Aug 19 at the Bird's Nest (Track and Field Snippets)
By Bidz dela Cruz
Carbon-date these two throwers
Ellina Zvereva of Belarus is the oldest competitor in the women's discus at 47. Her teammate Iryna Yatchenko is 42. Belarus needs to start developing young throwers. Zvereva, who was born on November 16, 1960 in Dolgoprudny is best known for winning the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics. She became world champion in 1995, and again in 2001 after the disqualification of Natalya Sadova. Her personal best is 71.58m.
Loudest cheer yet
Still in the discus event. Are you wondering how do you get the loudest cheer from the post-Liu Xiang Olympic crowd? Simple: You have not one, but two Chinese athletes compete at the same time. Li Yanfeng just threw the discus at the same time that Gao Shuying pole vaulted. Monstrous ovation at this monumental event. But it was Song Aimin (of China) who threw the discus 62.17m to move into third place. China is indeed in a medal hunt.
Thanks to US discus thrower, the unthinkable had unfolded on the field on this date. Stephanie Brown-Trafton, on the strength of a great first throw, lead the women's discus competition with three other competitors to go before the final results were done. The U.S. hasn't won a medal in this event since 1932.
Men's 200m
On the track was the quarterfinals of the men's 200m. Usain Bolt of Jamaica ran in the first heat against Shawn Crawford of the U.S. American Walter Dix was in heat 2 with Wallace Spearmon of the U.S. Who ran in heat 4. After what seemed to be a blink of an eye: it was Usain Bolt's simply ridiculous show. He smoked Shawn Crawford through the turn then jogged almost 100 meters to victory in 20.29. Crawford was second in 20.42. Kim Collins of St. Kitts and Nevis was third in 20.42.
Heat 2 of the quarterfinals was the winning moment of Brian Dzingai of Zimbabwe in 20.23. Walter Dix was second in 20.27 and Christopher Williams was third in 20.28.
Completing the men's heat were Brendan Christian of Antigua who won heat 3 in 20.26, Churandy Martina of Dutch Antilles was second in 20.42 and Kristof Beyens of Belgium was third in 20.50. In heat 4, it was Paul Hession of Ireland winning in 20.32 followed by Wallace Spearmon of the U.S. in 20.39 and Jaysuma Saidy Ndure of Norway in 20.45.
Isinbayeva: Crowd Favorite
During pole vault introductions, the crowd let out a roar for Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva.
Jenn Stuczynski misses at 4.90m -- and just barely. She was still lamenting on her plight when Isinbayeva passes.
Jenn's next attempt had her silver locked up. Down to her final attempt, even though it was gold she was looking for, she missed all 3 attempts at 4.90m and will take away only silver. Isinbayeva, during this moment, is still jumping. She was way over 4.95m but must have grazed the bar which fell off late. She has 2 more attempts when Jenn had assured herself of a silver. And then Yelena missed again. Finally, on her last attempt at 4.95m, Yelena Isinbayeva cleared the bar and broke the Olympic record she set in winning gold in Athens.
As if this wasn't enough, Yelena Isinbayeva, just when people were still cheering her last performance, she raised the bar to 5.05m which would edge her world record of 5.04m
On her first attempt to create a new world record, Isinbayeva misses. She actually kicked the bar on her way up. A much stronger attempt on the second one but she still knocked off the bar. One try left.
World record for Isinbayeva!
On her final attempt, Yelena Isinbayeva sets the 24th world record of her career, clearing 5.05m/16-6 3/4
Yelena pulled a repeat of her performance in Monaco a few weeks ago. At that meet, she was down to her final attempt at 5.04m and cleared the bar. She does well with her back up against the wall
Third world record of the Games
This is the third track world record set here in Beijing. Usain Bolt of Jamaica did it in the men's 100m and Gulnara Galkina-Samitova of Russia did it in the 3000m steeplechase. The 4th World Record was made by Usain Bolt again, but not on this day. It was days after this in the 200meter finals!
While Yelena was cherishing her glory, cameras just caught a glimpse of Jenn Stuczynski. The look on her face was as if she couldn't bear to watch Isinbayeva celebrate. Yelena just posed in front of the results board and was signing autographs. Even Isinbayeva's coach is signing autographs. From the mouth of Yelena: "I like winning and I like winning with world records."
