OSAKA, Japan, 2 September 2007 — Tyson Gay won his third gold medal at the world championships. Only Carl Lewis and Maurice Greene have achieved such a triple before.
Perhaps Allyson Felix can join that group if she is on the US 1,600 relay team today. She got her second gold when the American women won their sprint relay late yesterday.
After winning the 100 and 200, Gay showed no fatigue despite nine races in eight days and set up anchor Leroy Dixon for the win, running a devastating final bend.
After exchanging with Dixon, Gay screamed “go” amid the din of the capacity 50,000 crowd of the Nagai Stadium, urging Dixon on. And go he did, doing enough to hold off world record holder Asafa Powell, who ran a blistering anchor to bring Jamaica from nowhere to a silver medal.
Gay had seen enough though. He was already pumping the air before Dixon crossed in 37.78, holding an edge of .11 over Jamaica. Britain was third.
The three golds set up Gay as the US star heading into next year’s Beijing Olympics. Carl Lewis won three world golds in 1983 and 1987, combining the 100, 400 relays and long jump. Maurice Greene did in 1999 in Seville.
To make the US night even better, Brad Walker won the pole vault with a jump of 5.86 meters, edging France’s Romain Mesnil on a countback. Germany’s Danny Ecker took bronze at 5.81.
Felix, the 200 champion, won her second gold in as many nights when she helped the 4x100 relay team build up a lead even 100 world champion Campbell could not close on the anchor.
Torri Edwards threw her arms up in celebration as she held off the Jamaican to win in 41.98 seconds, .03 seconds ahead.
Felix could go for a third gold if she is included in the US 4x400 relay team on the last day of competition. Only Marita Koch of the former East Germany achieved a triple, at the inaugural world championships in 1983. Lauryn Williams left the blocks like a bullet, before handing over to Felix, who was already launched into her elegant, sustained 200 pace. With a good handover to Me’Lisa Barber, the US runners had built enough off a cushion for Edwards to thrive on.
Surprisingly, Belgium won bronze.
After the relays, the US team easily led the medal tables with 11 gold and 22 overall. Russia had 4 gold and 13 overall.
Roman Sebrle won a second gold for the Czechs. Finally, after Olympic decathlon gold and the world record, Sebrle had his world title too. With an unlikely comeback, even for his standards, the Czech collapsed with exhaustion after the concluding 1,500 meters. There was no mistaking the smile though, exhilarated that his aging, battered body had proven him against the world’s greatest athlete.
Meseret Defar equaled Sebrle’s feat. Olympic champion and 5,000 world record holder, she swept away opposition with a cunning run that seemed as easy as Sebrle’s feat was tough. “I achieved the world record and I wanted the gold medal. Finally, I am the world champion,” she said. Fortunately she could do it without Ethiopian teammate Tirunesh Dibaba.
In the absence of Dibaba, the injured defending champion, Defar ran a perfect tactical race, never got boxed and was always easy on the tail of long-leading Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot. She took the lead with two laps to go, and kicked for home entering the final bend. Everyone else was running for silver from then on.
Defar finished in 14 minutes 57.91, over 40 seconds off her world record. Cheruiyot took silver, .59 seconds later and fellow-Kenya Priscah Jepleting Cherono earned bronze. The race had been hotly anticipated because of the bitter rivalry between Defar and Dibaba.
The 10,000 champion, however, pulled out after she was exhausted from abdominal pains during her come-from-behind win last weekend.
Sebrle knows all about catching up.
With 71.18 meters, the 32-year-old Czech leaped from third to first in the decathlon with only the 1,500 meters to come. Sebrle, notorious for his strong finishes, looked mostly sullen during Friday’s opening when even the withdrawal of defending champion Bryan Clay could not get him close to the top of the standings. While Sebrle soared in the javelin, Pan-American champion Maurice Smith of Jamaica stumbled in the javelin with 53.61, almost 10 meters off his personal best.
“That was a crazy competition,” said Sebrle. At home, Sebrle was considered a spent force. What made matters worse was a bizarre javelin accident, which left him competing with a reminder on his shoulder. Over the winter, he was hit by a javelin, which left a wound 12 centimeters deep.
Few would doubt him now.
In the last 1,500, Sebrle put himself right behind Smith in the knowledge it would give him a comfortable win. Smith briefly tried to break away but could not.
Finishing close behind Smith, Sebrle threw out his arms in victory before crossing the line and collapsing on the track. He held his hands over his eyes, head shaking with disbelief. His 8,676 points were 32 better than the Jamaican Smith. Dmitriy Karpov of Kazakhstan took bronze with 8,586.
In the only morning final, Australia’s Nathan Deakes won the 50-kilometer walk in 3 hours, 43 minutes, 53 seconds. Yohan Diniz of France was next in 3:44:22 and Alex Schwazer of Italy took bronze.
