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SPORTS> World Events
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Bolt was star of the show in Berlin
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-08-25 10:53 BERLIN: Jamaica's Usain Bolt dominated the World Athletics Championships here in the same way he did the Beijing Olympics, winning triple gold and shattering the world records for the 100m and 200m.
Bolt, whose razzmatazz and light-heartedness have offered a much-needed breath of fresh air to the world of athletics, beat American defending champion and arch-rival Tyson Gay into second in the 100m, running an astonishing 9.58 seconds. But any further duels between the sprinters were cut short when Gay was ruled out injured after winning silver in 9.71sec in the 100m. "Winning three gold medals in Berlin is wonderful, I am proud of myself," said Bolt. "It's been a great championships, I have got my two records so it doesn't matter if I don't get one," he said after his Jamaica 4x100m relay team failed to better the world record they set in Beijing. Lamine Diack, president of the IAAF - world athletics governing body, went so far as saying that Bolt "may now be the most famous sportsman in the world, not just in athletics".
It was, however, the United States who again headed the medals table with 10 gold, six silver and six bronze medals for a total haul of 22 at the championships, which featured 1,984 athletes from 201 territories. Jamaica were second on 13 (7, 4, 2), Kenya third on 11 (4, 5, 2) and Russia fourth with 13 (4, 3, 6). Bolt's individual sprint double was emulated by Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele, who reinforced his credentials as arguably the best distance runner ever when he won gold in both the 5,000 and 10,000m, repeating his Beijing Games double. His victory in the 10,000m was the fourth in succession and matched the record set by former mentor Haile Gebrselassie. Bolt spearheaded the Jamaican team to sprint glory, the only title missing from their haul being the women's 200m, won by American Allyson Felix for an unprecedented third time. Despite Bekele's best efforts, it was not all good news for Ethiopia as double women's Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba was ruled out of both the 5,000 and 10,000m, allowing Kenyans Vivian Cheruiyot and Linet Masai in for gold. Both men and women's 800m races were won by South Africans, but the victory by Mbulaeni Mulaudzi paled into comparison with that of Caster Semenya in the women's equivalent.
Semenya, 18, thrashed the field in her race but she was also asked by the IAAF to undergo a gender test given her recent startling improvement on the track, her undoubtedly boyish looks also attracting some unsavory speculation. She is, however, guaranteed a heroine's welcome when she returns home, with the South African ruling party and its youth and women's wings all claiming that the testing, the results of which will not be known for months, smacked of racism and sexism. Arguably the biggest shock of the championships was the failure of Russian Yelena Isinbayeva to win a third successive pole vault crown. After losing a competition for the first time in six years just before the championships, she amazingly failed to land one of her three attempts. "This competition was important to me but I hope that will encourage me to be great in London (Olympics in 2012). I hope I will recover from this," said the double Olympic champion and world record holder (5.05m). Russia claimed a unique clean sweep of the three walking titles, while Kenyan Abel Kirui and China's Bai Xue won the marathon titles. The third world record of the nine-day-long event was set by Poland's Anita Wlodarczyk, who won the women's hammer throw with a best of 77.96 meters. Host nation Germany also had a great championships, which attracted large crowds of up to 90,000 a day at the Olympic Stadium, with the walking and marathon events held in central Berlin and attracting more than a million spectators.
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