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Lightning Strikes Twice
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Crawford, the 2004 Olympic gold medal winner, described Spearmon as "very upset," but said he walked by so quickly they did not exchange words. Spearmon did not make himself available for interviews after the race.
"He did the whole victory lap and had the flag for the whole world to see," Crawford said. "That's heartbreaking. If that was me, I probably would have broken down and cried right there on worldwide television."
Crawford, 30, said he and Spearmon are suite-mates at the Athletes' Village and had become close over the years. Crawford trains in Los Angeles with Bobby Kersee. Spearmon, 23, won the bronze at last year's world championships in Osaka, Japan.
"I share his pain right now," Crawford said.
U.S. officials immediately protested Spearmon's disqualification to the Jury of Appeal for the world track governing body (IAAF), which consists of three IAAF Council members on rotation. But after reviewing the race, U.S. officials became convinced he had, indeed, stepped out of his lane while running the turn.
But they had noticed that Martina had also stepped out of Lane Six. So they withdrew their protest and filed a new appeal.
"We saw the violation and appealed that result," U.S. men's head coach Bubba Thornton said in a statement. "We then went through the rules process. We wanted to make sure that the results of the race were fair."
It was the second appeal that dragged on. It was about 12:20 a.m. when the decision was reached. Bolt was in the midst of the traditional post-race news conference with the medal winners at the time. Because second and third place had not been sorted out, he took questions by himself.
When word came of the final decision, Dix had long since left the track. Shortly after the race, Dix, 22, had been curt and hurried during interviews, and he refused to make any comment about Bolt's performance. When pressed, he turned and walked away.
"I don't want to talk about it," he said. "Things happen."
Many, many things happened Wednesday -- and Thursday. Tosta, who claimed her first Olympic medal, might have had the best perspective of anyone. After having won 15 state championships and succeeded in her first two years at UCLA, she had expected to challenge for the gold four years ago in Athens. It took her two years, she said, to get over her fourth-place finish. Since those Olympics, she changed coaches twice and got married to former decathlete Joey Tosta, who is now her coach.
But she never lost focus on her goal of winning an Olympic medal.
After all, "the difference between getting fourth and getting second," she said, "is like a mountain."
