After a slow start in an unlikely host city, the people of Daegu did a fine job of organizing and cheering for these world track and field championships, although it is still hard to imagine that having brought this meet here will transform South Korea into a track and field nation.
Even staging the Seoul Olympics in 1988 did not do the trick. More than two decades later, South Korean athletes have become international stars in baseball, figure skating and golf, but no athlete could come close to a medal in Daegu.
This nine-day meet did leave at least some imprint on local culture. At the annual Buddhist craft market at Donghwa Temple, artist Shin Jae-soon, who makes traditional Korean paper hanji dolls, created something new for his stand this year: A doll depicting Usain Bolt breaking the tape.
Photo: Reuters
“He won, right?” Shin said.
Not the 100m, but Bolt, the irrepressible Jamaican sprinter, still came away from Daegu with two gold medals and the only world record of the championships as he and his Jamaican teammates romped to a time of 37.04 seconds on Sunday in the 4x100m relay.
It was classic Bolt and it certainly seems very likely that he will romp some more at the London Olympics next year, unless his Achilles’ tendon problem or some other concern drags him down, perhaps even another gaffe such as the false start that spoiled his 100m on the opening weekend.
The existing rule, which disqualifies any sprinter immediately after a false start, is unlikely to change even after it came under attack in Daegu, where athletes and commentators clamored for more mercy or a return to the previous rule, which allowed one false start for the field.
Lamine Diack, president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), said on Sunday that track’s governing body would not revise the rule for London.
Frankie Fredericks, the former world champion sprinter from Namibia who was elected to the IAAF council, sounded more open to dialogue.
“I think it’s good for us that the youngsters realize that we are serious with the rules, that even if a Bolt false-starts and gets thrown out, nobody can mess with the rules,” Fredericks said. “I think, in that sense, it’s good, but whether it’s good for us to lose one of our marquee sprinters at the final is a different issue. I think it’s one we need to study. What will be fair?”
If fairness is truly the issue, there really are only two solutions. Either every sprinter is allowed one false start, as was the case before 2003, or nobody is allowed a false start, as is the case now.
However, no matter how diverting it may seem, the false-start debate is hardly the major issue facing global track, which needs to find a way to appeal to the young.
Sebastian Coe, the former -middle-distance star who is now an IAAF vice president and head of the organizing committee for the London Games, wants to see a more extensive, creative analysis of youth culture worldwide.
Doping scandals have repeatedly wounded the sport, beginning in earnest with the Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson’s positive test and disqualification at the Seoul Olympics and peaking again with the BALCO investigation that led to the US star Marion Jones’ disgrace and eventual imprisonment.
To speak with athletes of this generation, particularly US athletes, is to realize how much psychological damage has been done. Dwight Phillips won his fourth world title in the men’s long jump in Daegu and has also won an Olympic gold medal, but he believes his low profile in the US is largely linked to the scandals.
However, Phillips and others are encouraged by recent efforts, including the IAAF’s decision to follow professional cycling’s lead and collect blood samples from every athlete who participated in these championships with the goal of creating a so-called biological passport that can be used to monitor parameters and detect significant changes over time.
“Everybody always talked about the testers being one step behind, so hopefully they’re catching up and they’re on level par at least now,” said Dai Greene, the British hurdler who won the 400m hurdles.
There were no positive tests announced during the championships in Daegu, but the anecdotal evidence is encouraging in that mind-blowing performances are becoming increasingly rare. Greene’s time of 48.26 seconds in the 400m hurdles was the slowest winning time in world championship history, as was the American Jenny Simpson’s time of 4 minutes, 5.4 seconds in the women’s 1,500m.
So it could be quite a meet at the next global track championship — the London Olympics — based on the routinely tight finishes in Daegu, on the emergence of new champions like Simpson and Grenada’s Kirani James and, above all, on Bolt.
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