Lamont Marcell Jacobs is the fastest legs - Gianmarco Tamberi wins Gold !

Tokyo Olympics - PV Sindhu has delivered yet again. The Indian badminton ace has added another Olympic medal to her already glittering resume. Today, Sindhu completely dominated 8th seeded Chinese shuttler He Bing Jiao, winning the bronze medal match in straight games 21-13, 21-15.

.. .. .. but today Italy would be very happy !!  .. .. back in 15^th Aug 2016, as the globe waited, it predictably was  Usain Bolt again crowned the fastest man on globe finishing at 9.81 seconds in 100M dash at Rio. Justin Gatlin of US finished next with 9.89S;  Andre De Grasse, Canada, 9.91; Yohan Blake, Jamaica, 9.93; Akani Simbine, South Africa, 9.94; Ben Youssef Meite, Cote d’Ivoire, 9.96 – all finishing under 10 seconds and then Jimmy Vicaut of France, 10.04;  followed by Trayvon Bromell of US at 10.06 seconds. The event had long been dominated by Usain Bolt, who retired following the 2017 world championships after doubling as the 100- and 200-meter champion at three straight Olympics, from 2008 to 2016.

Today at around 06.20 pm IST we sat glued to TV – it was the time of Men’s 100m final.  The lights dimmed  at the Olympic Stadium for the athlete introductions. In lane 2, Akani Simbine (RSA); in lane 3, Lamont Marcell Jacobs (ITA); in lane 4, Zharnel Hughes (GBR); in lane 5, Fred Kerley (USA); in lane 6, SU Bingtian (CHN); in lane 7, Ronnie Baker (USA); in lane 8, Enoch Adegoke (NGR); in lane 9, Andre de Grasse (CAN).

BBC and British media would keep mocking others – what will they write today – the gun went off - False start! Zharnel Hughes of Great Britain had  false started and was sent out of the men's 100m final! .. .. couple of hours earlier in the Semis – Prescod Reece of Great Britain went out in a similar fashion !!  

Italy is basking in glory in Gold – they won Euro 2020; Matteo Berrettini won silver in Wimbledon 2021 and today they claimed Gold in 100m and in High jump.   Lamont Marcell Jacobs had the slowest reaction time – more than half a second – out of the blocks on the first start which was called back due to Hughes' false start. He made the most of that second chance and has become the first European to win men's 100m gold since Linford Christie (GBR) in 1992. His was an European record @ 9.80 seconds. As the victory flashed on the screen he was hugged by another Gold winner from Italy - Gianmarco Tamberi  who had a shared first with Mutaz Essa Barshim.  

When the first modern Olympics were held in Athens in 1896, Thomas Burke won the 100m gold medal with a time of 12 seconds. This year it was 9.80 seconds ! – earlier - China's Su Bingtian became the first Asian man to reach the Olympic 100 metres final for 89 years, scorching to an Asian record of 9.83 in his semi-final, but pre-race favourite Trayvon Bromell failed to make it.

Out of Saturday's qualifying heats, Canada's Andre De Grasse finished with the fastest time of 9.91. The 26-year-old is a University of Southern California graduate and won the silver medal in the 200-meter race and bronze medals in both the 100 meter and 4×100 m relay at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Jamaica has dominated in the Olympic event for the past three consecutive international games, with Usain Bolt taking the gold every Olympics since 2008. Bolt set an Olympic record for the event in 2012, running the distance in just 9.63 seconds.  In this year's Olympics, Yohan Blake and Oblique Seville competed  on behalf of Jamaica  but failed to make an impression.

Marcell Jacobs of Italy sprinted to Olympic gold in the men’s 100-meter dash on Sunday, finishing in 9.80 seconds. Jacobs, 26, was born in El Paso before moving to Italy with his mother as a young child. Fred Kerley of the United States finished second in 9.84 seconds, and Andre De Grasse of Canada was third (9.89).

In a surprise, the field did not include Trayvon Bromell of the United States, who had the fastest lifetime best among the semifinalists: 9.77 seconds, which he had run in June. But after struggling to a fourth-place finish in his opening-round heat on Saturday, he finished third in the second of three semifinals on Sunday, missing out on an automatic spot in the final by a thousandth of a second. The top four runners in the third semifinal were all faster than Bromell, knocking him out of the final. The field was also absent another notable American: Christian Coleman, the reigning world champion, who is serving a suspension for a series of missed drug tests. There was no clear-cut favorite, and none seemed able to fill the enormous void left by Bolt, a luminous and charismatic presence on the track and an athlete who transcended the sport

.. .. in the end, it was - Lamont Marcell Jacobs who is the fastest legs of the Globe 2021.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
1^st Aug 2021 @ 18.45 hrs.