Sport
London 2012: Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake rivalry adds more excitment to track events
Making things even more interesting, Liu and Robles got tangled with each other from adjacent lanes during the world championships last year. So even though Robles crossed the finish line first, he was disqualified and left empty-handed, allowing Jason Richardson of the U.S. to take a surprising gold, and Liu a silver.
In the women’s hurdles, Lolo Jones has turned herself into a media star despite her role as a decided underdog heading into London. She qualified third at U.S. trials and hasn’t run faster than 12.75 this year.
The defending Olympic champion is Dawn Harper. She stayed upright after Jones tripped on the second-to-last hurdle in Beijing, then found herself looking around in disbelief, asking if she had really won, after crossing the line in first. Her toughest competition should come from reigning world champion Sally Pearson of Australia, who has the top time in the world this year, 12.40 seconds.
“It’s a lot different feeling going in where no one expects you to win, to going in where a lot of people expect you to win,” Harper said. “I’ve just got to make sure I keep doing the work, because I want to feel that feeling again.”
As does Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva, who will be going for a third straight gold medal in one of the premier field events, the women’s pole vault.
No woman in track and field has managed to win an individual Olympic title in each of three successive games.
“This,” Isinbayeva said, “is my goal.”
