The Big Bust

The last day of competition. The show-down between Michael and Maurice and the show-down between Marion and Inger.

We spent the morning glued to Tiger Woods winning the British Open on the telly. It was going to be VERY hot today – I had to turn the air conditioning on before noon. The local newspaper, The Sacramento Bee, was all abuzz about the show-downs, was Michael really injured, was Maurice really tough enough? Sac-Town became Smack-Town. Lisa checked-out of the Taylor B&B and moved her stuff back into the motor home. Her internship is over. We three took the shuttle over to the track. The entire parking lot at Cal Expo was completely full, the parking lot at the stadium was completely full, every seat was taken, the tension was mounting, the fans were excited and the athletes were not going to disappoint.

Stacy Dragilla set a world record in the pole vault at 15 feet, 2.25 inches – breaking her own record. (Men are vaulting just over 20 feet.) That was just to get things rolling. Dragilla is a fabulous athlete, completely fit, cute with a bubbly personality that really comes through to the crowd. Then Gail Devers, age 32, broke her own American record in the 100 meter hurdles. Leave it to the women to put the pedal to the “medal”… All the men could do was lip service and glare each other down. A lovely moment in the Women’s 800 – an entire family reunion. Hazel Clark, her sister Joetta Clark-Biggs and their sister-in-law Jearl Miles-Clark will represent the US in Sydney. What kind of strange fate is that? Marion Jones easily won the 200 meters.

The last event was the Men’s 200 meters. Michael v Maurice. The papers, television and radio had been talking-up this race all week. The two had stared each other down on the track and had exchanged barbs in the press. Michael was supposed to be having trouble with his quad. I thought it was a built-in excuse if he lost to Mo Green in the 200. Green is the “world’s fastest man” as he holds the world record in the 100 meter. Johnson is also called the “world’s fastest man” as he holds the world record in the 200, 300 (raced in Europe occasionally) and the 400 meters. I’d vote for a 150 meter show-down, but no one asked me.

The starter at this track meet is so awful I can’t even begin to tell you about the number of false starts… I have seen more false starts in this track meet than I have in my entire life (and I have attended a few track meets). The fans are so distressed about the number of false starts and were so worried about the 200 meters. Before the race, pressure building in the crowd, Johnson kept practicing his start, kept frowning (quite dramatically too) and pushing on his lower abdomen. He was not a happy camper. Mo Green was his usual histrionic self… making sure everyone in the stands knew he had perfectly developed abs. (He DOES.) Mo had donned a fluorescent GREEN body suit. (Picture an African-American Green Hornet with a membership to 24-Hour Fitness.) Maurice Green was FOCUSED.

Michael’s purple shoes were in the blocks. The crowd was silent. The air was hot and completely still. The gun went up, the hips went up, and BANG they were off – a clean start. Johnson had a terrible start. He was well behind from the first step. As he came out of the turn into the straight-away, Johnson pulled up. Grabbing his leg, and nearly falling over, every eye was on Johnson as he stopped and collapsed onto the track. It was only a second later (though it seemed like an eternity) that Maurice Green pulled up too. It was like in a dream. The other 5 runners continued on, but few were watching. It was unreal that they would both DNF. About 20 medical personnel were out on the track in 2 seconds to attend to Mr. Johnson. Mo Green limped off on his own and then everyone seemed to say at once: “WHO WON THE 200??” John Capel, in less than 20 seconds – in fact, our entire 200 team finished in less than 20 seconds! It is possible that Capel would have won the race anyway! Luckily we live in the age of instant replay and they ran the race several times over on the Big Screen.

Two American records, one World Record and one Big Race which turned out to be a Big Bust, and it was over.

We went over to the NIKE center so Lisa could say goodbye to her boss. The official word from the NIKE guys was Michael pulled his quad and Mo merely had a cramp. Mo will be fine for his 100 race in Sydney. Michael will have some repairing to do for his 400 in Sydney. We saw Michael Johnson’s wife and their new infant (very cute). Regina Jacobs came in as we were leaving. The line for the shuttle bus was miles long and we needed to get over to Steve and Gina’s for dinner. Dave spotted an empty taxi, Lisa chased it down and we were back to the motorhome in record time. Gina prepared a beautiful Greek Salad from her garden, a salad Caprese, grilled chicken and ravioli in a red sauce, and garlic bread. Another fabulous meal. Steve and Gina really went out of their way to make this visit wonderful for us – and took very good care of our baby. They made breakfast for her every morning – I am happy if I can get her to eat a piece of toast! I am sure they are “happy to see us come and happy to see us go” – but I will miss chatting around the bar in their kitchen and Dave will miss his favorite golfing partner.