Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

The Meet:

It was again pleasant for a track meet. There is of course a
headwind on the homestretch and a tailwind for the horizontal jumpers.



Quote of the Day:

TOMY



Wave Count:

Too many to count.



The Atmosphere:

Each night becomes more and more party like in the stands.
If the meet ended with tonight’s performances, it would be a story book
ending to this meet. Look below to see why.

The Events:

Women’s 5k: Ethiopia 1-4 with 11 women under 15:00. Ethiopia has won 8 out
of 9 medals between the two 10’s and the women’s 5k. The men’s 5k is tomorrow.

Women’s 400H: The World Record holder from Russia ran a near perfect race to hold of Demus and Glover, who both pr’ed.

Women’s 4 x 100: USA!



Women’s 4 x 400 Prelims:
U.S. women apparently DQ’ed for lane violations. The lead off leg for U.S. was in over her head. Handed off in 5th at best.



Men’s 4 x 400 Prelims: U.S. men through.



Men’s 4 x 100: France won something- again.

Men’s
Marathon: Went and scouted out my watching route for tomorrow. Brian
Sell of the U.S. finished 9th, which is a great run. He started off in
45th and worked his way through the crowd. A bit toasty. Japanese fans
everywhere- they just worship the marathon.

Men’s Long Jump: In the
preliminaries on Friday, Tomy Evila of Finland set a new national
record at 8.18. The home fans were rabid for him to pull off something
tonight. It was like javelin day all over again. Tomy has got the look.
He’s got a mohawk, which is braided with a smaller pony tail.
Unfortunately for Tomy, Dwight Phillips used an 8.60 first jump to put
the competition away from the start but the other two medals were up
for grabs. Tomy had the crowd whipped into feverish pitch, again 35,000 people
rhythmically clapping for this one individual. Two jumpers before he is
even up, the chants for him begin. Some of the signs in the stadium
say- Tomy, the Airtime King. Tomy = 8.96. Hayvla Tomy. (something in
Finnish) His first two attempts were fouls and on his third jump needed
to go at least 8.05 to make the final. Tomy leaped 8.16, which put him
into third place and brought the house down.

How good are these fans? The next jumper Ignisius from Ghana went 8.34 to push Tomy out of
the medals and they still cheered loudly for his great effort.

On to the finals we went with Tomy slipping one more spot after round four
and unable to improve his mark. At this point, every running event is
done and everything is focused on the long jump. Round five- Tomy has a
good jump, one that leaves the crowd hushed as the measurement was
awaited. 8.25! One centimeter better than the Frenchman who stood in
third. Good for third place with a round to go. The place is nuts.
Nervous tension sets in with each jumper that goes. A good looking jump
brings a collective holding of the breath only to be released when the
red flag is raised. Tomy survived and held on to third and it was a
national day of celebration at Olympic stadium. Tomy runs around the
infield, the Finnish flag tied on like a Superman cape, giving bows to
each side of the stadium. The French 4 x 100 team on their victory lap
completely ignored.

I don’t think I will ever experience such fan excitement like that at a track and field meet ever again. I would
equate it to being at a football and the excitement of the home team
scoring a touchdown with no time left to win the game on a kickoff
return in the championship game. The guy is a national hero now with a
jump that is not outstanding and a third place finish.

One more day. The women’s marathon, which is why I am here in the first place
goes off this in the afternoon and then at the stadium later in the
evening are the 4 x 400’s, 1500 and 5000 and high jump.