by Larry EderThis is my catch up session. It is 4.30 pm local time. I finally got out of the stadium and had a nice meal with a friend in a little Spanish restaurant. We had paella Valencia: rabbit, chicken, snails, fish, and a ensalade mistral. Top that off with some real espresso, and I was ready to walk. We did a stroll around the neighborhood as the locals were having their siesta, and the weather was a superb 65-70 degrees F.
Getting back to the stadium, my sleep deprivation hit in and I sat at my seat, eyes closed as Sade, REM and some greatest rave hits played on this awesome sound system. The stadium is slowly filling up, with 25 minutes to go for a great session.
So here is some catch up:
Here were Xiang Liu’s comments after the heat where Dayron Robles had a really bad day:
” I feel really sorry for Dayron. I got a really fast start and I feel that this put him off. I think that it has been a lack of experience on his part because in the case of doubt, it is better to continue running until you hear the second pistol. It is a shame because I wanted to run against him, he is my reference in the 60m hurdles. Sincerely, it is a real shame that we are not together in the semi finals.
Spanish champ Jackson Quinonez had this to say after his first heat victory: ” It has been a clean race. For me it was improtant to run well in the heats. I am now going to rest in order to run as well or even better this afternoon. Physically, I feel 100 percent in form. I hope to do a very good Championship.”
We missed Angela Williams after her gold medal performance, here is what the 60 meter gold medalist had to say: ” I feel great. Coming here and winning is really amazing. I am blessed. I am satisfied with the performance. That was a really good track, but you know, each competition is different, different athletes, different performances. I owe this to my father who trained me when I was young. I want the whole world to know that I am peaceful about it and I am very happy. I have to go back to work and keep on training hard. ”
From the heptathlon, Tia Hellebaut, the Belgian gold medalist in the heptathlon, had this to say: ” It was an amazing pentathlon, there were a lot of good athletes and all of us were really close. I am very satisfied about having finished first. I am happy with my results in high jump, shot put and 800 meters. Now I am going to enjoy these nice feelings, I want to rest. I will try to feed off these feelings during the high jump performance tomorrow morning. ”
Kelly Sotherton, the silver medalist, had this to say: ” I did not perform at my best level today, I am a little bit disappointed. I enjoyed the competition, it was fantastic. I am frustrated because I know that I coul have won it. I have come off five months training and my technical work needs to be improved, but I am running well at the moment. ”
Tatyana Chernova of Russia, the bronze medalist in the pentathlon, commented,: ” I am really happy. I repeated my personal best and I have won a medal. It is such an important thingfor me since this is a very high level of competition.”
And with that, the women for the 3,000 meters are warming up, time for the evening session!
