IAAF Championships Berlin 2009 Tribute page by cleaverb
The best athletes in the world were on hand, the number of athletes who gave their best - personal bests and performances of a lifetime - was simply amazing. Despite the dominance of the USA in the medal standings, we saw incredible wins by the Jamaican sprinters, the Ethiopian and Kenyan distance runners, and a fine showing of the hosts countries athletic talent. Not to mention great enthusiasm for each athlete.
Berlino , the Mascot .
As the old sports show would proclaim: "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" still applies to athletics in 2009.
Hao Wang, Valeriy Borchin, and Eder Sánchez
Day One started off with the first medal of these games going to Valeriy Borchin (pic above) of Russia winning the Mens 20K Race Walk, followed by Kenyas first medal coming in the Womens 10K race,
Linet Chepkwemoi Masai won the gold medal in the Womens 10K
and concluded with the USAs Christian Cantwell edging out Polands Tomasz Majewski for the Mens Shotput gold.
The Womens Heptathlon started at 10:10 in the morning with the 100 meter hurdles,and continued
through the high jump and shot put portions of the event. And their 200 meter race after 9:00pm was the final event of the day.
Jennifer Oeser of Germany had a personal best in the Heptathlon Shotput.
We also watched many enthusiastic 'leaps' from the several athletes,including Switzerlands Linda Züblin (pic below) who set a personal best (13.16) in the shot put.
Linda Züblin
Day Two featured a gold medal for Russia in the Womens 20K Race Walk ,
Irelands Olive Loughnane(2nd),Russias Olga Kaniskina(1st),Chinas and Hong Liu (3rd) Womens 20K
New Zealander Valerie Vili won the Womens Shotput, and the incredible finish by Usain Bolt of in the Mens 100 meters.
Nadine Kleinert, Valerie Vili, and Lijiao Gong ,Womens Shot Put medalists.
Usain Bolt 100meters..How long before this world record falls ?
Day Two was also the end of the Womens Heptathlon,where Jessica Ennis of Great Britain brought home the gold medal.
Day Three featured several Finals, including the Womens Pole Vault, with the favorite Elena Isinbaeva failing to defend her crown.
Chelsea Johnson, Anna Rogowska, and Monika Pyrek - Womens Pole Vault medalists
Marta Dominguez winning Gold for Spain in the Womens 3000 meter Steeplechase.
By now, the competition had really taken hold of my heart, and I really started to watch the individuals and hope for the best they could offer.
Shelly Ann Fraser of Jamaica won the Womens 100 meter Final.
Day Four featured many qualifying rounds in field events and heats for track events.
Early in the evening, we saw Germany win gold in the Womens Javelin throw.
Barbora potáková, Steffi Nerius, and Maria Abakumova, Womens Javelin medalists
We also watched as Sanya Richards of the USA edged out Jamaica's Shericka Williams in one of the few short distance events the Jamaican team didn't win.
Shericka Williams (left) and Sanya Richards,Womens 400
Day Five was the start of the Mens Decathlon - the first of two long days of competition for the 38 entrants.
Attila Szabó,Brent Newdick, and Mikk Pahapill in the Decathlon 100 Meters fifth heat.
Roman ebrle cleared 2.11 meters in the Decathlon High Jump
We also saw another full day of qualifying rounds in field events and heats in track events.
Day Six brought us an awesome display in the Womens High Jump , Mens 200 Meters, and the final events in the Decathlon.
Blanka Vlasic of Croatia won the Womens High Jump gold medal.
Anna Chicherova of Russia clears 2.02 meters,for Silver medal in Womens High Jump.
Germany's Ariane Friedrich celebrates a succesful 2.02 meter jump,and finished in third place.
Eleni Artymata,Johanna Danois,Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie, and Veronica Campbell-Brown womens 200 Meters semi-final.
Leonel Suárez,Trey Hardee, and Aleksandr Pogorelov ; Decathlon medalists.
Day Seven started with Sergey Kirdyapkin (pic below) winning the Mens 50K Race Walk, completing the sweep of all three Race Walk Gold medals for Russia.
Sergey Kirdyapkin
The qualifying rounds for mens javelin and womens long jump preceded another gold for Russia, when
Kyriakos Ioannou, Yaroslav Rybakov, Sylwester Bednarek, and Raul Spank , High Jump medalists.
Yaroslav Rybakov cleared the bar at 2.32 meters on his first attempt,narrowly edging out Kyriakos Ioannou of Cyprus.
The Australians had very disappointing start to the Championships,and it wasn't until day seven that we saw
Dani Samuels celebrates her Discus victory .
Dani Samuels winning Australia's first gold medal of these games in the Womens' Discus throw.
The day finished with the USA's Allyson Felix winning gold in the Women's 200 Meters, and LaShawn Merritt of the USA winning the gold medal in the Mens 400 Meters.
Day Eight started with the Mens Marathon, eventually won by Abel Kirui of Kenya in 2:06:54 . We also saw Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya win the Womens 5000 Meters, giving Kenya its 4th gold medal of these games.
Sylvia Kibet, Vivian Cheruiyot, and Meseret Defar Womens 5000 medalists.
Then we finished the evening watching Jamaica win Gold in both the mens and womens 4x100 relays.
Day Nine, the final day of competition in Berlin started with an amazing finish in the Womens Marathon, where we saw three Chinese women finish in the top 5.
Yoshimi Ozaki, Xue Bai, and Aselefech Mergia, Womens Marathon medalists.
In the evening, we saw the magnificent Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia barely winning the Mens 5000 meter event over Bernard Lagat.
Bernard Lagat, Kenenisa Bekele, and James C'Kurui , Mens 5000.
And we closed out these games with the USA winning both the Mens and Womens 4x400 relay events.
Sincerely,cleaverb