by Larry EderHere are a few of my thoughts and a personal photo gallery, I hope that you like this one!
Dmitriy Silnov won the Men’s high jump in a dramatic fashion. He also made the Russian team in a dramatic fashion, clearing 2.39m in a high jump jump off in dramatic fashion! His selection created quite a stir among the Russian Media!
I just like this photo of Kerron Clement and his agent Feith after Kerron won his silver medal. Feith has been such a huge fan of Clement’s during his development as an athlete, it was nice to see his win an Olympic medal.
Nick Willis of New Zealand winning the bronze, again a nice story of a young man who has had a maddening year and who persevered-the Olympic idea, in my mind.
Usain Bolt has, with his two world records, lead a medal fest for the nation of Jamaica. The young man, coached by Glenn Mills, now owns the 100 meter and 200 meter world records. I believe, however, if Coach Mills can persuade the young man, his best distance is really 400 meters! I can not wait to see when that happens.
I was very sorry for Wallace Spearmon, one of the best guys on the circuit, and his disqualification. It was just one of those things and it took the wind out of me that night. I think that the subsequent dq of Martina Churandy of Netherland Antilles was a bit of politics, as was the Spearmon dq. Obviously, neither one did it deliberately. I believe this kind of silliness hurts our sport.
Meserat Defar, former world record holder at 5,000 meters is the only women, in my mind, who has a chance to beat Dibaba over this distance. The Olympic women’s 5,000 meters should be a revelation.
Tirunesh Dibaba, the world record holder at 5,000 meters, the gold medalist at 10,000 meters, in my mind is the best women distance racer on the planet. Her emergence at the age of 18 in St. Denis, in World Champs 2003 was a revelation!
Walter Dix of the US is a quiet young man who has let his feet do the talking. He came here to race, and he took bronze in the 100 meters and bronze in the 200 meters! Not a bad haul for his first Olympics and first races as a professional athlete!
