And how sweep it was, as Brianna Rollins crossed the line in the women’s 100-meter hurdles just ahead of teammates Nia Ali and Kristi Castlin, on a Day 12 that saw the USA extend its already huge lead in the overall medals table.
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Brianna Rollins, the 2013 world champion, won with 12.48 seconds on the eve of her 25th birthday.
France bounces back to win show jumping gold; USA second: RIO DE JANEIRO – France bounced back from a hard week to claim its second team title in equestrian at the Rio Games, beating the United States to a gold medal in the show jumping. After the race, the three women jumped up and down and wrapped themselves in American flags.
The women’s result partially made up for that of the US men, who were shut out of the medals in the 110-meter hurdles for the first time in a nonboycotted Olympics.
Olympic hurdler Kristi Castlin, whose father was shot dead when she was a child, has spoken out about gun violence after winning bronze.
With Harrison, Harper-Nelson and reigning Olympic champion Sally Pearson of Australia each not in Rio, Rollins entered Wednesday’s final as the clear favorite.
Walsh Jennings was better with her passing Wednesday night than she was in Tuesday’s semifinal loss to Agatha and Barbara, and she also tallied six successful blocks.
The US women’s team have historically been the strongest in the world in short hurdles, but have fallen short of victory in recent years. In another formulation of the medals table, Great Britain’s 19 golds, 19 silvers and 12 bronzes for a total of 50, places it second ahead of China (19 golds and 15 silvers). Nia Ali had silver (12.59) and Kristi Castlin earned bronze (12.61). The field was missing three of the world’s top hurdlers.
Maddie Musselman and Kiley Neushul had two goals apiece for the USA, which is trying to become the first country to repeat as Olympic champions.
With world record holder Kendra Harrison and 2008 Olympic champion Dawn Harper failing to make the cut, the trio who did get their tickets to Rio chose to work together.
“We are gonna have a great time, probably go out”, she said.
She is a two-time U.S. champion and 2013 World champion in the 100 meter hurdles.
So far in the games, American medal winners have come from 34 different states, plus Washington D.C. There are also seven different worldwide countries in which medal-winning athletes were born who competed for the United States.
In a recent interview with the Herald, Rollins, one of seven siblings, said her family didn’t have much money when she was growing up, so they spent a lot of time playing outside.
“For me, it has been an honor to be able to come out here”, Gatlin said. “I hung out with my cousins and brothers”.
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Semenya was ordered to undergo gender tests when she won the world title in 2009, and wasn’t allowed to compete for 11 months after the tests.
