Report #13 From Outdoor World Championships

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BERLIN , GERMANY. - Before I get into last night, the semis for the 800 are out, and they are murderous.
 
Heat 1 has Symmonds, Kaki, Lewandowski.
 
Heat 2 is an Olympic final- seven of the eight have run under 1:44!!!!
 
Kamel, son of Konchellah and 1,500 winner, Kiprop- can he use better tactics, Khadevis-may be lost in this race, Ismail of Sudan, Borzakovskiy- Olympic champ, Mulaudyi of Soth Africa, a 1:42.68 man, and defending champion Yego of Kenya.
 
Heat 3 looks easier, but still Rudisha, who I like a lot, Gary Reed of Canada, and Laalou of Morocco.
 
Remember, only 2 automatically qualify, and two fastest losers. Thee will be some great people in the second heat who won't go into the final.
 
Now, back to last night, and this morning.
 
I went for a walk today, and as I came back to the hotel at 7 a.m., the skies fittingly opened up, with bolts of lightning, heavy rain, and thunder.
 
It's Bolt's birthday, and what could be more apropos after last night? Incredible- I hope for the good of all of us in the sport that he's clean.
 
He doesn't only celebrate after the race- he's putting on a show before, and even after false starts, he's mugging for the cameras. Unnerving to his competitors, I'm sure, who are stone-faced on the camera after a false start.
 
After his race last night, he jogged with the mascot, Berlino, gave the famous Bolt sign with the mascot, and then ''raced'' down the backstretch with Berlino the bear. He took off his shoes, and for a second, the crowd thought that they would get a priceless souvenir- was he going to throw his shoes into the stands? He didn't.
 
The crowd was probably close to 70,000 last night, and the morning crowd, I think I mentioned, was well oer 50,000, most I've ever seen for the a.m. show.
 
Trey Hardee won the decathlon- all these guys are good, and are posting performances in events that would make them nationally ranked in most cases. Then they add them up, and you have amazing scores.
 
Hardee was nowhere near the world record, but still ran 13.86 for the 110HH, and threw the jav 223-1. He alo had a 17-0.75 in the vault, and a 157-8 in the discus. His only ''bad'' event was the 1,500, which he ran in 4:48.91, but he had the thing won by then- and I repeat, he's not close to the WR.
 
Leshinda Demus led until the 9th hurdle, then the Olympic champ, Melaine Walker, just powered by.
 
The men's 110 HH went to Ryan Brathwaite of Barbados,who upset Terence Trammel and David Payne of the USA to win in a photo-finish 13.14.
 
A great moment in the 5,000 heats-Ali Aboosh of Ethiopia fell, lost his shoe, and the guy next to me said he lost 18 seconds at least- he was well over 120 meters behind. He started to sprint, and the place was going crazy as he started to pick up runners after 5 laps. Unfortunately, just as he was about ready to rejoin the main pack with 3 to go, the running started, and he was out of the money, running somewhere in the 13:36 range. But he got lucky, the Ethiopian team filed an appeal, and he will run in the final.
 
Bekele looks so easy, as all the African runners do. Solinsky and Tegenkamp are in the final, as is Lagat, who I'm sure will run a smart race. The question for Lagat is whether he can stand a race with surges, or a real hot pace? We haven't seen that in a championship final for a while. It's usually been a slow first 3K, then move.
 
Which brings us to the high jump, where there was great anticipation for the German faithful. Five women were still in at 1.99- I think that's 6-6-5. When Chicherova of Russia cleared 6-7.5 (2.02) on her first attempt, she went into the lead-Vlasic of Croatia cleared on the second, and Friedrich, the crowd favorite, cleared on her third attempt, after begging the crowd to be quiet.
 
Now it was up to 2.04 (6-8.5), and Vlasic went into the lead by clearing on her second attempt. She celebrated by shimmying- she was a diva before Bolt. Friedrich, now third, passed, and went for the gold, attempting 2.06 (6-9). She looked like she cleared, and the crowd was ready for another celebration, but a split-second later, the bar came down, and down went the hopes of the locals.
 
Before I leave, consider that 19.89 in the 200 did not medal. Five broke 20.00.
 
The Unter den Linden- the main boulevard, two blocks from our hotel, is closed for the 50K walk. It's stopped raining, and there are crowds along the side of the beautiful avenue.
 
One more note- those of you who go to baseball games have seen pitching machines where you can test your strength, and see whether you can throw 80-90 mph. In the Kultur Stadion, there's a jav machine, with a javelin hooked to a cable. You go in, grip the jav, and it goes toward a hole, which records the distance.
 
I would have thrown my arm out, but I saw a regular guy off the street throw 37+ meters, which is well over 120'. And there were women who threw almost that far.
 
Another tidbit before I leave- the Germans love the field events, and the victory ceremonies are important, and very formal in nternational competitions. The ceremony for Harting, the discus winner, was not emotional like the Oeser or Nerius ceremonies, but kind of boisterous, and loud. And to top it off, the medals were presented by Lars Reidel, the former Olympic DT champ in Atlanta, and five time World Champ. The crowd loved it.
 
GK

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