With a flurry of fallen hurdles behind him – none of which were McLeod’s – he became the first Jamaican to win the 110-meter hurdles, and he did so in dominant fashion.
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But few know that the second and third place finishers last night were also born in the Caribbean – even though they now race for France and Spain. McLeod’s winning time of 13.05 second was the slowest in 24 years since Mark McKoy won in 1992 at the Barcelona Games in Spain.
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.
University of OR multisport star Devon Allen finished fifth in the men’s 110-meter hurdles final Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro in the first time the Americans have been shut out of a medal in the event. “I think our coach should get a pay raise”.
McLeod will be joined in the semis by other Jamaicans Andrew Riley and Deuce Carter, who like McLeod competed during a downpour. “Obviously I wanted to compete and win, but to place fifth in the world isn’t bad at all”.
“Now I’m going to eat as much ice cream and cake as I can”, he said.
“I will probably be the best-shape athlete on the field right now”, Allen said.
In the morning session, American Taylor earned a second straight triple-jump gold with a 17.86m leap that is the furthest anyone has jumped this season, sailing 10cm longer than teammate Will Claye.
But there was a heart-warming story for Japan when 15-year-old Mima Ito, a former child prodigy, won team bronze to become the youngest ever Olympic table tennis medallist.
Biles bid for a record-setting five titles came unstuck when she took bronze in Monday s balance beam final, but she said she was delighted after finishing with victory in the floor event. “Is this real? To God be the glory”, said McLeod, Jamaica s first champion in the event. “I’m very, very satisfied with getting a bronze medal”. The Razorbacks will claim a gold medal in the Rio Olympics.
“Things didn’t happen the way I expected, and it was unfortunate the way I was named onto this team”, he said. The unbeaten US (6-0) has dropped just five sets all tournament.
Sweden, who also beat defending champions the United States in the quarter-finals, now play Germany, victors over Canada, in Friday’s final. Team USA was shut out of the medals for the first time in Olympic history.
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McLeod, who finished sixth at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing previous year, showed remarkable mental strength to bounce back from two disastrous Diamond League races in which he fell and failed to finish.
