From the depths of despair and horrifying moments his shock expulsion from the premier event of the 13th IAAF World Athletics Championships, Jamaica’s world record holder Usain Bolt and his sprint relay teammates Nesta Carter, Michael Frater and Yohan Blake treated the world audience to a fine exhibition of slick baton passing and smooth acceleration to establish the only new world record of the global summit meet held in Daegu, Korea.
The nine-day championships was graced with top athletes from over two hundred nations and at the end of those nerve-racking and testing days, an overall analysis reveals that one world record, three new Championships records, seventeen world leading performances for 2011, four new Area records and 41 new national records were established.
The Americans proved that they are still the world’s greatest sporting nation with a grand total of twenty-five medals which included twelve gold, eight silver and five bronze medals.
The USA men and women contingents held their own across the board but their arch-rival Russia regained international status as the second most powerful athletics country when their athletes combined for a total of 19 medals with nine gold, four silver and six bronze.
The Russians were second to the Americans on both counts in relation to overall tally and gold medals.
The Kenyans also maintained their supremacy in the long distance races and were third with an overall total of 17 that included seven gold, six silver and four bronze.
Following the ‘Big Three’ was Caribbean’s premier athletics nation Jamaica, which celebrated with four gold, four silver and one bronze.
Germany (3 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze) and Great Britain (2 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze) were next with seven medals each.
China, the world’s most populated country with over two-and-half billion people and all the enormous wealth at their disposal, found themselves languishing in seventh position with one gold, two silver and one bronze medal.
Many athletes will be thrilled at their improved performances especially with the 2012 London Olympics less than ten months away. They will be energised and their confidence would have been boosted as they moved into higher intensity training for the global quadrennial showdown that elevates star performers to celebrity status and optimism for solid economic returns for their top class performances.
Athletes from forty-one countries took home precious metals to inspire future generations in their quest to become the best in their specialty in the athletics world.
However, unlike at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2009 Berlin World Championships when he was the ultimate and unconquerable star, the ebullient Bolt experienced a shock exit from the 100 metres final when he seemed anxious for a quick start to blaze to another world record.
No one mentioned that Bolt had false-started during the semi-final of the 2009 Berlin World Championships, but he got away from the disqualification because the ‘One False Start’ rule was only introduced during the 2010 season. He stayed in the semifinal race and advanced to the final which allowed him to eclipse his own world record with 9.58 secs.
However, the 2011 experience showed that he is fallible and the shock and desperation etched on his face tells of his turmoil to come to grips with such devastation with the one false start rule. But his loneliness and disappointment were too severe and crushing even for such an exalted superstar who commands US$250 000 as appearance fee at major meets on the Gran Prix circuit.
Although there has been much debate and discussion about the ‘One False Start’ rule, it was not surprising the IAAF officials knocked down the idea of re-visiting the rule.
Media operatives especially the TV broadcasters have been concerned with the abuse of the false start rule which delayed races, especially when athletes were allowed two false starts. But Bolt and his other rivals will have to face the consequences should they be guilty of infringement in future races.
What was most encouraging was the attitude Bolt displayed when he openly admitted the he was at fault and that no way newly-crowned 100-metre champion Blake caused him to false start as some blogs were suggesting based on video analysis which showed that Blake flinched with his left leg during the infraction phase by Bolt.
Bolt dismissed those notions and complimented his younger compatriot and training partner for winning the gold medal. He also regained his playful and entertaining ways and basked in the spotlight with a fabulous 200 metres in 19.40 secs, the fourth fastest of all-time.
And to crown his achievements in fine style, the lanky sprinter turned in another fine exhibition of top class sprinting by anchoring the Jamaica star-studded sprint relay team to another world record time of 37.04 secs.