HAS HISTORIC SUCCESS ever felt as oddly queasy as this?
Letโs first pause to acknowledge what Rhasidat Adeleke has just done.
Adeleke tonight became only the third Irish athlete to qualify for an Olympic sprint final, after Bob Tisdall in 1932 and Thomas Barr in 2016. Given they achieved theirs over hurdles, Adeleke is in a paradigm of her own.
Our 2024 medal glut shouldnโt sate us to the point we ignore the rubicon Rhasidat Adeleke has just crossed.
But by the heights of her own standards and the negligible limits of her awesome talent, Adeleke didnโt cross her rubicon quickly enough, finishing second in the nightโs first semi-final behind Bahrainโs Eid Salwa Naser.
The fact Salwa Naser is recently back from a two-year ban for violating drug-testing whereabouts rules and then coasted home in 49.08 โ her fastest time since her ban was imposed โ added a further knot to a night of tangled success.
โIt was a very messy race,โ Adeleke told RTร afterwards. โIโm just excited that Iโm able to get into the final and fix everything for when I do get into the final.โ
On her day, Adeleke is good enough to win an Olympic 400m medal, but there is a lot to fix if Friday is to be her day.
If Adeleke was nervous before the race, Lieke Klaverโs false start compounded those nerves.
โAt first they held us really long and I think I was ready to go then,โ she told RTร. โBut when we went again I feel I was just thinking about it too much and didnโt execute my first 100m as I should have.โ
Her instructions from her coach, Edrick Florรฉal, are to use her sprint speed to get out fast, and then fight to hold on for dear life down the home straight. Adeleke went out in 23.22, which is broadly close to the 23 second target set by Florรฉal.
Eid Naser, however, went out faster, in 23 seconds dead. Perhaps the expectation she would be ahead at this point spooked Adeleke.
โI didnโt execute my first 200m as I should have, but thatโs all things we can fix for the final,โ said Adeleke. โAnd I think I also panicked a little bit which made me break form really early but Iโm excited, Iโve made the final and I can give it my best shot.โ
Her tone while speaking to RTร didnโt quite betray excitement. Most concerning for Adeleke and her coach is the extent to which she faded at the end, running the final 100m in 14.51 seconds. Only Ayallah Butler, who finished sixth, was slower over the closing 100m than Adeleke. Of course the times alone may not tell the full story, and Adeleke may have kicked into conservation mode knowing she had probably done enough to fend off third-placed Henriette Jaeger for an automatic qualifying spot in the final.
After the race, Adeleke did not follow custom and walk through the mixed zone to speak to reporters. We were told she was too fatigued after the race to speak to the written media, having spoken to broadcasters. Her RTร interview certainly seemed to be missing some of the zest of her usual appearances.
The message from Adelekeโs team after the race is that she is feeling fine, but is putting all her energy into refuelling and recovering for Fridayโs final.
The single biggest reproach to this nagging feeling is, of course, the fact that semi-finals are for getting over the line.
Nickisha Pryce โ one of only three contenders to run faster than Adeleke this season prior to tonight โ didnโt qualify for the final at all, flaming out by finishing fourth in her semi-final, albeit in a quicker time than Adelekeโs.
That semi-final was won by Marileidy Paulino, who looks to have the gold medal sewn up. Eid Naserโs sudden return to form may be her claim to silver. The bronze medal, though, is still to be fought for, with Natalia Kaczmarek, who pipped Adeleke to European gold in June, the strongest contender. She won her semi-final in 49.45, just ahead of Britainโs Amber Anning,
The assumption before the Games would be that Adeleke needed to dip below 49 seconds for the first time to win a medal, but Kaczmarekโs time was such that Adeleke might make a podium by matching her PB of 49.07.
But as Adeleke admits, she has a lot to fix between now and 7pm Irish time on Friday.
But in these Games of unfathomable yield, Rhasidat Adeleke has given Ireland another national occasion to anticipate.
This is a magnificent thing, even if tonight did not augur well for her medal hopes.
Some cheat.about time he is being exposed.
Who cares??? World economy in the shit, Israel and Iran about to push buttons, people dying and starving and they pick on lance, Iโm sorry but whatโs the big deal, the only way to live in this world is to be ON a shit load of drugs!!!
When you put it that way, I guess, โwho caresโ!
Who cares about anything?
Eh?
Chris, in the words of TD Simon Harris โChillaxโ. Yes the world is a little crazy, but I donโt think The Journal is going to stop reporting the whole spectrum of the news just because thereโs some other more serious stories out there!
Not much the doping or cycling federation (or whatever itโs called) can do about Iran, Israel, or world hunger or the global economy. Theyโre doing their job, so whatโs your problem? Not great logic in your comment.
โCheatStrongโ from now on?
i saw a picture of lance on his deathbed,drawn bald pale as a ghost,the next time i saw him,he was winning big cycling races,ffs come on people,yo dont come that close to dying from that disease and go on to be the greatest cyclist in the worlds hardest sport,KEEP IT REAL!
Heโs not the greatest if he achieved his victories by cheating
Not the greatest. Just the most successful tour rider of all time. Not the greatest though. Do you know anything about the exceptional athlete he was long before cycling?
Didnโt think so.
Read, educate & then respond with a comment.
Thank you
duhhhhhhh
Still waiting on proof.
Hark! Hark! Another ostrich.
Open your eyes and ears, Joe.
Lance is a disgrace and is nothing more than a junkie and drug dealer. The UCI is also a morally corrupt organisation and its a shame that it is run by an Irishman.
@joe here is some proof the following is from the usada โThe evidence of the US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team-run scheme is overwhelming and is in excess of 1000 pages, and includes sworn testimony from 26 people, including 15 riders with knowledge of the US Postal Service Team (USPS Team) and its participantsโ doping activities. The evidence also includes direct documentary evidence including financial payments, emails, scientific data and laboratory test results that further prove the use, possession and distribution of performance enhancing drugs by Lance Armstrong and confirm the disappointing truth about the deceptive activities of the USPS Team, a team that received tens of millions of American taxpayer dollars in fundingโ
7 in a row , proof right there for god sake!!
Just shows you the lure of money and fame can corrupt most, probably justified it in his head that it was worth it to give him the platform his charity got. Was a massive fan but no sympathy for him now.
How strong was his arm after all the lancing?
haha! lol!
http://nyvelocity.com/content/features/2012/paul-kimmage-defense-fund
we donโt know what the most sophisticated doping operation ever is because itโs been sophisticated enough to thus far avoid exposure
Itโs a good job then that the USADA report said that this the most sophisticated one ever โseenโ.
a fair point my good man.
My more general point is that cycling has been forced to take anti-doping seriously. In most sports it amounts to little more than window dressing. We have no idea what lurks beneath the surface.
Considering the difficulty in finding a true clean winner in the field of cyclists that Arnstrong beat, it could be viewed as a level playing field as such that nearly all the athletes are doping to a degree.
Not saying its right but donโt think taking any performance enhancing substance made him immediately amazing, he still put in a hell of a lot of gruelling training.
We as consumers of sport demand so much of athletes that we do support the use of such performance enhancing drugs. We want to see world records beaten, bigger hits in contact sports. Look at baseball and barry bonds! I think the reward of taking something is too much of a draw for many, to be the best and get huge paychecks and contracts. Hard to not do it.
Only my opinions, feel free to disagree!
Nonsense, from start to finish.
โnearly all the athletes are doping to a degree.โ Unquantifiable but not beyond realm of possibility. What of the genuinely clean athletes though?
โhe still put in a hell of a lot of gruelling training.โ Of course. He also put in a lot of work with the best dope doctors around, made sure all his team doped and bullied any dissent into silence or banishment.
โwe do support the use of such performance enhancing drugsโ. Not me.
I understand youโre coming at it from a different angle but itโs ultimately a flawed stance.
Sweet mother of Jesus, what a post! Please tell me youโre taking the p*ss.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_udFWNqymfY
dopes