Sorry farewell: Bolt ‘kept apologising’ to team-mates
Farah edged by Ethiopian Hurdles rivalry was just like old times
Usain Bolt’s Jamaican team-mates have revealed the track and field great ‘‘kept apologising to us’’ after his dramatic collapse in the world championships 4x100m relay final in London.
The 30-year-old had taken the baton for Jamaica a few metres adrift of the two leaders when, straining hard to catch them, he stopped abruptly with cramp in his left hamstring, began hobbling and tumbled to a halt after a forward roll.
As Britain went on to win gold, Bolt lay on his back in his lane, his head in hands, being tended to by medics as one waited with a wheelchair to help push him off the track.
Bolt’s team-mates insisted there was no need for an apology and Yohan Blake was angry that the relay teams were made to wait in cold conditions for 40 minutes due to two medal ceremonies.
The sport’s greatest entertainer was determined that one of the finest careers in sport was not going to end with him in a wheelchair.
So the fastest man of all-time, surrounded by his three worried team mates, Omar Mcleod, Julian British runner Mo Farah’s aura of invincibility after six years of success was finally cracked in his last major track race as he lost his world 5000m title to Ethiopia’s Muktar Edris.
Seeking a fitting end to his matchless long-distance racing career before moving to marathon running, the 34-year-old’s bid for a fifth straight global 10,000/5000m double was scuppered as he had to settle for the silver.
In a thrilling finale, Farah looked to be completely outgunned by three rivals, only to fight back and snatch second place behind Edris, who clocked 13min 32.79sec after a searing final lap.
Forte and Yohan Blake, rose gingerly to his feet and limped the last 30 metres to the line.
The official result recorded that the Jamaicans did not finish but Bolt had been determined to ensure he completed the last race after a matchless career in which he won 19 major championship gold medals.
Bolt’s only thoughts were with the team-mates he felt he had let
In the dying metres, Farah shot down the inside to overhaul American Paul Chelimo and clock 13:33.22.
Kenyan-born Chelimo took the bronze in 13:33.30, while Farah’s late burst also consigned another Ethiopian, Yomif Kejelcha, to fourth place in 13:33.51.
Just as five years ago, when he completed the first of his two Olympic distance doubles on the second Saturday of the programme to deafening acclaim in the same stadium, a 55,000-strong crowd roared on the home hero.
Yet there was only disappointment as Farah’s farewell just fell short of the dream finale.
down. ‘‘He kept apologising to us but we told him there was no need to apologise,’’ Forte said. ‘‘Injuries are part of the sport.’’
Mcleod added: ‘‘It just happened – Usain Bolt’s name will always live on.’’
Justin Gatlin, the American winner of the individual 100m who had consigned Bolt to third place in his final individual race last weekend, paid tribute to his rival.
BY THE NUMBERS
Besieged by injuries, Sally Pearson missed nearly two years. Beleaguered by some bad results, Dawn Harper-nelson hasn’t been quite the same, either.
Yet there they were down the stretch, two Olympic 100m hurdles gold medallists vying for the title at the world championships yesterday. Just like old times, they were reunited on the podium - Pearson taking first and Harper-nelson winding up second.
A couple of 30-somethings holding off the next wave of hurdlers.
‘‘Toward the end, I could see Sally out of the corner of my eye. I was like, ‘Of course it’s me and her’,’’ the 33-year-old Harper-nelson said. ‘‘But it was so sweet for it to be me and her, to come across the line. Silver tastes like gold and Dawn is not laying her head down sad tonight.’'
These two have seen plenty of each other over the years. Harpernelson was the 2008 Beijing Games champion, with Pearson taking silver. Four years later at the London Olympics, the order was reversed.
They could’ve broken the tie at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, but neither earned a spot.
Heading into this season, Pearson could tell she was in titlechasing condition. She felt that ‘‘spark’' while training. ‘‘I knew I could get here,’' the Australian said.