Athletics World Championships: Day 5

I’m just an advertisement for a version of myself…

Men’s Discus

Gold     Robert Harting    GER   69.43 metres
Silver   Piotr Malachowski   POL   69.15
Bronze    Gerd Kanter    EST   66.88

Men’s 1500m

G   Yusuf Saad Kamel BRN   3 minutes 35.93 seconds
S   Deresse Mekonnen ETH   3:36.01
B   Bernard Lagat   USA   3:36.20

Women’s 100m Hurdles

G   Brigitte Forster-Hylton   JAM   12.51 seconds
S   Priscilla Lopes-Schliep   CAN   12.54
B   Delloreen Ennis-London   JAM   12.55

Women’s 800m

G   Casto Demenya  RSA   1 minute 55.45 seconds
S   Janeth Jepkosgei    KEN   1:57.90
B   Jennifer Meadows   GBR   1:57.93

 

The big theme in Berlin tonight was that of identity, human and political. The more serious issue concerned the winner of the women’s 800m final, eighteen-year-old South African Casto Semenya, who is in the middle of an almighty furore about her gender. Following rumours and suspicions about her sudden emergence this season, the IAAF have asked the South African Athletics Federation to conduct “gender tests” to determine whether Semenya is in fact female. Whilst it is obviously important to establish this for fair competition, the timing is all wrong, especially for the athlete, who is an entirely innocent party, having been raised culturally as a female.

Putting the off-track controversy to one side, the race itself was a race within a race - the powerful Semenya led from start to finish and was untroubled; the contest was for silver and bronze. The first lap was run too quickly and many of the women who went with the early pace paid for it on the second lap. At 600m, the field was stretched out in the manner of a longer distance race. Behind the piston-pumping arms of Semenya were Olympic champion Janeth Jepkosgei, in something of a return to form, and Ukrainian Yuliya Krevsun; behind them it was anyone’s game. Having judged her race to perfection, Great Britain’s Jenny Meadows emerged from the dilated peloton and, in a repeat of her semi-final showing, motored down the home straight, her basic 400m speed endurance taking her past the field until just the barely separable flagging pair of the Kenyan and the Ukrainain were ahead of her. On the line, she managed to split them, Jepkosgei  getting the silver, Meadows the bronze in a very fast sub-1:58 time.

In what in bygone years would have been perhaps the most prestigious track final, the men’s 1500m, there was a confused melting pot of very good similar standard runners but no one star turn. Here, the issue was of national identity. Of the twelve-strong starting line-up, eleven men had an immediate African heritage but only six were running for African nations: two Kenyans, marginal pre-race favourite Asbel Kiprop and Augustine Kiprono Choge, three Moroccans and the Ethiopian, Mekonnen. Of the other competitors, there were three Kenyan ex-pats, Bernard Lagat, who took up United States citizenship a long time ago, and two others, who in a similar way to the 10000m Kenyan Qataris, had gone for the money of Bahrain, the ex-Sudanese Lopez Lomong, also running for the USA and the talented Berber Frenchman, Mehdi Baala. All in all, a bit of a mess.

The race was an undistinguished affair, Choge reluctantly taking the lead as they chugged round the first 1100m. At the bell, Mekonnen, a la Bekele in the 10000m, took the initiative and made a bid for home. He managed to fend off the field until about 50m out, when the long-striding Yusuf Saad Kamel né Gregory Konchellah (son of former great Billy Konchellah) caught him and won the gold for, er…Bahrain. Lagat ran astutely and bagged the bronze.

In the other track final of the evening, Jamaica continued their domination of the short sharp stuff with gold and bronze in the women’s 100m Hurdles. There was an interesting contrast of styles between the rangy left-leg lead of winner Foster-Hylton and the almost sumo-wrestler squat right-leg lead of second-placed Canadian Lopes-Scliep. The winning time was fairly unremarkable. Pre-race favourite American Dawn Harper clattered the second hurdle and never recovered (perhaps they aren’t so small after all…).

In the one field event final of the evening, the men’s discus, there was more joy for the home crowd, as, in an upset probably of the same order of magnitude as that of Isinbayeva’s defeat in the pole vault, massive favourite Estonian Gerd Kanter didn’t deliver, letting in first of all Pole Malachowski and ultimately German Robert Harting. It looked as though Malachowski was going to go one better than compatriot Majewski had managed in the shot put, as he pulled out two national record throws but in the sixth and final round, Harting steeled himself, spun round the turning circle and sent the ol’ shell arcing out to nearly 70m. The Pole couldn’t respond with his last throw and Harting seized his moment to whip-up the crowd, pulling silly faces and finally taking out that bloody mascot (I think it’s a bear but I’m not quite sure).

Elsewhere, Jeremy Wariner and LaShawn Merritt both looked in great shape in winning their 400m semi-finals. Usain Bolt duly won his 200m semi-final with only Wallace Spearmon showing any signs of improvement amongst the other athletes. The decathlon is wide open after the first day of competition; American Trey Hardee was in the lead after a strong 100m and long jump and a decent shot put but faded in the high jump, as Ukrainian Oleksiy Kasyanov displaced him atop the leaderboard and managed to stay there by edging Hardee in the final event of the day, the 400m. Old warhorse, world record holder Roman Sebrle is still fighting on back in seventh place.

It was a relatively quiet day for Team GB, the highlight being Michael Bingham’s excellent qualification for the 400m final, as he ran second only to Wariner in his semi. Both Bingham and Martyn Rooney in the next semi were handed lane eight draws but whereas Bingham gave himself a fighting chance by running the first 200m hard, Rooney never really got going. Our third man, Robert Tobin also missed out. Perhaps inspired by fellow Belgrave Harriers Dwain Chambers and Phillips Idowu, William Sharman made it through his 110m High Hurdles heat but outside-hope-of-a-medal man Andy Turner is out, after feeling his dodgy left hamstring and having to throttle back – all the more disappointing because hot favourite Dayron Robles also looks to be suffering a similar left hamstring complaint.

Performance of the day: Robert Harting.

Comments

[The Worm]

What is the story with the gender testing? Is this based on the fact that Semenya looks pretty mannish? There must be more to it that that? Please enlighten me Dupin...