Posted on 08/23/2004 9:47:25 PM PDT by xzins
ATHENS, Greece - After his stunning victory in the Olympic 400 meters, Jeremy Wariner seemed as cool as he did cruising down the stretch in sunglasses, two earrings and a jingling necklace. Picking up where Michael Johnson left off, Wariner became the sixth straight American to win the Olympic 400 title, leading a U.S. sweep of the medals Monday.
Wariner finished in 44.00 seconds - a personal best and the fastest time in the world this year. He was followed by silver medalist Otis Harris (44.16) and bronze medalist Derrick Brew (44.42).
Asked whether he had ever had a bigger moment, Wariner remained stoic.
"Besides being born," said the 20-year-old, "I don't think so."
(snip)
Wariner has been tabbed the successor to Johnson, who ruled the 400 for more than a decade, still holds the world record of 43.18 and won gold in 1996 and 2000. After the race Johnson came down from the stands, where he was doing commentary for the BBC, to congratulate the man who took his title - and his coach, Baylor University's Clyde Hart.
Johnson said Wariner shares his ability to focus, but rejected other comparisons.
"I see a great athlete who at 20 years old has come out here and won. I didn't do that at 20 years old, I didn't make an Olympic team," Johnson said. "He's got bigger earrings than I had, he's his own guy."
The United States has dominated the event since 1984, winning 13 of the 18 medals in the last six Olympics. Americans also have four medal sweeps - 1904, 1968, 1988 and this summer.
The three Americans hugged in the finish area, then began a slow victory lap with three U.S. flags.
"It means a lot. We all thought we could go out there and go 1-2-3. We did our best, we fought hard, and we all came out on top," Wariner said, showing no sign of emotion. "It hasn't sunk in yet."
Wariner is the first white American man to win a sprint medal since Mike Larabee's 400 gold in 1964.
"I've never seen a white man run that fast," said Grenada's Alleyne Francique, who finished fourth. "It was a blazing race, man. The kid is good."
I'm a great fan of the 400 meter race (or earlier 1/4 mile) and have been for decades.
This was an awesome race.
(Note the double standard in the AP reporting, though. If Rush or Howard Cosell had said the same about someone of a different racial group....)
Rush rocked today with the O'Neill interview.
I remember seeing Valery Borzov of the USSR win gold in the 100 in the Munich '72 Olympics, and he won it in '68 in Mexico City as well. He was the "world's fastest man" for quite some time.
Man, are we going to kick butt in the 4 X 400 relay or what?
I was in Munich in '72 the week before the massacre and the week after.
The only venue I could get into was "handball."
Interesting, though.
The place was a festival the first week and a prison camp the second.
The times were close by the top 3 and you know that we've got at least one more sub-45 4x400 guy.
Sounds like world record time to me.
Yep, the world record is 2:54.20, set in '98 by Jerome Young, Antonio Pettigrew, Tyree Washington, Michael Johnson. It'll be tough to beat, but it could happen.
seriously, I didn't know he was white, never actually heard of him, and it is surprising that he won....
maybe someday we won't have to call everyone's color out ........I know, dream on......
It'd be tough...43.55 average.
The lead leg would be the key....all the others get the handoff zone as a running start....and the drama of the 4x400 is the best in all of track.
Is the mile still run in the Olympics, or are all the distances metric these days?
Yep...you're probably right.
I'm pretty sure it's the 1500....wish it were the 1600.
he was the only pale-face there.....why didn't they just say that??
I just heard that too. LOL
Amazing. Everybody is programmed like robots not to mention race.
That race did not go according to plan for Jeremy Wariner, writes Michael Johnson... I expected him to have a pretty good lead coming into the final bend...
If he had run just one hundredth of a second faster he would have been the first man to break the sub-44 second barrier since I retired in 2000. But, first and foremost, he was going out to win. And he did. It was a good job.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.