Spoiler Alert: If you are waiting to watch this on TV in the States, read on at your own risk!
I've been in Japan for the past week. Watching the Olympics here is a mix of refreshment and frustration. It's refreshing because they show a lot of judo, table tennis, badminton, archery, and other sports that America either has no one competing in or doesn't care about. But it's frustrating because if there is a Japanese person competing, you may not even know who won the event. Unless the Japanese person wins of course.
Still, I've no doubt it's much the same for foreigners watching Olympic coverage in America. And it's probably only made worse by America's relative strength in so many sports. Anyway, I highly encourage anyone to take in an Olympics from a foreign country. It can give you a whole new perspective.
Today we have the women's steeplechase prelims, the men's 1500m prelims, and the women's 10,000 meter final. And here's how it went:
3000m Steeplechase prelims
The first heat is up. I see Lindsey Anderson. And 16 other runners. At the gun Anderson quickly went into third place,
which is generally a good place to run. After 600 meters Anderson is in about 10th place by
20 meters. I don’t know how fast they’re
running, but the field is already spread out, so it must be quick. A Russian, a Pole, and a Kenyan are out in
front. If I were clever, that would be
the start of a good joke.
With 4 laps to go, Gulnara Galkina-Samitova (aka "The Russian") has a 15 meter lead. Anderson is in 10th but running near the hottest woman in the race, Habiba Ghribi of Tunisia. Anderson moved up two places in that lap and with three to go she looks good. The Russian continues to lead. There is a pack of 3 about 20 meters back and another pack of three about 10 meters behind them. Then Anderson. In no woman’s land.
The Japanese announcers are saying that the Japanese runner in the race, Minori Hayakari, is on Japanese Record pace (9:33.93). And she’s in 15th. So it must be moving. The Russian is pulling away…30 meters now. And The Russian looks like she’s chilling. Anderson is still running alone.
The Russian ran 9:15 and hardly taxed herself! Ghribi is in 5th, running a solid second half. Anderson is still in 8th, finishing somewhere around 9:36 I think. She won't make it to the final.
Heat 2 has Jennifer Barringer and Heat 3 has Anna Willard. But there are no Japanese runners in either heat, so I have a feeling they won't show them. Actually I have more than a feeling. I'm watching doubles badminton right now. China is crushing Japan. The crowd is really into it, too. They seem to know their badminton.
The NBC Olympics website tells me that Jennifer Barringer qualified by finishing 3rd in 9:29.20. Her race was won by Tatiana Petrova in 9:28.85. And Anna Willard snuck into the finals with a 9:28.52 to take the last qualifying spot. It looks like my girl Habiba made it, too. Barringer and Willard have their work cut out for them in a couple days.
100m Quarterfinals
Usain Bolt just ran a 9.92 in the quarterfinals after cruising the last 60 meters. All the Japanese announcers are saying are, "Awesome, huh?" and "That's surprising!" After seeing the replay, "He looks like he's jogging." Patton took second to qualify for the semifinals.
Asafa Powell dominated his quarterfinal, running 10.02. Walter Dix got out to a bad start but looked good in the middle en route to qualifying. Richard Thompson ran away from Tyson Gay in their heat. We'll see tomorrow if that was a mental lapse of if Gay isn't fully up to speed. Then again he might just not be sharp after a month off.
But now it's judo! Satoshi Ishii just won gold in the 100kg and up division. But Maki Tsukada got flipped in the last 10 seconds to lose by ippon in the 78kg and up class. To a Chinese woman. The crowd in Beijing is going nuts. But I think I could hear a collective groan coming from the entire country just now. You'd think the Japanese invented the sport the way they follow it...
Men's 1500m Prelims
All three Americans made it into the Semifinals. I didn't get to see any of the races because Japan doesn't have any qualifiers in the 1500. But it looks like Lagat ran to qualify, Lomong ran a solid race and qualified, and Manzano found himself on the tail of a big kick, sneaking in on time. Other qualifiers: Rashid Ramzi, Mehdi Baala, Kevin Sullivan (in 5th as always), Augustine Choge, Andy Baddeley, Asbel Kiprop, Nate Brannen, and Nick Willis. Here's to Japan showing the Semifinals and not just the Final!
400m Hurdles Prelims
There must be a Japanese guy in this event. (Aha, Kenji Narisako.) In any case, I see Bershawn Jackson. He ran a pretty even race to win in 49.20. Narisako took 5th (49.63). Angelo Taylor just cruised to victory in his heat (48.67). For 300m my wife was excited as Dai Tamasue led the fourth heat, but he slipped to fourth and missed qualifying. Kerron Clement won the heat in 49.42.
Women's 10,000m Final
This is the big one. Shalane Flanagan. Kara Goucher. Tirunesh Dibaba. And America's sweetheart, Amy Yoder-Begley. Oh wait, Kara won that title at the Olympic Trials, too? Hmmm...
The Japanese have three runners in this race, Kayako Fukushi, Yoko Shibui, and Yukiko Akaba. That means I'm virtually guaranteed of not having them switch to another sport. Sometimes it's good to be in Japan.
1st Mile: There are 32 runners in the field. The ladies at the back of the pack are 20 meters removed from the leaders. Kenyans, Ethiopians and Russians all near the front. It is PACKED. But I think Shalane is in 10th. Kim Smith and Goucher are right with her. Begley too. 1st km 3:00.5 (Kiplagat). Goucher's moving to lane 2 to move up into better position. She's in 8th now. Begley is back in 20th and looks like she's breathing hard. 1st mile time: 4:48.
2nd Mile: About 15 women don't look to be in this race anymore. Begley is one of them. Akaba is the only Japanese runner going for it. She runs like a whale trying to scoop plankton. We'll see if Fukushi and Shibui can move up from their slower pace. (Literally, Japan will spend as much time covering them as the leaders...) Goucher and Flanagan are 9th and 11th. Both are very much in the mix after 7 laps. Ooh. Begley's hanging on the Japanese. A race within a race. And a commercial... (Boooo.)
I'm surprised they haven't figured out how to say, "This event brought to you commercial free by these sponsors" in Japan. For crying out loud. Now I don't want to support the companies in the commercials.
3rd Mile: We came back at 4000m in. I'm sure there was a lot of drama while I was gone. Africans still leading, Goucher and Flanagan the first non-Africans in 9th and 10th. Goucher looks like she's slipping. Flanagan is separating with the leaders at 4800m!
4th Mile: Goucher's trying to regain the distance she gave up. Kim Smith i swith her and they are almost reconnected. Kiplagat continues to lead. (Apparently she's Dutch. Yeah, I can see it.) They are way faster than the world-leading time right now. (That's Flanagan's 30:34, by the way.) We have six Africans--including all three Ethiopians--Flanagan, a Russian, and 10 meters back we have Akaba, Smith and Goucher trying to hold on. The gap is widening and the first runner is being lapped. Flanagan just moved up to 6th as two Ethiopians dropped off and now we're at another commercial! (Aaaaaaaaargh!)
5th Mile: We're somewhere into the 5th mile and Kiplagat is falling back. Flanagan is in 6th, but there's a gap forming. Elvan Abeylegesse is pushing the pace. Dibaba is behind her and two Kenyans, Wangui and Masai are following. At 23 minutes it looks like it'll be a race between Abeylegesse and Dibaba. They've broken free. Shibui of Japan just got lapped. Flanagan is a distant 5th, running alone. Dibaba looks really good. Very smooth. Flanagan still has a shot for bronze, but she needs to run a solid, consistent, aggressive last mile. The 5-mile time is 25:20. They're running 70-point laps.
6th Mile: I think Begley is about to get lapped by Goucher. Either that or Begley is flying! Dibaba looks like she knows she's going to win this. Flanagan just moved into fourth! And you know what that means...commercial time! We're back and the Japanese announcers just said Flanagan's name for the first time. They said she has "American power". I like it. Flanagan is right on Masai's back. That's the only race for bronze. At 28:00 Flanagan moves into third! The bell lap at 28:57!
Last Lap: Dibaba is unleashing on Abeylegesse! It's a 10 meter lead after 200 meters and the race is over. Abeylegesse is running but not with any hope. Gold to Dibaba in 29:54.6 with Abeylegesse breaking 30 as well (29:26). Dibaba ran an Olympic record. And Flanagan takes the bronze in a new PR! She ran 30:22.22! Everything about her race was executed perfectly. I think the time surprised her! Very impressive performance.
Goucher ultimately finished 10th in a personal best 30:55.16, and Begley finished 26th in 32:38. Because I know you care, Fukushi came up strong to finish 11th in 31:01, Shibui finished 17th in 31:31, and Akaba--who ran so aggressively early--faded to 20th in 32:00.
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