Olympic champion and world-record holder Usain Bolt won the 100m in 9.77 seconds at the Golden Spike meet on Wednesday.
Bolt had a strong tail wind of 2.1m per second — too fast to make the time count officially — but he wasn’t complaining.
“I’m just happy I got under 10 seconds,” he said. “Sometimes I got the right wind, sometimes I don’t. I’m just happy I ran injury free.”
“It was quicker than I thought,” said the Jamaican, who was cheered by the crowd long after his race. “It was not an easy victory. I had some problems at the beginning so the result is great for me. I enjoy winning.”
After a seemingly slow start he wasn’t happy about, Bolt cruised to victory ahead of Britain’s Craig Pickering, who finished well behind in 10.08. Ronald Pogon of France was third in 10.17.
Olympic 110m hurdles champ Dayron Robles of Cuba, who set the world record at 12.87 seconds in Ostrava last year, won this year in 13.04 seconds, the world’s best time this season. He was followed by Dexter Faulk of the US in 13.13 and Shamar Sands of Bahamas in 13.38.
The 2005 world champion, Bershawn Jackson of the US, won the men’s 400m hurdles in 48.32 seconds, also in the best time of the season, with Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic second in 49.20 and Marek Plawgo of Poland third in 49.59.
Meselech Melkamu of Ethiopia was running neck and neck with Kenya’s Linet Masai in the women’s 5,000m until she reached the finish in 14 minutes, 34.17 seconds. Masai was just 0.19 second behind followed by another Kenyan, Vivian Cheruiyot, in 14:38.26.
Paul Hession of Ireland took the men’s 200m with a strong finish, beating Brian Dzingai of Zimbabwe by one-hundredth of a second in 20.44 seconds.
Double world champ Michelle Perry of the US was beaten by Jamaica’s Delloreen Ennis-London in the women’s 100m hurdles.
Ennis-London crossed in 12.79 seconds.
Perry, who hit a hurdle, finished in 12.86 while Danielle Carruthers of the US was third in 12.90.
“I hit the seventh hurdle,” Perry said. “It’s a pity. I wanted to improve my reputation [here] after I had false starts in 2007.”
In the rarely contested women’s 20,000m, Dire Tune of Ethiopia targeted the world record of 1 hour, 5 minutes, 26.6 seconds set by Tegla Loroupe of Kenya in 2000, but finished well outside in 1:05:35.3.
“I think the pacemakers were not good enough. It was slow and it was very hard to run such a long track alone,” Tune said.
Olympic silver medalist Maria Abakumova of Russia disappointed the crowd of some 22,000 by winning the women’s javelin with a throw of 66.89m, beating Czech Olympic champion Barbora Spotakova, who was third with 65.92m. Christina Obergfoell of Germany was second with 66.88m.
Not even a tense tete-a-tete in the gold-medal game on Friday could spoil the vibe at Paris’ biggest beach party. Canada’s Brandie Wilkerson and Brazil’s Ana Patricia got into a shouting match on either side of the net in the tiebreaking third set of the beach volleyball final of the Paris Olympics. The referee tried to keep the peace, but it was the Eiffel Tower Stadium DJ who cooled tempers on the sand by playing John Lennon’s Imagine over the PA system. The players laughed and clapped, the crowd applauded and sang along, Wilkerson was shown a yellow card and the top-ranked Brazilians
China yesterday celebrated one of its best Olympic performances, while some supporters declared China the true winners, if medals won by Hong Kong and self-ruled Taiwan were included. “We are number one out of sovereign countries,” read one comment with more than 1,300 likes on Sina Weibo. Many similar posts included images of an adjusted medal table with medals won by Hong Kong and Taiwan added to the Chinese total. Since Taiwan’s Olympic debut in 1956, its athletes have competed as “Formosa,” “Taiwan,” “the Republic of China,” and since 1984 as “Chinese Taipei.” Hong Kong competes separately from China. Team China racked up 40 gold
PARIS SCOREBOARD: With Lin Yu-ting guaranteed to win a medal, Taiwan has secured at least seven medals in Paris, its second-most after the 12 it won in Tokyo Taiwan boosted its medal total at the Paris Olympics to one gold and five bronzes on Thursday after weightlifter Kuo Hsing-chun’s third-place finish in the women’s 59kg weight class, but it was shut out in taekwondo. Kuo, who won gold in Tokyo Games, took the bronze medal in her weight division with a total lift of 235kg, 1kg behind silver medalist Maude Charron of Canada. China’s Luo Shifang was crowned champion with a new Olympic record total lift of 241kg. She also set a new Olympic record in her third attempt at the snatch by lifting 107kg. Entering her last lift in the
Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo was the toast of Africa after winning the Olympic 200m gold on Thursday, but his immediate thoughts were much closer to home, as he dedicated his victory to his mother who died in May. Tebogo became the first African to win the event when he ran 19.46 seconds to beat the US’ Kenny Bednarek and a COVID-19-hit Noah Lyles to claim Botswana’s first Olympic gold medal and become the fifth-fastest man in history over the half-lap. He did it wearing spikes bearing his mother’s date of birth. “It’s basically me carrying her through every stride that I take,” Tebego told