Record-setting Olympics Were Electrified by Bolt

The 2008 Summer Olympic Games offered plenty of track and field thrills, most notably the record-breaking performances of Jamaica’s Usain Bolt. In all, 17 Olympic records were set among the 47 track and field events in Beijing, including five world records. Bolt had a hand in three of those world marks, in the 100 (9.69 seconds, into a slight headwind), the 200 (19.30) and the 4 x 100 relay, which Jamaica won in 37.10 seconds. Jamaica also swept the women’s 100 and 200 events, giving the nation five sprint golds.

Kenya dominated the middle distance events, winning three gold medals. The highlight victory was 19-year-old Pamela Jelimo’s triumph in the women’s 800 meters, less than a year after she began competing in the event.

Ethiopia won four distance races, setting three Olympic records in the process. Tirunesh Dibaba won both the women’s 5000- and 10,000-meter races – running an Olympic record 29:54.66 in the 10K – while Kenenisa Bekele swept both events on the men’s side, setting two Olympic marks (12:57.82 in the 5000, 27:01.17 in the 10K). Kenya’s Samuel Wanjiru set an Olympic record while winning the marathon (2:06:32).

Russia’s Gulnara Samitova-Galkina made history twice, first by winning the initial Olympic women’s steeplechase, and second by winning it in a world record time (8:58.81). On the men’s side, Brimin Kipruto was the seventh different Kenyan to win the event in the past seven Olympics.

The hurdle events proved interesting, though not always for positive reasons. In the 110, local favorite Liu Xiang and American Terrence Trammell dropped out due to injuries, leaving Cuba’s Dayron Robles to dominate. In the women’s 100, American Dawn Harper was a surprise champion after favored Lolo Jones of the U.S. stumbled over the ninth hurdle. In the 400, Jamaica’s Melaine Walker set an Olympic mark (52.64) while American Angelo Taylor, the gold medalist in 2000, became the comeback king of Beijing by winning the men’s 400 hurdles, then earning a second gold medal as part of the U.S. 4 x 400-meter relay team.

Bryan Clay gave the U.S. a signature victory in the decathlon while Nataliya Dobrynska handed Ukraine its only Olympic gold medal in the heptathlon.

No nation dominated either the jumping or throwing events. Russia won two golds in the jumps, led by Yelena Isinbaeva’s world-record performance in the pole vault (5.05 meters – 16 feet, 6¾ inches). Eight different nations earned gold medals in the eight throwing events. The jumps and throws featured victories by solid favorites (Isinbaeva, Irving Saladino of Panama in the long jump, New Zealand’s Valerie Vili in the shot put, Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republic in the javelin) as well as upsets (American Stephanie Brown-Trafton in the discus, Belgium’s Tia Hellebaut in the high jump, Tomasz Majewski of Poland in the shot). In addition to Isinbaeva’s world record, Olympic marks were set by Francoise Etone of Cameroon in the triple jump, Australia’s Steven Hooker in the pole vault, Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway in the javelin and Aksana Miankova of Belarus in the hammer throw.

Russian won two race walking golds, getting an Olympic-record performance from Olga Kaniskina in the 20-kilometer event (1:26:31). Italy’s Alex Schwazer set an Olympic mark in the 50K walk (3:37:09).

Only four individual gold medalists from 2004 repeated in Beijing: Isinbaeva, Thorkildsen, Bekele (in the 10,000) and Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell-Brown (in the 200).

The U.S. team suffered several disappointments. In addition to Trammell’s injury, it was clear that sprinter Tyson Gay wasn’t completely healthy in the 100 meters. Dropped batons knocked the U.S. teams out of both 4 x 100 relay events. Additionally, some top U.S. contenders simply fell short of expectations. On the other hand, surprise winners emerged from the U.S. team, including Brown-Trafton, Taylor and Harper. LaShawn Merritt was outstanding while winning the 400 meters. Clay dominated the decathlon and both U.S. 4 x 400 relay teams repeated as gold medal champions, with the men’s squad setting an Olympic record (2:55.39).

At the sub-gold medal level, the U.S. swept the men’s 400 and the 400-meter hurdles. Walter Dix was impressive while earning bronzes in both the 100 and 200 and Shalane Flanagan finished strong to take a bronze in the 10,000.

For many of these athletes, the Beijing Olympics will mark the peak of their track and field careers. But many others are, no doubt, already looking forward to further achievements in the London Games of 2012.