JAMAICA’S SUCCESS WAS A VERY REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT

Jamaican women sprinters did their small country proud
Jamaicans have “punched above their weight” since Second World War

The Jamaican triumph in Berlin was more than just Usain Bolt – Jamaican flags and Jamaican supporters (flying into the city from North America and from the United Kingdom as well as the substantial number from their island homeland), and the singing at the medal ceremonies of “Eternal Father, Bless our Land” more often, and with equal fervour, than the host country’s “Deutschland Lied” (still known usually as “Deutschland ueber Alles”) – but the totality of the triumph would not have been possible without him. Even so it is a very remarkable achievement.

With seven gold medals – though is four in which Bolt was not involved, four silver and two bronze, and an array of other impressive performances, the achievements of this small Caribbean island eclipsed those of even huge, mighty Russia with its millions in population to finish second to only the U.S.A. in the table of medals. What is exceptional is that these successes were achieved over such a limited range of activities – the Jamaicans did not compete well in anything over 400 metres (or at all in the field events) – whereas the Russians and other powerful countries took part in the whole vista of disciplines. Nevertheless there should not have been such surprise at the result – Jamaicans have “punched above their weight” at international level in track athletics at least since the feats of Arthur Wint, Herb McKenley, George Rhoden and Leslie Laing in the decade after the Second World War.

The Jamaican women sprinters, too, did their small country proud. Shelly-Ann Fraser matched her compatriot Usain Boll in winning the 100 metres in 10.73 seconds with her fellow-Jamaicans Kerron Stewart second in 10.75 and Veronica Campbell Brown fourth in 10.95 split by Carmelita Jeter of the U.S.A. in 10.90. Campbell Brown, the doyenne of Jamaican women sprinters, was also second in the 200 metres. The 4 x 100 metres relay team of Fraser, Stewart, Simone Facey and Aleen Bailey took the gold medal in 42.06 seconds.

Melaine Walker gave one of the most memorable performances of the Championships in seizing early control of the 400 metres hurdles to leave the formidable and much-favoured American Lashinda Demus, who had beaten her convincingly recently at Crystal Palace, trailing in 52.96 seconds to her own 52.42. The seventh gold medal was won by Brigitte Foster-Hylton who took the 100 metres hurdles in 12.51 seconds with compatriot Delloreen Ennis-London third in 12.55.

Other countries of the (British) Caribbean had reason to be pleased with their achievements, even though on this occasion they were overshadowed by their phenomenal near-neighbour. There was a gold medal for Barbados, a country associated more often with success at cricket, with Ryan Brathwaite winning the 110 metres in 13.14 seconds. Trinidad & Tobago had a scatter of silver and bronze medals, and the experienced athletes of the Bahamas provided the same consistency of performance which has marked their country’s performance over the last decade.

BEKELE MASTERS THE LONG TRACK DISTANCES

Overtook his rival at the final bell and pulled away
Kenyans were more prominent

Kenenisa Bekele made sure that the Championships and the city of Berlin did not belong entirely to Usain Bolt. The Ethiopian has mastered the longer track distances with such command and for so long that is taken almost for granted – though the similar presumption of the invincibility of Russian pole-vaulter Elena Isinbaeva proved to be ill-founded. So, indeed, it was in the 10,000 metres as Bekele lay back comfortably to let Zersenay Tadese make the running for all of the race until he overtook his rival at the bell marking the final lap and pulled away to win in 26:46.31 to his rival’s 26:50.12. By his standards, however, the 5,000 metres was comparatively as Kenenisa never really shook off the challenge from Bernard Lagat and James Kwalia C’Kurui whom he beat in 13:17.09 to 13:17.33 and 13:17.78 respectively.

Bekele’s successes helped to hide the Ethiopians’ generally disappointing performances. Kenyans, those running for their own country and also those competing under other colours, primarily Bahrain, were more prominent. Abdel Kirui won the Marathon in 2:06.54 with Kenyans and Ethiopians in the first five positions. Ezekiel Kemboi won the star-studded and challenging 3,000 metres steeplechase ahead of Kenyan compatriot Richard Kipkemboi Mateelong in 8:00.43 to 8:00.89. Yusuf Saad Kamel, who also won bronze in the 800 metres, took the gold medal in the 1,500 metres in 3:35.93. Kenya finished third in the medal table – narrowly edging out Russia – with four gold, five silver and two bronze: Ethiopia with 2 gold (both by Bekele), 2 silver and 4 bronze were seventh.

The controversy regarding Caster Semenya cast a shadow on South Africa’s success elsewhere. Mulaeni Mulaudzi always had the edge on the competition to win the 800 metres in 1:45.29 ahead of Alfred Kirwa Yego in 1:45.35. It took a record long-jump of 8.54 metres by Dwight Phillips of the U.S.A. to restrict Godfrey Mokoena’s 8.47 metres to the silver medal position. South Africa’s record of 2 gold and one silver medals, while modest, put them at ninth overall in the medal table. West African athletes failed to come in “the frame”.

WOE FOR THE WOMEN .......

From the opening day the important achievements were elsewhere
The Kenyans were the one nation who did not disappoint

From the side-lining through injury of Tirunesh Dibaba, the star performer at Beijing the previous summer, through to further mishaps or below-form performances for the much-anticipated appearances of headline names such as Pamela Jelimo, and the continued inability of Meseret Defar to do justice to her exceptional talent in the recent major international tournaments, to the jostle which led to the fall of Gelete Burka, when she was in strong position to win the 1,500 metres on the last day, the record of African women  athletes in the World Athletics Championships was one of decline and disappointment.

There were successes, of course, but instead of relishing an exhibition of outstanding middle and long distance running, as there had been in the Olympic Games and which was awaited with more interest and enthusiasm than any other track event, save only those involving Usain Bolt, press and public settled on the gender verification of Caster Semenya as “the stoey” of the women’s competition. That is unfair to the efforts of Vivian Cheruiyot, Linet Masai and the unfortunate Burka, but there was a very strong sense from the opening day that the important achievements were happening elsewhere.

Linet Masai had set the tone in the 10,000 metres, the only track race of the opening day. Her victory in 30:51.24 was overshadowed somewhat by the fact that Defar, fifth and outside the top three, had failed to benefit from the absence of rival Tirunesh Dibaba, and that Meselech Melkamu, who had performed so well during the summer, could do no better than finish second in 30:51.34. Yet the Kenyans were the one nation that did not disappoint. That the prospect of further tough tussles with the Ethiopians did not materialise was hardly their fault.

Even the achievement of Vivian Cheruiyout and Sylvia Jebiwott Kibet in taking the 5,000 metres gold and silver medals in 14:57.97 and 14:58.33 respectively, was commendably workmanlike rather than touched by inspiration. The two Kenyans and Defar quickly “killed off” the challenge of the competitors until the Ethiopian, too, dropped off the pace towards the final laps. Cheruiyot and Kibet had only then to settle which of them would take which medal. The former, in particular, has impressed steadily throughout the season. Their Janeth Jepkosgei suffered more than most for the sudden surge in form and speed down the back straight as she followed the South African home in the 800 metres in 1:57.90 to 1:55.45.

Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain won the gold medal in the 1,500 metres even though she did not cross the line first. As the spectators settled to the last women’s individual track race before the start of the relays Burka seemed to be set well to bring the Ethiopians a consolation victory. Then in the same part of the track where several men had fallen she was seen to stumble and fall. Natalia Rodriguez of Spain crossed the line first but without exultation as she knew that her part in Burka’s fall would bring her disqualification ...... as, indeed, it did.        

IDOWU KEEPS GREAT BRITAIN IN THE GOLD MEDAL PICTURE

Phillips in line to headline promotional publicity
Ohuruogu’s vulnerability at the highest level exposed

By winning the triple-jump Phillips Idowu brought back to Great Britain an event which through the achievements of Jonathan Edwards and Ashia Hansen that country had come to consider to be its own. His ongoing rivalry with Nelson Evora resulted in Idowu outjumping the Portuguese by 17.73 to 17.55 metres. He must be well in line to headline London’s promotional publicity for the London 2012 Olympic Games ..... because otherwise, excepting the unexpected gold medal for Jessica Ennis in the heptathlon, the British competitors did not perform all that well.

For all the advance fears Dwain Chambers’ intervention in the 100 metres was much of a damp squib, which was only to be expected in an event dominate by such giants as Usain Bolt, Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell. The Londoner did reach the final, which must have given him some satisfaction, but finished well down on the medals. Any move by sections of the press to “get behind” Chambers as a local hero for 2012 is unlikely to gather momentum, however well he performs in the interim. Admittedly, in the absence of any other competitors other than Idowu, he can never be ruled out entirely.

There is a vacancy because, I fear, that Christine Ohuruogu’s vulnerability at the highest level may have been exposed. Her success in Japan and at Beijing should not be under-estimated, nor should it be over-estimated. Ohuruogu owed her Olympic success last year, where it seemed at the time that she had timed her winning surge too late – though in the event the timing was almost perfect, because Sanya Richards of the U.S.A., her main rival and the favourite to win, had adopted the wrong tactics and “blew up” by setting too fast an early pace. In the 400 metres here Richards again set the early pace but held on to it to win decisively in 49.00 seconds. Christine came in fifth. She has been injured this summer, but I remain to be convinced of her ability to be the forerunner in three years time.

British teams are always challenging in both relays. Presently they may lack the decisive thrust of the Jamaicans, the Americans and the Trinidadians, but the relay is prone always to change-over and other hitches which the British are capable of turning to their advantage. The country’s weakness is that unlike Jamaica they extend their undoubted talents over too wide an range of activities. Field athletics have always taken second place to the track in British estimation, but perhaps not now that Phillips Idowu has proved his ability to deliver at the highest level.

CAST OF ASPERSIONS

Seemed to slip into an extra gear
It is a story that will run and run

When 18 year-old Caster Semenya powered ahead of Janeth Jepkosgei Busieni in the final straight of the 800 metres to win in 1:55.45 to 1:57.90 the main thought was as to why Pamela Jelimo, one of the stars of the Olympic Games twelve months earlier and favourite to win the event, was not there – why she had failed to finish in her semi-final. Semenya’s power was impressive, she seemed to slip into an extra gear, and by the end of the day questions were asked as to her sudden rise prominence in just two months. It is a tribute to the way in which world athletics has “cleansed its house” that nobody suggested that an athlete whose form had been enhanced so much and so quickly should be subjected to a drug test. The same World Athletics Championships in Paris six years previously were so tainted with suspicion that anything out of the ordinary was suspect.

By the start of the following day’s activity talk was on that morning’s press conference citing doubt about the South African’s gender. Even so amid the hysteria for Usain Bolt and the Jamaicans even that was soon disregarded. It took some needless hysteria by prominent people in South Africa, not all of them associated immediately with athletics, and some reprehensible leaks from the IAAF through the media to make Caster Semenya’s gender verification “the” story of the tournament. It is a story that will necessarily run and run, and will be up-dated here on the Track Record.

With Tirunesh Dibaba missing, and other key athletes disappointing, the exciting newcomer would have been the main focus of the women’s events. Yet even in Berlin there were questions as to whether, in view of the sudden manner in which Semenya had burst onto the international scene just a month beforehand, whether questions had been raised, or, indeed, whether she had been tested even before she had left South Africa. Caster’s family are convinced that her female gender is genuine, and I cannot but think that if the athlete, and her connections, had any doubt they would not have drawn attention to the discrepancy by such an obvious display of power.

Questions of gender were more prevalent, and harder to prove either way, before the advent of modern medical techniques. Perhaps the best known is the case of Stella Walsh who won Olympic old for Poland in 1932. The athlete moved later to the U.S.A. but when Stella, an innocent by-stander, was shot dead during a bank-raid it was found that she was in fact a he. Two decades later the successful and muscular Press sisters (Irina and Tamara) of the Soviet Union caused eye-brows to be raised and questions asked.