Saturday, August 3, 1996
Canada proves it's the fastest
BY JIM O'LEARY
SLAM! Sports
ATLANTA -- Donovan Bailey crossed the finish line and apologized. That's
right. The most popular man in Canada threw his arms around his celebrating
teammates and interrupted their whoops of delight to say he was sorry.
He knows he should have bore down at the finish line of the men's
4X100 relay and broken the world record. He should have rubbed a little gold
dust into the open wounds of 80,000 Americans in Olympic Stadium. He should have
erased the names of a bunch of cocky American sprinters from the record book.
But the moment got the better of him. He'd anchored Canada to an
amazing gold medal triumph. The site of some American mince meat turned him into
a ham. He raised his arms well before the finish line and threw away a shot at a
world record.
And now he is sorry.
Hey, Donovan. Relax. All is forgiven.
Before Saturday night, no American team had ever been beaten an
Olympic 4X100 relay. Three times the Yanks failed to finish, but, otherwise, 14
Olympic relays brought 14 gold medals and 11 world records.
All week it was pretty much a foregone conclusion around Atlanta that
they'd make it 15 golds and 12 world records when they destroyed Bailey and his
three mates. Fodder for American gold, is how the Canadians were regarded. Even
the American relay coach, blinded by all those stars and stripes, shrugged off
the Canadians.
"This is about America,'' he said. "We have to win this relay.''
So who can blame Bailey for throwing his right arm in the air and
slowing down 10 metres from the finish line. By then, the gold medal was
Canada's. Vindication was theirs. The party was about to begin.
Or, as Bailey put it:
"We kicked their ass on their home court.''
The winning time was 37.69 seconds, a Canadian record, but 19/100ths
off the world mark of 37.40. The Americans took the silver in a doddling (for
them) 38.05.
"To be blunt about it, we got barbequed,'' said American Michael
Marsh.
The surprising part of the race was that it wasn't left to Bailey to
stick the fork in the pig. By the time he got the baton, it was time for the
peach cobbler.
The race was won during the second and third legs where Glenroy
Gilbert and Bruny Surin ran superbly. Gilbert, in particular, ran an astouding
split. He took the baton from Robert Esmie and clocked an eye-popping time of
9.02 seconds, destroying American Tim Harden. The only faster time was Bailey's
8.95 anchor leg.
"Put a baton in my hand and I run faster,'' said Gilbert. "I don't
know why. It must be a psychological thing.''
Gilbert passed to Surin and watched as the Montrealer pounded out a
9.25 split on the curve, beating Marsh. Surin not only handed Bailey the baton,
he gave him the lead.
"I knew that no matter who was on the curve Bruny was going to hammer
them,'' Bailey said.
As soon as the pass was made, Surin threw his hands up in celebration.
Bailey's anchor leg had become academic. But Surin made sure he got a close look
at it anyway. He followed Bailey down the track, pumping his arms, cheering and
hollering and generally behaving as if it was the happiest moment of his life.
"I knew I'd run a terrific time,'' Surin said. "As soon as I handed
off to Donovan I knew it was over.''
Bailey knew it, too. Unlike the tension of the 100-metre final,
Bailey's run to this finish line was relaxed. He gripped the baton and, 10
metres from the finish line, thrust it into the air. It was probably just a
reflex, but you couldn't help wonder, as he stuck the baton in their direction,
if he Bailey was was delivering some sort of symbolic message to the crowd. In
any event, his smile was amazing.
"It can't get any sweeter,'' said Bailey of beating the Americans in
their own playground. "We won the relay world champions hip last year, but all
you heard all week was how the Americans were going to win the gold medal.
"There was no mention of a couple of guys up north who might possibly
win this thing.''
When it was done, and the team was assembled for a photograph, someone
shouted to the group: "Say cheese.''
"Cheese?'' said Donovan. "How about gold!"
How about it, indeed.
