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Jamaica Delivers Knockout In the 100
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"We will bounce back," Lee said.
The frustration of being shut out in the 100 was enhanced by the circumstances of the race. Several runners, including the Jamaican Stewart, thought that Edwards had false-started and expected the field to be called back. Edwards said she, too, thought she had moved enough to result in the callback, but a protest by U.S. track officials was quickly denied.
"I felt like someone had false-started," Lee said. "It [stinks]."
Stewart, though, who had the second-slowest start, recovered far better than any of the Americans. The Jamaicans joined the Soviet Union, which won gold, silver and bronze in the women's 800 meters in 1980, with the second Olympic sweep in women's track and field history. It was made more mind-boggling by the absence of reigning world champion Veronica Campbell-Brown, who finished fourth at the Jamaican Olympic trials and failed to qualify for the event. The trio of victors was largely unknown before Sunday. Fraser's biggest previous achievement was her silver medal in the 4x100 relay at the world championships in Osaka, Japan, last summer.
She had not won the 100 at a major meet.
Wearing a yellow band in her hair and a full set of braces, Fraser giggled about her medal like a teenage schoolgirl who had just been asked to the prom. And forget mere smiles, Fraser laughed her way through dozens of interviews.
"I'm not nervous anymore," she declared, almost shouting to a group of reporters. "I'm not shy anymore. I'm just ready to run."
Then she howled with laughter.
Stewart, 24, finished seventh in the 100 in Osaka last year. Simpson, also 24, finished sixth in the event at the 2004 Summer Games. The Americans, meantime, brought some experience. Williams won the 2004 Olympic silver medal, and two world championship medals, including one gold. Edwards was the 2003 world champion, and Lee beat both of them at the Olympic trials.
"I don't know if I should cry, smile, jump, I don't know," Stewart said. "This is a fabulous thing for the three of us to win the medals and for Jamaica to get one-two-three. . . . It's about time. We've been waiting for this."
Bolt Advances
In his first race since setting a world record in the Olympic 100-meter final, Jamaica's Usain Bolt finished second -- in a first-round heat of the 200 meters.
As Bolt jogged to the finish at Beijing National Stadium Monday morning, Trinidad and Tobago's Rondell Sorillo raced him to the line, winning the heat in 20.58 seconds.
