How the sport works
Athletics, what North Americans call track & field, includes a variety of running, jumping, and throwing events. I won't explain every single event here, but you can generally assume the winner completed the event the fastest, highest, or furthest.
Hmm, what's the best way to explain how good our seats were? Oh, I know. Did you watch the athletics on tv on August 7th? If so, you probably saw me. That's because I was in row two, right behind the starting blocks of the women's 100 meter hurdles. Wow!
We were right next to the tunnel the athletes used to enter the stadium for events like the high jump and 100 meter hurdles. Athletes! Plus one of the officials was really chatty and told us all sorts of anecdotes over the course of the night. Remember the moron who threw the beer bottle onto the field just before the start of the men's 100 meter finals? He had been sitting just a row or two behind where I was and, in releasing the bottle, he slapped the woman's head in front of him. As you may have heard, she was in fact the judo bronze medalist from the Netherlands and she gave him one good whack which pretty much knocked him out. Security didn't have to do much once they got there, the official joked to us.
Women's 100 meter hurdles semi finals
In the first of three heats, as the hurdlers had settled into the starting blocks and awaited the starter's pistol, the French hurdler took off too early. A terrible car alarm sound followed as the other runners in her heat wondered what had happened. It was an unmistakable false start and she knew it right away. The poor woman looked astonished at what she had done, knowing full well the inevitable consequence. She held her head high as she walked back to her starting block and the race officials came over to disqualify her. The second she was escorted off the track, she hung her head in her hands and walked into the lonely tunnel. Her Olympics were over. Lane seven went empty. Defending gold medalist Dawn Harper of the USA went on to win the heat.
American Lolo Jones is my favorite female hurdler. I've followed her career for awhile now and I even got to meet her last November at the expo for the New York City marathon (she was so nice!), but this was the first time I'd ever seen her compete. At Beijing 2008 she was favored to win but stumbled over the penultimate hurdle and finished in a disappointing seventh place. I was certainly going to do my best to cheer her on tonight. She finished third in her heat, which let her qualify as one of the two fastest losers.
Less than two hours until the final…!
Men's 800 meter semi finals
The athletes in each of the three heats had to wait in the tunnel just over my right shoulder as they waited for their heat to be introduced, which meant that any time there was a pause on the track, I'd see what the athletes were up to. Generally speaking, a lot of them tried to look confident and ready but they had such a long time to wait in the tunnel that it wasn't long before they all became bundles of nervous energy, pacing or bouncing around or talking to themselves. I can't even imagine the anxiety they must have been feeling. I did my best, however, to lighten things up by making eye contact with one of the runners and then giving a thumbs up or cheering, “Go Canada!” (or whichever country it happened to be).
Each of the heats eventually got underway and the eight fastest times all advanced to the final. Pictures, Kenya's Rudisha leads his heat. He would go on to set a new world record in the final two nights later.
Women's long jump qualification
Thirty women, including one Uzbek(!), showed up to compete for a dozen spots in the long jump final. Unfortunately, the Uzbek didn't have any successful jumps so she was out. Two Americans, three Russians, and a handful of athletes from other European countries progressed to the final.
Men's discus final
I think what most impressed me about Robert Harting, winner of the gold medal, isn't his discus throwing abilities, but that on his victory lap, he cleared all of the hurdles which were set up for the women's 100 meter hurdles event! He is clearly a well rounded athlete. The same talkative official from before came over and started telling me how Harting would have been disqualified for illegal hurdling since as a man, he'd be in illegible for the women's event!
Medal results
Gold: Robert Harting, Germany
Silver: Ehsan Kadadi, Iran
Bronze: Gerd Kanter, Estonia
Men's high jump final
Gold: Ivan Ukhov, Russia
Silver: Erik Kynard, USA
Bronze: Moutaz Essa Barshim, Qatar; Derek Drouin, Canada; Robert Grabarz, Great Britain
Women's 200 meter semi finals
As expected, the Jamaicans and Americans dominated, with defending gold medalist Veronica Campbell-Brown and silver medalist Allyson Felix winning their semi finals smoothly. As I was so close to the track, it was hard to get a clear photo of them coming around the bend!
Women's 100 meter hurdles final
Ok, this was the big event I'd been anticipating all night. Lolo Jones was on the inside lane so I yelled for her as loud as I could when she emerged from the tunnel and walked right by me. I was nervous: the other runners were looking strong and Jones just barely squeaked by on time to qualify for the final and she looked tense herself.
I'm not one to shun the other athletes, though, so I waved my maple leaf mitt at Jessica Zelinka, the Canadian in lane six, and she gave me a big smile. I cried a gentle, “Go Canada!” to Phylicia George and got a grin and a small wave in response. When Aussie Sally Pearson turned towards me, I gave her two thumbs up which she acknowledged with a deep exhale.
Being this close to the athletes was new to me and I was a bit surprised to hear how loud it was when they slapped thighs. And they all seemed to slap their thighs! Ow. The other thing about my seat was that, because I was right behind their starting blocks, almost all of my pictures are of their backsides. Hence I have a lot of pictures their butts. But remember how I said you probably saw me on tv? My brother called to say he could clearly see me on tv and my other relatives even took a picture of the tv screen. That's me on the left in the raincoat, taking pictures.
I don't know about the athletes but I could hardly stand the tension. The rain had started up again and there was a slight but definite headwind.
Jones got off to a slow start from which she never recovered. She finished fourth, missing the podium by one tenth of a second. That she ran a season's best was probably of little comfort. Her two teammates both medaled, Harper taking silver and Wells taking bronze. No one could catch Australia's Sally Pearson who, despite the weather conditions, set a new Olympic record and claimed gold.
There was a strong Aussie contingency in my section, so Pearson lingered here on her victory lap. I was thrilled for her–she and Australia needed this–but gutted for Jones.
Medal results
Gold: Sally Pearson, Australia
Silver: Dawn Harper, USA
Bronze: Kellie Wells, USA
Men's 1,500 meter final
The gold medal winner Almost wasn't the gold medal winner. Earlier in the week, he'd been disqualified when he'd jogged less half a lap on the men's 800 meter heats before dropping out. The referee decided Makhloufi wasn't trying and the Algerian was banned from all following events in London 2012. He later produced a doctor's note which must have said the right thing because Makhloufi was reinstated and given the green light for the 1,500 meter final, which he won easily. Go figure.
Medal results
Gold: Taoufik Makhloufi, Algeria
Silver: Leonel Manzano, USA
Bronze: Abdalaati Iguider, Morocco
Leaving the stadium was a madhouse as usual but I still managed to spot an athlete! Belgium's Eline Berings, who had run in the women's 100 meter hurdles semi finals in the lane next to Lolo Jones, was kind enough to let me take a picture with her.
