Ja sweep sprint relays in Berlin
BERLIN, Germany – Jamaica continued their dominance of the sprint events at the 12th IAAF World Championships by winning gold in the men’s and women’s 4×100 metre relays on the penultimate day of the biennial meet.
The relay gold ensured that the country surpassed its previous best of 10 medals tallied two years ago in Osaka, Japan.
Running in lane seven, the quartet of Steve Mullings, Michael Frater, double sprint gold medallist Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell romped to victory in the new championship record of 37.31 seconds – the second fastest time in history behind Jamaica’s world record of 37.10 established while winning gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
It was the first ever World Championships gold for the men after taking silver in 1987 and 2007.
Double sprint world record holder Bolt, who ended the meet with three gold medals, just as he did at the Olympics, had high praise for anchor runner Asafa Powell, who only agreed to run an hour before the final. Powell, who injured his groin in the semi-finals of the 100m last Sunday before taking bronze in the final, was still feeling pain ahead of the race.
“That was great. I was worried (that) he wasn’t going come and I asked him if he was okay, because the first priority is to make sure you’re okay, so he said he felt good and he would come out and try his best,” Bolt told the Sunday Observer, noting that the main aim was just to win.
“I didn’t do my best, I would say. I was a little bit tired, but I’m proud of myself (and) these guys ran very well, especially Asafa,” he added.
Powell told the Sunday Observer that he had not trained since taking bronze in the 100m on Sunday.
“Actually yesterday (Friday) when I saw the guys running the heats, I saw that they needed my help very bad because Usain alone couldn’t help them so I came out to the track very early this morning to really feel how the leg felt and so I decided to run,” Powell explained.
“My groin has been killing me since Sunday. (but) once I got going it was okay because I did not feel any pain. The main problem was exploding from the start,” he added.
Frater thought the team would have broken the world record had it not been for a mishap on the first changeover between himself and Mullings.
“I wasn’t very happy because on the exchange it was very difficult seeing the marker because the guy from Trinidad & Tobago (Mark Burns) was blocking my marker, so we didn’t have the hand-off that we really wanted and I think that really set us back,” Frater said.
“I think it was very possible that we could have run 36 seconds, but the second fastest time ever and a World Championships gold medal is not bad, so we have to be happy,” added the 2005 world 100m silver medallist.
T&T collected the silver with 37.62secs, the third fastest time in history, ahead of Great Britain with 38.02.
The women easily secured their second lien on the gold medal since 1991, after clocking 42.06secs. However, it was not the team which many expected to take the track as news surfaced just over an hour before the final that two-time Olympic 200m champion Veronica Campbell-Brown had withdrawn from the team.
That meant that the quartet of Simone Facey, 100m gold medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser, Aleen Bailey and 100m silver medallist Kerron Stewart did duties.
The women had previously won four silver medals in 1995, 1997, 2005, 2007 and four bronze in 1983, 1993, 1999 and 2001.
Up to late last night, there was no word from the coaching staff as to why Campbell-Brown did not run.
However, Campbell-Brown, who watched the race from the stands, told the Sunday Observer that she decided against running because the coaching staff only notified her of their decision for her to run the first or third leg one-and-a-half hours before the race, even though they had her practising to anchor the team during the mandatory pre-championship camp in Nuremberg.
“I went to the mandatory training camp as instructed by the JAAA and I did baton exchanges running the anchor leg. This morning (technical leader) Mr (Donald) Quarrie told me that after the women’s semi-final of the relay, he may want to talk to me about relay legs,” Campbell-Brown said.
“So after the relay was run, I was warming up, so I said to Mr Quarrie ‘can you tell me what’s going on?’ He sent me to Mr (Michael) Clarke. At that point Mr Clarke said to me that the only leg that is available is either ‘start or third leg’, so I turned to him and said, ‘how can I come out here an hour and a half before the relay start and run the third or the start leg, which I had no practiced for?
“All I practised for at the camp was to run the anchor,” Campbell-Brown added.
“He’s saying that there are two females on the team that have injury (but) the world has seen that I’ve been struggling with a toe injury,” explained a disappointed Campbell-Brown.
Efforts by the Sunday Observer to reach Quarrie for a comment on the issue was futile as his mobile continuously went to voicemail.
When the Sunday Observer spoke with the team’s media liaison, Cathy Rattray, at 12:15 am, she indicated that Quarrie had retired to bed and would speak with the media later in the day.
The three other senior members of the relay team, Stewart, Fraser and Bailey, did not shed any light on the issue related to Campbell-Brown.
“I will not comment on that situation. You will have to speak with her or somebody from the management staff,” Stewart said.
Fraser, who disclosed that she was feeling her hamstring in warm-up, said she played it safe, especially because it was cold.
The Bahamas finished second with 42.29, followed by Germany 42.87.