Last updated on December 2nd, 2022 at 09:45 pm
Estimated reading time: 10 minutes
So the IAAF World Championships in athletics concluded on the weekend, and we’ve tried to bring you as much analysis and insight as possible here at The Science of Sport. So in our final post on the World Champs, now that the dust has settled, we bring you a wrap up of our “best” and “worst” for the week of athletics. Obviously, we’re biased in favour of the track events, and especially the longer distance running, but we’ll be as objective as possible. Feel free to throw your hat in the ring…
[ribbon]Best male athlete[/ribbon]
On the other end of the spectrum, an honourable mention for Bernard Lagat of the USA repeated a double that only Hicham el Guerrouj has achieved in World Champs history, winning the 1500m and 5000m titles. His victories, both of which we analysed in a bit more detail (click for 1500m and 5000m) were achieved after a reasonably bad season, but he was the dominant man. Admittedly, his rivals gifted him the 5000m title, but few will remember that.
Finally, perhaps the best individual performance goes to Jeremy Wariner, who became the third fastest 400m runner in history, winning the title in 43.46secs. He also anchored the USA to a gold in the 4 x 400m relay, running close to 43-flat, and is one of the superstars of the sport.
[ribbon toplink=”true”]Best female athlete[/ribbon]
But regardless, Allyson Felix is a superstar, and will be the light of women’s athletics for many years to come.
An honourable mention goes to what we believe is the best performance of the Champs, by Janeth Jepkosgei in the 800m final. You can read about this here. The first Kenyan woman to win a middle distance title, she ran a race that others described as suicidal, winning with dominance that is rarely seen at this level.
[ribbon toplink=”true”]Men’s most disappointing performance[/ribbon]
Another candidate is Bershawn Jackson, who was heading for a comfortable qualifier in the 400m Hurdles semi-final, before he got himself horribly out of step and bunny hopped straight into the final hurdle. He stumbled, slowed and jogged home, his world title to be surrendered in his absence in the final.
But our vote goes to the entire field in the Men’s 5000m final, Mottram included. Only Bernard Lagat escapes mention. How a group of elite athletes could set out at 3min/km pace when the world’s best 1500m runner was in the field is beyond belief. Of course, taking the pace out harder may have done nothing to the result, but at least they’d have had a chance. The way the race developed, it was a meek surrender and a lesson in poor tactical awareness.
[ribbon toplink=”true”]Women’s most disappointing performance[/ribbon]
[clear]
[ribbon toplink=”true”]Best nation[/ribbon]
[clear]
[ribbon toplink=”true”]Worst nation[/ribbon]
OK, so we’re really biased here. But South Africa, a nation that has some history of winning medals, providing great athletes and featuring in these Championships, could not win a single medal. All but one athlete failed to even achieve personal bests (that one athlete was in the men’s javelin). In a week where personal bests, season’s bests and world leading times were being set left, right and centre, South Africa somehow contrived to achieve only one. Athletes who should have reached finals were eliminated in the first round, men who should have challenged for medals finished with the also-rans, often not even in the top 40 of the event. Worst of all, SA’s athletics president, Leonard Chuene, said in the media that he “does not understand the disappointment of people”, claiming that the Champs were a success! When one begins to celebrate mediocrity, then the path to the basement is a rapid one.
Finally, it is worth noting that Athletics South Africa recently employed a German coach, Eckhard Arbeit, who was notorious in the old East German system for his role in drug use and doping programmes. That didn’t stop ASA, who felt he could add to our athletic performance. I have it on authority that he has been taking hair samples from our athletes to test them and adjust their training! Needless to say, this is called “hocus pocus” in some circles. The SA team had a training camp in Germany leading up to the World Champs, and Arbeidt said in media interviews that the team took a lot out of this camp – they sure did. Injuries, burnout and poor performances. Bring on Beijing, where ‘mighty’ SA will be lucky to win two medals, and none in athletics.
[ribbon toplink=”true”]Biggest disappointment of the World Champs[/ribbon]
Two stand out – first, no world record. Of course, that’s only possible in sprint events (for tactical reasons) and field events. And then here, it’s only really the men, because the women’s events are about 50 years ahead of their time! But much was expected in the men’s sprints, and though performances were awesome, no world record. Perhaps Beijing will make up for it.
And then second, a huge disappointment that Turinesh Dibaba pulled out of the 5000m race, after winning the 10000m. It robbed us of maybe the best rivalry in the sport, Dibaba vs. Defar, for which we will now have to wait a little longer. Hopefully not all the way to Beijing though.
So that’s it for the IAAF World Champs. Athletics continues though, with the Golden League resuming for the Zurich Weltklasse this Friday. That’s one of the showpieces of athletics, and should throw up some great performances, which we’ll analyze in detail right here.
You must be logged in to post a comment.