12th IAAF World Track & Field Championships Berlin, Germany August 15 - 23rd, 2009 John Nepolitan on site
Day 8 (8/19) – A wall of sound in Olympic Stadium
As the night was coming to an end, with just the women’s 800 and men’s decathlon 400 to go, the men’s discus final was about to start its last round of throws. German Robert Harting at in 2nd place behind Piotr Malachowski of Poland. Harting had already thrown a personal best and Malachowski a national record. Once Gerd Kanter failed to improve on his 3rd place standing, Harting was assured at least a silver. The huge German stepped into the ring and came through in the greatest way, throwing a personal best to take over the lead - and the stadium erupted in cheers by the German fans. Malachowski then stepped in the ring and was unable to retake the lead, and once again the stadium exploded. This time Harting ran to the stands to celebrate with the fans - ripping off his uniform top in WWF fashion then running around the track, wrestling with the Championships mascot and just having the time of his life. Tonight, when they award him his gold medal, the stadium will rock once again.
As far as Team USA, some good some not so good. On the plus side, all four of the women in the 200 will go to the semi final, and all 3 of the 200 men will be in the final. LaShawn Merrit and Jeremy Wariner are set to square off in the 400 final. On the negative side, our women's 100 hurdlers did not come thought.
Not to be forgotten, of course, was Bernard Lagat’s bronze medal run in the 1500. The race was won by Yusuf Saad Kamel of Bahrain (formerly known as Gregory Konchellah of Kenya), the son of 2 time world 800 meter champ Billy Konchellah from Kenya, and Lagat came on hard to grab the bronze and almost get the gold medal. Every high school track coach in the USA should make his/her runners watch video of Lagat’s race. The man knows how to position himself to cover pretty much every move. Too many American runners get hung up on having to run right on the curb, and many times find themselves caught unable to move, or they want to sit way in the back and use a big kick. The big kick may work on the local level, but as you get up into state and national competition, many times you are facing runners who can kick just as hard as you. Lagat may get beat by a better runner, but he will never beat himself by being in the wrong place.
I have been here in Berlin long enough now that I am feeling very comfortable. There is no more having to work at what train to take somewhere, you know where the stores are, you know what restaurants are open late, you start seeing the same people on the street and begin to feel like a local. I feel the same way when I go to London or to Portland. I have spent enough time in London over the years where I can simply just jump on the tube (subway) to go somewhere without really thinking about it and there is a comfort level. Portland is just a city that I get, I also have some good friends there which makes it fun to travel to. But through it all the NYC area is home and I will be happy to get back there.
One last note for the day – between events here at the stadium, they do play music which has become commonplace - not only in the USA, but around the world. The one thing that a certain New York City facility should learn from the IAAF is that the volume of the music does not have to be blasting so loud that you cannot carry on a simple conversation with the person next to you. The music here is there in the background to entertain and not to physically abuse.
Thursday: 5k heats and a chance to see and cheer for two friends, Teg and Chris Solinsky. Ran into them at the stadium the evening of the men’s 10,000 and they seem very ready to go.
round of throws. German Robert Harting at in 2nd place behind Piotr Malachowski of Poland. Harting had already thrown a personal best and Malachowski a national record. Once Gerd Kanter failed to improve on his 3rd place standing, Harting was assured at least a silver. The huge German stepped into the ring and came through in the greatest way, throwing a personal best to take over the lead - and the stadium erupted in cheers by the German fans. Malachowski then stepped in the ring and was unable to retake the lead, and once again the stadium exploded. This time Harting ran to the stands to celebrate with the fans - ripping off his uniform top in WWF fashion then running around the track, wrestling with the Championships mascot and just having the time of his life. Tonight, when they award him his gold medal, the stadium will rock once again.
themselves caught unable to move, or they want to sit way in the back and use a big kick. The big kick may work on the local level, but as you get up into state and national competition, many times you are facing runners who can kick just as hard as you. Lagat may get beat by a better runner, but he will never beat himself by being in the wrong place.
