2008 Olympic Track and Field - Day 3

It was either a Jamaican sweep or a U.S. goose egg, depending on your perspective, as Jamaican sprinters finished one-two-two (no, that’s not a typo) in the Olympic women’s 100-meter final Sunday. Shelly-Ann Fraser pulled away to win in a personal best 10.78 seconds, with teammates Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart finishing in a dead heat for second (10.979). Both Simpson and Stewart received silver medals. Fraser entered 2008 with a personal best of 11.31, which wouldn’t have been good enough to qualify for Sunday’s final. American Lauryn Williams, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist, was fourth (11.03), followed by 2008 U.S. champ Muna Lee in fifth (11.07). American Torri Edwards finished eighth (11.20).

A highly competitive men’s 10,000-meter race became a near-rerun of Athens with Ethiopia’s defending Olympic champion, Kenenisa Bekele, winning the gold in an Olympic record 27:01.17, and countryman Sileshi Sihine earning his second consecutive Olympic silver medal (27:02.77). The Ethiopians pulled away on the final lap, which Bekele ran in 53.42 seconds. Kenya’s Micah Kogo, who led after 9000 meters, settled for the bronze, edging fellow Kenyan Moses Masai. Both were officially clocked in 27:04.11. Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie, the 1996 and 2000 gold medalist, led briefly around the 6000-meter mark but couldn’t maintain his pace late in the race and took sixth (27:06.68). American finishers were Galen Rupp (13th, season’s best 27:36.99), Abdihakem Abdirahman (15th, 27:52.53) and Jorge Torres (25th, 28:13.93).

Romania’s Constantina Tomescu emerged from the pack and took the lead less than halfway through the women’s marathon and remained in front, winning in 2:26:44. Catherine Ndereba of Kenya then dueled with China’s Chunxiu Zhou in front of about 60,000 fans in Beijing’s Olympic stadium before Ndereba edged ahead to earn the silver with a time of 2:27:06. Zhou won the bronze in 2:27:07. American Deena Kastor dropped out early in the race due to injury, while teammate Magdalena Lewy-Boulet also dropped out. American Blake Russell finished 27th (2:33.13).

Russia’s Gulnara Samitova-Galkina made the first-ever Olympic women’s steeplechase a memorable race by breaking her own world record, winning in 8:58.81. Her previous mark of 9:01.59 was set in 2004. Samitova-Galkina led from the start, pulling away with three laps remaining. Kenya’s Eunice Jepkorir rallied to finish second (9:07.41), edging Russian Yekaterina Volkova (9:07.64), the 2007 World Champion. Jennifer Barringer broke her own American record while finishing ninth in 9:22.26. American Anna Willard finished tenth (9:25.63).

Three familiar faces earned medals in the women’s triple jump, as 2004 gold medalist Francoise Mbango Etone of Cameroon defended her title with an Olympic-record leap of 15.39 meters, in the second round. Russia’s Tatyana Lebedeva, who won a bronze at Athens and a silver medal in 2000, gained her second Olympic silver (15.32), while 2004 silver medalist Hrysopiyi Devetzi of Greece was third (15.23). Defending World Indoor and Outdoor champion Yargelis Savigne of Cuba had to settle for fifth (15.05).

The second round of Sunday’s men’s hammer throw final proved decisive, as Slovenia’s Primoz Kozmus unleashed his gold medal-winning toss of 82.02 meters, while Vadim Devyatovskiy of Belarus threw 81.61, good enough for silver. Defending world champ Ivan Tsikhan of Belarus threw 81.51 meters in the fifth round to earn the bronze medal.

In preliminary competition Sunday, the U.S. suffered another blow when Bernard Lagat and his teammates failed to qualify for Tuesday’s 1500-meter final. Lagat tried to rally from behind and take the fifth and final automatic qualifying spot in his semifinal heat Sunday, but he fell agonizingly short, finishing sixth in 3:37.79. The final at-large qualifying time was 3:37.77. Americans Leonel Manzano (3:50.33) and Lopez Lomong (3:41.00) placed 12th in their respective semifinals. Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain posted the fastest semifinal time (3:37.11). Lagat won the Olympic bronze medal in 2000 and the silver in 2004. He’s still expected to compete in the 5000 meters, beginning Wednesday.

American Sanya Richards was the fastest qualifier in the women’s 400-meter semifinals. Richards won her heat in 49.9 seconds. Americans Mary Wineberg (5th place, 51.13) and DeeDee Trotter (7th, 51.87) failed to qualify for Tuesday’s final.

Lolo Jones won her heat and led three Americans who qualified for Monday’s semifinal in the women’s 100-meter hurdles. Jones finished in 12.71 seconds. Dawn Harper was second in her heat (12.73) while Damu Cherry placed third in hers (12.92). Spain’s Josephine Onyia and Sweden’s Susanna Kallur were both clocked in 12.68 in the first heat to post the day’s fastest time.

American Tiffany Williams won her heat in the women’s 400-meter hurdles preliminaries (55.51). Jamaica’s Melaine Walker posted the fastest overall time (54.46). Americans Sheena Tosta (56.12) and Queen Harrison (55.96) finished fourth in their respective heats and gained at- large berths in Monday’s semifinal.

Nobody reached the automatic qualifying height of 2.32 inches in the men’s high jump qualification round. Eight jumpers qualified by clearing 2.29 meters and four more reached Tuesday’s final by clearing 2.25. The final qualifier had four misses at 2.25, leaving Americans Jesse Williams and Andra Manson on the sidelines after both cleared 2.25 with five misses apiece. Manson was hurt by early misses at 2.15 and 2.20. American Dusty Jonas cleared 2.20 and didn’t qualify.

All dates mentioned above are based on Beijing time, which is 12 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings Time.