‘Super Felix’ makes good on his promise at last

400m hurdles champion owes all to his grandmother

A l a r i c G o m e s

Felix Sanchez, the 400 metres world champion, felt the presence of a very special person who guided his destiny for a second Olympic gold at the Olympic Stadium here late on Monday.

After winning gold in Athens 2004, Sanchez has struggled on and off the field. Into the bargain, he simply could not fulfil the promise he made to his grandmother, Lillian, to win the gold.

But on Monday as the Dominican Republic national anthem played and with the medal around his neck, the 34-year-old comeback kid sobbed uncontrollably. “It was ironic that it rained at the same time and I felt so connected with my grandmother,” Sanchez recalled.

A world champion in 2001 and 2003, Sanchez’s grip on the 400m hurdles was so huge that he earned several nicknames including ‘Super Felix’, ‘The Invincible’, ‘Superman’ and ‘The Dictator’. Between 2001 and 2004 he won 43 races in a row in his event, along the way sharing the Golden League’s million dollar jackpot in 2002 after winning all seven races in the season.

However, after that came the downfall as Sanchez struggled to regain either the form or his health — making him go without a win for a long time.

“I dominated for so long that I felt that I am invincible. But after that came the fall. I was training well but getting injured and if everything was well with the health, then I did not have to will to train,” he recalled.

The thought of being a champion again and the promise he had made to his grandmother made him stick to the job. So deep was his conviction that he even wrote her name on his running spikes.

And on Monday he pulled out her photograph that he had pinned inside his bib, placed it on the track and kissed it.