SAINT-DENIS, France — A clear victory in one relay and another that was very close. A long-awaited celebration for France and a high jump competition that seemed never-ending.
What held everything together on this hectic final day of Olympic athletics at the Stade de France was the most familiar sight of all: Americans on the winners’ podium, time and again.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and University of Texas alumnus and Austin resident Gabby Thomas finished with a win in the women’s 4×400 relay on Saturday, earning America’s 34th medal on the track and its 14th gold medal. Thomas was part of the U.S.’ gold medal capture in the women’s 4×100 relay the night before.
The opening leg of the women’s 4×400 meter relay was run by former Aggie Shamier Little of Texas A&M.
The 400 hurdles and 200 meter gold medalists made the race a real laugh in the second and third rounds, helping the USA to victory as they finished more than four seconds ahead of the runner-up and just 0.1 second behind the world record set by the USSR in 1988.
The winning time: 3 minutes, 15.27 seconds.
“I think this generation of track and field athletes is just at a different level,” said McLaughlin-Levrone, who has won four gold medals in four disciplines (and six world record runs) during her career. “Everything is improving, including us, including our technique, including our preparation. I don’t think anything is impossible at the moment.”
In another race, American hurdles gold medalist Rai Benjamin beat Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo in the men’s 200-meter relay by a margin of 0.1 seconds. Bryce Deadmon, a Texas A&M graduate and Missouri City resident, handed the baton to Benjamin on the third leg.
“I calculated this run very well, down to the smallest detail,” Benjamin said. “I have a really good, high running IQ about people, how they run and how to run a fast time, so I didn’t have to go too hard. Let’s just save it for when we get home.”
Two more close races lead to American gold and finally a medal for France
Fittingly, on the final day of a track and field meeting full of close calls and surprises, there were two more races decided by 0.01 seconds – a victory in the 800 meters for Kenyan Emmanuel Wanyonyi and a victory in the 100 meters hurdles for American Masai Russell.
Russell beat France’s Cyrena Samba-Mayela in a heartbreaking victory, but it was the first and only medal for the French team at the athletics meeting and sparked the biggest cheers on a day that saw seven medals awarded.
“I want to celebrate with the French public because they have supported and encouraged me throughout all these Olympic Games,” said Samba-Mayela.
Madness in the high jump pit and a tiebreaker for $50,000
In the high jump event, it sometimes looked as if the gold medal would not be awarded until after the closing ceremony on Sunday.
New Zealander Hamish Kerr and American Shelby McEwen each missed three times at 2.38 metres, so that a play-off for the title took place at the same height.
They both missed, causing the bar to go down. McEwen missed. Then Kerr missed. Then McEwen missed again – the eleventh goal in a row for the pair.
Finally, Kerr cleared the 2.34 meters, broke free from the mat, ran a large semicircle into the javelin throwing zone – which, fortunately, had long since been out of service by this point – collapsed on his back and put his hands over his face.
One of the most memorable moments of the last Olympic Games was when the top two divers finished tied, shared the gold medal and then hugged in celebration. This time, an unprecedented first prize of $50,000 was at stake, somewhat damaging that wonderful Olympic spirit.
Did McEwen have the 50,000 in mind when he decided to go for the win rather than the draw?
“Absolutely,” he said. “I have a family to support. So of course it was that way.”
Best medal haul for US athletes at modern Olympic Games
Despite McEwen’s loss, the United States still won 34 medals – the highest number of any country at a non-boycotted Games since the early 20th century, when there were more competitions and fewer nations involved.
The 14 gold medals are the most at an Olympic Games without a boycott since Bob Beamon, Tommie Smith and John Carlos led the USA to 15 victories in 1968.
With such a dominant performance, it seemed only fitting that McLaughlin-Levrone played a role in the final act.
The 25-year-old, who holds the fourth fastest time in the world in the 400-meter race in addition to her recent world record in the hurdles, ran her leg in 47.71 seconds, 0.91 seconds faster than the next fastest woman in the field, Femke Bol, who took silver for the Netherlands.
The fact that McLaughlin-Levrone barely met Thomas during the baton handover between the second and third rounds was a distant memory – long forgotten when the “Star-Spangled Banner” was played for the last time at the final medal ceremony of the evening.
About 200 meters from the finish, “Gabby and Syd started running on the track and they had to pull them back,” said Shamier Little, who ran the first leg. “We were kind of celebrating. Of course, anything can happen.”
“But it wouldn’t happen.”
Kenyan Wanyonyi wins the men’s 800m in another race decided by 0.01 seconds
In the men’s fast 800m race, Wanyonyi beat Canada’s Marco Arop by 0.01 seconds in a photo finish, finishing in 1:41.19, just 0.28 seconds slower than the world record. American Bryce Hoppel’s national record of 1:41.67 was only good enough for fourth place.
Ingebrigtsen wins, this time in the 5,000
Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the 5,000 metres in a relatively dramatic race after finishing a disappointing fourth in a highly anticipated 1,500-metre race against Britain’s Josh Kerr four nights earlier.
Ingebrigtsen won in 13 minutes and 13.66 seconds, securing her title at the last two World Championships.
Kenyan Ronald Kwemoi finished second and Grant Fisher from the USA finished third.
Japan wins the only gold medal of the competition – gold in the javelin throw
Haruka Kitguchi won Japan’s only medal at the competition – a gold medal – with her season’s best throw of 65.80 metres. She is the first Japanese woman to win a medal in a throwing event at the Olympic Games.
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