Bryant: Jamaicans take sprint crown away from the U.S.

BEIJING • The commercial is as lucid as the decisive
victories.

Hello world.

Let us introduce ourselves. We are Jamaica. We're faster than you. You know it. We know it too.

Hello Americans, your dominance on the track is no more. We are here, and we are here to stay.

Get used to us.

Close your eyes a moment; you'll see it, too.

Folks, in two days of competition, that's what the Jamaicans have done here in the National Stadium. In two sprint events, they've reduced the competition to a commercial, a bit of wall art. The American team, long the world's dominant force in Olympic speed events, has effectively been poster-ized.

The 100-meter sprint is track's sexiest race. It's all about who's fastest. We've all done it. We've all said something along the lines of, "bet'cha I can beat you to that tree" or "c'mon, race you to the house."

It's the world's easiest race - mano a mano.

And the Jamaicans are beating everybody to the house,
especially the Americans.

Saturday 21-year-old Usain Bolt trounced the field in the race. He had the second-slowest reaction time at the start and he slowed down the last 10 meters, still he bested the world record by .03 of a second.

Sunday Shelly-Ann Fraser busted out of the blocks and never looked back as she ran a personal best, 10.78 seconds, and led two Jamaicans across the finish line.
Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart both finished in 10.98. Both will get silvers for their efforts.

"When I crossed the line and saw Sherone and Kerron there - that was the moment," Fraser said. "I wouldn't trade it for anything else. I just couldn't believe it, but I had to calm down and stay relaxed.

"... Last night was amazing, it was crazy. I wanted to come out and do the same thing. I was inspired by Usain and Asafa (Powell). The secret of the team's success - reggae power!"

Lauryn Williams finished fourth and fellow American Muna Lee finished fifth in 11.03 and 11.07. Their teammate Torri Edwards finished last in 11.20.

The American team was reduced to making excuses as to what happened. The team even filed an official protest of the race's results. The protest was subsequently rejected by the International Association of Athletics Federation, track and field's governing body.

"Man I swear somebody jumped," Lee said. "Someone got out before the gun. I've never had a bad start like that, ever."

With a .234 of a second reaction time, Lee was the slowest out of the blocks, almost a tenth of a second slower than Williams who got off the line in .149 of a second.

"It was not a good race for me," Edwards said. "I think I moved a bit there at the start, and I thought they would call it. I think I false started, I moved a little bit - my foot. There was no call back. So, I went. I'm disappointed. I wanted at least one American to get up there."

One American did. But it was a result of the men's 100-meter final. Walter Dix's 9.91-second final took him to a bronze medal.

Two 100-meter finals.

Jamaicans 4. Americans 1.

Better yet - Jamaican golds, 2. American golds, 0.

Somewhere, members of the Chinese delegation are thanking the Jamaicans for dipping into the Americans' medal count.

"We have strong competitors," Williams said. "We've dominated for years, and now it's their time."

Those are just two races. There are many more to come. And the American team is much deeper than the Jamaican team.

Still, there are only three medals. When was the last time the American team went into the finals of any speed event and there was a question if it would garner at least one medal?

These days, that's a valid question.

If the past two days are any indication, the American team might send us scrambling to find that answer.
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Columnist Milo Bryant can be reached at 636-0252 or milo.bryant@gazette.com. Check out Milo's blog, The Extra Milo, at milobryant.blogspot.com