STUTTGART, Germany: moment of glory quickly followed another on Aug.19 in the world outdoor track and field champion ships.
If you like world records, Sally Gunnell of Britain and Sandra Farmer Patrick of the United States delivered one in the women’s 400meter hurdles, with Gunnell winning the gold medal by a foot.
If you like consistency, Sergei Bubka of Ukraine won the pole vault and became the only athlete, male or female, to win the same event in each of the four times these championships have been held.
Gold for Ottey
If you believe good things happen to those who wait, Merlene Ottey, who had won one silver medal and eight bronzes in individual events in the world championships and the Olympics, finally won the real thing, a gold, in the women’s 200 meters.
If you think the sport has become one big shoe commercial and you want your son to become a salesman for those shoes, Kevin Young of the United States showed how after he won the men’s 400meter hurdles.
And after al! that, if you have room for dessert, throw in good performances by Mike Marsh, Carl Lewis, Mike Powell and Gail Deevers of the United States and Noureddine Morceli of Algeria. And a ‘Rocky” performance that was his word by Dan O’Brien of the United States, who finished the night leading in the decathlon but barely.
In all, the United States won one gold medal (Young) and two silvers (Farmer Patrick and Gwen Torrence). That raised the Americans” totals for five days of competition to seven gold medals and 14 medals in all, far ahead of any other nation.
Crowds Are Enthusiastic
All these things happened in Gottfried Daimler Stadium before enthusiastic crowds of $1,500 in the morning and 52,700, a sellout, in the evening.
The women’s 400meter hurdles was a marvelous race. Farmer Patrick set an almost suicidal pace and led by two feet coming off the last hurdle. But she stumbled from exhaustion, and the relentless Gunnell caught her five meters from the finish. Both lunged for the line, and Gunnell barely won.
Gunnell finished in 52.74 seconds and Farmer Patrick in 52.79, both bettering the seven year old world record of 52.94 by Marina Stepanova of the former Soviet Union. Farmer Patrick also broke the American record of 53.37 she set in the 1989 New York Games.
Gunnell won the British junior long jump title at age 14. Now, at 27, she is the Olympic champion in the hurdles and a master of her difficult specialty. “Technically,” she said proudly, “I ran a perfect race.”
The 29yearold Bubka is a technician too, as he showed again in the pole vault. He won at 19 feet 8 1/4 inches exactly 6 meters. Then he endured a long hassle with officials who were invoking an incorrect time limit before he finally made three unsuccessful attempts at a height of 20 feet 1 3/4 inches, a figure one quarter inch higher than his outdoor world record and equal to his indoor world record.
Bubka Gets Upset
The dispute with the office, wasalmost.as eventful as the actual vaults. The officials were on giving Bubka two minutes to attempt each vault, when the rules allowed for six. Bubka argued, got nowhere, waved his hands in disgust and kicked soft drink cup. He held his hands up to the crowd, which whistled at the officials.
As the argument progressed, the clock twice ran down to zero, leaving Bubka with just one attempted the record. But Arthur Takic of Croatia, the technical chief for the championship’s, finally set the officials straight. Bubka was given all three wouldn’t stay on.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 27, 1993
