The effortless distance doubles by Ethiopians Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba, the great upsets in the men’s and women’s 400 metres, the eclipse of the United States in the women’s 100 metres, plus the world records by Yelena Isinbayeva, Gulnara Galkina-Samitova and the Jamaican men’s sprint relay team — apart from Bolt’s feat of course — all contributed to an enchanting fare at the Bird’s Nest.
The Beijing Olympics athletics action was all about one Jamaican they call Lightning Bolt. Or was it?
Perhaps in front of such awesome feats as 9.69 and 19.30 by Usain Bolt, the other performances might have paled a little. Not really for hardcore athletics enthusiasts, though.
The effortless distance doubles by Ethiopians Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba, the great upsets in the men’s and women’s 400 metres, men’s and women’s high jump and men’s shot put, the eclipse of the United States in the women’s 100 metres, the dropped batons or failed exchanges in the sprint relays plus the world records by Yelena Isinbayeva in pole vault, Gulnara Galkina-Samitova in 3000m steeplechase and the Jamaican men’s sprint relay team — apart from Bolt’s feat of course — all contributed to an enchanting fare at the Bird’s Nest.
Three weeks before the nine-day athletics programme got underway in Beijing, with the maximum number of gold medals (47) on offer, Kenenisa Bekele had said that he would not be attempting the distance double.
“It’s very tough to run a double at the Olympics,” said Bekele. He was beaten by Hicham El-Guerrouj by 0.20 seconds in the 5000 metres in the Athens Games after he had taken the 10,000-metre gold.
In Beijing, Bekele joined an illustrious list of those who had won distance doubles in the Olympics, Hannes Kolehmainen, Emil Zatopek, Vladimir Kuts, Lasse Viren and Miruts Yifter, the last-named from Bekele’s land who achieved that feat in the Moscow Olympics.
Bekele ran tactical races in both the 10,000 and 5000. On the opening day, in the 10,000, he did not have too many worries since he was the master in that event. The same team tactics that Ethiopia used against Kenya in Athens were once again on view. The biggest ovation at the time of introduction was for Haile Gebrselassie, the Ethiopian legend in whose footsteps Bekele is scripting a chapter of his own in world athletics. The ultimate winner was Bekele, kicking hard on the final lap to make mincemeat of the opposition.
It was an Olympic record of 27:01.17. In the humid conditions, this was an excellent effort. “I prepared very well, but it is easy to run,” said Bekele.
Behind him came team-mate Sileshi Sihine and Kenyan Micah Kogo, the last-named having led with one kilometre to go. Gebrselassie finished sixth.
Bekele joined Gebrselassie (1996, 2000) and three others, Finn Lasse Viren (1972, 1976), Czech Emil Zatopek (1948, 1952) and ‘Flying Finn’ Paavo Nurmi (1920, 1928) as a two-time Olympic champion in the 10,000.
The 5000 was easier than the 10,000 for Bekele. Though it was a much slower race, it ended in an Olympic record all the same, at 12:57.82. Kenyan Eliud Kichoge, whom Bekele had beaten on 12 occasions out of 13 prior to the Beijing Games, came second, an improvement over his bronze in Athens.
If Bekele was the undoubted king of distance running, then Tirunesh Dibaba was the unchallenged queen in the women’s distance events. The bridesmaid in the 10,000 remained Elvan Abeylegesse just as it was in the Osaka World championships. The Turkish runner was content to play second fiddle again in the 5000 when Tirunesh showed her ‘kick’ in the last lap. The surprise, if any, was in Meseret Defar, the other hot contender from Ethiopia, finishing third.
Away from distance events, and of course the pure sprints, the 400 metres in both sections provided surprise results. Jeremy Wariner, despite his two losses to American team-mate LaShawn Merritt this season, was the overwhelming favourite in the men’s 400. Merritt showed his power down the finishing straight where Wariner, despite entering ahead, began slowing down. It was a wonder he took the silver, for, the others behind him were quickly catching up. Merrit topped the season’s list with a 43.75, a personal best.
Christine Ohuruogu, who had undergone a one-year suspension for missing dope tests, and who won the Osaka World title in the 400, had never beaten Sanya Richards in six previous clashes. The US champion was considered unbeatable this season. Yet, when the time came, she was not able to produce the finish that mattered. Richards was ahead, coming into the home straight, but the Briton produced a fine finish to come home for the gold in 49.62, a season best for her. Richards had to eventually be satisfied with the bronze behind Jamaican Shericka Williams.
The US suffered many unexpected reverses, with none of its male long jumpers and triple jumpers making the final and the shot putters all but missing the podium altogether. The Americans were expected to sweep the men’s shot put medals or at least win two. In the end, Christian Cantwell had to bring out a last-round putt of 21.09 to take the silver behind Pole Tomasz Majewski who reached a personal best 21.51. The ones to disappoint for the US were Reese Hoffa (20.53, seventh) and Adam Nelson, the leader this season, who finished without a mark. He had an injury.
The biggest setback for the US was, however, in the women’s 100 metres, where Lauryn Williams should have been the favourite. The Jamaicans simply swept the medals, pushing the Americans out of the medals bracket. Shelly-Ann Fraser was the surprise winner with a personal best 10.78 seconds that was faster than the 10.85 she clocked in Kingston in the Nationals in June. The Jamaican has improved by more than a second this season, forcing critics to wonder whether she is genuine talent or not.
Her team-mates, Kerron Stewart and Sherone Simpson, both of whom might have been rated better before the final, won the silver in 10.98 since photo-finish could not separate them.
For the US, the elimination of Bernard Lagat in the semifinals of the 1500 metres, a race he was tipped to win, and his ninth-place finish in the 5000 metres were also big setbacks. Lagat, a former Kenyan, had scored the 1500-5000 double in the Osaka Worlds. In his absence in the final Bahrain’s Rashid Ramzi, who is of Moroccan origin, won the metric mile rather comfortably.
The US finished with seven gold medals, just one less than in Athens, but its pride took a beating in a lot many events.
China did not have much at stake in athletics barring the possible defence of the men’s 110m hurdles title by Liu Xiang against world record holder Dayron Robles of Cuba. With every showdown story turning out to be ‘no contests’, this one died in the first round itself when the Chinese superstar pulled out because of a heel injury that almost did not allow him to stand. The Chinese shed tears as they saw their hero pull out. They had waited for months to see just this gold. Nothing mattered more than Liu Xiang’s victory at home. Someone decided to re-write the script’s finale.
It was a different finale for the American sprint relay teams in both sections when they messed up the baton exchange in the heats. The Jamaican women then completed the series of “baton disasters” by not completing the exchange on the second change in the final. But the Jamaican men, powered superbly by Usain Bolt on the curve and Asafa Powell on the home straight, clocked a world record 37.10 in the 4x100. It shattered US’s 37.40 set in the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. (Also repeated by another US team in the 1993 World championships.)
Samuel Wanjiru, the world half marathon record holder, won for Kenya its first men’s marathon gold. Kenya did well this time, claiming five golds, with William Bungei and 18-year-old Pamela Jelimo providing the 800-metre wins, Brimin Kipruot Kiprop the 3000m steeplechase and Nancy Jebet Lagat taking the women’s 1500 metres.
Russian Andrey Silnov was the surprise men’s high jump winner with favourite Stefan Holm of Sweden finishing fourth. In women’s high jump, the bespectacled Belgian, Tia Hellebaut, upset favourite Blanka Vlasic of Croatia.
Russia, despite five of their top athletes being suspended on doping charges (among seven Russian athletes suspended in all), before the Games began, still managed to win six gold medals to come second behind the US. None was more impressive than Yelena Isinbayeva.
However, what will be talked about for long will remain Bolt’s lightning strikes and Jamaica’s six gold medals.
A Special CorrespondentIndia’s flop showThis was the worst performance in Olympics in 12 years by Indian athletes. And to think that, less than a year ago they were talking of medals for the country in athletics!
Early projections showed around 30-plus Indian athletes qualifying for the Beijing Games; mid-season the numbers were brought down to 20-odd. Eventually 16 made it including a six-member women’s 4x400m relay team that, at least on paper, was supposed to be our best bet.
“Best bet for what?” You may well ask. “Of course for a medal,” would have been the reply. Up to July third week that is. By then it became clear that qualification itself was going to be touch and go for the relay team. In the event the team qualified in 15th place among 16 qualifiers.
The ‘numbers’ mattered most in the end. Athletics formed the largest batch of the Indian contingent and everyone seemed to be happy. The final outcome was, however, an embarrassment for the Athletics Federation of India (AFI); not a single Indian athlete crossed the first heat or a qualification round. The best came from the women’s longer relay team, an overall placing of 12th after finishing sixth out of seven teams in its heat. The quartet of Satti Geetha (split 53.74s), Manjeet Kaur (51.43), Chitra Soman (52.49) and Mandeep Kaur (51.17) clocked 3:28.83, the second best by an Indian team this season. This was more than what could have been expected, considering that only once did the team clock below 3:32 this season. That was in Korat, Thailand, in the second leg of the Asian Grand Prix series. That timing of 3:28.29 helped the team qualify for the Olympics.
The next best were the distance runners, Surendra Kumar Singh (28:13.07 for a placing of 26th among 35 finishers) and Preeja Sreedharan (32:34.64 for the 25th place among 29 finishers), both of whom returned their second best timings in the 10,000 metres.
Obviously the global stage is beyond the capacity of our distance runners. Surendra and Preeja, however, deserve some credit for just qualifying for the Olympics.
In 2004, he had failed to make the final very narrowly. There was hope this time when Vikas Gowda, the US-based Karnataka discus thrower, recorded a 63.84 in New York. Gowda is, however, yet to make an impact in big championships.
His 60.69 in the qualification round was good only for an overall placing of 22nd. He was 14th in Athens. The biggest disappointment in the men’s section was triple jumper Renjith Maheswary. Touted as the most outstanding talent that had come into Indian athletics in a long time, Renjith managed just 15.77 in the preliminary round to finish 18th and last in his group and 35th out of 39 jumpers overall. Anju George’s three-foul streak in the long jump qualification was the most stunning upset for the Indian athletics squad.
She had prepared well this season, though a best of 6.55 did not inspire much confidence in the run-up. No one knew Anju had come to Beijing with an old foot injury flaring up in the last week of July.
A cortisone injection, two days before the qualification round, did not help Anju who was in great pain on her take-off (right) foot.
There is a need for the AFI to review the performances. The wisdom of retaining foreign coaches, from the former Soviet republics, without achieving the targets, should also come under scrutiny.
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