Elton Tucker, Assistant Editor - Sport
Jamaica's Kerron Stewart (right) and Sherone Simpson comfort each other after failing to relay a baton in the women's 4x100-metre relay during the athletics competitions in the National Stadium at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Friday. - AP
BEIJING, China:
It was joy for Jamaica's men inside the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing last night. However, it was a huge disappointment for the women.
The men, led by the incomparable Usain Bolt, completed the sprint sweep in devastating fashion with an incredible 37.10 seconds world-record run in the 4x100 metres.
The women, however, failed to get the baton past the second changeover and did not finish.
Bolt, with an unprecedented three gold medals and three world records, became the first Jamaican to win more than two gold medals in a single Olympic Games.
The new world record was a fantastic achievement as it shaved a massive three-tenths of a second off the 37.40 mark run twice by the Americans. They did it first at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, then a year later, repeated the feat at the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.
FIRST OLYMPIC MEDAL
Asafa Powell, running the final leg, collected his first Olympic medal, erasing the hurt of a fifth-place finish in the 100m, both here and in Athens four years ago.
After 39 of 47 events in athletics, Jamaica slipped slightly to second behind Russia in the medal standings in athletics. Both countries have six gold medals, but Russia lead overall with 15 medals. They have four silver and five bronze to Jamaica's three silver and one bronze and 10 medals overall.
The Americans, who are ranked first in medals won with 21 overall, are third in the gold-medal column, with five.
Bolt could hardly find words to describe his feeling after completing a dream Games.
"I can't explain the feeling, it is just great," he said.
Powell said he wanted to play his part in ensuring that Bolt got the three gold medals.
"I really came out here tonight to push myself and help Usain in his quest for three gold medals," Powell said. "We really expected to go below 37 seconds. This makes up for everything that has gone in the past."
Jamaica's men ended the race by almost a second ahead of second-place Trinidad and Tobago, who got silver in 38.06 with Japan third in 38.24. The other members of the winning quartet were Nesta Carter, who started and Michael Frater, who ran the second leg.
GOOD START
Shelly-Ann Fraser, the 100m gold medallist, gave the women a good start and it looked like gold when Sherone Simpson collected the baton and began to mow down more of their rivals.
Then it all went wrong. Kerron Stewart ran off too early and the change was never completed. Russia won the race in a fairly slow season best 42.31 seconds, a time Jamaica's crack quartet could have easily done if they had stood up and taken the baton at each changeover. Belgium took second in national record 42.54 and Nigeria were third, also in a season best 43.04.
The women refused to blame anyone for the mishap.
Fraser, who was being watched by her mother, Maxine Simpson, who had hurriedly travelled from Jamaica to watch the final stages of the Games, summed it up well.
"Honestly, it is a part of life when something like this happens. We have had a great Olympics so far. We have won five gold medals (she spoke before the men's race) and hopefully the men can go out there and make it six. After every disappointment there is happiness. We are happy anyway."
DECLINED TO BLAME
She declined to blame a lack of sustained baton practice for the mishap.
"If we were doing baton change from last year, if it was not for us, it was not for us," she said.
Veronica Campbell-Brown, who watched from the final leg as the mishap unfolded, was also philosophical in her response.
"Maybe it was Russia's destiny to get the gold medal here tonight. Whatever happened it was unfortunate that we did not win. The team has done excellent work. We have got to thank God for what we have achieved. This has been our greatest Olympics," said Campbell-Brown.
