Word: secs
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Citius. Threats of thunderstorms never materialized on Saturday night, but there was lightning on the Olympic Stadium track. Donovan Bailey of Canada won the 100 m in a world-record time of 9.84 sec., although it took three false starts and a petulant protest by Great Britain's Linford Christie, who was disqualified for two of them, before the gun sounded for good. Bailey ran down Frankie Fredericks of Namibia and Ato Boldon of Trinidad to become the world's fastest human--ever. He also helped erase the Seoul stigma of Ben Johnson, who like Bailey was a Jamaican running...
...women's 100 m took both 10.94 sec. and an eternity. Gail Devers and Gwen Torrence of the U.S. and Merlene Ottey of Jamaica all hit the tape together, with Devers winning by a literal nose. But minutes passed before the result was posted, and then silver medalist Ottey filed a protest that was denied an hour later. Devers, who thus becomes the first man or woman since Wyomia Tyus in '64 and '68 to repeat in the 100, was quick to bank her joy with concern for the loved ones of the people injured and killed in the blast...
Americans set a world record in the men's 4x100-m medley relay but none in individual events. That was left to a Russian, Denis Pankratov, who swam the 100-m butterfly in 52.27 sec.; a Belgian, Fred DeBurghgraeve, who churned through the 100-m breaststroke in 1:00.60; and a South African, Penelope Heyns, who broke her own world record in the 100-m breaststroke at 1:07.02 and went on to win a second gold in the 200-m event--the first swimming medals won by South Africa since it was barred from the Games for its policies...
...only as a consequence of the greatest scandal in Olympic history: the 1988 100 m. Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson, whose motto was "When the gun goes off, the race is over," flashed across the finish line in Seoul in a world-record time of 9.79 sec. Unfortunately, when his urine test came in, it was all over for Johnson. Lewis, the second-place finisher, was awarded the gold...
...women of the 100 also have a rich history, dating back to Amsterdam in '28, when a 16-year-old from Riverdale, Illinois, Betty Robinson, won the race--the very first track event for women--with a time of 12.2 sec. What made Robinson's victory so remarkable was that the Olympics was only her fourth track meet. The 1932 winner was Stanislawa Walasiewicz of Poland, who was better known in the U.S., her second country, as Stella Walsh. According to an official, Walsh ran "with long, manlike strides." The reason for that became clear some 48 years later when...