Flanagan Basks in Bronze, Cantwell Settles for Silver
By Amy Shipley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 16, 2008
BEIJING, Aug. 15 -- The first U.S. medal winner at the Olympic track and field competition, the shot putter who claimed a silver medal, greeted reporters Friday by sticking out his tongue and blowing to make an impolite sound. Then Christian Cantwell tried to sum up his feelings.
"I mean," he said, trying to find the right words. He gave up and uttered an expletive.
The second U.S. medal winner earned just a bronze, but Shalane Flanagan wore the American flag around her shoulders for so long after the women's 10,000 that it stuck to her back and appeared almost translucent, soaked through with sweat.
It wasn't that Flanagan didn't think she could win the first U.S. medal in this event since 1992. It's just that she was unsure of her place when she ran down the home stretch. After she crossed the finish line in an American record of 30 minutes, 22.22 seconds, she looked around with her mouth open, then held up three fingers up to no one in particular. Was she, in fact, third?
"I thought maybe I was third," she said. "I thought, 'I can't celebrate until I really know.' "
Cantwell never really got around to any celebration at all. He led a trio of U.S. shot putters who have dominated the sport -- they had 10 of the top 14 throws this season -- but performed well below expectations, especially their own. Cantwell needed his final throw of 69 feet 2 1/2 inches to move from fifth into second place. And even that throw failed to satisfy: It was more than three feet short of his personal best.
"On a hard day," he said, "I guess I'll take the silver. It was a hard day for everybody."
Reigning world champion Reese Hoffa finished seventh with a throw of 67-8 1/4 -- nearly six feet short of his best -- and Adam Nelson, the reigning world and Olympic silver medal winner, didn't hit a legal throw. He committed three fouls.
"None of the Americans did their job," Cantwell said. "We're so dominant; to come in here and get spanked like this, it makes you reflect. . . . We have a lot of work to do."
Poland's Tomasz Majewski won the gold with a personal best of 70-7.
"If you would have told me [that distance] was going to win it this morning," Cantwell said, "I would have said, 'You're full of [expletive]."
Flanagan definitely had a different feeling in the lead-up to her race. She came down with a gastrointestinal illness Monday and Tuesday and could barely get out of bed. She was vomiting, had diarrhea and could not train. Her coach, John Cook, feared she would not be able to compete Friday night.
But there was much at stake. Already the American record holder in the distance, Flanagan said she had been deeply inspired by the marathon bronze medal that Deena Kastor won at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens. And then there was the shocking 10,000 bronze that Kara Goucher, who finished 10th here in a personal best of 30:55.16, won at the world championships in Osaka, Japan, last year. U.S. distance running has been on the rise, and she wanted to contribute.
"Last year when I won the medal, people used the word 'fluke' or 'luck' a lot," Goucher said. "It drove me nuts. . . . We're not intimidated by anybody anymore."
As her illness waned, Flanagan slept 10 to 12 hours daily and tried to drink plenty of fluids. U.S. officials flew in a specialist from Sarasota, Fla., to help tend to her. By Wednesday she was feeling better.
"She was able to keep food inside both ways," said Cook, the former coach of George Mason University. "I'm not trying to be salty here, but it wasn't a pretty picture."
Cook complained that five athletes a day became ill during the U.S. team's training camp in Dalian. "I don't want to knock the training camp," he said. "The environment was good, the idea was good, but it just didn't turn out."
Actually, it turned out just fine. Flanagan's husband, Steve Andrews, speculated that the sickness forced Flanagan to get rest that served her well in Friday's race, which was blisteringly fast.
Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba wrestled the gold medal away from Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey, out-sprinting her over the last lap to win in 29:54.66, the second-fastest time ever in the event. Abeylegesse's consolation? She ran the third-fastest time ever, 29:56.34.
Even the fourth-place finisher, whom Flanagan passed late in the race, had something to celebrate. Kenya's Linet Chepkwemoi Masai, who clocked a 30:26.50, earned a world junior record. She is just 18.
Once Flanagan sorted out the details, she savored her bronze medal run. But during the race, Dibaba and Abeylegesse sprinted away so fast at the 8,000-meter mark, the field splintered into pieces. There were no packs of runners, just stray athletes stretched out all over the track.
Goucher, who had showed a brilliant late sprint last year in Osaka, found herself mentally overwhelmed as the gap grew. "My goal was not to let anyone break me until I physically fell apart," he said.
Instead of collapsing, Flanagan imagined herself on a relaxed training run near her home in Chapel Hill, N.C. Then, when she got to the last 400 meters, she said, "I really turned on my competitive juices and let it go."
She wasn't nervous. Andrews speculated that her illness knocked the nerves out, too, distracting her so much with getting healthy that she didn't have the chance to over-think the race.
She wanted it "bad," he said. "It's everyone's dream. People can sugarcoat it and say they're happy to be here, but at the end of the day, it's about getting a medal."
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