Christophe Lemaitre "White Lightning" 9.92 and 19.80! -- Part Two

sprintstar

Mentor
Joined
Jun 3, 2016
Messages
1,885
Location
Canada
Bolt easily won this race, they weren't catching DeGrasse for second, the real race was for third where Lemaitre, Gemili and Martina had an unbelievable race. Congrats Lemaitre. He hung in tough and gave everything he had and was rewarded for it. Very happy for him and his family and his country. :)
 

Thrashen

Hall of Famer
Joined
Jun 4, 2007
Messages
5,706
Location
Pennsylvania
They didn't show it on American TV (too busy broadcasting endless shots of Bolt posing), but here is LeMaitre reacting to his bronze...


After all the injuries and perceived "regression," he shocked the world!
 

jacknyc

Hall of Famer
Joined
May 14, 2006
Messages
4,091
I am happy for Lemaitre and a little sad for Gemili.
With a better lane Gemili surely would have beat Lemaitre.
The turn is tighter on Lane 2, and I think further away from the starting gun.
Anyway, it's a beautiful, caste busting result to have them go 3rd and 4th place.
Nobody - not even us here - would have predicted it.
 

white lightning

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 16, 2004
Messages
20,684
First off congrats to Christophe on this epic acheivemnet. He is an 200 meter olympic medalist and that is pretty amazing
if you ask me. My only complaint is like what RCSMAN has been saying all week. If Lemaitre ran a better first 100 meters, he challenges DeGrasse for the silver medal. He just is trying to make up far too much ground against the worlds best sprinters. It's the same with his 100. Fix his start or at least improve it and he makes the finals of the 100. Once there anything can happen.

Overall I'm very happy for Lemaitre. Almost everyone doubted him including me. What an epic fight down the home straight to pass most of his competition. That took heart, strength and courage. Also he had to stay relaxed to maintain his speed. Bravo Christophe! Enjoy this moment. You deserve it!
 

The Hock

Master
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Messages
3,756
Location
Northern California
Been following Lemaitre for years not commenting much not that knowledgeable but wow can he close in the 200. I never realized the second 100 was so much faster than the first but they're already running duh. Anyway I'm very pleased for the kid and hope this will give him a psychological boost. If he had a fast start he would have been right there on Bolt's heel's I think.

But I'll take the bronze any day considering.

Vive Le France!
 

trackster

Mentor
Joined
Jan 11, 2010
Messages
926
Amazing run for Christophe. Imagine what he could have done these past few years if even once or twice he hadn't had to race in cold conditions with a wind in his face. He's had the worst run of luck for that of any sprinter who ever lived. In a way, though, it worked out for him last night. The track was wet. The air was thick with humidity. There was a headwind. For everyone else those were tough conditions. For Christophe, that was just another typical day.

He is speaking of a "resurrection" now. Look for him to post big times in September. He's definitely back in sub-10 form. If he runs both races this season, he will go sub-10 and sub-20.
 

jacknyc

Hall of Famer
Joined
May 14, 2006
Messages
4,091
For all his technical deficiencies in sprinting (and he has many), it really was Lemaitre's lean that won him the race.
If you look at this overhead photo you can see that Gemili in Lane 2 and Martina in Lane 8, are actually in front of Lemaitre. Look at their legs, they both have a half-step on him.
But Gemili's lean was terrible, and Lemaitre did it just right to pull out the win.
845acf34-c855-41e6-bcc8-60c2d723e177.jpg
 

Shadowlight

Master
Joined
Mar 16, 2013
Messages
3,882
Beautiful result for Lemaitre. A real talent he showed tremndous closing speed to nab a tightly contested bronze. A very important benchmark from Lemaitre who has been hampered by injuries etc through the years since breaking the 10 second mark in the 100. Guys here like White Lightening have been following him like a hawk for years and this is truly a feel good story for us and Lemaitre. Combine this result with Dafne's 200 silver and all of a sudden the olympics are becoming salvagable.
By the way I noticed Steve Sailor brought up the subject of PEDs and wondered why white sprinters were pretty much equal to black sprinters until the 70's around the time OJ Simpson started making a splash.
 

RCSMAN

Mentor
Joined
Apr 29, 2012
Messages
824
200M Semi final/final

last 100M

BOLT 9.60/9.61
De Grasse 9.52/9.67
Merritt 9.58/9.81
Lemaitre 9.55/9.72
 

freddie

Guru
Joined
Jul 9, 2010
Messages
145
Location
Toronto
Amazing CL: In the semifinals Christophe beat two guys with much better PBs - Blake (19.26) and Gatlin (19.57). The three heats had similar negative wind and he qualified fourth fastest. In the semis and finals he also beat four runners with similar PBs - Ashmeade (19.85), Martina (19.85), Webb (19.85), and Alonso (19.91). It was an amazing run for a lad who is simply content to stay at home and continue with his old fashioned coach.

I want to thank everyone on this thread and the 2016 Rio Olympics thread who have helped me maintain my sanity and endure the irrational news and TV commentators this past couple of weeks. Thanks guys, very much.
 

sprintstar

Mentor
Joined
Jun 3, 2016
Messages
1,885
Location
Canada
I think if Lemaitre shaved off his peach fuzz he would have been .002 faster ;)

On that overhead picture Lemaitre is lifting his leg forward at finish, Gemili has already planted foot and Martina is stretched out on his lead foot, Lemaitre was still gaining on Gemili and pulling away from Martina at the lean...

Well done Lemaitre....what a great reaction from him when he found out he had won bronze medal, in contrast Bolt looked a bit like a spoiled brat just for a moment after he won.

White athletes 3rd and 4th well done...Guliyev never had a chance from lane one, gotta feel for the guy.
 

Texas Flash

Newbie
Joined
Mar 14, 2016
Messages
55
Yes congratulations to Christophe! He always had it in him. Nice to see it realized. Hopefully this does resurrect his spirits and body and he PRs in both the 100 and 200 later this year. Those are both on the table for him to go get. It would be a great way to end the year and set things up for next season! Not time to go on vacation yet ;-)
 

mastermulti

Master
Joined
Jan 13, 2006
Messages
2,241
Location
Sydney Australia
Congrats for the 3rd place Christophe!!! The second bronze in two consecutive Olympic Games in 200m..

his first Bronze was in the 2011 Worlds - now he adds the Olympic Bronze.

Must add that to me Christophe's hips are lower when he runs now. Maybe "sitting" a little.
Whether a one-off or whether a development over the past years I don't know. Maybe something to sort out
 

white is right

Hall of Famer
Joined
Feb 16, 2006
Messages
10,022
They didn't show it on American TV (too busy broadcasting endless shots of Bolt posing), but here is LeMaitre reacting to his bronze...


After all the injuries and perceived "regression," he shocked the world!
Yep network television was too busy with Bolt playing air guitar and preening. Lemaitre for all of his shy faults and fear of challenging himself abroad is a top "racer". Allan Wells and Donovan Bailey had this ability to run to the best of their seasonal abilities and beat guys who should be better on paper on seasonal form. He also is showing that heart is a part of racing to hit the podium. So far Jimmy Vicaut who on paper is the more talented runner has blown up at the Euro level when he should have been the consensus favorite and has been well beaten twice at the world final level. I bet he would trade his Euro and French 100 records for a world medal that Christophe just won....
 

Bk21

Guru
Joined
Jul 16, 2010
Messages
300
Location
Dijon - France
Interesting ITW by Lemaitre, just after his 200 race:

"Here you are on the Olympic podium in the 200m ...
I ran fast, I did what I gad to do to get on the box.

Happy ?
No I am disappointed (laughs). Besides Bolt, who would be disgusted to have an Olympic medal? Everyone would be happy. It's incredible.

How have you lived your end of the race?
I struggled to string, I had to fight. I was in a fight with Churandy (Martina), I dug. I just knew that if he was in front of me, I was not on the podium. It was absolutely necessary to pass him. It came to nothing. Apart from Bolt and De Grasse, who made the expected race, it was tight for bronze. I do not think it would be played on the final bend, but a little earlier than that. But it is playing or broken a few meters before, it is important to be ahead. I'm glad I did a remake of Barcelona (European Championships) 200m.

"I wanted to prove myself, to run for my own self"

And how did you feel when you saw on the scoreboard your name in third place?
It took a while (to appear). When I saw it played to the thousandth, I thought ****, I won the medal for not much, it made me back down to earth. After I appreciated. I thought it was me that was before the photo finish with a bend that came four meters before the line. On the line, I saw that I was ahead Churandy but I did not see the interior corridors. I have not seen(Adam) Gemili return.

What flavor is this medal to you?
No smell of revenge but of rebirth, resurrection. I hope this will not be a one shot, it's going to be confirmed in the coming years. This return to the fore, I did it just for me. And it rewarded the work of everyone. The others who have criticized me, I did not care. It could touch me, because when you're a competitor and you made counter performance, it touches your pride. But I stopped running to prove to others, I wanted to prove to myself, to run for me. And it worked for me. Just last year, I wanted to prove to others that I could be there. But I realized that it was useless. We must first make for onemself, for fun.



"Those years of struggling may have done me good"

This is your first Olympic medal in individual ...
Yes, and I will not spit, it is the "achievement" (achieve) my career for now. Hoping that it brings in others. These years of misery may have done me good. I had moments of doubt that made me think. And try to transform me into someone else to succeed that I had to do: to live the high level as we must do, live my passion, do not overthink, to have fun.Anyway this is an incredible moment. I was happy to relive it all.

The medal you touch more than the Daegu World Championships in 2011?
Until Daegu, all succeeded me. There is an Olympic medal, that's better. I always believed in my ability. I knew it was not dead and that it was going to come back.

"We will see who will be the next crack sprint"

Your day has been long and stressful ...
The 200m, it always makes me freak, I say why I run, I do not want, it's long, it's the pressure, plus a final ... I'm too lazy. I had not slept enough the night before. I thought: ". Deeply it ends" Once back in the stadium, I thought: "Give the start, get it over with all the waffle, these procedures ..." And finally c is all that is me, I am in the competition.

This medal she also proves that you have done well to stay in Aix-les-Bains to practice?
I knew that I was there. I am happy that it works with people I like. If I had Pierre (Carraz his coach) on the phone? No ... But I know what he would say to me. "Old idiot, you did not run as fast as you would have had to"

You Bolt coasted during his last Olympic individual race ...
There will be an after Bolt, people should be prepared to not see him . Now young people have to take their game to prove. We will see who will be the next crack of the sprint. It'll make fun of seeing our names on top of the podium, a little weird too. "
 

white lightning

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 16, 2004
Messages
20,684
Great interview. I like how he says it's like a rebirth. I think we just might see the old Lemaitre return
very soon as far as more consistant times and perfomances. This olympic medal has to give him so
much confidence. So happy for Christophe.
 

Texas Flash

Newbie
Joined
Mar 14, 2016
Messages
55
Lemaitre will be running the 100m in Paris this Saturday! Shall we take bets?

Put me down for a wind legal 9.97.
 

FootballDad

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
Messages
5,132
Location
Somewhere near Kansas City, MO
10.11
 
Top