Merrit wins 400m

The Forums Beijing 2008 Coverage
41

Second to one: Jeremy Wariner takes silver in 400 meters

01:26 AM CDT on Friday, August 22, 2008

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BEIJING – Moments after Jeremy Wariner cleared the final curve and entered the straightaway, a look of surprise, followed by dismay, crossed his face.

Eighty meters remained in Thursday’s men’s 400-meter final, but Wariner’s reign as Olympic champion was over. American rival LaShawn Merritt was churning to the gold medal.

“I felt good coming off the turn,” said Wariner, a 24-year-old Arlington Lamar product, “but when I tried to go, I didn’t have anything left.”

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Many of the 91,000 fans who saw the much anticipated race in person probably walked out of the Bird’s Nest believing they had watched Wariner grudgingly pass the baton of 400 supremacy to Merritt, 22.

But on a night in which the American men’s and women’s 4x100 relay teams dropped their batons, the ease with which Merritt blew past Wariner was equally baffling. Merritt’s time of 43.75 was nearly a second better than silver medalist Wariner’s 44.74.

Wariner’s manager, Dallasite and 400 world record holder Michael Johnson, could not hide his surprise and disappointment.

“It’s been a strange Games – a lot of people that were supposed to perform well, not doing it,” Johnson said, tersely adding over his shoulder as he walked away: “Jeremy’s at the top of that list.”

After their first-round heats Monday, Merritt declared, “It’s time to show down and throw down.” Wariner exuded quiet confidence about his quest to join Johnson as the only back-to-back Olympic 400.

“I knew Jeremy was always going to bring his A-game,” Merritt said. “I just had to bring my A-plus game. I did that today. Today, I was just the better man.”

But the reality is Wariner was at best a C, which few would have predicted after watching him breeze through the first round and semifinals.

Though Merritt defeated Wariner at last month’s U.S. Olympic trials, Wariner had won two subsequent matchups and owned a 14-3 record in races both started and finished.

“I’m disappointed,” Wariner said. “If I would have run like I did in the semifinal, I think I would have won. … LaShawn just ran a better race today and I can’t say nothing about that.” If the often-frosty rivals were evenly matched coming in, the lane assignments might have tilted the scales toward Merritt. From Lane 4, Merritt could easily track Wariner’s progress out in Lane 7.

Wariner, staggered in front of and to the right of Merritt, would not see his adversary until after the final turn. In fact, Wariner said he didn’t see Merritt at all as he zoomed past on the inside.

[b]At that moment, Wariner was too busy wondering why his legs wouldn’t respond. He said it was not a case of going out too fast and running out of gas.

“Not at all,” he said. “I ran exactly how I wanted to.” [/b]
Merritt’s winning time was a career best, though slower than Wariner’s top mark of 43.45, set at last year’s World Championships in Osaka. Merritt took silver that day, and has remained in No. 1-ranked Wariner’s shadow since then.

Despite his pre-race bluster, Merritt was stunned by what he saw when he glanced out of his right eye with 15 meters left.

“I knew I had the race when I was coming down the home stretch and I actually looked over and didn’t see anybody,” Merritt said. “Actually, I looked over and saw a pole or something. I thought it was somebody else, but it wasn’t him.”

As Wariner labored across the finish line, David Neville dived past the Bahamas’ Christopher Brown, giving America its second straight men’s 400 Olympic sweep.

In Athens four years ago, it was 20-year-old Baylor junior Wariner leading the way. With the 4x400 relay this weekend, he still has an excellent chance to win his third gold in the last two Olympics.

“I’ve got to look past this,” he said. “I can’t let it affect the way I run the rest of this year and in my future.”

Wariner’s long-stated goal is to compete through 2016. Given their ages, Wariner and Merritt could jostle at the top the entire time.

But no matter their head-to-head outcomes, Merritt for the next four years will be the reigning Olympic champion.

42

Silver wasn’t what the Wariner camp came to Beijing for, but they still hope for great things
By CHAREAN WILLIAMS
McClatchy Newspapers

BEIJING – Jeremy Wariner turned the corner, on the homestretch, and found exactly what he needed. Fifteen of his closest friends and family stood cheering him.

His hero’s welcome came in an empty concourse of National Stadium nearly two hours after he finished a disappointing second to teammate and rival LaShawn Merritt in the 400-meter dash.

“Well,” his mother, Linda Wariner, asked, “can we see it?”

Wariner dug into the pocket of his Team USA sweat pants and pulled out his silver medal. It is not what he came here for, but everyone still wanted to touch it, hold it and take pictures with it.

“We expect so much of him,” said Mike Nelson, Wariner’s coach at Arlington Lamar. “I think we forget that this is the Olympic Games, and he just won the silver medal.”

Wariner won the gold medal in Athens four years ago. Only Michael Johnson, now Wariner’s agent, ever has repeated in the event, winning in 1996 and 2000.

Wariner’s 15 supporters, sitting high above the first turn, in Section F, had expected Wariner to join Johnson in track history.

“He’s ready,” Danny Wariner, Jeremy’s dad, said a few minutes before the race.

The family has adopted Linda’s chant of “Go, baby, go!” as their official motto. She said it for all 44.74 seconds of Wariner’s race, even when it became apparent in the final 50 meters he would not be bringing home the gold.

Merritt, whom Wariner had beaten twice since losing to Merritt in the U.S. Trials, won in 43.75.

As Merritt, Wariner and bronze medalist David Neville grabbed American flags to celebrate one of the USA Track & Field’s best moments of an otherwise miserable Olympics, the family raced to the bottom of the steps to greet Wariner on his victory lap.

He saw them as soon as Linda yelled, “Yeah, Jeremy!”

Linda, tears streaming down her face, grabbed him in a bear hug. Danny, Nelson, aunts, uncles, siblings and friends all took their turns hugging him and offering words of encouragement.

“I’m proud of you,” Danny whispered in his son’s ear. “Keep your head up.”

Wariner never said a word. He didn’t have to. It was obvious he was as disappointed as everyone else in his traveling party.

“The silver is good, but going into the season, we were shooting for a repeat,” said Wariner’s coach, Michael Ford, who coaches at Baylor. “…It hurts real bad right now. I think the sad thing is if he would have run his best and gotten beat, I probably would have been able to accept it a little bit better. But that wasn’t his best.”

Wariner told the media that he had “nothing left” coming off the turn. He couldn’t explain why. Ford said he clocked Wariner in 20.7 in the first 200, slightly faster than the semifinal but not too fast.

“I’m disappointed,” Wariner said in interviews. “If I would have run like I did in the semifinal [on Tuesday], I think I would have won. But things happen for a reason, and … LaShawn just ran a better race today.”

Wariner, accompanied by Johnson and manager Deon Minor, already was feeling better by the time he left the bowels of the stadium. He even forced a smile when he saw his family.

“Yeah,” Linda told him, “we’re all still here.”

Danny assured Johnson that Wariner would rebound in the 4x400 relay, where the Americans are defending Olympic gold medalists.

“We’ve got bigger fish to fry,” Johnson answered.

He was referring to the 400 world record. His world record.

Wariner has made no secret of running under 43.18, Johnson’s time in Seville in 1999. Jamaican Usain Bolt broke Johnson’s 200-meter world record Wednesday, something Linda reminded Johnson of.

“Yeah,” Johnson said, “now we’ve got to get the other one broken.”

And Wariner put back together.