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| August 26, 2003 | Tuesday | Jumadi-us-Sani 27, 1424 |
Outstanding displays by Bekele and White
PARIS, Aug 25: American sprinter Jon Drummond brought the world athletics championships to a standstill here on Sunday but an outstanding display by Ethiopian wunderkind Kenenisa Bekele in the 10,000 metres later came to the rescue of the competition’s battered image.
While a tearful Drummond was disqualified from the 100m quarter-finals for a false start, 21-year-old Bekele displayed maturity which the 34-year-old American lacked by outpacing his legendary countryman Haile Gebrselassie to take gold.
Youth was also the order of the day as 20-year-old Swedish pin-up Carolina Kluft held her nerve masterfully to win the heptathlon and become only the third athlete to go over the 7,000 points landmark seeing off a sprited challenge by France’s 1999 champion Eunice Barber.
There was joy for the Americans after the Drummond drama as Kelli White stormed home in the women’s 100m from compatriot Torri Edwards with 2001 champion Zhanna Block in third - but the ghost of the absent Marion Jones still hung over the field.
The false start rule, which was introduced this season, was what led to Drummond’s stubborn refusal to leave the track, a decision which was roundly booed by the French crowd.
The self-styled Clown Prince of the Track had delayed his heat for 20 minutes after refusing to accept the decision and lay down on the track.
The new rules state that once any athlete has committed one false start the next person who jumps the gun is thrown out regardless of who was penalised first.
Drummond was joined by another disqualified runner Jamaica’s Asafa Powell, though he simply stood by his blocks.
Their behaviour bore relation to Linford Christie after he refused to leave the track when he was disqualified in the 1996 Olympics 100m final.
The Briton was one of the first to embrace Drummond on the training track afterwards.
Drummond, who eventually stormed out of the Stade de France in tears, remonstrated with officials declaring ‘I am not moving, I am not moving and this rule sucks.
In the 10,000 metres, Bekele not only left Gebrselassie trailing in second but rubbed salt into the wounds by breaking his compatriot’s championship mark with a time of 26min 49.57sec destroying the old one by 23sec.
Joyner Kersee holds the heptathlon world record with 7,291 points, which she scored when winning the 1988 Olympic title.
Kluft refused to say whether that had now become her next target.
White, the 26-year-old who was seventh in the 100m final two years ago, clocked a season-leading 10.85sec.
Before the championships she had coolly rejected suggestions that Jones’ year off would devalue her win, but after the race she chose her words carefully.
Drummond would be well advised to also seek some advice on how to behave the next time he steps out onto a championship track.—AFP
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