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Usain Bolt makes Glasgow smile again as Jamaica reach 4x100m relay final
Usain Bolt makes Glasgow smile again as Jamaica reach 4x100m relay final
(35 minutes later)
Of course they cheered him. Did anyone expect otherwise? On a night when the Glasgow weather stayed unusually balmy, Hampden went barmy for Usain Bolt. They cheered him when he walked onto the track, when he was announced, and as he sealed a Jamaica victory and a place in Saturday’s final.
Of course they cheered him. Did anyone expect otherwise? On a balmy Glasgow night, Hampden went barmy for Usain Bolt. Every stride, gesture, breath: oohs, ahs, noise. He was sheepish when stepping on to the track, a dark Jamaican hoodie providing monkish anonymity, but the world’s most famous athlete’s disguise lasted only seconds before he was recognised.
The hard work took about 10 seconds, but it was perhaps tougher than expected given that Kimmari Roach, who ran Jamaica’s first leg, appeared to cramp up before passing the baton to his team-mate Julian Forte. But despite running his first race of the season this was unmistakably, indisputably Bolt as he made up a deficit of two or three metres to win easing down.
His first performance on the track in almost 11 months was recognisably Bolt too. Taking the baton on the anchor leg of the second 4x100m relay heat of the night, he was level with the Nigerian Mark Jelks after Bolt’s team-mate Kimmari Roach had cramped on the opening leg. A sharp opening of the throttle changed that. Bolt led Jamaica to victory, easing down, in 38.99 sec.
Said Bolt: “As long as we got the baton round we knew we’d be OK. It was wonderful. It was just like the London Olympics. Just watching on TV in the warm-up here. It’s been wonderful.
Afterwards Bolt, after three days of silence, denied that he had ever told the Times that these Games were a “bit shit”.Instead there was effusive praise for the event, which was “wonderful”; Glasgow, which he described as “great”; and his “brilliant” reception from 40,000 people in the stadium.
Bolt also denied the claims in the Times that he had said that the Commonwealth Games was a “bit shit”. “I can’t believe she actually said that,” he insisted. “I would never have said those words if I was going to say that. I love competing. I’m here for the fans. I’d never say something like that. It was rough. I didn’t want to say anything else. It’s great. For me, everything been’s great apart from the weather. I heard somebody said they are enjoying the Games without Yohan Blake and me. I’m a fun person. Look at me.”
“I felt like I was at the London Olympics,” he said. “I love competing in front of a crowd that is really loud so it was just brilliant. Everything been’s great apart from the weather.”
Stiffer tests will await into Saturday’s final, with the Bahamian team looking particularly impressive in their heat. But as always with Bolt repeat viewing will also be just as compelling.
Stiffer tests will await in Saturday’s final, with the Bahamian and English teams looking impressively smooth in winning their heats but, as always, you expect Bolt to have the final say.
However the biggest roar of the night came during the rousing finale of the women’s 800m, as Lynsey Sharp timed her finish with the skill of a conductor to win silver behind the Kenyan world champion Eunice Sum. On her right hand she had written four words: Get Out Strong Commit. To add she could have added two more, borrowed from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Don’t Panic.
But the biggest roar of the night – and the bravest performance – came from the Scottish 800m runner Lynsey Sharp, who somehow claimed silver behind the Kenyan world champion Eunice Sum despite throwing up all night.
Despite being boxed in during the last 200m, she waited and waited before pulling out of a gap to first go past Jessica Judd, who finished fourth, and then the Ugandan Winnie Nanyondo, who won bronze.
“This means so much with all the obstacles I’ve been through,” said Sharp, who has struggled with injuries and operations for the last two years, and at one point even considered switching to cycling.
Sharp has struggled with injuries for the last two years, and has had tendon surgery as recently as March. At one point she even considered switching to cycling. Even at 5.30am on Fridayyesterday morning she revealed she had been sick. “My mum has been my rock, I owe everything to her,” she said. “Everyone thinks athletics is an individual sport but so many people have helped me get here. It’s an absolute miracle.”
“Last night I went out for dinner because I thought it was just the food in the village I wasn’t enjoying,” she said. “I ordered a £20 steak, it came to the table I was like ‘I can’t eat that’. I got back to the village, threw up for a few hours. [British athletes coach] Steve Maguire took me over to the clinic and I was there until 5.30 this morning on a drip. So I didn’t eat. All I’ve eaten is porridge and scrambled egg.” Was she going to pull out? “Yeah. At 2.30 in the morning I had compression socks on and I couldn’t bend over to take them off. It was so bad. I was like ‘how the hell am I going to be able to run if I can’t bend over to take my socks off’. But somehow another miracle.
Meanwhile the men’s pole vault quickly turned into a battle between two Englishmen: Luke Cutts, was not selected for London 2012 or the world championships in Moscow last year, and Steve Lewis, who was looking to complete his Commonwealth set with gold after bronze in Melbourne and silver in Delhi. After both men failed three times at 5.60m it went to a jump off – and after Cutts missed at 5.55m, Lewis cleared to claim gold. But the rest of the world will not be quaking at this result – given that over a dozen athletes have leapt over 5.70m this season.
“There are two things I’ll never forget. One is being on my hands and knees being sick outside my room with the nurse holding my hair back, Steve standing there and four police officers walking away at the sound of me being sick. And being doubled over trying to take my socks off while Steph Twell was asleep in the room.”
“To have the set [of medals] is testament to the people who stood by me and didn’t write me off in 2013 and I am so proud to be part of the team I’m in,” said Lewis. “Standing on the podium I was like ‘wow this is me, I’ve done it’. I don’t think it’s really sunk it yet. I’m going to have so much confidence going into the Europeans.”
On her right hand Sharp had written four words: Get Out Strong Commit. She could have added two more, borrowed from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Don’t Panic. Having been boxed in with 150m to go she pulled out to first go past Jessica Judd, who finished fourth, and then the Ugandan Winnie Nanyondo, who won bronze. There have been many gutsy performances in these Games. But surely Sharp’s efforts top the lot.
There was more English success in the women’s high jump as Emma Pooley cleared a lifetime best of 1.92m to win silver behind the 18-year-old Australian Eleanor Patterson, who jumped 1.94m. The 21-year-old Pooley, who admitted she couldn’t bear to watch other athletes failing at 1.89m. “Maybe when I am a more mature athlete I won’t have to stick my fingers in my ears and go ’la la la la’,” she said. “But I didn’t want to hear what was going on. I think a lot of people probably thought I was crazy walking around with my hands clamped over my ears singing stupid songs, but it worked.”
Meanwhile England’s Steve Lewis completed a set of Commonwealth medals with gold in the pole vault. Lewis, who won bronze in Melbourne and silver in Delhi, beat his compatriot Luke Cutts by clearing 5.55m in a jump-off. However in the 100m hurdles, Tiffany Porter was unable to catch the Australian golden girl Sally Pearson and had to settle for silver behind the Olympic champion. Silver was also the colour for Emma Pooley, who cleared a lifetime best of 1.92m to come second to the 18-year-old Australian Eleanor Patterson in the high jump.
In the women’s discus Jade Lally, a 27-year-old personal trainer from London, won bronze behind Australia’s Dani Samuels after a season’s best 60.48m. Lally can partially thank her father for her first major medal as he built a discus circle to Olympic specifications in a local farm to allow her to practice. She has trained alongside sheep, cows and llamas in the past. Now she was on the podium.
Afterwards Pooley admitted she couldn’t bear to watch other athletes failing at 1.89m. “Maybe when I am a more mature athlete I won’t have to stick my fingers in my ears and go ‘la la la la’,” she said. “But I don’t want to hear what was going on. I think a lot of people probably thought I was crazy walking around with my hands clamped over my ears singing stupid songs, but it worked.”
In the longest race of the night, the men’s 10,000m final came down to a thrilling photo-finish, with 0.09sec separating the top three. Halfway down the final straight it looked like the Canadian Cam Levins, who trains with Mo Farah, might end the east African dominance of the event. But just before the line Uganda’s Moses Kipsiro, who won the 5,000m and 10,000m in Delhi, passed Levins and held off the Kenyan Josphat Bett to win in 27.56.11.
In the women’s discus Jade Lally, a 27-year-old personal trainer from London, won bronze behind Australia’s Dani Samuels after a season’s best 60.48m. Lally’s father once built a discus circle to Olympic specifications in a local farm to allow her to practice. She has trained alongside sheep, cows and llamas. This night made it worthwhile.
“I was not expecting this,” admitted Kipsiro. “I have had a lot of injuries but something deep inside told me I could make it. And here’s what I have now.”
The longest race of the night, the men’s 10,000m final, came down a thrilling photo-finish with 0.09sec separating the top three. Uganda’s Moses Kipsiro held off the Kenyan Josphat Bett to win in 27.56.11.
There was also a surprise of sorts in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase as the unfancied Kenyan Jonathan Ndiku crossed the line first in a Commonwealth Games record of 8:10.44 ahead of Jairus Birech, who has run the three fastest times in 2014, and the two-time Olympic champion Ezekiel Kemboi.
And there was also a surprise of sorts in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase as the unfancied Kenyan Jonathan Ndiku crossed the line first in a Commonwealth Games record of 8:10.44 ahead of Jairus Birech, who has run the three fastest times in 2014, and the two-time Olympic champion Ezekiel Kemboi.
But later it was revealed that Birech, who won silver, had hurt his leg on the second lap, while Kemboi hobbled over the line after straining his calf with 200m remaining. It was still, inevitably, a Kenyan 1-2-3. This, more than any other event, is theirs. Not since 1994, when Canada’s Graham Fell took bronze, has a non-Kenyan won a Commonwealth Games steeplechase medal.
Meanwhile in the men’s 1500m, England’s Charlie Grice and Scotland’s Chris O’Hare both qualified for Saturday’s final after finishing second in their respective heats along with Wales’s Chris Gowell. But the new 18-year-old Kenyan sensation Ronald Kwemoi, who ran 3:28.81 last month in Monaco and won his heat, will start as a strong favourite.In the women’s 4x400m England’s team of Emily Diamond, Shana Cox, Margaret Adeoye and Christine Ohuruogu qualified fastest in 3:27.88 for Saturday’s final. However Scotland missed out by 0.24 sec after leaving 400m hurdles silver medallist Elidih Child out.
England’s 4x400m men’s team of Daniel Awde, Matthew Hudson-Smith, Nigel Levine and Conrad Williams also qualified fastest in 3:03.71 but the Bahamian team, the London 2012 champions, will be the ones to beat.
