem!

Originally posted by Don1 View Post

Merlene's finish was generally marred by doped up Americans. Not leaning at the tape was a secondary problem.

I don’t wish to debate every statement I make, so I’ll simply suggest this: If you have tapes of Merlene Ottey’s races, simply view some of those tapes (or DVDs). You will no doubt notice that, when compared to sprinters like Gwen Torrence and Gail Devers, Merlene Ottey’s lean at the tape was often not as forceful (the position of the area between the shoulders and the waist -- the torso -- at the finish line determines the winner).

For example, shortly after reading your reply earlier this morning, I looked briefly at one of the most controversial of the races in which Merlene took part, the 100-meter at the 1996 Olympic Games (which was every bit as controversial as the women’s 100-meter dash at the 1993 IAAF World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany). The live commentator at the 1996 Olympic Games who said that Gail Devers won by the tip of her long fingernails was actually making a serious statement below the obvious humor. Gail dipped deep, while Merlene barely dipped (her finish was almost elegant!!) , resulting in the win being awarded to Gail by a thousandth of a second.

Go back and review those tapes of her style! Ironically, there were relays on which Merlene ran anchor in which she dipped hard!

Alleged drug use or not (and to this day I refuse to believe that athletes such as Evelyn Ashford and Gwen Torrence were users of performance enhancing drugs), Merlene Ottey’s finish was a major problem for her! In an extremely competitive field, the dip at the line can make all the difference, as Veronica Campbell-Brown showed us so effectively at the 2007 IAAF World Championships in Osaka!

**Gamma** · June 30, 2009, 10:02 AM

dip deep? understatement of the year so far!!!

historian gail devers practically did an exorcist rotation of her head to get it at that angle! if ever we meet face to face i will give you the merlene interview afterwards.....

**Historian** · June 30, 2009, 10:39 AM

Interesting....

Originally posted by Gamma View Post

dip deep? understatement of the year so far!!!

historian gail devers practically did an exorcist rotation of her head to get it at that angle! if ever we meet face to face i will give you the merlene interview afterwards.....

Thanks for pointing this out! Gail Devers was a fighting animal in every sense of the word, and I’m not surprised she always came out on top (and that she tumbled so badly in the 100-meter hurdles at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games -- that was an awful fall, almost as bad as that by Brigitte Foster-Hylton at the 2003 IAAF World Championships).

I will always remember Gail’s anchor leg on the USA 4x100-meter relay team that set the American record at the 1997 IAAF World Championships in Athens! That team has to be one of the most formidable USA teams ever (Chryste Gaines on lead-off, Marion Jones on second leg, Inger Miller on curve and Gail on anchor). Jamaica, anchored by Beverley Grant, got the silver medal but we were way, way behind the USA team! France got the bronze far behind Jamaica. The Bahamas, silver medal winners at the previous year’s Olympic Games, might have challenged, but their first baton exchange between Sevatheda Fynes (lead-off) and Eldece Clarke (second leg) was one of the most horrible baton exchanges I’ve ever seen in a sprint relay!! The result was that, despite fielding an excellent team, the Bahamas (anchored by Pauline Davis) could only place sixth. But I digress….

(Islandman, do you see the benefits of keeping those videotapes, boss? LOL)

Gamma, I’m really curious now about that Merlene Ottey interview (which I never heard or read)!

**Don1** · June 30, 2009, 11:52 AM

Originally posted by Historian View Post

I don’t wish to debate every statement I make, so I’ll simply suggest this: If you have tapes of Merlene Ottey’s races, simply view some of those tapes (or DVDs). You will no doubt notice that, when compared to sprinters like Gwen Torrence and Gail Devers, Merlene Ottey’s lean at the tape was often not as forceful (the position of the area between the shoulders and the waist -- the torso -- at the finish line determines the winner).

For example, shortly after reading your reply earlier this morning, I looked briefly at one of the most controversial of the races in which Merlene took part, the 100-meter at the 1996 Olympic Games (which was every bit as controversial as the women’s 100-meter dash at the 1993 IAAF World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany). The live commentator at the 1996 Olympic Games who said that Gail Devers won by the tip of her long fingernails was actually making a serious statement below the obvious humor. Gail dipped deep, while Merlene barely dipped (her finish was almost elegant!!) , resulting in the win being awarded to Gail by a thousandth of a second.

Go back and review those tapes of her style! Ironically, there were relays on which Merlene ran anchor in which she dipped hard!

Alleged drug use or not (and to this day I refuse to believe that athletes such as Evelyn Ashford and Gwen Torrence were users of performance enhancing drugs), Merlene Ottey’s finish was a major problem for her! In an extremely competitive field, the dip at the line can make all the difference, as Veronica Campbell-Brown showed us so effectively at the 2007 IAAF World Championships in Osaka!

I'm not disputing your thesis at all.... I agree that not leaning at the tape was an issue for her.

I have followed track a long time and have created track publications... some incidentally featuring Merlene the Great.... whose career I have studied and admire.

She was definitely affected by other's use of PED... from Eastern Europeans to Americans.
Not calling names but there were many times in her career that her competitors would not have been at the finish line with her without "special" assistance. Absent that assistance Melene's leaning or lack thereof would have been moot.

To believe otherwise is naive.

VCB is benefiting from an era of relatively cleaner athletes.

**Historian** · June 30, 2009, 01:03 PM

Share Your Views

Originally posted by Don1 View Post

I'm not disputing your thesis at all.... I agree that not leaning at the tape was an issue for her.

I have followed track a long time and have created track publications... some incidentally featuring Merlene the Great.... whose career I have studied and admire.

She was definitely affected by other's use of PED... from Eastern Europeans to Americans.
Not calling names but there were many times in her career that her competitors would not have been at the finish line with her without "special" assistance. Absent that assistance Melene's leaning or lack thereof would have been moot.

To believe otherwise is naive.

VCB is benefiting from an era of relatively cleaner athletes.

Actually, I’m agreeing with everything you’re saying here, Don1.

My earlier comment was not a deliberate effort to minimize what you said about Merlene’s great challenge in running at a time when performance enhancing drug use was predominant. You are absolutely correct in this, which is why I share your view that “VCB is benefiting from an era of relatively cleaner athletes.” You are so correct with this, and it can also be seen from what happened on the field and on the tracks last year in Beijing in this era of elaborate blood testing!

My comment was meant to highlight the fact that Merlene never seemed to master the “art” of effective leaning at the line. In addition, I can recall one race where she literally gave up the fight over the last meters (I’m referring here to the 200-meter race at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996 when Jose Marie Perec “strode” past her in the closing meters). So, personal frustration at Merlene was, unfortunately, not absent from my comments. (By the way, I mentioned in my first post Gwen Torrence and Gail Devers at the line, but I could have easily included last year’s finish by Kerron Stewart in the finals of the 100-meter dash, including the perfect timing of her lean, which was superb.)

Incidentally, my all-time favorite Jamaican female athletes are Merlene Ottey and Veronica Campbell-Brown, both of whom I admire enormously.

The female athletes I think back on with the greatest regret (that is, lament the most) are Revoli Campbell, Lisa Sharpe, Claudine Williams, and Nikole Mitchell.

But a well stated post, boss!

**Gamma** · June 30, 2009, 01:57 PM

i could write it but it comes off much better if heard! btw what state are you in? no not mental state....united state of america i.e.

**Don1** · June 30, 2009, 10:14 PM

Originally posted by Historian View Post

Actually, I’m agreeing with everything you’re saying here, Don1.

My earlier comment was not a deliberate effort to minimize what you said about Merlene’s great challenge in running at a time when performance enhancing drug use was predominant. You are absolutely correct in this, which is why I share your view that “VCB is benefiting from an era of relatively cleaner athletes.” You are so correct with this, and it can also be seen from what happened on the field and on the tracks last year in Beijing in this era of elaborate blood testing!

My comment was meant to highlight the fact that Merlene never seemed to master the “art” of effective leaning at the line. In addition, I can recall one race where she literally gave up the fight over the last meters (I’m referring here to the 200-meter race at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996 when Jose Marie Perec “strode” past her in the closing meters). So, personal frustration at Merlene was, unfortunately, not absent from my comments. (By the way, I mentioned in my first post Gwen Torrence and Gail Devers at the line, but I could have easily included last year’s finish by Kerron Stewart in the finals of the 100-meter dash, including the perfect timing of her lean, which was superb.)

Incidentally, my all-time favorite Jamaican female athletes are Merlene Ottey and Veronica Campbell-Brown, both of whom I admire enormously.

The female athletes I think back on with the greatest regret (that is, lament the most) are Revoli Campbell, Lisa Sharpe, Claudine Williams, and Nikole Mitchell.

But a well stated post, boss!

ok boss... much respect to you for your insights.

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