Americans banish demons with record run
Source: Agencies |
August 12, 2012, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
AFTER a comedy of errors at the last three Olympics, the United States women's 4x100 meters relay team finally got their act together in some style on Friday with a world-record run to secure gold at the London Olympics.
Since the last of four successive golds for the country in Atlanta in 1996, botched baton exchanges had kept the American teams packed with talent off the top of the podium in a cycle that many thought was destined to continue.
"There was a cloud hanging over us, with people saying 'they can't do this, they're going to drop the stick' but we did it," said Carmelita Jeter, who ran the final leg to win her first Olympic gold.
"I knew that if we got the stick around then all I had to do was to bring it home.
"I knew that these girls were going to run their hearts out. I knew we were running fast. I was already pointing at the clock, saying 'there it is'."
The Americans ran the lap in 40.82 to smash the record held since 1985 by a quartet of women who set the mark for the former East Germany.
Allyson Felix, who won the 200 individual title and will go for a third gold of the Games in the 4x400 relay, said winning gold was a "relief" but breaking the 27-year-old mark by more than half a second was even better.
"It just felt like for so long we've looked at women's sprints and the records have been so out of reach and to look up and see we had a world record was just great," she told reporters.
Florence Griffith-Joyner's world records for the women's 100 and 200 go back to 1988, while the 400 record has been owned since 1985 by Marita Koch who also ran for East Germany.
The US might have challenged the record at a previous Games had they been able to get the baton around. In the Sydney Games final, the American team bungled the handover from Torri Edwards to Nanceen Perry and finished with a bronze.
In Athens four years later, Lauryn Williams took the baton outside the passing zone and the team pulled up, while in Beijing, Edwards and Williams messed up the exchange in the semifinal and the favorites did not even make the final.
Williams will now finally get a gold medal after running the anchor leg in the US team for the heats and semifinals.
Earlier, Ethiopian Meseret Defar dashed compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba's dreams of another long-distance double by regaining her 5,000 meters title.
Defar pulled away from her tired rival to triumph eight years after taking gold in Athens, crossing the line with her arms in the air before kissing a religious picture she had carried in her top and falling to the track in tears.
Dibaba, who took double gold in Beijing and successfully defended her 10,000 title here, had to settle for bronze. Defar won in 15 minutes 4.25 seconds ahead of Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot.
Since the last of four successive golds for the country in Atlanta in 1996, botched baton exchanges had kept the American teams packed with talent off the top of the podium in a cycle that many thought was destined to continue.
"There was a cloud hanging over us, with people saying 'they can't do this, they're going to drop the stick' but we did it," said Carmelita Jeter, who ran the final leg to win her first Olympic gold.
"I knew that if we got the stick around then all I had to do was to bring it home.
"I knew that these girls were going to run their hearts out. I knew we were running fast. I was already pointing at the clock, saying 'there it is'."
The Americans ran the lap in 40.82 to smash the record held since 1985 by a quartet of women who set the mark for the former East Germany.
Allyson Felix, who won the 200 individual title and will go for a third gold of the Games in the 4x400 relay, said winning gold was a "relief" but breaking the 27-year-old mark by more than half a second was even better.
"It just felt like for so long we've looked at women's sprints and the records have been so out of reach and to look up and see we had a world record was just great," she told reporters.
Florence Griffith-Joyner's world records for the women's 100 and 200 go back to 1988, while the 400 record has been owned since 1985 by Marita Koch who also ran for East Germany.
The US might have challenged the record at a previous Games had they been able to get the baton around. In the Sydney Games final, the American team bungled the handover from Torri Edwards to Nanceen Perry and finished with a bronze.
In Athens four years later, Lauryn Williams took the baton outside the passing zone and the team pulled up, while in Beijing, Edwards and Williams messed up the exchange in the semifinal and the favorites did not even make the final.
Williams will now finally get a gold medal after running the anchor leg in the US team for the heats and semifinals.
Earlier, Ethiopian Meseret Defar dashed compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba's dreams of another long-distance double by regaining her 5,000 meters title.
Defar pulled away from her tired rival to triumph eight years after taking gold in Athens, crossing the line with her arms in the air before kissing a religious picture she had carried in her top and falling to the track in tears.
Dibaba, who took double gold in Beijing and successfully defended her 10,000 title here, had to settle for bronze. Defar won in 15 minutes 4.25 seconds ahead of Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot.
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