“I want my own shoe. I want my own trainer. I’m dead serious. I want a sneaker, ain’t no money in spikes. There’s money in sneakers. Even Michael Johnson didn’t have his own sneaker. I feel like for how many medals we bring back, for the notoriety we get, the fact that that hasn’t happened is crazy to me. I was like, ‘Yeah, that needs to happen.’” – Noah Lyles
We are still talking about repechage, like it’s a good thing. Another coach who wishes to remain anonymous suggested he would need to see how the change worked over the next couple of Olympiads. I should live so long, I told him.
I like the idea that a semi-injured athlete like Freddie Crittenden has a bit of flexibility with being able to protect his injury by having some choice of the day in which he must stress it. It improves not only his odds of being in the final, and also the final’s odds of having the best athletes in the race. Good for everyone, it seems to me.
2016 Rio Olympic 1500m Gold Medalist Matthew Centrowitz has renamed the repechage round “the gulag.” And he is NOT a fan… “It just doesn’t make sense.”
Men’s Pole Vault
As the bar climbed, a roaring crowd of 75,000 at the Stade de France asked how high can Mondo DuPlantis vault?
He easily cleared 6.10 m (20-0) for the Olympic Record. The bar went to 6.25 m (20-6) to try for his ninth world record. This year, he’d already missed this height fifteen times in a row.
Sixteen. Way over on his first try, but hit the bar with his left hand and right elbow.
Seventeen. Same for the second try.
But on the third attempt, on his eighteenth try at 6.25 m, set his ninth world mark. He likes to do it one centimeter at a time. I suspect bonus money. Google Vasily Ivanovich Alekseyev sometime. Like Mondo, a two-time Olympic Gold medalist who set eighty-one (81) World Records.
But I digress. Duplantis is today’s story.
“I haven’t processed how fantastic that moment was. It’s one of those things that don’t really feel real, such an out of body experience. It’s still hard to kind of land right now.
“What can I say? I just broke a world record at the Olympics, biggest possible stage for a pole vaulter. The biggest dream since a kid was to break the world record at the Olympics, and I’ve been able to do that in front of the most ridiculous crowd I’ve ever competed in front of.”
About that world-record jump, about finally getting over on the nineteenth try.
“I tried to clear my thoughts as much as I could. The crowd was going crazy. It was so loud in there, it sounded like an American football game. I have a little bit of experience being in a 100,000 capacity stadium, but I was never the center of attention. Just trying to channel the energy everybody was giving me, and they were giving me a lot of it. It worked out.
“Now I’m just ready to eat a bunch of food. The party is going to be pretty big. Not that much sleep, a lot of partying, a good time.”
Women’s 5000 meters Final
Knew this would be epic, so I suggested my wife join me. Gun goes off, and my beloved becomes an instant Elise Cranny fan.
She’s right in there, isn’t she?
Got her nose in the fray, alright, but she’ll be lucky to make the top eight.
Really?
Oh, yeah, three Ethiopians, three Kenyans and Sifan Hassan. That’s seven, right there. Top eight would be great.
The start was predictably slow, with Norway’s Karoline Grovdal in front after 2,000 m at 6:05.4. Then the Ethiopians came to the front, with Ejgayehu Taye leading at 3,000 m in 9:00.1, just ahead of Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay. Kenyan Faith Kipyegon took the lead. And the pace quickened.
Tsegay cut in front of Kipyegon, who took offense. Kipyegon appeared to pull at the arm of Tsegay, who responded angrily by fending off the Kenyan. Hassan lurked as is her style.
While all this was going on, Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet, like a smiling assassin, screamed down the finishing straight to win gold in 14:28.56. Kipyegon placed second while Hassan had lurked long enough and captured third place.
As the medalists celebrated, Kipyegon was disqualified for her tussle with Tsegay, according to World Athletics code TR17.1.2, which disqualifies athletes for “obstruction.” With this ruling, Hassan’s finish improved to silver and bronze went to Italy’s Nadia Battocletti. Happy with a national record 14:31.64, a medal was more than she could have imagined.
The bronze medal was Nadia’s for less than two hours. A Kenyan appeal was accepted and Kipyegon was reinstated. Medals were now awarded to the original finishing order: Chebet the gold, Kipyegon the silver, and Hassan the bronze.
Television cameras focused on Battocletti when she got the amazing news of her ascension to the bronze medal. Didn’t see her when she was told she really didn’t move up after all. Elise Cranny finished eleventh.
Managed to sneak in some beach basketball. Didn’t ask my wife to join me.
Thank you, Espana. Boo, Egypt. Some people see sexy bikinis and sand where you don’t want it, others see religious purity and culture wars. I like to focus on global diversity and good sportsmanship.
And trying to figure out why my Peacock streaming app is such a torment.
