Jamaicans destroy US track supremacy

Dinesh WEERAWANSA reporting from China

Jamaica completely destroyed the American track supremacy by making a clean sweep with all three medals as Shelly-Ann Fraser was crowned the fastest woman at the Beijing Olympic Games.

Fraser got off to a perfect start coming out of the blocks with an impressive reaction time and went like a bullet to win women’s 100m dash in 10.78 seconds under lights at the Bird’s Nest on Sunday night.

Twenty one-year-old Fraser clocked her career best timing when it mattered the most to become the first Jamaican to win the title - the fastest woman at Olympic Games. Her Jamaican teammates Kerron Stewart and Sherone Simpson shared the silver in an identical running time of 10.98. Even the photo finish could not separate them.

It was a double celebration for Jamaica which completely overpowered the US dominance in sprint events. It was the most cherished moment for the Carribean Island, having produced the men’s 100m gold medallist - Usain Bolt, on the previous night.

Despite having a long history in producing sprint mercants, Jamaica had never produced eiether men’s or women’s 100m Olympic gold medallist before.

Jeanette Kwakye - the first Briton to reach women’s 100m final after Heather Oakes (in Los Angeles, 1984) finished sixth in a personal best of 11.14. American Lauryn Williams was a big disspoinment. The silver medallist in the Athens Games in 2004, finished a poor fourth in 11.03.

But she was the best out of the three Americans women who ran in the 100m final.

Earlier in the day, Yuliya Nestsiarenka of Belarus, the defending Olympic 100m gold medallist failed to make it to the final.

Russian Gulnara Galkina-Samitova led all the way to win the women’s steeplechase gold medal with a new world record. She broke her own world mark with a time of eight minutes and 58.81 seconds and the Olympic record time of 9:15.17 that she set in the semis.

Kenyan Eunice Jepkorir trailed by 9.60 seconds to claim the silver medal in 9:07.41. Russian Ekaterina Volkova, last year’s gold winner at the Osaka world championships, had to settle for the bronze in 9:07.64. Russia missed out on a clean sweep, with 2007 World Championships silver medalist, Tatiana Petrova, coming in fourth with a time of 9:12.33.

China extends the lead

Hosts China extended their lead in the latest medals standings of the Beijing Games. They have now won a total of 35 gold medals, 13 silver and 13 bronze medals to strengthen their grip.Despite their dominance in the swimming events through Michael Phelps, the USA is placed second in the latest medals stable with only 19 golds, 21 silver and 25 bronze medals.

Great Britain, enjoying their best Olympics after a long lapse, advanced to the third slot with 11 gold, six silver and eight bronze medals.

In the fourth place is Germany with nine gold, six silver and six bronze, followed by Australia, South Korea, Japan and Russia.