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2011 Track and Field Championships: A Perfect Ending for Bolt
This time, Bolt was undeniably back in the arena and undeniably back where he belonged coming out of the curve. Bolt has not lost a 200-meter final in four years, and that streak never appeared to be in danger Saturday night at the track and field world championships. But then Bolt — after his false start and disqualification in the 100 — was determined to take no chances in the longer sprint. Bolt was last out of the blocks, and even with a healthy lead over Walter Dix of the United States, he pushed all the way through the finish line, straining in the closing meters as he appeared to be fighting the final-phase muscle lock that is usually the concern of lesser men. “It wasn’t a perfect start,” Bolt said. “It wasn’t perfect technique going down, but it was all that I had.” The winning time, 19.40 seconds, would have been awe-inspiring in other eras, but with Bolt’s world record at 19.19, he had to settle for the fourth-fastest time in history and a successful defense of his title. Was Bolt’s quest to become, in his words, “a legend” back on track? “I think I made a small step forward,” he said. “But I think I have to come to the Olympics and do my extreme best and just blow the people’s minds. So that’s the aim for me.” Watch out, world, and watch out fellow sprinters like Dix, who took the silver medal in 19.70 seconds and Christophe Lemaitre, a 21-year-old Frenchman who has emerged in a hurry in the last year and took the bronze medal in 19.80. Earlier in the evening, the United States won its 10th gold medal of these championships, taking the women’s 4x400 relay as the former 400 <a href="http://newerahatstock.com/rock-star-hat-c-16.html"><strong>rock star hat</strong></a> world champion Sanya Richards-Ross set the tone with a strong opening leg timed in 49.30 seconds. Her teammates Allyson Felix, Jessica Beard and Francena McCorory maintained the lead as the United States won in 3 minutes 18.09 seconds, ahead of Jamaica and Russia. It was the third medal here for Felix, who took silver in the 400 and bronze in the 200. It was also some consolation to Richards-Ross, who failed to win a medal in the 400. “I actually asked to run the first leg tonight,” Richards-Ross said. “I really wanted to set the tone tonight. In my mind, I wanted to go out of the blocks one more time before the season was over.” The United States also won three other medals to bring its table-topping total to 21. The most surprising was Matt Centrowitz’s bronze in the men’s 1,500, won by Asbel Kiprop of Kenya. Centrowitz’s father, Matthew, was a two-time Olympian. Bolt’s <a href="http://newerahatstock.com/coogi-hat-c-11.html"><strong>coogi hat</strong></a> trademark showboating — lightning bolt pose, for one — was reserved for before and after the race in which he had to overcome the physics that came with running the tighter curve in Lane 3: no easy task for a man who stands 6 feet 5 inches and is more accustomed to Lanes 5 or 6. But Bolt still bent this race to his will: making up the stagger on Dix and winning in a way that underscored the significance of his gaffe in the 100, which was won in his absence by 21-year-old Yohan Blake. “I think it was anxiety,” Bolt said of his false start. “I felt so good. I was ready to go. I was excited. I just wanted to get on the track and run. When we were in the holding area, all I could tell the guy was, ‘Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go.’ I just wanted to get on the track. So personally, I think anxiety got the best of me.” Bolt, who had not spoken at length since his disqualification, resisted calling for a change in the false-start rule, which has been under increased scrutiny. Bolt also declined to blame Blake, whose left leg twitched before Bolt’s false start. “A few people come to me and said, ‘Blake twitched,’ ” Bolt said. “But Blake is a wonderful athlete. He worked hard, and to me he worked even harder than me this season. He really put a lot of work in. There have been times I’ve gone to his room to see him, and he’s doing abs and back exercises and stuff like that. So for me, if anyone deserves to win that gold medal, it was Yohan Blake because he really worked hard, and definitely I’m proud of him because he did the country proud.” But Bolt was the top Jamaican on Saturday, even if his performance was not the most remarkable of the night. Sally Pearson of Australia was close to flawless in the women’ s 100 hurdles. Her time of 12.28 seconds was a championship record and the fastest time in 19 years: seven-hundredths of a second off Yordanka Donkova’s world record set in 1988. No world records have been set in these championships, and Pearson’s victory certainly looked like the performance of the meet. The United States took the silver and bronze medals in the race, with Danielle Carruthers finishing just ahead of the reigning Olympic champion Dawn Harper in an identical time of 12.47. Pearson’s victory was all the more impressive because she managed it on the day she appeared on the cover <a href="http://www.newerahatstock.com/"><strong>wholeslae new era hats</strong></a> of the championships program, which has brought almost nothing but bad karma to its previous subjects. Pearson posed with the program after the race. “Stuff the bloody curse,” Pearson said to Australian television. “I worked too hard to let any bloody curse stop me from winning.” Notes Abel Kirui successfully defended his marathon title Sunday morning, completing a Kenyan double in the event. Kirui won the race in 2 hours 7 minutes 38 seconds to claim Kenya’s seventh gold medal of the meet and reaffirm its dominance in the long distances. His teammate Vincent Kipruto was second in 2:10:06, and Feyisa Lilesa of Ethiopia followed in 2:10:32. Last week, Edna Kiplagat led Kenya to a sweep in the women’s marathon. (AP)
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