On a night dedicated to
Olympic marathon legend and women’s distance running pioneer Joan Benoit
Samuelson, the distance runners upheld her tradition with pride.
“I ran my own race and
continue to do so to this day,” said the inaugural women’s marathon gold
medalist. “I’m a ‘has been’ who still has a passion for the sport.”
She marveled at the athletes
around her and their stories.
“It’s all about the story. I
hope we don’t lose sight of the storytelling.”
In 1984, she showed the world how it's done.
Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba ran
a stellar 14:25.22 5,000m, and while she came short of her announced world
record attempt on her sister Tirunesh’s 14:11.15, she gave an impressive
display of mental toughness as she ran unheaded most of the way.
Kenya’s Celliphine Chespol
upset world record holder Ruth Chebet in the 3,000m steeplechase and ran
8:58.78, the fastest-ever on US soil. Just missing the sub-9:00 mark was
compatriot Beatrice Chepkoech in 9:00.70. Chespol lost her shoe on the
penultimate water jump, put it back on, and sprinted back over the last 500m to
win. She is 18.
Emma Coburn missed her US
steeplechase record by .33 seconds with her 9:07.96. “I should have leaned,”
she said, “and I would have had the record.”
Teenage sensation Tamari
Davis ran 23.21 from lane 2 to upset a distinguished field of high school
sprinters.
And what defines teenage?
She is 14.
In 8th grade.
Charlene Lipsey broke 2:00
minutes for the first time in winning the women’s USATF High Performance 800m run,
while Brittney Reese jumped 7.01m in the long jump to edge rival Tianna
Bartoletta by 18 cm.
Tomorrow is a packed day with
some of the deepest fields ever assembled outside the World and Olympic
championships. 9 events in this meet have the gold, silver, and bronze
medalists from Rio.
Meanwhile, I learned much
from two interview experiences.
Tatsiana Khaladovich threw
the javelin 66.30 to win by more than a meter over China’s emerging star
Shiying Liu.
I had looked forward to
interviewing Khaladovich after not having had the opportunity in Rio.
Today it went something like
this:
“I don’t speak English,
sorry. “
As I’m a little rusty on my
Belarussian, that interview went up in smoke.
I’m going to print verbatim
what I wrote in the media tent; read on for what happened next.
From the media tent:
China’s Shiying Liu was
prepared for the interviews, even though she doesn’t speak a word of English.
She had a translator with her (unclear if this was her coach), and she answered
every question with aplomb. Her translator was equally gracious and patient, and I left wondering if there were any better ambassadors of their
country’s sport in the house this evening – and that’s saying a lot given the
plethora of athletes who fit that bill so well.
It was impressive to see the
Chinese so well-prepared for the important aspects of the meet beyond the
competition venues.
Some mark China’s rise in
track and field from the Beijing Olympics; others mark their arrival at the
2015 World Championships.
Either way, this country
knows what it’s doing.
And then:
I packed up my tech gear and
walked straight into the Chinese translator!
Turns out he is Yujia “Tony”
Dou and he is a reporter for the Chinese national team. He is the Founder and
Chief Editor of Top Athletics We-Media of China, and he also runs a track and
field camp. He travels with the team and supports them especially, he said,
when the team sends only a few athletes to a meet.
He handed me his card after I
had given him mine, and the exchange reminded me that I am off my card
presentation game.
I certainly should have
remembered the etiquette from Beijing: thumbs on top, two fingers below, and
always - always - presented with a bow.
Together, Liu and Dou showed every delegation how it's done.
Correction: I said on twitter
tonight that Chespol was the first under 9:00 in the steeplechase in a US race.
Not so. Ruth Jebet ducked under by .03 last year at the Pre Meet. Chespol is indeed now the fastest
ever on US soil.
