LONDON — Wallace Spearmon yelled into the camera when he was introduced to the crowd of 80,000 Thursday night.
“Let’s go, baby!” Spearmon said.“It’s my time!”
It wasn’t exactly Usain Bolt-esque, but it was a show of confidence. Spearmon believed he was going to medal in the 200 meters, maybe not the gold, but silver or bronze certainly.
“There was never a doubt in my mind I would finish top three,” Spearmon said afterward.
After all, the former Arkansas Razorback from Fayetteville had done that in Beijing only to have it later taken away, the bronze medal denied and his heart ripped out by a disqualification for stepping out of his lane.
Spearmon had said more than once that this is his year, his time.
It wasn’t, and might never be.
He will be 31, old for a sprinter, in 2016 for the Rio de Janeiro Games. The past seven gold medalists in the event have been younger than 30 except for Michael Johnson, who set the then-world record a month before his 31st birthday in 1996.
That is why, when it was all said and run, Spearmon reacted as if there had been a death in the family when he finished fourth. He bent over in agony, his head in his hands. He hugged friends and family long and hard. He tried to hold back his tears. He apologized for “letting everyone down.”
“You have your good days, you have your bad days, you have these days,” said Spearmon, as gracious a loser as the United States has seen in congratulating the winners and thanking his supporters. “It wasn’t my best race; it wasn’t my worst race. It just wasn’t my day.”
The national anthem has become the Olympic theme song in recent days. Ashton Eaton and Christian Taylor made sure the refrain becomes even more familiar to the Brits as Eaton won the decathlon and Taylor the triple jump. Trey Hardee was second to Eaton, and Will Claye took the silver behind Taylor.
Team USA has 24 medals in track and field, but the 200 was a disappointment for the Americans, just as the 400 had been earlier in the week. The United States had medaled in every Olympic men’s 200 it had competed in since sweeping in 1932, except in 2000.
It was not for a lack of trying on Spearmon’s part. The only American to make the final, he ran 19.90 seconds.
In nine of the previous 10 Olympics, Spearmon’s time would have gotten him a medal. If he had been running in 2000, 1992, 1980, 1976 or 1972, Spearmon would have won the gold.
“It’s not the first time it has happened,” Spearmon said. “People have run sub-20 seconds before and not gotten a medal. It has just not happened to me before.”
Spearmon has the misfortune of running in the same era as Bolt, who proclaimed himself “a legend” and “the greatest athlete to live” when the Jamaican was done doing what no man ever had done.
Bolt ran a 19.32, the same as Johnson ran in 1996, and could have gone faster had he not intentionally slowed at the end while holding a comfortable lead over countrymen Yohan Blake (19.44) and Warren Weir (19.84).
“Those guys are on another planet right now,” Spearmon said.
Bolt’s news conference was less a news conference than a fan club meeting. He was asked about the qualities he looks for in a girlfriend (he no longer has a type), what former great athlete he would have preferred to be (Jesse Owens) and why he put his fingers to his lips before crossing the finish line (to shut up his doubters).
He was more Ali than Ali, reminding the media at the end to make sure and proclaim him the greatest of all time.
Bolt did that himself with his performance, becoming the first man ever to repeat as the 200 Olympic champion. Earlier this week, he defended his 100 title.
Move over, Michael Johnson.
Bolt has done for his sport what few others have in any sport. He is in the greatest of all time debate with Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps and Muhammad Ali.
“I’ve really set myself high in the track and field world, so I think a lot of people will say that he is as great as Michael Jordan, because Michael Jordan was in his sport,” Bolt said. “I’m the greatest in mine, as Ali was the greatest in his. I’m guessing that, yeah, I am in that category, but I will let people decide that. I just know that I am a legend.”
It was the stuff of legend unless you happened to be Spearmon.
“You can’t control what other people do or how fast they run,” said Monte Stratton, who trains Spearmon in Arlington, Texas. “I told Wallace I was disappointed for him but not disappointed in him. I’m very proud of his effort.”
Sports, Pages 16 on 08/10/2012