The title of my report refers to 2020. In this I am following what became the rule, naming this year's Olympics as Tokyo 2020. So Tokyo has a unique olympic status with the Games of 1940 cancelled, the ones of 1964 normally held and those of 2020 postponed by one year.
I cannot say that I did not enjoy the athletics in this year's Olympics. They were of a very high quality. But they would have been of the same high quality if we had had a World Championship instead of the Games. In fact I am convinced that the Olympic Games do not bring any added value to athletics, and, probably, to most of the well-established sports. Over the years they have become a money machine and I look forward to the day they close up shop. (I will come back to this in some future post of mine).
The women's sprint events were really great. E. Thompson confirmed her superiority and led the jamaican trio to a medal sweep in the 100 m. (In the photo you can see that S.A. Fraser is far from happy with her second place, while S. Jackson is radiant with her bronze medal). Thompson beat that olympic record of Flo-Jo with 10.61 s and just after the Games ran a 100 m in 10.54 s, which to my eyes is the real world record. She also registered the second best performance ever while winning the 200 m with 21.53 s. In this event Fraser was fourth and Jackson was eliminated in the heats: she relaxed a few metres from the finish and was passed on the line by the portuguese and italian athletes. M.J. TaLou was once more just outside the medals, finishing 4th in the 100 m and 5th in the 200 M, but she did equal M. Ahouré's (who was eliminated in the semis)) African record with 10.78 s. Kambundji equalled the swiss record with 10.95 and then DelPonte improved it to 10.91 s (dipping for the first time below 11 s).
The 100 m final was another proof (as if one needed it) that using milliseconds is absurd and even unfair. D. Neita and M.L. Ahye both ran in 11.00 seconds in the semis, at the last qualifying place. Using milliseconds, 10.992 for Neita and 10.993 for Ahye the organisers gave the 8th place in the final to the former. But Neita and Ahye had run in different races, and moreover the wind was +0.3 m/s in Neita's case and -0.2 m/s in Ahye's. Looking at the photo-finish below I don't know how one can be sure of a 1 cm precision (Neita is 4th from the right. Unfortunately the photo-finish of Ahye's race does not exist). Now why on Earth didn't they allow a 9th finalist, since there are 9 lanes in the stadium and they preferred to take an unjust decision based on milliseconds? To me such decisions are really hurting athletics.
I have already written about C. Mboma and B. Masilingi. Their presence in the 200 m olympic final is the proof that the testosterone rules are not working, contrary to Sir Sebastian's claims. The pre-race favourite, G. Thomas, barely saved the US honour in the sprints by obtaining the bronze medal in the 200 m with 21.87 s, another indication that the formula of the US Trials is far from optimal. S. Miller had initially planned to run the 200 m, then she decided to double and participate also in the 400 m. That was a wise decision. In fact it became clear, early enough, that obtaining a medal in the 200 m, let alone win, would be very difficult for her. So she qualified for the final but ran relaxed, sparing her forces for the 400 m.
If one looks at the official report one sees that only 23 athletes contested the 100 m semis. The missing name: B. Okagbare. She did obtain her place there but then it became known that the results of a previous doping test turned out to be positive and so she was suspended. However, unless one has followed the competition closely, there is no indication in the official report allowing one to interpret the missing competitor.
The men's races were equally interesting. The main surprise was the elimination of T. Bromell who was one of the favourites for the 100 m having won the US Trials in 9.80 s (and with a PB of 9.77 s). After qualifying on the basis of time in the heats, he went out in the semis. The future winner L. Jacobs registered an italian record in the heats with 9.94, and a European record in the semis with 9.84 s. Still such was the quality of this semifinal that he entered the final only thanks to his time. B. Su ran an Asian record of 9.83 s in that final. When I saw this I was convinced that it was over for Su: entering the final with the best time is too much a stress. Jacobs dominated the final with 9.80 s ahead of Kerley, 9.86s, and de Grasse, 9.89 s. For the first time since 2000 there was no jamaican in the 100 m final, Y. Blake having exited at the semis. de Grasse reinforced my opinion that he is the best sprinter today by winning the 200 m thanks to a superb second 100 m. His final time of 19.62 (into a slight headwind) puts him among the 10 best performers of all times. Bednarek and Lyles were second and third with 19.68 and 19.74 s.
But the most interesting finalists were the ones in 4th and 5th place. E. Knighton is just 17 years old. He ran in Tokyo in 19.93 s but he has a PB of 19.84 s from the Trials. J. Fahnbulleh is running for Liberia but lives in the US. He is 20 years old and ran 19.98 s in Tokyo. You can bet that I will follow closely the progress of these two young sprinters.
The women's 4x100 relay was dominated by the jamaican team with B. Williams joining the trio of the medalists of the individual event. Their record of 41.02 s is second only to the US record held by the US. In fact I could detect some disappointment in the face of S. Jackson, who anchored the relay, when she saw that they did not break the world record. The US team finished second with 41.45 s followed by the british one, 41.88 s, which included D. Asher-Smith who had to drop out of the individual sprints due to some slight injury.
As I said above S. Miller had kept her forces for the 400 m. And she put them to excellent use there. Five years after Rio she did not have to dive in order to win the gold medal. She dominated the final with 48.36 s. A. Felix, the silver medalist of Rio was third with 49.46 s (a proof of her talent, since she is not so young any more). In between the two was dominican M. Paulino with 49.20 s. I was expecting her to play a major role in the individual event after her phenomenal 48.7 split in the mixed relay. And she did.
The men's 400 m did not reserve us big surprises. S. Gardiner added the olympic gold to his world crown winning with 43.85 s. K. James and A. Zambrano ran in 43.88 s and 43.93 s in the semis but their respective positions were permuted in the final Zambrano winning silver. K. James has now a complete collection of olympic medals with gold, silver and bronze crowning his excellent career. The fifth place of, pre-race favourite, M. Norman is a minor surprise (see my article on the US Trials). World record holder and 2016 olympic champion W. van Niekerk was present but he hasn't yet found his pre-injury shape, exiting at the semis. He will be just 30 years old next year, so there is hope for the 2022 (or is it 2021?) World's.
On the other hand, the result of the 110 m hurdles did surprise us. G. Holloway was the indisputable favourite. His flawless technique and his basic speed guaranteed that. But hurdles are hurdles and in his case a small mistake of the 8th was enough for H. Parchment to pass him on the finish line 13.04 to 13.09 s. Holloway had roundly beaten Parchment in the semifinal (they ran in the same race) but a final is where everything can change.
Jamaica did not feel the absence of O. McLeod as with R. Levy (13.10 s) also on the podium they got the lion's share of the medals. Cypriot M. Trajkovic, not fully recovered from various injuries, did not manage to make the olympic final this time.
The women's high hurdles were a race of redemption. Four (well, five) years ago J. Camacho-Quinn crashed out in the semis of Rio while K. Harrison did not manage to qualify at the US Trials, placing 6th. This time they had a flawless competition finishing first and second with 12.37 and 12.52 s respectively (but Camacho had run an olympic record 12.26 s in her semi-final). N. Visser confirmed her status as the best european high-hurdler, being the only presence from the old continent in the final where she finished 5th. I was keeping an eye open for costa-rican athlete A. Vargas whom I had remarked in the 2019 World's final but this time she did not make it beyond the semis having the 9th overall time.
I have already written a separate article for the 400 m hurdles. There is nothing I can add here, but I will repeat that for me they were the most exciting races of the Games (plus the women's semis under a pouring rain were a pure gem).
(In case you wonder why I included the 400 m in the sprint article and left the 4x400 m for the middle-long distance post, I must say that there is no convincing reason for this. I just decided to cut my report in this way).
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