by Larry Eder
The women’s 800m brought tears aplenty for Britain’s women, not the same tears, but tears all the same. As Lynsey Sharp cried in ecstacy and relief at securing silver for the home nation after recovering from an illness just hours before the final that had threatened to curtail months of expectation. Teenager Jessica Judd showed the innocence of youth and desire as she wept post-race after finishing in the cruellest position of 4th, having been odds on for bronze with 80m to go and thrown it away.
Judd had given her all and it just hadn’t been enough, as her legs let her down when she needed them the most; demanding a super kick to the line to secure her medal, the 19 year old, had nothing left in the home strait as she faded out of contention. While it’s almost impossible to comprehend the situation immediately afterwards, once she looks back at her race and her progress throughout the competition Judd will realise just how well she has done. Coming into her first major championship final as the youngest athlete in the field by over a year and a half, as well as the second slowest, she showed her bravery to go for broke and it very nearly worked.
Her finish was still arguably the best middle distance performance by an female English middle distance runner at a major championships before the age of 20; even better than that of Charlotte Moore when she claimed the British record at the Manchester Commonwealth Games but only finished 6th in her final. To get so far in the sport already and even be able to be in a position to suffer such heartbreak at such an early age is a credit her quick development onto the international stage. After all, it wasn’t until the age of 24, that the great Kelly Holmes even made her first major championship final.
With that in mind, the youngster still has 5 years before her medals tally can truly be judged, although you sense she won’t need as long as that to make amends for her disappointment, with Zurich 2014 just a week away it could come as soon as then. So if anything just missing out today will push her even better for tomorrow.
For Sharp, the importance of standing on that podium was far more clear cut; having come into the season with her sights set on delighting her national crowd at Hampden Park, early injuries and a lack of fast times fueled the fire that one of Scotland’s poster girls would not make it to the games. Yet after making the qualifying standard in May, the Edingburgh athlete began to rise towards her best form; first winning the British Championships, before breaking 2 minutes for the first time in Lausanne and then again in Madrid to arrive in Glasgow as 2nd favourite behind Eunice Sum.
After an okay heat, there was a near disastrous semi-final, where Sharp only just made it to the final as a fastest loser, appearing to have had a dip in form right at the wrong time. Only for it to be later revealed that the Scot had been hit by a bout of illness so severe that with fewer than 24 hours to go until the race she was placed on a drip.
From her state of pain she rose to fight away sickness and outlast her opponents as she stuck to the message on her hands to get out and strong and commit just as boldly as the ink that had been placed on her skin.
Looking slightly off the pace at 500m the long legged athlete stretched out in the final 150m and went for broke as she went past 5 athletes to charge home in to Silver to ignite the Hampden Roar. Afterwards she told BBC reporters: “There was no way after going through everything I’ve been through I was not going to medal.”
Her spirit to succeed at the games epitomized the importance of a championship that some have wrongly maligned the importance of within the world of athletics.
Credit should also go to Jenny Meadows for her commitment to going for broke in the race despite knowing she might not have quite enough to see it through and also for the way she handled the situation will Judd post-race, offering the support of a team mate when she needed it the most.
