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With the end of the light show at the New National Arena in Japan, the fastest men on the planet are in place on their starting blocks, ready to fight for the most important 10 seconds of life.
In Beijing, London, and Rio, a Jamaican named Usain Bolt (Usain Bolt) created an unprecedented legend in the history of human sprinting. He tried to slap the chest hard to break the world record at the moment he crossed the line, and he also tried to lose his advantage in just a few seconds, but the same thing is that he seemed to be pushed to the limit of human beings by the howling of the audience. One crossed the finish line.
In Tokyo, the moment the finalists rushed from the starting line, there were only sporadic calls from other track and field athletes, reporters and local volunteers in the new National Stadium, which echoed in the almost empty stadium.
When Lamont Marcell Jacobs (Jacobs) crossed the finish line, he slapped his chest and rushed straight to his compatriot Gianmarco Tamberi (Gianmarco Tamberi, Tambal), the latter won the high jump tie just a few minutes ago.
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Italy’s Jacobs became the new 100-meter trapeze with a time of 9.80 seconds.
Dozens of Italian fans gathered outside the fence screamed frantically, but their voices could not make up for the tens of thousands of spectators who were not present.
But for Jacobs, it doesn’t matter anymore. He picked up the Italian flag thrown from the stands and started taking pictures.
He ran in 9.80 seconds, beating second-place American Fred Kerley (Fred Kerley) and third-place Canadian Andre De Grasse (Andre De Grasse), becoming the Olympic men’s 100 meters Flying champion, he has an indelible place in the history of competitive sports.
Also occupying a place is the Chinese flying man Su Bingtian. At the age of 31, he ran the fastest time in Asian history of 9.83 seconds in the semi-finals and became the first yellow racer in the Olympic 100-meter final.
He ran 9 seconds 98 in the final, ranking sixth, but he has already created a sprint history for Asians and Chinese.
“My dream came true here-I won the final,” Jacobs told the few reporters who were allowed to enter the interview area under the new crown epidemic after the game. “This is great, I have no words to describe. At this time, it’s incredible.”
Su Bingtian, who pioneered the history of the Asian Olympic 100-meter sprint finals, was reported by Chinese media that he choked up in an interview after the game.
“At this moment, I waited all my life,” Su Bingtian said.
In an unusual Olympic Games, two of the fastest men on the planet opened a new history in Tokyo.
The 100m champion only broke ten two months ago
Jacobs only ran into 10 seconds for the first time in May of this year.
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However, the European indoor 60-meter sprint champion maintained the motivation of the Olympic 100-meter final to the end and crossed the end in 9.80. The runner-up and third runners-up Klee and Grass ran in 9.84 and 9.89 respectively.
The Italian’s victory on this night surprised the entire track and field world, and he also admitted that this result surprised him himself.
When the reporter asked him if he expected to win before the game, his answer was simple: “No.”
The first person he hugged after he crossed the finish line was his compatriot Tamberg, who had just won the high jump championship in the track and field. What no one knew was that the two of them had “predicted” their victory the night before.
“Last night, I played the PlayStation game console with Ji’an Marco in the room, and then we said,’Can you imagine, if we…'” Xinke Baimifei recalled after the game.
But when they first fantasized about winning both championships, they immediately stopped the thought: “No, no, it’s impossible, don’t think about it.”
Jacobs said that when he got to the starting line, the conversation from the night before flashed in his mind: “I saw him and won the gold medal five minutes ago, and I thought:’Okay, I also want to win’— —I really won.”
Jacobs was born in the United States, his father is a US Marine, and his mother is Italian. After his father went to serve in Korea, his mother brought him back to Italy and raised him alone.
Jacobs said he had only spoken to his father for the first time a year ago, and he had never seen his biological father before.
“He didn’t grow up with a dad-my mother is a part-time father and life is very difficult,” Jacobs’ mother Viviana Masini said in a TV interview. “But today His sacrifice finally paid off, and he won the world.”
“When he was a kid, I told him that one day he would become as strong as Usain Bolt,” Masini said.
At the Tokyo New National Arena, he ran faster than Bolt’s victory in the Rio Olympics (9.81 seconds).
“China Speed”
Image source,Reuters
Although he ranked sixth in the finals, China’s Su Bingtian’s semi-final results and entry into the Olympic 100m finals still made history.
The sixth place in the Olympic 100-meter sprint final is usually not the focus, but this time Su Bingtian is different.
He has already made history after finishing the semifinals.
In the third group of the men’s 100m semi-final on Sunday (August 1st), the 31-year-old ran his career best time of 9.83 seconds-never before has an Asian run so fast.
As a result, he became the first Chinese to enter the men’s 100-meter sprint final in the history of the Olympic Games. It was also the first time an Asian athlete entered the Olympic 100-meter final since the Olympics adopted electronic timekeeping—and the 9.83 mark was even in the half. Ranked first in the finals instantly made everyone look forward to the finals.
Su Bingtian became the first Asian local player to “break the 10” in 2015. Since then, his competitive level has been maintained, scoring 10 seconds seven times before the Tokyo Olympics.
After the semi-final group crossed the finish line first and ran the historical Asian record, Su Bingtian knelt on the ground and clenched his fists with both hands and shouted loudly. The Chinese media also praised the “China Speed”.
Top track and field coaches tell us how to run 100 meters like a champion
Liu Xiang, the first Olympic gold medalist in Chinese men’s track and field and the 2004 Athens Olympic men’s 110-meter hurdles champion, immediately congratulated Su Bingtian on social media, saying that this is a “shenzhen”.
In the final 9 seconds 90, Su Bingtian said that the semi-final result was already an “extra-level play”. In the final, he aimed to “break the ten” again, and he has achieved it.
Once the limit speed of Asian sprinting was considered to be 9 seconds 85, and Su Bingtian broke through this so-called “upper limit” in Tokyo.
“I don’t think everything can be used to break, I did it today,” he said after the game.
He said that it is already a victory for the Chinese to stand on the starting line of the 100-meter final.
“For me, this moment has been waiting for a lifetime,” he choked for a while in an interview with Chinese media. “Through so many years of hard work, I can accomplish the blessings given to us by previous generations of sprinters through hard work on the 100-meter track. NS.
But he said that there is still a dream to complete in the Tokyo Olympics-he will participate in the men’s 4x100m relay with his teammates.
“I think we have a great opportunity to stand on the podium,” Su Bingtian said.
（This article contains a live report from BBC International reporter Peter Ball (Peter Ball) in Tokyo）