Sat Aug 16 – Track and Field -- Bolt breaks the World Record (video included)

Finally it was time to go to our first track and field session. This was the big session because it was going to end with the men’s 100M dash, but there were other interesting events as well. We assumed we would have nosebleed seats, and although they were definitely in the “balcony” section, they were low in the section and pretty good visibility – close to the 30 yard line. We were able to see the final events of the ladies heptathlon (where an American got bronze), the semi-finals of the men 100M dash, the ladies shot put final, the men’s 400M hurdles semi finals, the men’s long jump qualifications, the ladies 800M semi finals, and of course the men’s 100M finals. The stadium was as spectacular as it looked on TV. The crowd was finally international, for the first time, in my opinion. We saw lots of different nationalities on the subway and in the crowd. We brought our US flags and waved for the US athletes. We were right in front of the long jump, so Emily really enjoyed watching the men’s qualification jumps. I was surprised at how many scratches there were from these men when they stepped over the line while attempting a long jump. But of course, the most exciting event of the night was the 100M finals. Already there was US disappointment because Tyson Gay didn’t qualify for the finals – and I assume that was because of his injury, from which he is just recovered. But despite that, the excitement in the crowd and stadium was palpable when it came time for the final. The announcer read each name and showed their faces on the huge in-stadium screens, which made it even more interesting. They played some “tense” music, and the crowd got going. The music stopped and while the racers got ready for the race, the stadium erupted in a sea of flash bulbs. People knew we were seeing something special with the number of men who had held the world record or had been world champions. Then when the race started and Bolt not only won but broke the world record at doing so, the stadium just went nuts. The American just closed fast enough to get bronze, so he was happy too. It was very fun. I actually used my camera as a video camera –and caught the race on tape. I thought this would be an important memory and event to capture. We thought it would take us forever to get home via the subway system – and there was a sea of people. But for some reason, they had the system working really well, and we hit all the trains at the perfect time – so we ended getting home sooner this evening than any other evening…Go figure.


Anyway, click on these two videos.

• The first shows an idea of the Birds Nest Stadium.
  

• The second show the 100M finals (sorry - from far away) but shows Bolt break the world record.