American sprinter Allyson Felix seemingly had the gold medal wrapped up in the women’s 400-meter final on Monday night in Rio de Janeiro.
Advertisement
No, that’s no error.
But the reality set in with one glance at the screen displaying the results – Miller’s dive over the finish line had given the Bahamian victory in the 400 metres at Rio 2016 by seven one-hundredeths of a second. Miller clocked 49.44 seconds, running in lane 7, to narrowly hold off Felix, who finished in 49.51. Shericka Jackson of Jamaica won the bronze in 49.85 seconds.
“I’ve never done it before, ‘ Miller said of her dive”.
A visibly spent Miller dived across the line to win in 49.44secs leaving Felix just 0.07secs behind.
While Miller celebrated, silver-medal victor Felix expressed disappointment at being so close to clinching gold.
While Miller jumped with her arms flailing forward, the rules say the win is determined by which athlete has any part of her torso cross the line first. Miller led the race coming into the home straight, but Felix was breathing down her neck as the race closed in to the final 100 metres.
The seventh medal makes her the most decorated female track athlete in the USA’s Olympic history, breaking her tie with Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
Then in London, she won three gold medals, including her first individual Olympic gold medal in the 200m.
“It was just a reaction”, she added.
So Miller begun to duck for the line, only to stumble and dive over it – a move that secured her first place. “Just disappointment, you know”.
Miller was in disbelief after the race, laying on the floor for several minutes as she soaked in the enormity of the occasion. “I let her get away a little bit”.
Advertisement
Yet she had a bad start, while Miller, the silver medalist in this event a year ago in the world championships, took off from the outside and created a lot of catching up to do.
