On a day like today Emil Zátopek, the son of the carpenter who came to triumph in the Games with a hernia
On a day like today When Juantorena dared to double his distance and ended up astonishing the planet
On July 27, 1996, the world record holder in the 100 meters was
Leroy Burrell
, with 9.85.
He and
Carl Lewis
had alternated, since 1988, on the chronometric throne of speed.
But that July 27, 1996, neither of them was leaning over the starting blocks in the final of the Atlanta Olympics.
In the common homeland.
It was 9 p.m. in the slimy heat of the Georgia state capital. "Get to your posts!" "Ready!" But the result of the race was still going to take quite a few minutes, not about 10 seconds. Before sounding the shot that would lead to the stampede of the eight glistening bodies of a patent leather friend of the sprinters, the British
Linford Christie
, gold in Barcelona four years earlier, starred in a null start.
All standing. A few runs to temper the nerves as much as possible and give momentary freedom to the pulsations under the melted lead sky, and start over. "Get to your posts!" Short interminable pause. "Ready!" Short interminable pause. But before the shot rang out,
Ato Boldon
, from Trinidad, made a null start.
All standing. A few runs to temper the nerves as much as possible and give momentary freedom to the pulsations under the melted lead sky, and start over. "Get to your posts!" Short interminable pause. "Ready!" Short interminable pause. But before the shot was fired, again Linford Christie, the
36-year-old
grandfather
of the squad, made the same mistake. And he was disqualified. All standing, etc. The race had built up such extreme tension that it could only lead to a bombshell or a backfire.
It was a bombshell. After the definitive boom, Canadian
Donovan Bailey
, on 6th Street, came out regular. At 50 meters he was still fifth. But at 75 he was already in first place, moving at 12.1 meters per second. It ended at 9.84. New world record. Namibian
Frank Fredricks
, second, made 9.89. And Ato Boldon, third, 9.90. No American on the podium. An anomaly.
Dennis Mitchell
, fourth with 9.99, became, despite himself, the only athlete in history to stay off the podium with a time of less than 10 seconds. Then it has happened more times.
Bailey, 28, 1.83 tall and 82 kilos, world champion in Göteborg in 1995, dedicated his triumph to his cousin
Keith
seriously ill with cancer.
He was unaware that he had died the night before the final and the family hid it from him so as not to de-center him before such an important day.
Bailey was a Canadian by nationality, but genetically Caribbean.
He was born in Jamaica, where he left at the age of 13.
In Jamaica, yes, as, on the other hand, Linford Christie himself.
And also the ill-fated
Ben Johnson
.
In Jamaica, the place on this planet, throughout history, with the most world-class sprinters, men and women, per square kilometer.
Jamaica.
The Island of the Cyclones.
Any day flies away.
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