Sport
London 2012: Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake rivalry adds more excitment to track events
“These two can really encourage each other and motivate each other to take on that other little island out there who’s been dominating America,” said Renaldo Nehemiah, a former hurdler turned agent who represents Gatlin.
At 400 meters, America has both of the favorites in Sanya Richards-Ross, who still needs individual Olympic gold to fill out her resume, and LaShawn Merritt, trying to take a second gold in a row after serving a 21-month doping ban between Olympics. Rankled at the thought that Merritt can defend his title after a doping ban, Britain’s Dai Greene has promised to give him the cold shoulder should the two meet at the track.
Certainly something to watch for.
But for sheer intrigue in the men’s 400, all eyes will be on Oscar Pistorius of South Africa. Pistorius is a double-amputee and runs on carbon-fiber blades. After years of pleading his case in hearing rooms and months of trying to earn a spot on his country’s team, he’ll become the first amputee runner to compete in an Olympics.
“Today is truly one of the proudest days of my life,” Pistorius said on July 4, when he was named to the team to run in both the individual 400 and the 4×400-meter relay.
The best 1-on-1 matchup this side of Bolt vs. Blake figures to be China’s Liu Xiang against Cuba’s Dayron Robles in the 110-meter hurdles.
At the Athens Games eight years ago, Liu became the first Asian man to win an Olympic sprinting event. Two years later, he broke the world record. Two years after that, Robles ran faster. Then in Beijing, there was the drama of Liu’s withdrawal from a morning heat because of an Achilles tendon injury, leaving a billion or so local fans bitterly disappointed. That set up Robles to claim one of his nation’s two total golds.
