Here we are just two days into the World Athletics Championships and its already been an enthralling, exilerating and sometimes painful watch. Yesterday was great and thanks to the delight of modern technology, I watched the last 5 mins of Mo's race on a mobile phone sat in the middle of a car park in rural Northumberland. The bloke sat eating his dinner in a caravan parked close by must have thought I was bonkers sat shouting at the phone. But Mo triumphed after a bumpy season and a very bumpy 10k race too.
The action in the Heptathlon was also superb and Dominic had been up at foolish o'clock to watch the early action and it was great to watch the highlights later to see Jess & KJT at the top of the tree.
Now, I'm proud to say that after 44 years, I've never ever got up in the wee small hours to watch a sporting event. We've had England football matches at daft times in World Cups but I've never watched them. I've occasionally stopped up late to watch Match of the Day, but only if the Toon's won, so its not been regular viewing. All that was until last night, when I set the alarm for 01.59 to watch the Heptathlon - I wasn't alone as Dominic got up to watch it too.
Little did we know what an agonizing watch it was going to be as KJT failed to land a long jump. It was awful to watch as your hear just sank after that 3rd jump as you knew that was her competition gone. Meanwhile Jess just marched on in both the long jump, javelin and then had a great 800m race to win Gold. It was an event of real agony and ecstasy, total contrasts of emotions for two British athletes and the nation watching on. I thought Jess showed great compassion in hugging KJT after the long jump disaster and many wouldn't have done that - there's a real spirit amongst the multi-eventers - I'm sure I've seen that somewhere before...........
Then this afternoon was the race that's been talked about for months - Bolt v Gatlin, Good v Evil, Showman Athlete v Drugcheat. The race truly lived up to the hype and we were screaming in our house cheering Usain all the way in a topsy turvey lead changing race which made under 10 seconds seem like ages. Usain triumphed and good won, but he's more than good and he's one of the reasons that makes athletics such a great sport. Many are saying that he's saved the reputation of the sport in some very difficult times and whilst I don't think that's entirely true, he's certainly helped and so has Jess with a fantastic performance.
It's been a day of real mixed emotions and it shows just what a great sport athletics is - balanced on a knife edge where there's no margin for error and the stakes are huge. It's much more fun than football as it just seems to mean so much more. Let's see what the rest of the week brings !
The action in the Heptathlon was also superb and Dominic had been up at foolish o'clock to watch the early action and it was great to watch the highlights later to see Jess & KJT at the top of the tree.
Now, I'm proud to say that after 44 years, I've never ever got up in the wee small hours to watch a sporting event. We've had England football matches at daft times in World Cups but I've never watched them. I've occasionally stopped up late to watch Match of the Day, but only if the Toon's won, so its not been regular viewing. All that was until last night, when I set the alarm for 01.59 to watch the Heptathlon - I wasn't alone as Dominic got up to watch it too.
Little did we know what an agonizing watch it was going to be as KJT failed to land a long jump. It was awful to watch as your hear just sank after that 3rd jump as you knew that was her competition gone. Meanwhile Jess just marched on in both the long jump, javelin and then had a great 800m race to win Gold. It was an event of real agony and ecstasy, total contrasts of emotions for two British athletes and the nation watching on. I thought Jess showed great compassion in hugging KJT after the long jump disaster and many wouldn't have done that - there's a real spirit amongst the multi-eventers - I'm sure I've seen that somewhere before...........
Then this afternoon was the race that's been talked about for months - Bolt v Gatlin, Good v Evil, Showman Athlete v Drugcheat. The race truly lived up to the hype and we were screaming in our house cheering Usain all the way in a topsy turvey lead changing race which made under 10 seconds seem like ages. Usain triumphed and good won, but he's more than good and he's one of the reasons that makes athletics such a great sport. Many are saying that he's saved the reputation of the sport in some very difficult times and whilst I don't think that's entirely true, he's certainly helped and so has Jess with a fantastic performance.
It's been a day of real mixed emotions and it shows just what a great sport athletics is - balanced on a knife edge where there's no margin for error and the stakes are huge. It's much more fun than football as it just seems to mean so much more. Let's see what the rest of the week brings !
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