Mohamed we adore you

Olympic Rant #18 On the fourteenth day God resumed work

THE squabbles and rancour of this year’s Ilympics were run into the ground on Day 14 as Great Britain, Jamaica and the United States turned in memorable performances.

Britain's Mohamed Farah was stunning as he held off Ethiopia and Kenya to take gold in the 5000m.

Mohamed Farah

I usually cheer for the African nations in middle distance events as I love their team strategy in running. But my hat and running shoes go off to Mohamed Farah who won his second gold medal of London 2012 with a thrilling victory in the 5000 metres on the final night of athletics.

Farah was denied any hope of assistance from GB team mate Nick McCormick who failed to make the final.

Here were the other things stacked against Farrah:

# He admitted to tiredness after his win the 10,000m seven days earlier

# He ran 3^rd in his heat.

# He was ranked 11^th in the world and was competing against seven of those rated above him.

Farah took the front with 700m to go but had little peace. American Galen Rupp sprinted quickly but could not cross the Brit.

Sensing the American might have weakened the leade,r the Africans queued up to have a crack at Farah. He repelled each one and kicked on the home turn.

The fastest runner over the distance this year was Dejen Gebremeskel and he made his move, looking to have Farah’s measure half-way down the straight.

The Brit kicked again and safely held the Ethiopian for a magnificent courageous victory.
             Farah said each of his twin girls due to be born shortly would have a Gold Medal from the London Games. They will be the heroes of show and tell in a few years, especially if Dad is part of the presentation.

USAIN Bolt took his third Gold when Jamaica raced to a world record in the 4x100m relay.

Bolt was a little less certain that Rio 2016 might be beyond him than he was after his 200m win.

‘I've thought about it but I think it's going to be very hard because Yohan (Blake), he's just come into the game and he's running pretty well, and I'm sure there's going to be a lot more cats coming up to run.

I'll take it a step at a time.’

THE U.S. captured the women's 4x400m relay and Allyson Felix achieved her third gold medal.
Felix ran the second leg after a brilliant start by DeeDee Trotter gave her a big lead at the first change. American 400m champion Sanya Richards-Ross ran the anchor leg and the U.S. won in 3:16.87 - the fastest time run in 19 years.

 Russia was three seconds behind Jamaica took the bronze.

Russia had its revenge when Anna Chicherova won the women's high jump ahead of American Brigetta Barrett. Another Russian Svetlana Shkolina was third.

           The Chinese are yet to get the knack of track and field and the Americans comfortably were ahead in the medal count in gold and total.

Leaders after Day 14

Total

1		United States	44	29	29	102
2		China	38	27	22	87
3		Great Britain	28	15	19	62
4		Russia	21	25	32	78
5		Korea	13	7	7	27
6		Germany	11	19	14	44
7		France	10	11	12	33
8		Italy	8	7	8	23
9		Hungary	8	4	5	17
10		Australia	7	16	12	35
11		Japan	6	14	17	37
12		Netherlands	6	6	8	20
13		Kazakhstan	6	-	4	10
14		Ukraine	5	4	9	18
15		New Zealand	5	3	5	13
16		Iran	4	5	3	12
17		Jamaica	4	4	4	12
18		Cuba	4	3	5	12
19		DPR Korea	4	-	2	6

AT Beijing 2008, the count was

Rank	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	TOTAL
1	United States	36	38	36	110
2	China	51	21	28	100
3	Russia	23	21	28	72
4	Great Britain	19	13	15	47

China’s fall in medals and CB’s rise tell us that in any sporting contest, home field advantage is real.

So let’s hear the Unofficial Official GB London Games Anthem. Take it away one more time.

Bernie Dowling, August 12, 2012