by Larry EderAfter a night of certain challenges for the US team, it was nice to see the US squad sweep the 400 meters, just like Athens. Merritt had a splendid race, Wariner had an off day and Neville ran his brains out.
Men’s 400 meter Final-US Sweep!
Running a perfect race, La Shawn Merritt got out well, and ran each 100 meters like he owned it. Jeremy Wariner came off the turn just behind Merritt, but that was all she wrote. La Shawn Merritt was not to be stopped and he ran a personal best, hitting 43.75 to take the gold. Jeremy Wariner could not respond, but did hold onto the silver, in 44.74. David Neville of the US, running his own race, took the bronze in 44.80. Christopher Brown of the Bahamas ran 44.84 for fourth. Leslie Djhone of France ran 45.11 for fifth. Martyn Rooney, the guy who false started here, ran 45.11 for sixth. Renny Quow of Trinidad ran 45.22 for seventh and Johan Wisman of Sweden ran 45.39 for eighth.
In the end the gold went to La Shawn Merritt because he was able to run his race in an Olympic final, where Jeremy Wariner was just not on tonight. A small compromise in one’s race plan can mean the difference between gold and silver, here it did.
