BEIJING — It surely wasn’t meant to be symbolic, the fact that U.S. track officials handed out Olympic media guides a week ago featuring two strong, sinewy athletes in sleek Team USA uniforms on the cover, sweat glistening on their skin, but no faces. The photo was cut off above their necks.
After five days at the Olympic track, the cover choice looks ingenious. There was a time, not long ago, when the sport in the United States was defined by multiple medal winners. Champions many times over. Household names.
This year’s squad can’t find a star. All week, past world or Olympic medalists on the U.S. team have underperformed because of injuries (shotputter Adam Nelson, sprinter Tyson Gay, hurdler Terrence Trammell) or letdowns (shotputter Reese Hoffa, sprinters Torri Edwards and Lauryn Williams).
Meantime, two of the three golds have been unexpected: neither hurdler Dawn Harper nor discus thrower Stephanie Brown Trafton had won a major international competition.
Tuesday at Beijing’s National Stadium, two more seemingly sure bets stumbled in devastating fashion.
Meanwhile, Harper, considered the third-best among the U.S. hurdlers at the Olympics, grabbed the lone Team USA gold medal of the night in the 100-meter hurdles final.
That came after American Sanya Richards, the overriding favorite in the women’s 400 final, lost a two-step lead in the homestretch when her hamstring tightened. Passed by two runners, she ended up holding an unsatisfying bronze medal and trying to stem a torrent of tears even an hour after the competition.
“I feel more than snakebitten,” said Richards, who also failed to qualify for last year’s world championships after she contracted Behcet’s Syndrome, an illness that affects the immune system. “I feel so betrayed by my body once again.”
And Lolo Jones, the reigning world indoor champion, banged the ninth of 10 hurdles with her right foot in the 100 hurdles final. The mistake caused her to plummet from first to seventh while interrupting what had been a dream climb out of poverty, dating back to when she was homeless and living in the basement of a church. She buried her face in the track for a couple of minutes, pounding it with her fist.
“Today, I crashed and burned,” she said. “I’m shocked and sad, but I’m really happy for the girls who won.”
Jones’s stumble opened the door for Harper, who barely qualified for the U.S. team at the Olympic trials. She joyfully claimed the gold medal in 12.54 seconds, beating out an equally overjoyed Australian Sally McLellan (12.64) and Canada’s Priscilla Lopes-Schliep (12.64).
“It’s so surreal,” Jones said. “It’s going to hit me, maybe in the morning, and I’m going to sit and cry.”
In the last final, Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain outraced Kenyan Asbel Kiprop for the 1,500 gold, winning in 3 minutes, 32.94 seconds to Kiprop’s 3:33.11. Absent from the final was the reigning world champion, American Bernard Lagat, who got fatigued in the semifinal round and did not make the cut.
After years in which the United States provided the biggest track and field stars — think Marion Jones, Maurice Greene, Michael Johnson, Carl Lewis, Jackie Joyner Kersee, to name a few — none has emerged at this Olympics.
Jamaican Usain Bolt, who was introduced at the start of his 200-meter semifinal as “a man who needs no introduction,” has been the undisputed star of this show. Bolt, who set the 100 world record Saturday, elicited a thunderous roar from the crowd Tuesday, then led all qualifiers with his easy jog around the track in 20.09 seconds. Three Americans, Shawn Crawford (20.12), Wallace Spearmon (20.14) and Walter Dix (20.19) also advanced.
In the women’s 400 final, Richards got out fast. She blew past everyone in the field and settled comfortably into the lead on the final turn. By the time she got into the straightaway, she looked unbeatable. But a telling grimace emerged on her face with about 70 meters left. Britain’s Christine Ohuruogo surged past, winning in 49.62. Jamaican Chericka Williams got the silver in 49.67
When Richards crossed the finish line in 49.93, barely hanging onto third, she slapped her legs in frustration, but gamely congratulated the winners and took her victory lap.
“I’m just so disappointed,” she said. “I’ve never had anything like that happen. I was totally out of control in the straightaway of the race.”
Jones lost control, too. She had eased through the rounds of the U.S. trials and these Games without so much as brushing a hurdle. But in Tuesday’s final, as she tried to hold off a closing field, she seemed to hurry into the ninth hurdle and put her track spike smack into it.
“It’s very hard to pick yourself back up,” Jones said. “Today is hard; tomorrow is going to be harder. But what can you do?”
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