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3SPECIAL REPORT: BERLIN '09

SPECIAL REPORT

Volume 14, Number 3Fall/Winter

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This project is based on Run Blog

Run, coverage of Berlin’09, August

15th-23rd, 2009. Written by Larry Eder,

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Athletes Only is produced, published and owned by Shooting Star Media, Inc., POBox 67, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538-0067; 920.563.5551 phone; 920.563.7298 fax; ChristineJohnson, President; Larry Eder, Vice President. Publisher assumes no liability for matterprinted. Publisher assumes no responsibility or liability for content of paid advertising andreserves the right to reject paid advertising. Opinions expressed are those of the authorsand not necessarily those of the Publisher. Copyright © 2009 by Shooting Star Media, Inc.All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form withoutthe written permission of the Publisher. Athletes Only is not related to or endorsed byany other entity or corporation with a similar name and is solely owned by Shooting StarMedia, Inc. Publisher recommends, as with all fitness and health issues, you consult withyour physician before instituting any changes in your fitness program.

BERLIN 2009

COVER:The star of Berlin 2009, Usain Bolt,with 3 Gold medals, two world records!Photo by: Photorun.net

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Berlin, Germany is a global city of 3.4million, with inhabitants com-ing from 180 countries. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, and thebreakdown of the Berlin Wall in 1989, a united Berlin became thecapital of a united Germany. Berlin does not walk away from itspast—there are constant reminders of the past and the presentwoven on each street. For 9 days, theWorld Championships of Ath-letics made its home in Berlin at the 1936 Olympic Stadium, one ofthe city’s most historic sites. It is also my favorite stadium settingin nine World Championships that I’ve attended.

That the stadium is actually standing is amiracle. At the end of thesecondWorldWar, the Soviet forces fought street by street to takeBerlin against what was left of the Nazi Wermacht and SS troops,neither side giving any quarter.

Berlin has been rebuilt remarkably over the ensuing five decades,and East Berlin over the last two, but reminders of the past areeverywhere. A bell with a hole from Soviet artillery sits outsidethe stadium, with the swastika nearly sanded off. Pictures aboundof the 1936 Berlin Olympic stadium and accompanying grounds, afascinatingwalk back into history. The stadium and thewelcomingGerman crowds were perfect hosts for the WC 2009. Over 9 daysof the championships the German athletes and athletes from 200other countries gave track fansworldwide something to celebrate.

• SPECIAL REPORT: BERLIN '09

PHOTO CREDIT: PhotoRun.net

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On day 1, a Herculean struggle betweenChristian Cantwell, the Olympic Silvermedalist, and Tomasz Majewski, theOlympic Gold medallist, came down to thelast throw in the shot. Cantwell ledthrough the fourth round, then Majewskitook the lead. In the fifth round, Majew-ski threw 21.91m. Cantwell had one throwleft, and on his sixth attempt, put the shot22.03 meters, a world leading throw, andwon the Gold! The responsive Germancrowds got their first medalist in Rolf Bar-tels, the grand old champion of the shot,who threw his best in years to take theBronze medal.

The other final on day 1 was the women’s10,000 meters, which came down to thefinal 100, where favorite Meseret Defar col-lapsed from first to fifth in the last 30 me-ters, as Linet Masai charged to thewin, with Mesalech Melkamu tak-ing the Silver and Wude Almeyutaking the Bronze.

In the 20K men’s race walk,Russia’s Valeriy Borchin wonthe Gold over Hao Wang ofChina and Eder Sanchez ofMexico—all the winnerswere under the ripe age of23! For the first time thewalks and the marathonswould not finish in the stadi-ums—they were loopsaround the BrandenburgGate, giving fans a nicevenue to see the distanceraces.

On day 2, in the 20K women’s race walk, Olga Kaniskina of Russia took theGold, Ireland’s Olive Loughnane took the Silver and China’s Hong Liu took theBronze—a trend in the race walks, as both the men’s and women’s 20K win-ners were from the town of Saransk, Mordoyiva, in western Russia.

The women’s shot put gave the Germans something to cheer about as their Na-dine Kleinart threw a PB of 20.20 to lead until Valerie Vili of New Zealand un-corked 20.44m to take the Gold. Liliao Gong of China threw her PB in third totake the Bronze. Michelle Carter of the U.S. (her dad was the former 49er andU.S. shot prep recordholder Mike Carter) took sixth, the best performance bya U.S. woman since 1997 and Connie Price-Smith’s fifth place.

For two days, the fans had been watching Jessica Ennis of Great Britainduel with Germany’s Jennifer Oeser over the heptathlon. Ennis led the100m hurdles (12.93 vs. 13.62), the high jump (1.92 vs. 1.83m), whileOeser took the shot put (14.29m to 14.14m). Ennis came chargingback in the 200 meters (23.25 to 24.30) to have the day 1 lead. Onday 2, Oeser led in the long jump (6.42m to 6.29m) and javelin(46.70m to 43.54m). In the end, however, Ennis came back in the800 meters, 2:12.22 to 2:14.34, with the winning score, 6731, aworld leader for Ennis. Oeser scored a personal best of 6493.Poland’s Kamila Chudzik scored 6471, taking the Bronze, shadowing Oeser mostof the way. Americans Sharon Day took 10th in 6126 and Diana Pickler scored6086 in 11th place. Bettie Wade of the U.S. was 25th with 5124. The heptathlonfinishers had to halt their victory lap for the final of the men’s 100 meters.

Day 2 was all about the sprints, as Asafa Powell, Tyson Gay and Usain Bolt gotthrough the rounds. In the final, Bolt got out fast, with Gay and Powell to hisright. At 30 meters, Bolt stood up and took the lead for good. Gay was abouttwo strides behind, as Bolt destroyed his world record, running 9.58, withTyson Gay breaking the AR in 9.71 for the Silver. Powell was third. The crowdwent crazy, as did Bolt, who ran hard all the way, looking to the right to seeTyson and Asafa safely behind him. Bolt has taken over the sport in the 100meter straightaway. Six of the eight finalists had their own Usain-influencedmoves. 9.58? Even though I predicted the exact time the week before, I still did-n’t believe my eyes.

SPECIAL REPORT: BERLIN '09


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Day 3 was the women’s 100 meters final. Jamaica’s Shelly Ann Fraser tookthe Gold in 10.74, a new stadium record and fastest legal time of the year.Kerron Stewart of Jamaica took the Silver in 10.77, Carmelita Jeter of theU.S. took the Bronze in 10.84.

The men’s hammer had Slovenia’s Primoz Kozmus throwing 80.15min round 5, then 80.84m in round 6 to put his name on that rectan-gular Gold medal. Poland’s Szymon Zlokowski had his seasonalbest for the Silver in 79.30m and Russia’s Aleksey Zagornyi threw78.09m to take the Bronze. The Germans, Sergei Litvinov andMarkus Esser, finished fifth and sixth, and were cheered likerock stars each time they came up for a throw!

Cuba showed its prowess at the triple jump as Yargeris Sav-igne and Mabel Gay went 1–2, with Annay Pyatykh in third.Tatyana Lebedeva, who has five WC and Olympic medalsin the long and triple jumps, finished sixth.

The women’s steeplechase saw redemption and a prom-ise of tomorrow. Marta Dominquez, who had fallen with300 meters to go in Beijing, took the lead in Berlin and won,in a world-leading 9:07.32. Russia’s Yuliya Zarudneva got theSilver and Kenya’s Milcah Chemps Cheywa took the Bronze.But note fifth place: Jenny Barringer of the U.S. went from 13th tofifth in 3 laps, taking 10 seconds off the AR with her 9:12.50. Three sec-onds were the difference between Barringer and a medal.

In a pole vault ripe with emotion, Polish vaulters went 1–2, with Anna Rogowska clearing4.75m and Monika Pyrek clearing 4.65, tying for the Silver with Chelsea Johnson of the U.S.Beaming in the stands, across from his daughter, was Jan Johnson, who 25 years before tookan Olympic Bronze in Munich in the pole vault. All of this took place because a certain 24-timeworld recordholder, Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia, missed at 4.75m one time, and missed her finaltwo jumps at 4.80m. A tactic that had worked for 7 years did not work in this rarefied level of com-petition. The queen of the vault had fallen.

And that was not all for day 3.

Running the first half the race in 13:40, Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele, the world recordholder at5000 meters, 10,000 meters, and Gold medalist at 10,000 meters in 2003, 2005 and 2007,added 2009 with a 53-second last lap to lead Zersenay Tadesse to the finish. Bekeleand Tadesse ran the second 5000 meters in 13:06, with the winning timebeing 26:46.1, a new course record. In third, Moses Masai would takethe Bronze. Note sixth place: one Dathan Ritzenhein. After a monthof some “fast stuff, like 56-second quarters, and 20-milers at5:30 pace, and tempo runs,” Ritz took sixth, the best ever foran American at the World Champs, and 14 seconds off hispersonal best with a fine 27:22.28. Galen Rupp took astrong eighth and Tim Nelson was 18th.



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Day 4 was one of the most amazing days oftrack & field. By day 4, most fans and medianoticed that every event was a true horserace—no one had a bye, no world record-holders or former champions. Field events,not just the running events, enthralled thecrowds, with huge leaps and huge throws,born from athletes calling on their com-petitive natures, one event after another.

Great Britian’s Phillips Idowu had threelegal jumps: 17.51m, 17.44m and 17.73m. Histhird put him, permanently, in the Goldmedal seat. Portugal’s Nelson Evora hadthe lead in his first jump of 17.54m, and inhis sixth round, made a game run for theGold, improving to 17.55m, but was rele-gated to the Silver medal. Cuba’s AlexisCopello took six jumps to go from seventhto third, with his final 17.36m.

In the women’s javelin, Barbora Spotakovaof the Czech Republic was supposed to win.One problem: Steffi Nerius, the Germanjavelin goddess, didn’t get the playcard, andhurled a huge 67.30m throw in round 1,which we call the “Miklos Nemeth effect”(throw a huge throw, breaking a record inround 1, tends to intimidate the field, asNemeth did in 1976 in Montreal). Well, theGerman crowd went nuts, as Linda Stahland Christina Obergfoil were performingwell (sixth and fifth, respectively).

Being a competitor, Spotakova threw64.94m, 64.26m, 66.42m, 61.29m, 62.25mand 59.74m, but had to settle for the Silver.Maria Abakumova of Russia got her bestthrow in round 6, and that 66.06m earnedher the Bronze. But the night belonged toNerius, as all of Germany sang her praise!

Talk about pressure—Sanya Richardsknows it. In 2007, she didn’t make theWorld Champs in the event in which shewas ranked #1 in the world: the 400 meters.In Beijing, she fell back to the Bronze, hav-ing gone out too hard. In both cases, oneChristine Ohuruogu of Great Britain tookthe Gold. Well, not in 2009. This year,Richards came in more confident, better

rested and better prepared. Run-ning the final like a Clyde Harttextbook (her coach, the dean of400 meter coaches in the world):good first 200 meters (23.2),moving through the third hun-dred meters, and then comingoff the straightaway running fullout. Richards ran 49.00, a worldleader and a Gold medal per-formance. Shericka Williams ran49.32 for the Silver, and Russia’sAntonia Krivoshapka took thebronze in 49.71. But for Richards,it was life changing: “I felt a hugeamount of pressure leave me,and now I can run.”

The men’s steeplechase came downto three Kenyans and a French NorthAfrican. As the field hit the bell lap at7:00.15, Ezekeil Kemboi, Richard Matee-long, Paul Koech and the gargantuanBouabdellah Tahri were in attendance. Thefour had 11 seconds on fifth place by the fin-ish. They battled barrier to barrier. After thelast barrier, Tahri opened his huge stride andput Koech in fourth and Mateelong running,hoping like mad that the French giant did-n’t catch him before the finish. Kemboi hadsprinted hard from the last barrier and tookthe Gold, once again, for Kenya.

The final event of the day was the men’s400 meter hurdles. In the race were the2001 and 2003 champion, Felix Sanchez, andthe 2007 champion, Kerron Clement. Also anewcomer, Javier Culson of Puerto Rico.The night before the final, I took the trainback to the center city with his coach, whowas bursting with pride that his athlete hadmade a final—a first for Puerto Rico.

Clement is a talented young man, who firstcame on the scene breaking one MichaelJohnson’s 400 meter indoor world record.In 2005 he took fourth in the 400 meterhurdles, but as his manager Caroline Feithknew, Clement was the real thing. In 2007,he won the Osaka global title and in 2008,he took the Silver in Beijing. That was the

year that Bobby Kersee got ahold ofClement. Kersee loves the intermedi-ate hurdles. After a year, Clement’s habitof hobbling over the last two hurdlesstopped and the world beater Clementshowed up. In the final, Clement ran downthe stagger and just did not stop, taking theGold in 47.91, the best time in the world. Insecond, Puerto Rican Culson took the Silverin 48.09, his best and an NR. BershawnJackson of the U.S. took the Bronze in48.23. Clement joined only two men—Edwin Moses, 1983 and 1987, and FelixSanchez, 2001 and 2003—in winning two400m hurdle titles.

• SPECIAL REPORT: BERLIN '09 PHOTO CREDIT: PhotoRun.net8


Day 5, the first day of the decathlon. This is hallowed ground inBerlin. Glenn Morris (he played Tarzan in movies) of the U.S.won the decathlon here in 1936. Would an American win thistime? By the end of day 1, Russia’s Oleksiy Kasnyanov was in firstin 4555, Cuba’s Yunior Diaz was second in 4512, and AmericanTrey Hardee was third in 4511, with day 2 being his day. AshtonEaton, the NCAA champ, was fifth in 4355.

In the men’s discus, Robert Harting of Germany gave the crowdsomething to rock the stadium about. Until round 6, Harting

was in second place, as Piotr Malachowski of Polandthrew 69.15m, a national record cemented, and so

some thought the Gold was his with the round 5throw. But Harting eeked out a 69.43m mon-ster to take the Gold from Malachowski’shands. Estonia’s Gerd Kanter took the Bronzein 66.88m and he was supposed to be the win-ner! Harting did his best bodybuilding pose and

then lifted Berlino, the WC mascot up in the air,to the delight of the crowds! Virgilijus Alekna

of Lithuania (all 6'9" of him) was fourthin 66.36m with American Casey Mal-

one in fifth in 66.06m. Jared Rome ofthe U.S. was 11th in 62.47m.

The men’s 1500 meters was, well,what a race. Augustine Chogetook the field through 59.54, andthe 800 meters in 2:00.18. Deresse

Mekonnen of Ethiopia, the 2008World Indoor champ, took the lead

through 1200 meters, upping theante. On Mekonnen’s back were

Bernard Lagat, Asbel Kiprono, Choge,Mohammed Moustaoui, Lopez Lomong,

Leonel Manzano and Yusuf Kamel on hisshoulder. Yes, three Americans, a first ever

in World Champs history that three Amer-icans made a WC final! But as Mekon-

nen took off, Manzano went off theback, and Lagat and Lomong were

horribly boxed in the entire backstretch. As Mekonnen came

off the final turn, YusufKamel of Bahrain pushed

to the front, Mekonnenwas sprinting for dear

life and Lagat didthis sideways run

out of lane oneto find a clear

lane threeto sprint.

Lagat caught Choge, Kiprop, and took third and held it. Kamelwon in 3:35.93, with Mekonnen in 3:36.01 and Lagat in the Bronzeposition in 3:36.21. Note that Kamel is the son of one Billy Kon-challah of Kenya, two-time world champion at 800 meters.

The curse of the 100 meter hurdles continues. Dawn Harper hasrun a 12.51 in the semi-finals. In the final, she hit hurdle 2, andthis threw her steps off. No matter how hard she pushed, thesecond hurdle did her in, relegating Harper, the Olympic cham-pion to a heart-breaking seventh place. Brigitte Foster Hyltonof Jamaica continued that country’s claim to sprint and hurdledominance with her 12.51 for Gold. Priscilla Lopes Schliep ofCanada took the Silver in 12.54 and Jamaica’s Delloreen Ennis-London took the Bronze in 12.55.

In the only event to give this observer an aftertaste, thewomen’s 800 meters was the only example of unsportsman-like conduct by the fans and madness by the IAAF. Caster Se-menya of South Africa had huge improvements at both 800meters and 1500 meters this year. IAAF spokesman Nick Daviesnoted that the South African federation had been requested todo a gender test for Ms. Semenya. Suffice it to say that theyoung person, who was raised as a young woman, was thefocus of questions of gender. I found this heartlessly cruel, asboth the federation and the global federation knew of the issue.It should have been handled with some tact and consideration.Instead, a young person is the focus of the most cruel jokes andridicule, and it’s not her fault. At this writing, we haven’t heardanything more on the results of the testing, but again, a hurtfulway to handle such a sensitive issue.

In the end, Semenya won from start to finish, running a 1:55.45,with Janeth Jepkosgie Busieni of Kenya taking the Silver, barely,in 1:57.90 from Jennifer Meadows hard-charging 1:57.93.

The event that more than any enthralled the crowd was thewomen’s high jump. It proved to be a battle between Crotia’sBlanka Vlasic, Russia’s Anna Chicherova and Germany’s ArianeFriedrich. Friedrich had set a new German record of 2.06m andthe German press was all over her. Gunter Eisinger, Friedrich’scoach, had felt that Chicherova was dangerous and could stealthe event, and she nearly did. However, this was to be Vlasic’snight and her clearance of 2.04m got her the Gold. Chicherovacouldn’t clear 2.04 on three tries, but did clear 2.02m on her sec-ond attempt. It had taken Friedrich, who has this Gwen Stefaniemeets X thing going, has the dramatis personae of an actress ina Wagnerian opera. When she cleared a height, her stance onthe pit was like a rock star. The crowd loved the difference be-tween Vlasic and Friederich. The women’s high jump had thecrowd on its feet for much of the evening!

SPECIAL REPORT: BERLIN '09PHOTO CREDIT: PhotoRun.net 9


Day 6 opened with the decathlon. The spirit of Glenn Morris was with Trey Hardee, as he pulledinto the lead. In the 110m hurdles in 13.86, giving him 993 points, and then the discus, a throwof 48.08 gave him 830 points. His pole vault of 5.20m gave him 972 points, his javelin gave him859 for the 68.00 throw, and his final 625 points for a 4:48.91 1500 meters gave Hardee his firstGold medal in the decathlon, a 256-point personal best and a win by 150 points. Leonel Suarez,the Cuban vet, had a superb second day with a huge javelin throw of 75.19 for 969 points! Suarezscored 8650. In the Bronze position, Aleksandr Pogorelov scored 8528, with Ashton Eaton in 18thand Jake Arnold in 24th.

After two years away from the sport, American Lashinda Demus challenged OlympicGold medal-ist Melanie Walker in the 400 meter hurdles. Demus hit two hurdles, and ran 52.96 for the Sil-ver. Walker ran 52.42 for the Gold and a world leader. Josanne Lucas of Trinidad ran 53.20 for theBronze. Note that the next three either ran seasonal best or personal bests. Something tells methat Demus will be back, shooting for a move up on the medal stage.

The next event was the men’s 200 meters. Common sense noted that Usain Bolt would run asfast as he needed to win. Well, that was not what happened. Getting his best start in a worldchampionship, Bolt used all 6'4" of his height to take that turn and come blazing down thestraight, inching closer and closer to the finish line, with the crowd screaming. Winning by 0.62over Alonso Edward of the Panama, Bolt ran a new world record of 19.19! Wallace Spearmontook third in 19.85. The superlatives for Bolt have drained me. Suffice it to say that he is the giantof his generation. I have no idea who could beat him over 100 or 200 meters.

The evening ended with the 110 meter hurdles (actually, it was the 1500 meters for the decathlonafter that, but give me some literary license). Ryan Brathwaite had run 13.18 in the semi-finals.David Payne and Terrance Trammell of the U.S. ran well. Dayron Robles of Cuba hurt himself

and didn’t finish the semi-final, so the Olympic champion wasout of the picture. In the final, Trammell got out well,

but was behind Payne. Brathwaite didn’t get outas well as Trammell, but ate up the hurdles,

just running clean and taking the lead bymidway, with Trammell right next to

him and Payne right on Trammell. Bythe smallest of margins, Brath-

waite of Barbados won the 110mhurdles in 13.14 over Trammell,who outleaned Payne for theSilver, both in 13.15. For Tram-mell, this was his third WC Sil-ver, and for Payne, this is hissecond Bronze WC medal.



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Day 7 was the only day with rain. It came in the evening, and therewas a short delay. In the finals, Allyson Felix won the 200 meters, de-fending titles won in 2005, 2007. Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell Browntook second, with Debbie Ferguson of the Bahamas in third. In the400 meters, Jeremy Wariner had the lead at 300 meters, as LaShawnMerritt charged down the final straightaway to take the Gold, Warinerthe Silver. A battle of two Olympic champions, with Rene Quoy inthird. Stephanie Brown Trafton, the Olympic Gold medalist at the dis-cus, had a bad day and finished 12th. The bad thing of the day for theU.S. was the men’s 4x100 meter relay. Great Britain filed a protest,claiming that the U.S. was out of the exchange zone on the last ex-change—we couldn’t see it on the tape—but in the end, the U.S. wasdisqualified, even with an official appeal.

The men’s high jump was fascinating, as Yaroslav Rybakov of Rus-sia cleared 2.18m, 2.23 on first attempt. Rybakov took two to clear2.28m, and one to clear 2.32, but no clearances at 2.35m on three at-tempts. His two attempts at 2.28m would give him the Gold.Greece’s Kyriakos Ioannou cleared 2.18m, 2.23m on first attempts,then three to clear 2.28m, and cleared 2.32m on his first attemptwith three attempts at 2.35m. His three attempts at 2.28 (cleared on

third) gave him the Silver.

Now it got fun. German’s Raul Spank and Poland’s SylwesterBednarek tied for the Bronze. Spank cleared 2.18m, 2.22m on hisfirst attempt, then 2.28m on third, 2.32m on two and three attemptsat 2.35m. Bednarek took two attempts on 2.18m, one on 2.22m, twoon 2.28m, two on 2.32m and three attempts on 2.35. As Spank andBednarek tied, they both took home Bronze medals.

Karma is karma. Stephanie Brown Trafton just destroyed the field inBeijing, first throw, party over, have a sack lunch, do one’s nails, etc.Not so in Berlin. Brown Trafton just couldn’t get the discus flyinglike earlier in the season. She ended 12th.

Nicoletta Grasu of Romania threw 65.20m in round 2 to take thelead, her seasonal best. In round 5, Australia’s Dani Samuels let herdiscus fly and fly it did, all the way out to 65.44m and a personalbest. As Samuels stopped jumping up and down and her coachesstopped the manly hugs, she was noted as the best discus throwerin the world for 2009, with her Gold here. In round 6, Cuba’s YarelisBarrios hit 65.31m to move Grasu back to third.

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Day 8 was the first marathon day. Themen’s marathon was fast, as KenyanAsbel Kirui blasted his way through the4-lap, 10K you’re talking about a 10Kcourse, and then 25K and 30K course,starting and finishing at the historic Bran-denburg Gate. At the halfway, TsegayKebede of Ethiopia, Asbel Kirui of Kenyaand Deriba Merga of Ethiopia led a packof 10 in 1:03.03. Robert KipkoechCheruiyot of Kenya, BAA Boston andBofA Chicago winner, was also in thepack. Cheruiyot made his move at 25K,taking the lead there, but Kirui took thelead back at 30K, and started to moveaway, making the last lap of the circuit a

clear demonstration of his strength onthis day, winning in 2:06.54. EmmanuelKipchirir Mutai of Kenya was second in2:07:48, and Kebede was the Bronzemedalist in 2:08:35.

For the U.S. team, Daniel Browne wasthe first finisher, running 2:16:49 in 24thplace, Matt Gabrielson in 2:18:41 andNate Jenkins in 2:32.16, giving the U.S.team 13th. Justin Young, Eduardo Torresdidn’t finish.

Following in the steps of Jesse Owens,

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Dwight Phillips won the Gold in Berlin in 8.54m,on his second jump. Godfrey Mokeono of SouthAfrica was the Silver medalist in 8.44m, andMitchell Watt of Australia took the Bronze withan 8.37m jump. Irving Saldino, the Osaka and Bei-jing champion, fouled three times. For DwightPhillips, the journey back to his winning levels of2003, 2004 and 2005 is over. Just how far canPhillips jump now?

Two jumps. Two jumps with such meaning. Asore groin made jumping an agony for SteveHooker, the Australian Gold medalist in the polevault from Beijing. Hooker missed at 5.85 onceand moved up to 5.90m. It was either Gold ornothing. Taking his long run up, Steve Hookerwent airborne and cleared 5.90m! Now it was upto the French star, who missed once at 5.90m,and then twice at 5.95m and Mesnil took the Sil-ver with his countryman, Renaud Levillanie tak-ing the Bronze.

Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland broke the worldrecord in the women’s hammer in the secondround, 77.96, and that held for the Silver. BettyHeidler of Germany broke the German nationalrecord in round 6, with her 77.12m for the Silver.Martina Hrasnova of the Slovak Republic threw74.79m for the Bronze. U.S. throwers JessicaCrosby and Amber Campbell were seventh and11th, respectively.

The women’s 5000 meters was another one ofthose “who would have thought?” races. YurkiaNakamura of Japan led the first kilometer in3:06.2, with Sentayehu Ejigu of Ethiopia leadingthe second kilometer in 6:11.04. At this time,Kenya’s Vivian Cheruiyot took over the pacingneeds, hitting 9:15.05 for 3000 meters and 4000meters in 12:15.79. Running the last kilometer in2:42, Cheruiyot, Meseret Defar and Sylvia Kibet,were, well, close. As the final stretch hit, Defarwas in full run, with Cheruiyot and Kibet in pur-suit. Shocking Defar once again, Cheruiyot wentby just before the finish line, to win in 14:57.97,with Kibet in second in 14:58.33 and Defar in14:58.41. Jennifer Rhines was ninth in 15:11.12.

In the women’s 4x100m relay, the Jamaicans wonin 42.06 without Veronica Campbell Brown. TheBahamas was second and Germany was third.The U.S. had a mishap in the rounds, as Muna Leecollapsed with an injured hamstring after takingthe baton, and did not advance.

In the men’s 4x100m relay, Jamaica won, withUsain Bolt in the third leg, and Asafa Powell tak-ing it home in 37.31. Trinidad and Tobago set a NR

in 37.62 and Great Britain Bronze in 38.02. TheU.S. did not make the final, as they failed to makethe final pass in the exchange zone in the rounds.This infraction was noted by Great Britain. Did wereally upset them that badly when we renouncedthat Colony thing? Did someone say somethingnasty about Cricket?

In our final day, day 9, we had some fascinatingreminders that this is, in the end, a sport. On thefour-lap course starting at the Brandenburg Gate,over 400,000 watched Xue Bai of China win overYoshima Ozaki, 2:25:25 to 2:25:15. Aselefech Mer-gia of Ethiopia took the Bronze in 2:25:32. The fa-vorite, Chunxiu Zhou of China finished fourth andXialolin Zhu of China was fifth. Spending much ofthe last 13 miles in stomach distress, KaraGoucher finished 10th in 2:27:48, with DesireeDavila in 2:27:53 in 11th.

In the men’s 5000 meters, Kenenisa Bekele heldthe lead the entire race, “I wanted the paceslow,” commented Bekele. With 100 meters togo, defending champ Bernard Lagat came up onBekele’s shoulder with 30 meters to go, but thatwas as far as Lagat went. Bekele became the firstman to win both the 5000m and 10,000m. Bekelecontrolled the race, leading the first kilometer in2:54.35, then 2K in 5:34.17 and 3K in 8:14.63 and4K in 10:52.22. The final kilometer was run in 2:25!James C’Kurui was the bronze medalist behindLagat. Matt Tegenkamp was eighth and ChrisSolinsky was 12th.

Men’s javelin is the world of one Andreas Thork-ildsen of Norway, who threw 89.59m in round 2.He won by over 3 meters! That is nearly 13 feetfor you metrically challenged folks. In second wasCuba’s Guillermo Martinez, who threw 86.41m.Japan’s Yukifumi Murikami took the Bronze in82.97m. America’s Sean Furey threw 74.51 to take12th in the field.

In the women’s 1500 meters, three Americanwomen made the final. Heck, no American hadmade the WC final since 1997! In a very physicalrace, Spain’s Natalia Rodriquez tried to getaround Ethiopia’s Geleta Burka by running rightover her. Burka went down and all hell brokeloose. Rodriguez went on to outsprint MayramYusuf Jamal of Bahrain, Lisa Dobriskey of GreatBritian and a charging Shannon Rowbury.

SPECIAL REPORT: BERLIN '09PHOTO CREDIT: PhotoRun.net

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In the end Rodriguez was disqualified. Burka fin-ished 11th. Yusuf won the Gold, Dobriskey won theSilver and American Shannon Rowbury was theBronze medalist, with Christin Wurth Thomas infifth and Anna Willard of the U.S. in sixth.

In the 800 meters, Mbulaeni Mulaudzi of SouthAfrica hit the 400 meters in 53.44. He stayed onthe inside and fought off all pretenders to the 800meter crown. Alfred Kirwa Yego tried hard, and

held on for the Silver and Yusuf Saad Kamel, addeda Bronze to his Gold from the 1500 meters. RussianYuriy Borzakovskiy, the Olympic champion, wasrelegated to fourth. In sixth, Nick Symmonds madethe final and was in great position for most of therace, until the last 20 meters, where he started tolose form and finished sixth. Winning time was1:45.29, and Symmonds ran 1:45.71. He will be back.

In the women’s 4x400 meters, Debbie Dunntook the lead and ran 50.02, with Allyson Felixrunning a high 48 point, Lashinda Demus ex-

tending the lead, and Sanya Richards puttingthe race out of reach, as the U.S. ran

3:17.83, winning over Jamaica by three-plus seconds and Russia in the Bronze

position.

In the men’s 4x400 meters, AngeloTaylor took the lead, and JeremyWariner just blasted the second200 meters, giving it to KerronClement, 400m hurdle Goldmedalist. Clement ran hard andhanded off to LaShawn Merritt,the 400m Gold medalist, whoran it home hard, as the teamran a fine 2:57.86, the worldleader. Great Britain was sec-ond and Australia was third.

What does the U.S. learn fromBerlin? While we did well in themedals count, winning 22medals to 10 for Jamaica, ourdominance in the sprints is nolonger there. We’re doing wellin middle distances, and somefield events, but our rechargingof coaching education and anew focus on High Performanceare just in time. The failures inthe 4x100 meters mean that weneed to address what works andwhat doesn’t. A national pro-gram and national relay teammust be looked at. And promis-ing young athletes must be sup-ported. But, to do that, we needthat proverbial $100 million spon-sor, who is not a footwear com-pany, to take us and the sport tothe next level.

All in all, Berlin was an amazing ninedays of track & field!

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• SPECIAL REPORT: BERLIN '09PHOTO CREDIT: PhotoRun.net

14


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©2009 New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc.


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