In a span of about 60 minutes Wednesday night, USA athletes hauled in a bevy of medals: Bartoletta and Brittney Reese went 1-2 in the long jump, Tori Bowie captured a bronze in the 200 and Brianna Rollins, Nia Ali and Kristi Castlin swept the medals in the 100-meter hurdles – a feat that’s never been accomplished in that event.
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The American long jumpers were almost as impressive as their hurdling teammates with Tianna Bartoletta and Brittney Reese going one-two Wednesday night.
Chinese women have won every singles gold medal since the sport entered the Olympics in 1988. “I’m just so happy that us three were able to achieve it”.
It wasn’t until at last month’s USA team trials that he exploded on the global stage, posting a winning distance 22.11 meters to post an upset win against Kovacs, who finished second.
Cindy Ofili, who was also born in the United States but has an English mother and elected to run for Britain, pushed Castlin right to the line with her best run of the year but lost out on a medal by two hundredths of a second in 12.63.
Kerri Walsh Jennings and teammate April Ross responded with a come-from-behind victory over Brazil to win the bronze medal in beach volleyball.
Earlier in the day, Evan Jager earned silver in the 3,000-meter steeplechase – America’s first medal in that event since 1984.
“I didn’t want to be a former world champion who could not jump over six meters, so I stopped jumping and focused on the sprinting”.
Fittingly, the newly crowned Olympic long jump champion went with “Awesome Hour”. She won gold at last year’s world championships and came through again on her fifth attempt on Wednesday night, leaping 23 feet, 6 1/4 inches just after Reese had gone ahead on her previous jump.
The U.S. next plays Friday in the semifinals against Italy, which beat Olympic first-timer Iran in straight sets.
Ali and Castlin both have turned to track for strength and comfort amid family tragedy.
In the field events, the USA women didn’t skip a beat, reflecting more gold.
“We knew were in position to do something really special”, Ali said.
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When Ali was running for USC in 2009, her father was killed in a murder-suicide back home in Philadelphia. Her father, Rodney Castlin, was shot to death in 2000. “They’re my backbone and keep me going”, said Ali, a psychology major while at Southern California.
