I may need to double check, but it feels like White athletes are doing a lot better in Daegu than Berlin in 2009. In fact, I remember Berlin as being pretty dismal.
In addition to the usual dominance in most of the field events, I'm seeing some promising developments elsewhere. First, yes, Kevin Borlee's bronze was great, and it was also nice to Kirani James beat that cheat Merrit, I cannot stand him. I believe we also had a bronze in the women's 400m and the men's 800m by 2 Russians. It's been a strong showing by Russia thus far, so that's good.
In the women's heptathlon, it was Chernova with the gold and Oeser of Germany with the bronze. I'm also a Jessica Enis fan, so I might consider that one a clean sweep. The women's pole vault was another sweep, with White Brazilian Fabiana Murer winning the gold. I fully expect Isinbaeva to challenge for the gold in London next year.
The men's and women's 400m hurdles have a bunch of whites with a good chance to win a few medals. And of course, Lemaitre going for a medal in 200m is the one event I'm looking forward the most.
But to me, the most impressive win was Zaripova's victory in the 3000m steeplechase. She won convincingly over a bunch of Kenyans and Ethiopeans, and this proves that they are very much beatable. I know they dominate all the middle and long distances, and it's a tall order to break their stranglehold in those events, but it can be done. In fact, after they crossed the finish line, all the Kenyan women had a look of disbelief in their faces, like how did we get beat by that white girl? :icon_smile:
It should be an exciting finish thru Sunday, I'm very much enjoying these championships.
Also, the Jamaican team is having a particularly bad year, was there some problem with the yam crop this season?