© Stade de France ®
Macary, Zublena et Regembal
Costantini - Architects
ADAGP - Paris - 2002
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COMPETITION  NEWS |
 A GLORIOUS FINAL DAY
Paris 2003 Saint-Denis
The 9th World Championships in Athletics ended on a high note after a day of thrilling finals. Team France came way with another silver in the 4x400m relay, and the men’s 5,000m witnessed one of the greatest races in the history of the event.
Blue heaven
Nine gold medals were won on the last day of competition, and as is often the case Americans and Russians won the lion’s share. The home crowd had to wait until the final event to see their boys go for gold in the 4x400m, and though Les Bleus came up just short it was a stupendous race. Evoking memories of his performance in the individual event, wonder kid Marc Raquil came hurtling after Jerome Young down the home straight and very nearly caught him on the line. France had to be content with silver though, and with a haul of two gold, three silvers and two bronze finished a very creditable 5th in the medal table.
Relays: Catch U.S. if you can
John Capel, Bernard Williams, Darvis Patton, and J.J. Johnson snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the men’s 4x100 m (38.06). A good metre down at the top of the home straight, and with Britain’s world n°1 Dwain Chambers to beat, J.J Johnson ran an absolute blinder to win it on the dip. The women’s 4x400 m relay came down to the wire too, and it was the Americans (Lisa Barber, Demetria Washington, Jearl Miles Clark and Sanya Richards) who came out on top again, just ahead of the Russian quartet in 3:22.63.
Men’s 5,000m: Kipchoge on the blind side
The men’s 5000m had been billed as a showdown between the winners of the 1,500 m and the 10,000 m, respectively Hicham El Guerrouj and Kenenisa Bekele. Both gold medallists ran exceptional races too, particularly El Guerrouj, who was gunning for an unprecedented double, but as is so often the case in head-to-heads, a third man came along to upset the odds. 18-year-old Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge stole in to grab gold, somehow holding off El Guerrouj in a heartstopping final 50 metres. Eliud Kipchoge is not a complete unknown; he won the world junior cross country title and set a world junior record over the distance earlier this year.
Men’s 800m: First medal for Algeria
Another cracking race ended with Algeria’s Olympic bronze medal winner from Sydney Djabir Said-Guerni (1:44.81) outkicking Russia’s Yuriy Borzakovskiy to win gold. Wilson Kipketer had been aiming for a fourth world title but had to settle for fourth.
Women’s high jump: Cloete nails it
Hestrie Cloete came within a whisker of breaking the world record of 2.09m. That would been the icing on the cake for the South African, who by then had won the title with an impeccable display of jumping. Katjsa Bergqvist did well to hold on for bronze given her tendonitis problems, but Cloete was head and shoulders above her and the rest of the field, as she has been all season. “I came here to defend my title and I’ve done it. That was the most important thing for me and I stayed totally focused throughout the competition. I’m proud that South Africa has won two golds, both in the high jump. I know I can clear 2.10 m. I’m mentally and physically capable but it wasn’t to be today. Maybe I’ll do it before the end of the year, maybe next year. But I know I’ll go for it and I’ll do it", she commented.
Other golds on Day 9 went to Sergey Makarov in the men’s javelin (85.44 m), Tatyana Tomashova over 1,500 m (3:58.52) and Kenya’s Catherine Ndereba in the marathon (2:23.55).
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