Omar McLeod converted his season dominance of the 110-meter hurdles into an Olympic gold medal, a first for Jamaica in the event.
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It was a silky hurdling performance from the latest product of Jamaica’s incredible sprint factory.
Pascal Martinot-Lagarde finished second in the second heat behind McLeod in 13.25, while his fellow Frenchman Dimitri Bascou confirmed his fine form by blitzing the field in the third semi in 13.23.
McLeod bounced back brilliantly in Rio, inspired by the example of triple Olympic 100m champion Bolt and double Olympic 100m champion Fraser-Pryce. “It’s contagious”, McLeod said. Cuban-born Orlando Ortega secured the silver medal for Spain, just unable to catch McLeod on the line. I honestly don’t know what is going through my mind right now.
“I can’t put my finger on why, I just felt out of sorts. I need to go back and recite “you are an Olympic champion”. It was a learning experience. “I learned a lot from it”.
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Olympic champion and world record holder Aries Merritt failed to qualify for Rio from the US trials less than a year after undergoing a kidney transplant. I came to the realization that things happen in sport.
