THE LONG JOURNEY LEADS TO AN OLYMPIC RECORD FOR FELIX
Allyson Felix, of the United States, smiles after taking the bronze in the final of women’s 400-meters. (AP Photo Francisco Seco)
By EDDIE PELLS ute, 16.85-second jaunt she was part of in her last lay team. The combo of Michael Cherry, Michael AP National Writer Olympic race — good for a 3.68-second romp over Norman, Bryce Deadmon and hurdler Rai Benja- OKYO — Allyson Felix knows the Poland — certainly put those to rest. min combined to win America’s first and only gold way to the Olympic medals stand It was a 19-year-old, Athing Mu, who ran the medal for the men’s runners on the track. The U.S. better than any runner alive. anchor leg to secure Felix’s medal — the seventh closed out action at the stadium with seven golds TShe made her record-setting 11th trip gold in her collection of 11. and 26 overall medals. there Saturday, after starring as the head- Sydney McLaughlin, the 400-meter hurdles There were other firsts. liner on a 4x400 relay win that featured a world-record holder, celebrated her 22nd birthday Neeraj Chopra won India’s first-ever gold medal who’s-who of American running. by running the opening lap. She handed to Felix, in Olympic track and field with a javelin throw of With the gold medal dangling from her who handed to another hurdler, Dalilah Muham- 87.58 meters. neck and the “Star-Spangled Banner” playing mad, who is 31. And Mariya Lasitskene of Russia took the first in the near-empty stadium, “I took a moment They had two things in common: gold of the Olympic track meet for that team, just to close my eyes and take it in one last —All won medals in their individual races over which was only allowed to bring 10 athletes to track time,” Felix said. the nine days in Tokyo. due to sanctions related to the country’s long-run- After the final race of the final Games —Also, not a single one is a 400-meter specialist. ning doping scandal. of the 35-year-old sprinter’s career, Felix McLaughlin and Muhammad are friendly rivals “It has broken a lot of careers,” Lasitskene said. leaves the stage having won the most med- in the hurdles, where they went gold-silver. Mu won “Partially mine, too.” als of any track athlete in U.S. history. It’s gold in the 800. Felix has always considered herself Felix’s career was almost derailed by a difficult some list. She passed Carl Lewis, and now more of a 200 runner. Three of her 11 medals have pregnancy that led to an emergency C-section at 32 she only trails one person in the Olympic come at that distance. Six of the medals have come weeks, which threatened the lives of both her and record book — Paavo Nurmi — the Finnish in relays. All of those ones have been gold. her baby. distance runner who won 12 between 1920 “I was just honored,” Muhammad said of her At around that time, she was facing a salary cut and 1928. reaction when she was presented with Saturday’s from Nike — an insult she felt was too much to ig- Felix, who a day earlier took bronze in the eclectic lineup. “Of course she earned it, but she’s nore. 400 meters to become the most-decorated so deserving of it too. I’ve just been inspired by her At that point, Felix, who made her Olympic woman in Olympic track, has no plans to go throughout my entire career.” debut in 2004 as a shy, smiling teenager, became any further. In her mind, as a sprinter at least, Felix wasn’t the only inspirational woman on the something much different: An outspoken advocate she also has nothing left to prove. track on closing night. who was no longer simply happy to shut up and “I feel at peace,” she said. “I went out, had Sifan Hassan completed the previously untried run. all the confidence in these amazing women. I triple — 1,500, 5,000, 10,000 — by winning a gold Running, though, is what gave her the plat- wanted to take it all in one last time around, medal in the longest race. form, and so it was fitting that the last platform she and it was special.” She said she had lost all feeling in her neck and stepped on before she exited the Olympic stage was She still plans to sound an active voice for her arms by the end. Well after she crossed the fin- the top step on the medals stand. women, and especially for mothers who too ish, she was sitting beneath the bleachers, spitting up “I feel like I have no regrets,” she said. “I feel like often hear what she heard when she got preg- nant with her now 2-year-old daughter, Cam- into a cup. She walked away with gold in the 5 and I’ve given my all to this sport and there’s nothing left my: That once women start having babies, 10K, a bronze in the 1,500, and hopefully an ice on this Olympic stage I need to do now.” their best athletic days are behind them. bath in her very near future. Her last pass of the baton was also a passing of But if she had any concerns about the “I wanted to celebrate,” she said, “but when I the torch, she said, as she nodded to the three wom- future of her sport on the track, the 3 min- finished, I just fell down.” en beside her, “and now they’re taking this into the Also in celebration mode was the U.S. men’s re- future and it’s in very good hands.”
OLYMPIC SPOTLIGHT
SNEAKING A PEEK: FANS FIND CREATIVE WAYS TO GLIMPSE OLYMPICS By DAVE SKRETTA inevitably showed up to shoo away Nakamura and her friend, AP Sports Writer 8-year-old Sora Yamagishi, the sprightly youngster in the blue he soon-to-be Olympic champion was in what cyclists Nike skateboarding cap kept slipping away. derisively call “the pain cave,” empty lungs searing “Some people scold me several times,” Nakamura said, “so I and legs feeling like dead weight. The climb he was on have to hide when I see these people.” Tseemed interminable, the evil gradient sending him straight into With the right equipment and and a little bit of gumption, the sky. golf fans might be able to catch a glimpse of Masters champion Hardly the time for Richard Carapaz to look fondly upon a Hideki through the trees lining the East Course at Kasumigas- near-naked man running beside him on the road. eki Country Club. At Odaiba Marine Park, where a few souls Except ... did the stoic rider from Ecuador actually crack a braved the rain to watch the triathlon this week, long-distance smile? swimmers will compete in the marathon. Indeed, he did. That same stunt that overzealous fans pull Speaking of marathons, the track and field marathon will in the Alps and Pyrenees during the Tour de France, where it take place next week in Odori Park in Sapporo, about 700 miles might annoy Carapaz to no end, was actually welcomed by him (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) northeast of Tokyo, where temperatures should be slightly cool- in the Olympic road race. That’s because the draconian mea- People watch from behind a security fence during the final day of the surf- er. That could mean sightings of reigning Olympic champion sures taken by the organizers of the Tokyo Games to prevent the ing competition at the 2020 Summer Olympics on Tuesday at Tsurigasaki Eliud Kipchoge, Kenya’s marathon world record-holder Brigid spread of COVID-19 have also prevented fans from the once- beach in Ichinomiya, Japan. Kosgei or American four-time Olympian Galen Rupp. in-a-lifetime opportunity to see most of the world’s best athletes Technically speaking, fans are prohibited from lining the perform on their own soil. Sixty miles to the east, where surfing made its Olympic debut, route. But good luck policing 26.2 miles (42.2 kilometers) of Or roads, as it were. fans found their way to Tsurigasaki Beach. road. “It gave us a sensation of somehow coming back to normali- Starting on the first day of the three-day tournament, dozens Those unwilling to run afoul of the law can catch the final ty, seeing the fans there,” Carapaz said later. “I loved it.” crowded around the plastic orange fence marking the security week of cycling, which will shift to the velodrome in Izu for track Technically speaking, a ban on fans for almost every event perimeter, their revelry building throughout the day. Far off in cycling. Its location in the Shizuoka prefecture, like the moun- remains in place. Police and volunteer security guards are on the distance, locals could see the beach and athletes moving into tain bike course and the road race finish at Fuji International almost constant patrol. But that hasn’t stopped many locals from the water, along with coaches, journalists and volunteers at work. Speedway, falls outside the spectator ban, meaning up 1,800 catching a glimpse of the action. Nobody seemed to mind the jetties near the surf zone that people will be able to squeeze inside. On the way to the opening ceremony, thousands lined the blocked much of the competition. Good for the fans. Good for the athletes missing their sup- street to cheer for the buses, even though they had no idea who Over at Ariake Urban Sports Park, a dazzling stadium setup port, too. was riding inside. They held up signs that read “Welcome to that would have seated 7,000 spectators for the Olympic debut “Initially I was quite gutted. Without fans completely would Tokyo,” despite public sentiment that has run strongly against of skateboarding, 8-year-old Ayane Nakamura was doing ollies have been different,” said Britain’s Laura Kenny, a four-time the staging of the Games. When drones rose above the stadium, on her “Peanuts” skateboard outside the venue. Olympic champion in cycling. “Would they have played crowd they were oohing and ahhing and taking pictures, just as they She had come with her mother, Rie, and camped outside at noise? Could they have chosen the London crowd? It wouldn’t would have been watching their beloved Shohei Ono competing 7 a.m. in hopes of seeing her hero, Yuto Horigome, and the rest have felt as exciting as it could have been. I’m glad to have some in their national pastime, Judo. of the men arriving for competition. When the security guards people coming in.”
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