by Alfonz Juck
Wayde Van Niekerk, WR, 43.03, photo by PhotoRun.net
EME NEWS (AUG 17, 2016)
OLYMPIC GAMES 6TH DAY
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I can’t honestly remember the race, really. I do know that I hit quite a few hurdles, but I didn’t let that mess up my composure. I was able to continue to stay focused and make sure I got across that line, make sure I saw my name on top of that board. I’m so glad that God was able to guide me through that race. I couldn’t be more happy,” Brianna Rollins.
“A 200 is very hard. This is actually my fourth 200 for the season. It was amazing. I had a lot of lactic pain. I had to lay down before my celebration,” Elaine Thompson.
“This medal means a lot. This year didn’t go smoothly. It had lots of ups and downs and rough patches, so it really feels good that when you set a goal, no matter what happens, you´ve put your head down to focus on the things you can control,” Tianna Bartoletta.
RESULT OF THE DAY
Elaine Thompson winning the 200 m in fast 21.78 in her sixth race here in Rio.
SURPRISE OF THE DAY
Pawel Fajdek out in hammer qualification, Justin Gatlin out in 200 m semis, no one from Kenyans advanced from 5000 m heats.
MEDALS (30 countries)
1. USA 5-7-7, 2. KEN 4-3-0, 3. JAM 4-0-2, 4. CHN 1-2-1, 5. ETH 1-1-3, 6. GBR 1-1-2.
POINTS (55 countries)
1. USA 192, 2. KEN 78, 3. JAM 55, 4. GBR 53, 5. CHN 52, 6. ETH 49
AGENT RANKINGS (by individual gold medal)
Jos Hermens 4, Ricky Simms 2, Claude Bryan 2, Paul Doyle 2, Adrian Laidlaw 2, Karen Locke, Vera Michallek, Helena Van der Plaetsen, Tyler Kukahiko, Federico Rosa, Peet van Zyl, Czeslaw Zapala, Marc Corstjens, Jose Praia, James Templeton, Daniel Wessfeldt, Ray Flynn, Michel Boeting, John Regis.
TITLE DEFENDERS
Yes (5): Farah, Bolt, Rudisha, Pekrovic, Taylor. No (12): T. Dibaba, Adams, Chen Ding, R. Harting, Fraser-Pryce, Rutherford, Ennis-Hill, Rypakova, James, Lavillenie, Kemboi, Reese.
TOP MARKS
WR 3 (Ayana, Van Niekerk, Wlodarczyk), OR 5 (Ayana, Van Niekerk, Wlodarczyk, Thiago, Kipruto), WL 10 (Ayana, Van Niekerk, Harting, Carter, Ibarguen, Jebet, Thiago, Rudisha, Miller, Taylor), World Hept best (Thiam, Johnson-Thompson HJ). Decathlon Olympic best (Warner 100 m).
Van Niekerk ends the season
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Fresh Olympic winner and sensational World recor holder Wayde Van Niekerk decided to end the season. “The body and mind is tired from the record race and all the media commitments and hype has not allowed him much time to recover yet,” explains his agent Peet van Zyl. That means also he will not compete at any meetings after the Games in this year.
USA to have another chance in women relay
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): USA will have the chance to qualify for women 4×100 m final. After they were obstructed and subsequently not able to attack the finals they were given the chance to qualify by time in a special re-run. It will be held at 7 pm in Rio on Thursday and they will run in the same lane 2 and in the same composition. The target is faster than 42.70 what is currently the last position by time by China.
OTHER RIO NEWS
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): After being disqualified for a lane infringement in the 3000m steeplechase final, Ezekiel Kemboi has changed his mind after retirement. “I had opted to retire right after the Olympics only if i had come home with this medal….now i feel that i have to bring back this medal not by protesting again but right on track. Kemboi is not retired i will be coming to London 2017 to re-claim my medal from France. No limits,” he said on Facebook.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Darya Klishina was disappointed with her ninth place finish in yesterday’s long jump final, informs AP. “I can’t say I’m happy with my result, but I’m trying to stay positive. The last week and a half before the competition was a total disaster and I think I didn’t quite have enough today,” she said.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Caster Semenya’s opponents had varying opinions as to whether athletes with hyperandrogenism should be allowed to compete, informs AP. “I think that we need separate events for them, and for us. You can see that it’s easy for them,” said Natalia Lupu. “She is a woman and she must be allowed to run like us. She is not the only one in the world running as a woman in her condition,” said Lesotho’s Tsepang Sello. French 800m runner Justine Fedronic has said the overall standard has probably improved with Semenya allowed to compete. “If anything she has probably helped a lot of us run quite a bit faster this year than we might have otherwise.”
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Justin Gatlin blamed an ankle injury for not advancing through the 200m semifinals, informs AP. “Come off the turn, and felt pain in the last 20 meters. I looked over and I tried to hold on as long as I could,” he said. He hasn’t ruled out extending his career through until the 2020 Olympics. “From this point on I’m taking it year by year. I’m going to come out as strong as I can for each year. Someone like a Kim Collins gives me inspiration for Tokyo.”
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Abby D’Agostino who was advanced after falling in the 5000m heats has been forced to withdraw from the final and end her season due to an ACL tear. Hassan Mead has also been reinstated into the 5000m final after falling with 200 metres to go.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Elijah Manangoi has pulled out of the 1500m semifinals with a hamstring injury. After nobody advancing into the 5000 m final, this is another blow for the Kenyan running events team.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Pawel Fajdek was at a loss to explain his non-qualification from yesterday’s hammer qualifying, informs sport.se.pl. “I had no energy, I was not able to throw. It’s a nightmare. Maybe it was the heat but it was not the first time I’ve thrown in this weather,” he said. He added that he was throwing over 77 metres in warm up. He should next compete at Skolimowska Memorial in Warszawa on August 28.
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA): Relay savings in semis. Jamaica saved Bolt and Blake in men 4×1, USA Bromell with Gatlin, Canada De Grasse. On the women side Jamaica Thompson and Ch. Williams and USA Bowie. Netherlands also saved Martina. From today´s 200 m finalists only Guliyev ran for Turkey.
OTHER NEWS
AACHEN (GER): Sam Kendricks will go head-to-head with world champion Shawn Barber in Aachen on 7 September, informs Leichtathletik.de.
STATS (by Ken Nakamura)
WLJ:Bartoletta became fourth (after Drechsler, Lebedeva and Reese) WLJ to win both World Indoor Champ and Olympics. Bartoletta won third WLJ gold for US, most ever in the Olympics.USSR, ROU and GER has 2 each. 7.17 is the third longest WLJ in the Olympics.
W100mH: For the first time in history of the Olympic, US swept the medals at W100mH. It was 7th women sweep in Olympic history.Brianna Rollins became third World Champion (after Engquist & Pearson) to win the Olympic Games at W100mH.
W200m: Elaine Thompson became 7th woman, first since FloJo in 1988, to win Olympic sprint double (W100m & W200m). 21.78 is the eighth fastest time in the Olympic W200m.
M200 m: 19.78 by Bolt is the second fastest semi time of Olympic 200m, behind 19.73 by Mike Marsh from 1992. Justin Gatlin with fastest ever non qualifier at Olympic Games 20.13 did not make the final.
MJT: 88.68 by Walcott is the sixth longest JT in Olympics and second longest JT in the qualifying round of Olympics behind Jan Zelezny 89.39 in Sydney.
3000mSC: Conseslus Kipruto became first World Youth Champion to win the Olympics;First and second place time in 3000mSC were under the Olympic record. Highest finish by US by Jager at Olympic 3000mSC since the FBI man (Horace Ashenfelter) won in 1952.
W800m heats: Bishop ran the fastest W800m heat time in the Olympics with 1:58.38.
Dec: Damian Warner recorded 10.30, the fastest 100m in the Olympic Decathlon.
RESULTS
MANCHESTER (GBR, Aug 17): Joel Fearon continued his fine late season form in the Manchester international with 100m victory in 10.00 (1.8) having won a warm up race in 10.13 (1.0). Reece Prescod equalled his 200m best recording 20.57 (0.4).
