SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
Indoors and outdoors, fast times came in both the swimming and track at Saturday’s 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
In the pool, it dwindled down to the final day when Caelab Dressel of the United States picked up his fifth overall gold medal with a world record time of 49.45 in the 100-meter butterfly, and third this time after touching the wall ahead of Hungary’s Kristof Milak, who clocked 49.68, and who had won the earlier 200 butterfly.
But Dressell himself didn’t have a shot at another when the brand new 4 x 100-meter mixed medley relay hit the water on Saturday, for when his anchor leg came around, the Americans were too far behind even though their top swimmer did get them from last place to fifth in the event that features two men and two women on each team, and Great Britain set a first world record by winning the gold.
In that event, the United States was essentially doomed when 17-year-old Lydia Jacoby had her goggles knocked off on her dive for the breaststroke leg. It was a disappointing caper to a golden morning for the Americans, whose biggest swimming stars both ascended to the top of the medal podium.
And it was Katie Ledecky, who had lost the 100, 200 and 400 freestyles to Australian rival Ariairne Timus over the first two days, who took over after that at Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
After winning the grueling 1,500-meter freestyle by a good margin over Timus on Thursday, Ledecky closed with a third-straight win in the 800 freestyle. In this race, she was pushed hard by Timus, but the American held on for a race she hadn’t lost since 2010.
The gal from Maryland finished up with two golds, a pair of silvers and one fifth place, not as successful as she was five years ago in Rio de Janeiro, but not bad at all.
Said Dressel: “We had a close race and two of the fastest times in history. You don’t get that very often, so to be part of that is really special.”
Outside at the vast Tokyo Stadium, with thousands of empty green, white and burgundy seats staring back at them, all the “oohs” and “ahhs” came from the athletes themselves.
And after round one of the women’s 100-meter dash, there was plenty to get excited about after Marie-Jose’e Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast, Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah, and the United States’ Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce sped to the fifth, sixth and seventh-fastest times of the year in their heat.
It was a stunned Lou saying she was in shock after clocking 10.78, and with reigning world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce turning in a 10.84, and defending Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, finishing in 10.82.
While other sprinters were amazed by the fastness of the track, the finals in the 100 meters became a sweep for Jamaican as it came away with the top three places. It was time to report that a lot of sprinters are dominating, some coming up with personal bests but no medals. For the Jamaican three. all their fastest times were personal bests.
All this occurred even though the field was missing this year’s third-fastest runner, Sha’Carri Richardson, who is home in the USA following a doping (marijuana) ban.
Regardless, the fast oval is there, and who’s here and who’s not here, are going to have to just lace up their track shoes and compete.
“It’s been super, super competitive,” Fraser-Pryce said. “You have to make sure you focus on every round and the things you are expected to do. And that of course includes the 200 and 400 meters, and perhaps even the 800.”
The first of 48 gold medals on the line after nine days of competition went to Selemon Barega of Ethiopia in the men’s grueling 10,000 meters. This was a super-saturated race that left half of the field sprawled out in exhaustion at the end of an 80-degree (27-degree Celsius) night with 82 percent humidity.
In something that usually happens in the relays, the Americans encountered drama. This time it was the debut of the mixed 4 x 400, where the US got disqualified for a bad pass between Lynna Irby and Elija Goodwin, only to later be reinstated on a middle-of-the-appeal.
“Mistakes happen,” Goodwin said long after the appeal had been filed. We’re humans. We do make mistakes.”
Other Day 1 action went to form. Rai Benjamin of the United States and world record-holder Karsten Warholm of Norway cruised easily through their heats of a men’s gold-medal showdown. This also has the look of a possible world record.
Anything Mu, a contender from the USA in the women’s 800, moved through the first round with little trouble, but didn’t appear too upset that the track announcer butchered her name, which for the record, it’s pronounced “uh-THING moh.”
“I didn’t even know what he said and everybody saw my face,” she said, “but it was terrible. They should rehearse.”
In the high jump, American Ju’Vaughn Harrison made it into the final for a high jump-long jump men’s double. Also advancing in the high jump was reigning world champion Mutaz Essa Barshim of India, who wowed his home crowd two years ago when he won the world title in Doha.
What it really boils down to in the running events, it’s whoever gets to the line first wins. In the field events, it’s simply up, up and away. In the throwing events, it’s how far you can toss the weight.
But there’s no doubt the track has been found to be quite fast.
