No looking back for Spearmon

Wallace Spearmon (Arkansas Razorbacks, Fayetteville) will compete today in the first round of the 200 meters at the Olympics in London. Spearmon was disqualified at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing for stepping out of his lane.
Wallace Spearmon (Arkansas Razorbacks, Fayetteville) will compete today in the first round of the 200 meters at the Olympics in London. Spearmon was disqualified at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing for stepping out of his lane.

— Wallace Spearmon plans to run with his second chance.

Spearmon, a former threetime national champion at Arkansas, won his third U.S. title in the 200 meters earlier this summer. That earned Spearmon a spot on the U.S. Olympic team for the second time.

Spearmon’s first Olympics didn’t end well. Spearmon crossed the finish line third in the 200 at the 2008 Beijing Olympics but, during his celebration lap, was pulled aside by officials and told he had been disqualified for stepping out his lane.

Spearmon runs in first round of the 200 today in London with a chance to erase any lingering bad memories.

“I have definitely thought about Beijing and the unfortunate incident for a long time, all the way until I made the Olympic team for 2012,” Spearmon told NBC. “That, it seemed, was going to be my only chance to participate in the Olympics, but when I made my second team it became time to put those thoughts in the past and look to the future.”

Spearmon, 27, is confident that he can make another run at a medal in London. He said he is completely healthy for the first time in a long time after hip and ankle problems plagued him in 2011.

“I have never been 100 percent,” Spearmon said in a March interview posted on teamusa.org. “This is the first year people are starting to see what I am capable of. I have no idea what I’m capable of. I want to find out.”

He won the U.S. trials in 19.82 seconds, .13 faster than his time in the 2008 Olympic final. In London, his chief competition will be renowned Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake and France’s Christophe Lemaitre.

Bolt, who already has repeated as Olympic champion in the 100, won the 2008 gold medal in a world-record 19.30. Bolt, a close friend of Spearmon’s, appeared vulnerable in losing the 100 and 200 to Blake in the Jamaican trials before winning the 100 Sunday.

Spearmon doesn’t seem to mind Bolt’s resurgence.

“The field is definitely tougher,” Spearmon told NBC. “But I think if I work on my start and acceleration phase, which is the turn pretty much, I think if I work on that, I will be good to go. My finish is as strong as ever and I think I will be able to finish and cross the line top three.”

Spearmon’s lack of competitive fear was always one of his strongest traits, former Arkansas Coach John McDonnell said. McDonnell remembered how Spearmon was forced to train off campus until gaining his eligibility midway through his freshman year but then ran an automatic NCAA qualifying time in his very first race.

“I said, ‘Wow,’ ” McDonnell said. “It just shows how talented he was. He’s not afraid of anybody, Bolt or anybody.

“He is absolutely one of the best. He can run with Bolt or anybody else when he’s healthy.”

Spearmon said running against Bolt will be bittersweet because the two are such close friends.

“I definitely want to see him do well, and I wish all the best to him,” Spearmon told NBC. “But, at the same time, when we step out on to that track and they say set and then go, it’s all about me.”

When Spearmon ran in Fayetteville in February, he said he had been embarrassed by his behavior after losing his bronze medal in Beijing when he had angrily yelled at officials. Now that the disqualification has a chance to be put to bed, Spearmon is trying to look ahead — and hope he doesn’t see Bolt pulling away.

“I can’t think about [Beijing] when I’m running,” Spearmon told Flotrack in an online video interview. “Only speed, speed, speed.”

When asked what speed meant in this case, Spearmon laughed and said, “It means running fast, faster than you ever have.”

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