RUDISHA EQUALS BOLT
Awe inspiring! It may be the least. Last night Jamaica’s Bolt and company stole the thunder at the London Olympic arena and got over 80,000 spectators cheering in unison.
Usain Bolt became the first sprinter in Olympic history to defend both 100m and 200m titles and yesterday he did that in 19.32 seconds – outside his own world record mark – but yet the 25-yearold had made the 200 metre win a reality.
Before the race Bolt said, “I will not call myself the greatest if I do not win the 200 metre final on Thursday”.
A month ago there were questions. Bolt’s junior Yohan Blake was beating him at every turn and remained unbeaten in the 100m, and there were speculations about his fitness. Some even said that Bolt had lost it. Still, Bolt knew that he had it in him and waited till the right moment to unleash his fury and silence his critics.
Coming back to the threesome, the way the three Jamaicans finished the race was stunning. Like Batman, Robin and Alfred, Bolt, Blake and young Warren Weir vanquished the rest of the competition left on the track and finished with timings of 19.32, 19.44 and 19.84. Back in Jamaica their mentor Glen Mills would have been the proudest.
Yes, Bolt became the legend he was to be. Yet, there was another runner who really made history last evening. Kenyan David Rudisha led from wire-to-wire to become the first man in history to run the 1500m in under 1 minute and 41 seconds.
In the 800-metre final world-record holder Rudisha elevated his game on the world’s biggest stage, as well as those of the seven men who followed him across the finish line.
He became the first man ever to break the previously thought to be unbreakable 1:41 barrier, running 1 minute, 40.91 seconds to take two tenths of a second off his own record set in Rieti in 2010. Behind him, 19-year-old Nijel Amos of Botswana finished second in 1:41.73 — a pending world-junior record — while Kenya’s Timothy Kitum, only 17 himself, took third in a personal best of 1:42.53. All eight men in the field ran a best-ever time for their respective place in the Olympic final, and for the first time in history, eight men all broke 1:44 in the same race.
Towing the eight man field through the opening 200 metres in a blazing 23.7 seconds, Rudisha already had complete control of the pace and was dictating the race. His message to his rivals: hang on, we’re about to go for a ride.
Coming through the opening 400 metres in 49.3 seconds with the entire field in tow, Rudisha began to stretch out his advantage on the back stretch, covering the third 200 in 25 seconds flat. Sudan’s Abubaker Kaki, who attempted to hang with Rudisha through the first lap, fell off on the backstretch as Kenyan Timothy Kitum and 19year-old Nijel Amos of Botswana gave chase.
Rounding the final turn, Amos gave chase with every obvious last ounce of effort in his body, but it wasn’t meant to be, as this night belonged to Rudisha, who strode smoothly across the finish line to the thunderous applause of 80,000 appreciative fans, including Lord Sebastian Coe, the LOCOG Chairman who was also once the world-record holder in this event. Finishing fourth and fifth in personal-best times were Americans Duane Solomon, who ran 1:42.82, and Nick Symmonds, who clocked 1:42.95.