By K. P. Mohan
China added to its golden tally on the eighth day of the athletics competition in the Olympic Games today when woman javelin thrower Liu Shiying won with an opening throw of 66.34 metres.
Liu added to the gold that shot putter Gong Lijiao had won earlier in the Chinese collection which also included two silvers and a bronze. The bronze was won by woman 20km walker Liu Hong today in an event where an Italian produced a big surprise by claiming the gold.
As it often happens in a field event, a big throw or a jump makes it tough for the rest of the field to respond to. Poland’s Maria Andrejczyk, the season leader, with 71.40m, tried till the very end, but it turned out to be a futile challenge to the 27-year-old Chinese, a silver medallist at the World championships in 2019 and 2018 Asian Games champion.
“It (gold) means a lot to me and my country”, said Liu Shiying about the first women’s javelin title in the Olympic Games for her country. “I want to thank everyone, my team, my country and my parents.
“(The year) 2020 was very difficult for me because of the injury and of the pandemic but I got all the support. The most difficult thing was to have a breakthrough, and although I improved my technique, I haven’t had the opportunity to perform and get better. Today I am very satisfied with my performance,” said Liu.
The Chinese had just one more valid throw, that of 63.40m on her third attempt. She fouled her second and fourth attempts and passed the last two. Once the Polish woman could not get past her in the sixth round, Liu raised her arms in victory, was overjoyed she ran around to get her national flag. Andrejczyk was naturally disappointed though she had strung together and impressive series of 60-plus throw till the last round.
Australian Kelsey-Lee-Barber, world champion in 2019, was third with 64.56m, a season best. Chinese Lyu Huihui who also was in contention for a medal in the pre-Games calculations, could not get going and ended up fifth with 63.41m. She had a season best of 66.55m at Chengdu, China, in April. Lyu Huihui holds the Asian record at 67.98m since 2019 when she had won the Asian title. She was a finalist at the Rio Olympics.
Italian Palmisano celebrates birthday with gold
Italian Antonella Palmisano celebrated her 30th birthday at Sapporo today with the Olympic gold medal in the women’s 20km walk in temperatures crossing 32 degrees.
In what was a big upset for the Chinese, world and Olympic champion Liu Hong had to settle for the bronze while host Japan finished without a medal.
Palmisano’s was the second gold for Italy at Sapporo, the men’s 20km having been won by Massimo Stano the previous day. Sapporo is hosting marathon and walk events in these Olympics because of the shifting of these events from Tokyo, keeping in mind the weather conditions in the Japanese capital.
As it turned out, the weather was far from ideal this day, too. In fact the temperatures moved into 35 degrees with the men’s 50km still going on.
But that did not prevent a Polish athlete, Dawid Tomala, from winning the men’s 50km gold. In the gruelling event started early morning, the 31-year-old Pole held onto a comfortable lead from 30km to win in 3:50:08. German Jonathan Hilbert (3:50.44) and Canadian Evan Dunfee (3:50.59) took the silver and bronze.
“It was an amazing day for me. I can’t believe it,” said Tomala who had made his 50km debut in 2017.
“The first 30 kilometres was so easy for me,” the Polish walker said. “It was easy, like a training session. Everything was perfect.”
The early leader was Chinese Luo Yadong. But he dropped off a little by the 20km mark. The front bunch of 17 walkers was closely-knit together and that included Japanese Satoshi Maruo and Masatora Kawano and defending champion Matej Toth.
Once he hit the front there was no stopping Tomala. Kawano and Maruo finished sixth and 32nd. Toth could managed only a 14th place. Chinese Bian Tongda came seventh.
Coming back to the women’s 20km event, Liu Hong, three-time world champion, might have gone out of the medals bracket had not Brazilian Erica de Sena been not forced into a pit stop while nearing the end in third place. The Brazilian had by then collected three red cards and the judges decided to pull her out, spoiling her chances. She finished 11th and was uncontrollably sobbing at the finish line. (Pit stop is a compulsory stop and delay for walkers who breach rules. In this case a two-minute hold-up was the consequence of her warning cards).
One of the early leaders, Qieyang Shijie of China, a silver medallist in the 2012 Games and also the 2019 World championships, could not build on the advantage and finished seventh in 1:31:04. China had swept the medals at the Doha World championships with Liu Hong, Qieyang and Yang Liujing winning the medals.
Yang Jiayu of China (1:31:54) was 12th, Japanese Nanako Fujii and Kumiko Okada 13th and 15th and Indian Priyanka Goswami who managed to hold onto the front pack up to about 12km came home at 17th place.
Palmisano could not have hoped for a better birthday gift. Fourth at the last Olympics, she looked ready to tackle the heat as well as the field as did fellow Italian Stano in winning the men’s 20km gold.
“Massimo’s gold medal gave me a lot of extra power,” said Palmisano. “In the countdown to the Olympics we both believed very much we could do it. We come from very small towns in the south of Italy. We wanted to do something big.”
Kipyegon ends Hassan’s dream
Kenyan Faith Kipyegon ended the 1500-5000-10000 treble dream of Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan with an emphatic victory in the 1500m to defend her Rio title. Once Kipyegon went into overdrive with about 150 metres to go to the finish, Hassan did not have the strength to respond. Kipyegon took Briton Laura Muir along for a national record for the latter (3:54.50). The Kenyan clocked 3:53.11, an Olympic record. Hassan claimed the bronze in 3:55.86.
Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei, double world record holder, won the first 5000m gold for his country in the Olympics, outpacing the field from 200m out to the finish in 12:58.15. Canadian Mohammad Ahmed sprinted past USA’s Paul Chelimo and Kenyan Nicholas Kimeli on the straight to take the silver. Chelimo was third.
Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas also won her second Olympic gold in the 400 metres, making light of the challenge of the rest of the field in an Area record of 48.36s. In what turned out to a rather one-sided final, American legend Allyson Felix worked hard over the last 40 metres to squeeze out a bronze medal, her tenth overall from the Olympics.
The American was attending her fifth Olympics, having come back into training and competition mode from childbirth in 2018. She has a collection of six Olympic gold medals, three silvers and the bronze she won today, outsprinting two Jamaicans, Stephenie Ann McPherson (fourth in 49.61s) and Candice McLeod (fifth in 49.87s) over the final 30 metres.
Italy added another gold medal to its bulging golden bag. It won the men’s 4x100m relay ahead of Britain and Canada, the last named team being helped by a splendid anchor from Andre De Grasse, the individual 200m gold winner.
Filippo Tortu ran a blistering final stretch to beat the British anchor Mitchell Blake while De Grasse came from behind to take his third medal of these Games. Italy clocked a national record of 37.50s.
In the women’s 4x100m final, Jamaica clocked an Area record of 41.02s, the third fastest time in history with the USA taking the silver in 41.45s and Britain the bronze in 41.88s. It looked there could be a disqualification the way the Jamaican anchor Shericka Jackson finished and waited for the official confirmation to come on the scoreboard. The team included double gold medallist in these Olympics as well as at Rio, Elaine Thompson-Herah, former Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Briana Williams.
Asia did not have a good day in the sprint relays with China finishing fourth in the men’s and Japan did not finishing and China coming sixth in the women’s event.
In the men’s 4x400m relay heats, India, despite clocking an Asian record of 3:00.25 could not progress to the final, finishing ninth overall in two heats. The team comprised Muhammad Anas, Noah Nirmal Tom, Arokia Rajiv and Amoj Jacob. The previous record was held by Qatar which clocked 3:00.56 in the Asian Games in 2018. Japan timed a national record of 3:00.76 while coming behind India in the second heat.
