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Just When You Least Expect It -- a Record
Published: September 4, 2011
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DAEGU, SOUTH KOREA — It was not the most symbolic finish to these world championships: Usain Bolt sprinting unaccompanied with a 10-meter lead on his way to another world record.
These world track and field championships, which ended on Sunday night, were more about phenomenal duels than phenomenal times and as much about Bolt’s human frailty as his superman tendencies.
But Bolt and his Jamaican teammates certainly succeeded in leaving a dazzling final impression. Largely because of Bolt, the sport’s governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations, had displaced the men’s 4-by-400-meter relay from its traditional spot as the last race of the championships and replaced it with the 4-by-100.
Many an athlete — and not just 400 runners — grumbled about the switch. But the I.A.A.F. did indeed get its exclamation point as the Jamaican team of Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake and Bolt produced the only world record of the meet, winning in a time of 37.04 seconds that brooked no argument.
That was six-hundredths of a second faster than the previous record that Carter, Frater and Bolt set with Asafa Powell running the anchor leg in Beijing at the 2008 Olympics. That was also the same Olympics at which the Jamaican women, heavy favorites for gold, dropped the baton and failed to finish.
“We were saying that, ‘You’ve got to be careful because we really got a shock when the girls dropped their baton,”’ Bolt said. “So we were saying, ‘Just make sure we get the baton around.’ But after I saw the guys’ first three legs, I knew they were running really hard. They really put their all into it, so I decided, why not give my all, also?
“So I went out there, and I ran hard and kept on looking at the clock and kept on saying, ‘I can do this. I can do it.’ So I ran through the line, and it was exciting to see the world record.”
It was the second gold medal in two nights for Bolt, who started the championships by being disqualified from the 100 meters after a false start. The 100 gold went instead to Blake, his Jamaican teammate and training partner. But on Saturday, Bolt reaffirmed his presence by running the fourth-fastest 200 meters of all time to win in 19.40 seconds. He was soon dancing on the track, and he danced again with Blake on Sunday.
“I’m very happy with myself to know that I started off on a bad note but ended on a good one,” he said. “I’m very proud of the team.”
It was hardly a clean sweep for Jamaica, however. The American women won their 4-by-100 relay earlier in the night as their team of Bianca Knight, Allyson Felix, Marshevet Myers and Carmelita Jeter ran the fastest time in 14 years to win in 41.56 seconds with Jamaica in second in 41.70.
Other winners on closing night included Christian Taylor of the United States in the men’s triple jump, Tatyana Lysenko of Russia in the women’s hammer throw, Mariya Savinova of Russia in the women’s 800 and Mo Farah of Britain in the men’s 5,000 in yet another compelling race in which he held off former world champion Bernard Lagat of the United States in the closing meters.
Savinova won by outkicking the defending champion, Caster Semenya of South Africa. Semenya became a cause célèbre at the 2009 world championships in Berlin, emerging from obscurity to overwhelm the 800 field and trigger an extended controversy about gender.
This time, with no backbeat of protest and no flurry of complaints from Semenya’s competitors, Savinova passed her with about 25 meters remaining to win in one minute 55.87 seconds.
Semenya, arms clenched as she strained to finish, was second in 1:56.35, Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei of Kenya third in 1:57.42 on the final night of these championships.
Savinova and Jepkosgei were both in that controversial 800 in Berlin in 2009. “Just look at her,” Savinova said then after finishing fifth, intimating that she did not believe Semenya would be able to pass a gender test.
These world track and field championships, which ended on Sunday night, were more about phenomenal duels than phenomenal times and as much about Bolt’s human frailty as his superman tendencies.
But Bolt and his Jamaican teammates certainly succeeded in leaving a dazzling final impression. Largely because of Bolt, the sport’s governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations, had displaced the men’s 4-by-400-meter relay from its traditional spot as the last race of the championships and replaced it with the 4-by-100.
Many an athlete — and not just 400 runners — grumbled about the switch. But the I.A.A.F. did indeed get its exclamation point as the Jamaican team of Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake and Bolt produced the only world record of the meet, winning in a time of 37.04 seconds that brooked no argument.
That was six-hundredths of a second faster than the previous record that Carter, Frater and Bolt set with Asafa Powell running the anchor leg in Beijing at the 2008 Olympics. That was also the same Olympics at which the Jamaican women, heavy favorites for gold, dropped the baton and failed to finish.
“We were saying that, ‘You’ve got to be careful because we really got a shock when the girls dropped their baton,”’ Bolt said. “So we were saying, ‘Just make sure we get the baton around.’ But after I saw the guys’ first three legs, I knew they were running really hard. They really put their all into it, so I decided, why not give my all, also?
“So I went out there, and I ran hard and kept on looking at the clock and kept on saying, ‘I can do this. I can do it.’ So I ran through the line, and it was exciting to see the world record.”
It was the second gold medal in two nights for Bolt, who started the championships by being disqualified from the 100 meters after a false start. The 100 gold went instead to Blake, his Jamaican teammate and training partner. But on Saturday, Bolt reaffirmed his presence by running the fourth-fastest 200 meters of all time to win in 19.40 seconds. He was soon dancing on the track, and he danced again with Blake on Sunday.
“I’m very happy with myself to know that I started off on a bad note but ended on a good one,” he said. “I’m very proud of the team.”
It was hardly a clean sweep for Jamaica, however. The American women won their 4-by-100 relay earlier in the night as their team of Bianca Knight, Allyson Felix, Marshevet Myers and Carmelita Jeter ran the fastest time in 14 years to win in 41.56 seconds with Jamaica in second in 41.70.
Other winners on closing night included Christian Taylor of the United States in the men’s triple jump, Tatyana Lysenko of Russia in the women’s hammer throw, Mariya Savinova of Russia in the women’s 800 and Mo Farah of Britain in the men’s 5,000 in yet another compelling race in which he held off former world champion Bernard Lagat of the United States in the closing meters.
Savinova won by outkicking the defending champion, Caster Semenya of South Africa. Semenya became a cause célèbre at the 2009 world championships in Berlin, emerging from obscurity to overwhelm the 800 field and trigger an extended controversy about gender.
This time, with no backbeat of protest and no flurry of complaints from Semenya’s competitors, Savinova passed her with about 25 meters remaining to win in one minute 55.87 seconds.
Semenya, arms clenched as she strained to finish, was second in 1:56.35, Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei of Kenya third in 1:57.42 on the final night of these championships.
Savinova and Jepkosgei were both in that controversial 800 in Berlin in 2009. “Just look at her,” Savinova said then after finishing fifth, intimating that she did not believe Semenya would be able to pass a gender test.
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