The race ended with the closest finish to the women’s 400-meter dash in Olympic history – Miller ran a 49.44 while Felix finished in 49.51, just a 0.07-second difference.
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Bahamas’ Shaunae Miller, 22 on Monday night, dove over the finish line to grab gold in the 400m women’s final at Rio Olympics.
When the gunshot went off, Miller flew like a rocket and managed to get a good head start against Felix thanks to her long strides. After all, Miller of the Bahamas had denied gold to one of the USA’s most beloved sprinters, who even so would become the most decorated American female track and field Olympian, with seven total medals. “When I was on the ground I didn’t know if I had won it yet until I heard my mom screaming”. This is the moment I have been waiting for, I just gave it my all. Running in lane 4, while Miller was a bit ahead, on the outside, lane 7. Felix, classically trained by Bobby Kersee, made a textbook lean toward the finish line. Miller tried something else – something no coach would ever teach.
The drama reminded older Kiwi track and field fans of New Zealander Sylvia Potts’ collapse metres from the line with a 1500m gold medal in her sights at the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. “I’ll take a look into that, though”, she said. “I really wanted it, it’s painful”.
Felix told the Today show that she was “not too used to seeing” a dive like that in a race. Ten seconds passed. Then 20.
Twitter quickly reacted to Miller’s win. Bronze medalist Shericka Jackson of Jamaica will also be only 26. By diving, Miller ensured that her torso crossed the line before Felix, who approached the finish line feet first.
Felix surged forward while slightly overtaking Miller, resulting in a neck-and-neck race to the finish line. It didn’t. He didn’t let it.
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This is quite possibly one of the greatest moments of the 2016 Rio Olympics.
