Saturday, August 11, 2012
We've all seen some amazing track and field in the past few days, and that gives me reason to editorialize a bit.
One, Usain Bolt is an incredible athlete, who has a sense of showmanship bordering on arrogance. Yet I can't help admiring him for is ability and self confidence and fun loving spirit. (Comparing him to Carl Lewis, I don't think Carl had much fun or sense of showmanship, but he certainly had the arrogance.) Some say Bolt's a savior of the sport. I'm not sure I can go that far, as several others can fall into that category to a lesser degree, but collectively they gave a lot of traction to track and field.
Two, the less conspicuous but no less gifted athlete in the games is obviously David Rudisha. Incredible talent and even more incredible downtoearthedness. What a humble man! He certainly was not afraid to stick his neck out and let anyone dare to come after him. His courage drew courage out of a lot of great runners to up their efforts in that 800 final. What was that, five guys under 1:43? He is a true modern warrior from a tribe whose traditions once included killing a lion to become a warrior or
moran.
Three, Oscar Pistorious brought a sense of hope and dignity to the games and gave us all a view of man's ability to express himself and overcome great odds.
Four, emergence of a new group of distance runners from Turkey of all places, and of the female gender no less. This country on the border of sectarian and conservative Islamic philosophies might become a leader in the fight for women's rights through sport in the Middle East. Congrats to Asli Alptekin and Gamze Bulut, one and two in the 1500 meters, but not likely to become household names in the West. On the downside in that race was the American girl's tantrum after being tripped by an Ethiopian runner. I thought the American girl would have served herself better by getting up and running in regardless. She had enough energy to pound the track for the better part of a minute before walking off.
Jim Ryun got up and ran the rest of his race in Munich,
Lasse Viren got up and won the 10,000 at Munich after getting knocked down.
Five, Galen Rupp's great run in the 10,000 will bring some more eyes to the tube tonight to see what he and Mohammed Farah can accomplish in the 5000.
Six, the Bahamas came through in the mens 4x400 taking down a big US lead in the final leg, to the consternation of the American announcers.
Seven, the American women putting together three great passes in the 4x100 and adding that to their great sprinting talent, a sight not seen for quite some time. I could go on, but will leave it there for now.
