by Alfonz JuckHere are the details of Day 4 that you did not know. Quotes, upsets, and Olympic facts and figures from EME News. Learn more about the sport you love.
David Rudisha defends his London title! photo by PhotoRun.net
EME NEWS (AUG 15, 2016)
OLYMPIC GAMES 4TH DAY
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“My plan today was to run from the front as usual. I talked to my Kenyan colleagues and told them I was going to lead the race, but the gun went and Alfred ran the first 200 like a bullet, so I slowed down a bit as I felt it was a bit too high. I knew I was in good form and sometimes if you start too fast it can cost you in the last 100m and that is what I wanted to be aware of. It is unfortunate they did not follow what I said as it cost them,” David Rudisha after winning the 800 m.
“I started with my uncle, he did decathlon. It was just me and my uncle. He pushed me and thought it would be a good way for me. I didn’t live with my mother and father, I lived with my grandparents. For six months I played basketball, then I returned to pole vault,” Thiago Braz after winning the pole vault.
“I made a big mistake with that. It was just my first few words. Just my feeling but in my whole life I have never seen a crowd like that in track and field athletics. But you cannot compare with German public that time. I am sorry about what I said, it’s a big mistake to make that comparison. I was maybe too upset at that time. But what’s important about the sport is that when you train hard for one of the biggest competitions of your life and you have a crowd like that it is hard to say nothing,” Renaud Lavillenie after he compared the crowd with 1936 Olympics.
“It all kind of happened. My mind went completely blank and the next thing I was on the floor. We had the outside lane and my coach told me to take control of the race and I think I executed well,” Shaunae Miller after 400 m win.
RESULT OF THE DAY
World record in hammer by Anita Wlodarczyk her 5th and first ever world record in women hammer at Olympics. Ruth Jebet just missing the World record in women steeple, slow first km and not enough info for her that she is on pace to do it were the reasons.
SURPRISE OF THE DAY
Thiago Braz winning the pole vault with 603 OR, AR, WL. He improved his best by 10 cm.
MEDALS (23 countries)
1. USA 2-3-4, 2. KEN 2-3-0, 3. JAM 2-0-2, 4. CHN 1-2-0, 5. GBR 1-1-2, 6. BRN 1-1-0.
AGENT RANKINGS (by individual gold medal)
Jos Hermens 3, Ricky Simms 2, Karen Locke, Vera Michallek, Helena Van der Plaetsen, Adrian Laidlaw, Tyler Kukahiko, Federico Rosa, Peet van Zyl, Czeslaw Zapala, Marc Corstjens, Jose Praia, James Templeton, Claude Bryan.
TITLE DEFENDERS
Yes: Farah, Bolt, Rudisha, No: T. Dibaba, Adams, Chen Ding, R. Harting, Fraser-Pryce, Rutherford, Ennis-Hill, Rypakova, James, Lavillenie.
TOP MARKS
WR 3 (Ayana, Van Niekerk, Wlodarczyk), OR 4 (Ayana, Van Niekerk, Wlodarczyk, Thiago), WL 9 (Ayana, Van Niekerk, Harting, Carter, Ibarguen, Jebet, Thiago, Rudisha, Miller), World Hept best (Thiam, Johnson-Thompson HJ)
Thiam no high jump
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Fresh heptathlon Olympic winner Nafissatou Thiam decided not to compete also in high jump in Rio. Informs her agent. After clearing world best ever within heptathlon 198 she could have high ambititons. In the other issue the organisers of AG Insurance Van Damme Memorial IAAF Diamond League final in Brussels on Sep 9 added women high jump into programme as promotional event. Thiam will so compete before the home audience already as olympic winner.
RIO NEWS
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Michael Johnson´s first reaction after Wayde van Niekerk broke his record was “Oh my god,” for the BBC. He also tweeted later on: “Congratulations @WaydeDreamer to you and your coach! Well done and deserved. Olympic Gold and World record. I know the feeling! #Rio2016”.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Anita Wlodarczyk will have her first post olympic competition at the 6th Kamila Skolimowska Memorial at the National Stadium in Warszawa on August 28. In men discus silver winner Piotr Malachowski will be there against bronze winner Daniel Jasinski from Germany.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): There might be two opportunities for Ruth Jebet to attack the steeple World record as she plans to run in two more steeple races this year. First in Paris Diamond League leg and then at the finals in Zurich.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Yulia Stepanova said she fears for her life after hackers tried to access her ADAMS account in an attempt to find her whereabouts, informs Reuters.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Olympic silver and bronze medallists Kirani James and LaShawn Merritt both paid tribute to the world 400m record-holder Wayde Van Niekerk, informs the Independent Online. “It was incredible. To be honest, I’m just happy to be part of history. He just wouldn’t slow down. Usually guys slow down a bit in the last hundred but he just kept going,” said James. “I knew the time was going to be fast but I didn’t think it was going to be 43.0 fast. But it is what it is. He ran his heart out. You gotta run from the start to run 43.0. This is a great era and I’m proud to be part of it,” said Merritt.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Wayde Van Niekerk’s room-mate Akani Simbine expected him to break the world record, informs the Independent Online. “Wayde is amazing, spending time three months with him every year, I knew he would be this great, and I always knew he could break the record. He was targeting it but he didn’t bring it up much because that’s just adding pressure, he just knew what he needed to do and we believed in what he could do,” he said.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Usain Bolt was critical of the close scheduling of the 100m semifinal and final which he believed was responsible for the comparatively slow winning time, informs AP “I don’t know who decided that. It was really stupid. So, that’s why the race was slow. There’s no way you can run and go back around and run fast times again. You need time to recover, especially as I’m getting older. I’m not happy with the schedule, and hopefully, they’ll change it back,” he said.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Usain Bolt is hoping to go head-to-head with Wayde Van Niekerk over 300m next year, informs the Independent Online. “I’d love to run the 300 against him next year, he said.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce said her tears after the 100m semifinals were due to the pain she felt in her foot, informs Jamaica Observer. “It was really difficult. I cried because it was really unbearable, but I knew, I had one more race to go and I just prayed and said, ‘God, if it’s to be, it will be,’ and I am really happy,’ she revealed. However, Fraser-Pryce is hoping to be part of the 4x100m team.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): World bronze medallist Nikoleta Kiriakopoulou is also a late scratch from the pole vault. The Greek has been struggling with an ankle injury in recent weeks.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): World leader Faith Kipyegon is confident of delivering victory in the Olympic 1500m final, informs the Daily Nation. “I expect it to be a tough contest but I want to assure Kenyans that I will give them something special,” she said.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Veronica Campbell-Brown isn’t thinking about retirement despite a blunder in the 200m heats when she ran out of her lane, informs Track Alerts. “I am not even going to get into what happened, because I cant change it, I just have to move on. It was a terrible execution, that’s all I can say.” said Campbell-Brown, who is hoping to be part of the 4x100m team. “I will go out with my teammates and do our best in that, and then move on to the rest of my season.”
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): World champion Shawn Barber joked that he gave himself a heart attack after needing three tries at his opening height in pole vault qualifying. “I think I gave myself a heart attack, just trying to keep everyone on their toes! I’m going to take everything away from today and be ready to go on Monday,” he said.
OTHER NEWS
ZURICH (SUI): Newly crowned Olympic 400m champion and world record-holder Wayde van Niekerk has been confirmed for the Weltklasse Zurich Diamond League on 1 September, informs organisers.
STATS (by Ken Nakamura)
SC wom: Jebet won first gold medal for Bahrain in any sport and became first World Junior Champion (as well as first Asian Games and first Asian champ gold medalist) to win Olympics in this event. Difference of 8.42 sec between 3rd and 4th is the largest ever in Olympics. Jebet missed the WR, but became first to run sub-9 min W3000mSC twice. Emma Coburn ‘s time of 9:07.63 is the best 3rd place time in history.
HT: With gold and silver (could be upgraded to gold) 4 years ago, Wlodarczyk became third two-time Olympic medalist. 5.54 is the largest winning margin in the history of the Olympics and Champs.First medal for GBR by Hitchon in Olympic WHT.
200 m: Ta Lou is the fastest heat time ever with 22.32 at the Olympics.
SC men: no one from ETH or TUR in men heats advanced.
PV: Thiago Braz became only the second World Junior Champion to win Olympic gold at PV. Lavillenie is the ninth PV to win multiple Olympic medals. Richards has three (including two gold), everyone else has two. BRA does not have World Championships PV medal, so it is a first medal for BRA at global championships in pole vault.
W400m: Shauna Miller became first World Youth and World Junior Champion to win the Olympics, all at W400m. Winning margin of 0.07 sec in Olympic Women’s 400m ties the minimum winning margin from 2008.
W800m: Rudisha became 4th 800m runner to win the Olympic twice; Snell, Whitfield and Lowe are other three. The 1:42.15 is the third fastest 800m time in the Games. Clayton Murphy won first Olympic 800m medal for the US since Gray won a bronze in 1992
