Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas literally dived for Gold to win the 400m. Allyson Felix had to take Silver. Congrats to our girl, Shericka Jackson who won Bronze!
Note that her dive over the line was not the first of the night! It occured in the 110m Hurdles for one of the athletes to make 4th to qualify. Paradigm shift?
Terror in the Heats of the  110m Men’s Hurdles. Deuce Carter had to do a run-over in the Heats to make it in the Semis as a result of the heavy rains earlier in the evening that stopped races after his Heat on the track, where he tripped over hurdles and got a time which would not have qualified without the run-over.
Leah Nugent of Jamaica got a DQ after coming 2nd in the 400m Hurdles Heats for her poor execution of a hurdle, appealed and was reinstated later in the night for the Semis.
On a lighter note, Congrats to David Rudisha of Kenya for Defending and winning Gold in the 800m! First man in 50 years to win the 800m back to back.
If you have all recovered from yesterday’s events in RIO, here is today’s Schedule:
Usain Bolt has done it! He is now the first Sprinter ever to win Gold in the 100m at the Olympics 3 consecutive times!
Everyone thought that after the Semi-Finals he was ready to clock 9.6 odd or sub 9.8s based on previous trends. Usain Bolt clocked the fastest time of 9.86 in the Semi-Finals looking from side to side at DeGrasse who came 2nd and Bromell who qualified as a fastest loser in 3rd.
Justin Gatlin won his Semi-Final easily ahead of Yohan Blake in 9.94s. But Gatlin fled to the tunnel afterwards because he probably knew what was in store for him.
What was in store? Usain Bolt having the second slowest reaction time out of the blocks, keeping Gatlin in sight until he reached 60m, knowing Gatlin would get tired and then just ran right past him to win Gold in 9.81s. He could have proven everyone right by clocking sub 9.8s, but he only seemed concerned about winning and beat his chest before the line. He tweeted that this win was for his Jamaican people. Thanks Usain because you certainly made our weekend. Gatlin took the Silver in 9.89. Andre DeGrasse from Canada was a close 3rd and won the Bronze in 9.91.
Yohan Blake came from behind and was 4th with his SB in 9.93s.
USA’s TrayvonBromell came last.
Of course Gatlin was and still is the centre of social media memes. Besides being called a bus conductor, here are 2 of Suga’s faves:
Will Gatlin collect more Silver at his next stop by the 200m? We’ll see. In the mean time, Usain Bolt to di worl’!
In other news,
Tennis
Great Britain’s Andy Murray won Gold, beating Juan MartÃn del Potro of Argentina. Kei Nishikori of Japan defeated Spain’s Rafael Nadal to win the Bronze.
Nadal is not leaving RIO empty handed though because he won Gold in the Men’s Doubles.
Venus Williams and Ram lost out on the Gold medal after being up 6-3 in the decisive 3rd set to go down 7-10.
The USA still won Gold though with the pair of Mattek-Sands and Sock.
Women’s Triple Jump Final
Jamaica’s Kimberly Williams was unable to medal and came 7th. Caterine Ibargüen of Colombia won the Gold.
Men’s 400m Final
Wayde Van Niekerk from South Africa won the 400m with a WORLD RECORD of 43.03 out of Lane 8! He was way ahead of Kirani James of Grenada who got the Silver in 43.76 and USA’s LaShawn Merritt the Bronze in 43.85. He was .15s faster than Michael Johnson’s World Record setin 1999 that nobody thought would be broken.
Van Niekerk sprinted the entire 400m and could not see anyone. He even accelerated further on the final stretch. Magnificent run and Congrats to Van Niekerk who clearly saved all his gas for the Final.
The Sprinter who was in Jamaica a few months ago at the Jamaica National Racers Grand Prix, trained with Bolt for a few days leading up to the meet and they were happy to be able to Congratulate each other as Champions after their races.
Stay tuned for today’s packed Schedule!
By: Gabrielle Burgess
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There will be showdowns before the Final starting today at 7pm!
It is doubtful that young, Christania Williams will make the final but we expect Shelly and Elaine to go through. Christania is quite determined though and is a promising sprinter with good form for our near future.
The Ministry of Tourism is hosting Christmas in July from 11am-6pm TODAY at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.
Check out locally made gift items that will be on display.
No sales will be made today but be sure to get contact information and order your gifts.
Be sure to check out the buzzing new crochet line, Eli’s Knits and Knots specializing in cosy hats, clothes, stuffed animals and dolls, blankets and more for the young ones!
All the foreigners and locals who bought their tickets to watch our talented Jamaicans at the National Stadium over the weekend were left disappointed.
Not only did Usain Bolt pull out of the 100 and 200m due to a Grade 1 Hamstring tear but so did Elaine Thompson. Why? She hasn’t even made her name fully on the International circuit, not that who you are should exempt you, but it is alleged she just felt a twinge somewhere. Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce also pulled out of the 200m but it is known she has been battling with a toe injury. So now she just has to put all her eggs in one basket for the 100m in a packed field. Gamble much?
It is said that Elaine Thompson will get exempted. What kind of effect will this have on future trials? I think the rules will be changed or restrictions will be put in place so athletes know they need to perform if a severe injury was not declared before the trials or it will be a free for all.
Mike Rogers of the USA certainly had a lot to say about Usain Bolt not running, along the lines that he should run because they don’t get that option, they wouldn’t be exempted. Perhaps he should have been spending more time preparing to make it to RIO to run in the 100m instead of running his mouth because he ran 10 flat, failing to qualify in the top 3 last night.
So yes, let us talk about where the US athletes are at. They are looking quite good. The ladies have a strong team and should win the 4×100m unless they have a mishap. All eyes were on Tori Bowie, the favourite, Tianna Bartoletta who also qualified for the Long jump and English Gardner. Bowie started out ahead, then came Bartoletta but at the end of the race English Gardner passed them all in 10.74s! Bartoletta and Bowie clocked 10.78s. Impressive.
English Gardner after many disappointments is certainly determined and coming hard for RIO. After the race you can usually expect some antics from the Americans. She made the motion of eating food from her plate to the camera. She definitely has bulked up in size, so does that mean that eating some food did it? Or is she familiar with the Jamaican saying and was telling rhe world and Jamaica that ‘she jus eat dem (Bartoletta and Bowie) food’? Who knows. But she is on our radar.
Dafne Schippers who Jamaicans call the ‘Dutchie’ will be running the 100m this Friday at a Manchester meet at about 7pm.
For the US men’s 100m, Gatlin who is now greying at 34 years old ran 9.83s in the semifinal and lowered that time to win the final in 9.80s. Trayvon Bromell clocked 9.84s and Marvin Bracy clocked  9.98s. Mouthy Mike Rogers came 4th in 10.00s and Tyson Gay, 5th. We are not worried about their 4×100m team though.
The antics after the race? Justin Gatlin said they are going to get the 1-2-3! Hilarious. Looks like he is greying and becoming even more delusional.
Moving on to the 400m Men. La Shawn Merritt is back! He won in 43.97s, the only sub -40 time this year. Not even the Donkey man can catch that for Jamaica. We also have South Africa and Grenada to think about.
In the heats of the Women’s 400m, the Jamerican Sanya Richards Ross could not complete. Quite unfortunate as she was looking to qualify for her last Olympics but has been suffering from a Hamstring injury. This was her goodbye to fans on social media:
So who took it? Felix the cat of course. Allyson Felix suffered a severe ankle injury months ago but she isn’t going anywhere. It is known how much of a fierce competitor she is. Felix came around the curb in 4th and Hastings was way ahead. She somehow found another gear and burnt up the stretch to win in 49.68s, breaking sub 50! Our athletes are nowhere near that time. Can’t touch our ladies for the 4×400m though. Strength in numbers. Phyllis Francis came 2nd for the USA followed by Natasha Hastings who usually goes out too fast and does not have enough for the finish.
Felix will be contesting the 200m later this week.