Gold medalist Shaunae Miller, centre, silver medalist Allyson Felix of the USA, left, and bronze medalist Shericka Jackson of Jamaica hold their 400m medals in Rio. (AP)
By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
PRIME Minister Perry Christie said yesterday that Shaunae Miller’s dramatic gold medal winning performance at the 2016 Olympic Games is one of the most extraordinary moments in this country’s history.
Mr Christie said as they watched the event from home, he and his family danced with joy, but like other Bahamians, nervously paused at the end to determine who won the race.
“The impression initially from the announcers was the American had won until they looked at the photo finish and they saw the results listed that Shaunae had won,” he said.
“These moments in our history unify our country because every Bahamian, notwithstanding challenges, despair, hopes, everyone came together as Shaunae was running for all of us and all of us were running for her.”
Ms Miller finished the 400 metres race in a personal best time of 49.44 seconds, ahead of one of the world’s most decorated sprinters, the USA’s Allyson Felix who clocked in at 49.51.
Ms Miller’s dive at the end of the race may have been decisive in her victory and ignited fierce debate among observers on social media who questioned whether it was appropriate.
For his part, Mr Christie said the dive towards the finish line displayed Ms Miller’s indomitable spirit, regardless of whether it was intentional.
“Whether she intentionally dove herself over, you know most athletes lean to get the edge at the finish line, but whether she accidentally fell or whether she purposefully did it, it was a wonderful outcome, a wonderful result for our country. She reflected everything we would want Bahamians to be and everything we have demonstrated through the ages as people who live throughout these islands, the indomitable spirit, never giving up, never giving in and being able to bring every possible muscle and sinew at the right time aimed at holding on and crossing the finish line. We are so incredibly proud of her that this demonstration of who we are, who we should be, who we wish to pass on to young Bahamians, she’s put it all out there for us and the world is talking about her today and that is the most important thing. She gave everything of herself and it was such an extraordinary moment in this history of our country and I’ve identified it as one of the iconic experiences of our country, one of the iconic moments in the history of our country.”
Mr Christie said Ms Miller’ accomplishment highlights the need to do more to develop the athletic talents of Bahamians.
“One of the great challenges we have is, unlike countries like Jamaica that continue to do well, Trinidad that we see is doing well in the region, little small Grenada that we see had two athletes in the 400m finals, what our challenge is as an island nation is we have our resources concentrated in Freeport and New Providence and we don’t have the facilities yet in our islands to take advantage of some of these athletes who are gifted. We have to make haste right now to give them facilities in the islands even if it’s just an open great lawn of grass that you can train on so that we are able to cause them to be identified.”
Comments
Well_mudda_take_sic 7 years, 8 months ago
Re-post: The irrefutable facts here are easy to understand:
1) Miller won the Gold under the current rules, i.e her torso was first to cross the finish line, and all Bahamians should be proud of her "dive-to-win" at all costs effort.
2) Felix "ran" the faster race from the stand point of her legs and feet crossing the finish line first with full control of the forward cycling motion of her legs and feet.
3) The current rule of "first torso to cross the finish line" exists only because at one time runners had to actually run through a winning tape that spanned across the finish line.
4) Sprinters and other short distance runners start their race the instant their trailing foot leaves the starting block; it therefore stands to reason in the minds of many today that the race should be won by the runner whose forward foot crosses the finish line first.
5) Notwithstanding the very reasonable reasoning in 4) above, the track world remains reluctant to change the "torso rule" to a "forward foot rule" simply because there is no real way of re-calibrating the historical winning times for comparison purposes and all future winning times would be longer across all races.
6) Coaches and trainers naturally train their track stars to give it their all, endure as much pain as possible and have a win at all costs mindset.
7) A dive at the finish line at the right moment in a close race (whether deliberate or unintentional) clearly could make the difference between winning and placing.
8) Unless the current "torso rule" is changed, and because of 6) and 7) above, coaches and trainers will be working more than ever with their track stars in an effort to perfect their "dive-to-win" technique in the right circumstances; hence we can all expect to see more use of the "dive-to-win" in close races.
9) Because of 8) above and the inherent possibility of serious injury, the track world would be wise to either change the "torso rule" to a "forward foot rule" or place a well cushioned mat immediately after the finish line shortly before the winning runner crosses it.
Reality_Check 7 years, 8 months ago
By now both Miller and Felix have repeatedly seen video and photos of their finish of the women's 400m from just about every possible angle. They both know who had the fastest "run" time in that race and Felix seems to be comforted by that simple fact.
Well_mudda_take_sic 7 years, 8 months ago
But a time saving "dive", whether deliberate or unintentional, counts under the current rules so Miller rightfully won the gold.
DEDDIE 7 years, 8 months ago
The dive is not something new to track. It happen to Chris Brown during the 2008 Olympics and as recent as the US Olympic trials. I don't see what the big deal is. The Olympic comes every four years. Do what you have to do legally to win because the next track sensation is right around the corner or the athlete taking the undetectable PED.
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