ADVOCATE / Olympics
Northern Advocate Thursday, August 21, 2008
Michael Johnson, the man we’d thought would be tough to expunge from the record books, dubbed Usain Bolt, the main who eclipsed his 200m world record early today as ‘‘Superman 2’’. The brilliant Jamaican didn’t so much as win the race — he owned it, winning by a margin and with a time that puts him up there with the Olympic sprinting gods. ‘‘Superman 2 — incredible,’’ said the once-invincible Johnson. Speaking on BBC TV, he said: ‘‘Incredible performance by Usain Bolt once again. He finished up in an incredible time. This was an incredible performance, he wanted that record. ‘‘He got an incredible start. I looked at his start and just went ‘wow’. It was more amazing than the 100 metres . . . Guys that tall should not be able to start like that. My concern was he would not have the ability to hold that speed for the entire race but he
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Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt produces one of the most emphatic displays in Olympic history to destroy class field and break world record. beijing olympics
Moment BMX was was here to stay
Superman 2
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DOUBLE DOUBLE ● Bolt broke Michael Johnson’s world record set in Atlanta in 1996. ● Bolt is the first man to win the 100m-200m sprint double since Carl Lewis, 24 years ago. ● Bolt is the first to own both sprint world records since compatriot Don Quarrie in 1976. used every ounce of energy, he wanted that record.’’ Bolt had been accused of jogging through the line in his heats but the Jamaican said he would run flat out in the final and he delivered on that promise — with interest. He was already well clear of the field going into the bend and won in a world record time of 19.30s. The Olympic 100m champion chased down gold and the record Johnson set 12 years ago in Atlanta, grabbing both with ease — also becoming the first to secure the Olympic sprint double since Carl Lewis in 1984. The 6ft 5in (1.98m) sprinter is also the first since compatriot Don Quarrie in 1976 to hold both sprint world records at the same time. Churandy Martina, of the Dutch Antilles, finished second and American Shawn Crawford of the US was promoted to third after his compatriot Wallace Spearmon was disqualified for running out of lane. But then there was heartbreak an hour later for Martina, who was also disqualified for running out of his lane —
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Crawford was promoted to take the silver and his compatriot Walter Dix was given the bronze. Bolt was jubilant: ‘‘This is a dream come true. You come out every day to be a champion and I’m just happy.’’ When asked if he planned to go all out for Johnson’s world record, the 21-year-old said: ‘‘I was worried after the semis. But I told everybody I would leave everything on the track and I did just that.’’ Jamaica won another battle in its Olympic sprinting duel with the US when Melaine Walker took the women’s 400m hurdle race, outpacing fancied Sheena Tosta. Walker, slow out of the starting blocks, spent most of the race trying to make up her early deficit and the two arrived at the last 100m nearly even before the Jamaican powered clear.
Walker finished in an Olympic record of 52.64s, well ahead of Tosta who ran 53.70s, tying up and struggling to maintain her pace. Britain’s Tasha Danvers was third. The women’s hurdles race came just minutes after Jamaica’s Bolt’s lightning 200m and Jamaica has now collected seven medals in Beijing — all in sprinting events, including coveted golds in both the men’s and women’s 100m races. ‘‘Jamaican athletes are the best, Jamaica is the sprint factory of the world,’’ Olivia Grange, the country’s sports minister said. Bolt, taking time to finish his victory lap, had to be ushered off the track
WINNER BY SMILES: Usain Bolt was in a different league to his opponents early today. PICTURES /AP
Ice-cool Ashley relishes gold strike A holiday, his wedding and a legal degree are on the horizon for New Zealand’s newest Olympic gold medallist as he admitted his boardsailing future was in the air. Tom Ashley won the country’s seventh yachting gold, 52 years after Peter Mander and Jack Cropp won the first, when he pipped Frenchman Julien Bontemps by a point yesterday. The 24-year-old Aucklander broke a golden drought stretching back to Barbara Kendall’s win in Barcelona in 1992 — as he did his best to hold back tears on the dais. After admitting he had lived ‘‘like a monk’’ in pursuit of his medal, Ashley said he had some ‘‘serious thinking’’ to do about whether he defended his title in London. ‘‘This has gone as well as it could have gone. But I do love what I do and it’s always hard to stay away,’’ he said. ‘I’d really like to go to university at some stage and I’d probably want to give it 100 per cent as well.’’ Ashley is fluent in Spanish,
STRANGE thing happened at the Olympic Green’s main press centre yesterday. On the long, wide corridor that leads to the ‘bullpen’ where most working journalists go, a huddle was forming around one of the largescreen TVs. And kept growing. It wasn’t athletics they were watching, however, even though the phenomenon that is Usain Bolt was competing that day. It wasn’t basketball, though the Dream Team was in action later and Yao Ming was also due on court. No, what these normally hardbitten cynics were transfixed by was the sport of BMX. You can guarantee several of the onlookers would have come to the Games wondering how a sport As there involving grown men and was a women on kids’ chance of bike got into the world’s both greatest sporting Sarah extravangza. Walker You can also guarantee that and Marc nearly all of Willers them walked away thinking, winning ‘hey, that’s not bad’. medals, There will then of still be cynics among you — course but New BMX is Zealanders apply a simple valid. moving scale when determining whether certain sports should be in the Olympics — if there is a chance we’ll medal, then the sport is worthy. As there was a chance of both Sarah Walker and Marc Willers winning medals, then of course it’s valid. Plus it looks great fun. BMX should stay, others should not be so lucky. Greco-Roman wrestling has limited appeal. Being neither Greeks, nor Romans, Kiwis are clearly on the back foot, or knee, from the start. Beach volleyball should remain where its name suggests. You could argue that it brings a bit of sex appeal — but, if that’s important, just make the real volleyballers play in their undies. Synchronised swimming and diving? Please. Napier’s Marineland used to be the place for that but, down to one dolphin, even they’ve seen there’s no future in the sport. Race walking is the greatest contradiction. If you wanted to race, you wouldn’t walk — you’d run. But then... Norm Read won a gold medal for New Zealand in the race walk in Melbourne? We’ll keep that in, then.
HAPPY DAYS: Tom Ashley is carried off by team-mates before collecting his gold medal, right. Portuguese and French and would like to study law. But after he takes a well-earned holiday, reunites with his Brazilian fiancee Mariana — also a keen sailor — and marries her near Rio de Janeiro in January, he might have a change of heart. He’s been smitten by the sport since parents
John and Julie bought him a sailboard for his 15th birthday — and he became inspired by Kendall and Aaron McIntosh’s bronzes in 2000. Kendall was one of the first to greet Ashley after her own campaign stalled in the light Qingdao air and she finished sixth
PICTURES / AP
chasing a fourth Olympic medal. She hailed Ashley’s singlemindedness and commitment, but said he would find it tough to defend his title, as competition was so tight. Star pair Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams are ninth ahead of — NZPA today’s medal race.
to allow the women’s race to start. ‘‘I’m glad to know that he’s from Jamaica and that he’s supernatural,’’ Walker said of Bolt. Tosta, who finished fourth at the 2004 Olympics, was as happy with silver as if she had won gold. ‘‘I had my first Olympics in Athens but I missed a medal, it was the worst feeling, I could have died getting fourth place,’’ Tosta said. ‘‘I had to wait four years for it but today I have come to have it. It’s unbelievable.’’ Tiffany Williams of the US, who holds the world’s second fastest time this year, finished eighth and last in the race. The race became an open contest earlier this year after world record holder Yulia Pechonkina of Russia and reigning world champion Jana Rawlinson, of Australia, both pulled out with — Reuters illness or injury.
Blincoe misses out on 5000m final Adrian Blincoe’s chances of making the men’s Olympic 5000m final had effectively disappeared after the first kilometre of his heat last night. The New Zealander, who lowered Dick Quax’s 31-year-old 5000m record when he ran 13:10.19 last month, needed to make the top four or qualify as one of the next three fastest to progress to Saturday’s final. He finished seventh in 13min 55.27s, well down on the winning 13:46.41 posted by Kenya’s Edwin Cheruiyot. Blincoe was disappointed but philosophical: ‘‘I can’t think of anything else I could have done,’’ he said.
— NZPA
BEIJING BITES Canny K2 crew step aside to book favoured lane
CANOEING: Steven Ferguson and Mike Walker reckon the risk was worth it after making a sneaky booking of lane one for the K2 1000m kayaking final. Fans and officials were left scratching their heads after the New Zealand crew slowed over the final 100m of yesterday’s semifinal, giving up a healthy lead and allowing Latvians Krists Straume and Kristaps Zalupe to win. With a top-three finish needed to advance to tomorrow’s final, second place gave the same outcome for Ferguson and Walker, with one crucial difference. ‘‘We knew if we wanted lane one, we had to get second,’’ Ferguson said. If New Zealand had won, they would have been allocated lane eight in the nine-boat final, on the side of the course they believe is more exposed to the prevailing late afternoon winds.
Walker and Willers clear the first speed-bumps BMX: Sarah Walker and Marc Willers, ranked No 1 and 5 in their respective classes, rode to form at the Laoshan Moto Cross venue yesterday. For Walker, the heat goes on today as she has her first
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Fouhy on form Kiwi K1 Kayaker Ben Fouhy showed glimpses of his best form yesterday, accelerating past South African Shaun Rubenstein and Swede Markus Oscarsson to book a final place. He was second, 0.29s behind Australian Ken Wallace. Delighted Fouhy, who was in despair after finishing third in his heat on Monday, said: ‘‘You can’t win Lotto if you don’t have a ticket.’’ bodily contact with the 15 other riders striving for the sport’s maiden Olympic gold. Walker twice covered the course almost errorfree to earn a plumb gate posse for her three semifinal races. Willers had one tumble as the men’s field was reduced from 32 to 16 by three quarter-final runs. The 22-year-old from Cambridge, was clipped from behind but was able to dust himself off and still finish fourth. Two canny rides allowed him to book third and second placings to have him seeded second in his eight-strong semifinal line-up.
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■ The one sour note in a magnificent night for Nick Willis on Tuesday was the fact the stadium was only about a quarter full by the time he ran the 1500m at 10.45pm. What sort of crazy scheduler would put one of the blue riband events of the Games at such an unsociable hour? A broadcasting scheduler, perhaps?
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