Lee Bong-Ju (© Getty Images)
BusanThis was the moment Lee BongJu was waiting for, winning an Asian Games marathon in front of his home fans. Sadly the main stadium was not even half full when the Korean veteran entered to a standing ovation at the end of his gruelling journey.
Bong-Ju by winning the title back-to-back, thus emulated the feat of Japan’s Kenji Kimihara who won in 1966 and 1970. However, perhaps the most memorable moment of his long career was in 1996 when he finished with the Olympic silver medal, just three seconds adrift from the laurels won by South Africa’s Josia Thugwane.
Today in Busan, as the field of 15 runners got underway in the mid-afternoon, Bong-Ju always looked the strongest. The going was slow to begin with, but the pace picked up after the 20km mark when Bong-Ju stepped up the tempo a notch, and started leaving behind a front pack that contained the two Japanese, Koji Shimizu and Ryuji Takei and the other Korean, Lim Jin-Soo.
It was Takei who was second behind Lee Bong-Ju to begin with, and then, past the 27km mark, Shimizu took over the position of chief challenger. Past the 34km point, the 32-year-old Korean started speeding up further and from then on it was only a question of the silver and bronze being sorted out, as the gold was as good as in the Korean's hands (2:14:04).
It was only the second Korean gold from athletics at these Games, the other one having come from another veteran, high jumper Lee Jin-Taek.
Eventually, it was Shimizu who took the silver (2:17:47) and Taeki the bronze (2:18:38).
Yet the most gallant and the most arresting moment came right towards the end of the race when Myanmar’s Zaw Min Htwe, stopping and wretching, almost doubled up, ready to collapse, traversed the final 400 metres inside the stadium in absolute agony and managed to finish 13th.
At times frightful and at times agonizing, Zaw Min Htwe’s determination to finish ahead of another tail-ender, Xavier Do Rego from Asian Games debutants East Timor, was commendable. It was a miracle he did not collapse. He stopped at several points after reaching the back straight in the stadium, and then, he inched his way up through the final 100 metres, holding his back as he went.
As the Games come to a close, once again underlining the overwhelming superiority of the Chinese, the athletics equations also come in for review. China won 14 of the 45 gold medals on offer in track and field, just one less than last time, but somehow their dominance in women’s track events was missing.
Instead, it was India, in the women’s events, and Saudi Arabia, in the men’s section, who underscored their emerging status as major forces in the regional athletics context. Both countries, incidentally, had offered 40,000 dollars each for gold medal winners, but more than the money being given as incentive, it is the influence of foreign coaches, which seemed to have worked to the advantage of both India and Saudi Arabia.
Moukhled Al-Otaibi was a revelation. The 23-year-old Saudi Arabian won a distance double that in the pre-meet analysis looked destined to go Japan’s way. Al-Otaibi is from Al-Taif, a Saudi city that is between 1600 metres to 2500 metres above sea level. Obviously, he has had the benefit of altitude training at an early age, as well as more recent support of foreign experts including an American coach.
Originally a gymnast, Al-Otaibi’s rise to become an Asian Games gold medallist in 5000m and 10,000m, has been the greatest success story for Saudi Arabia since the days of steeplechaser Saad Shaddad Al-Asmari, the former three time Asian Championships gold medallist, and bronze medallist at the 1995 World championships.
Apart from Al-Otaibi, Saudi Arabia’s other gold medals came from Jamal Al-Saffar in the 100m, where Japan’s Nobuharu Asahara was the overwhelming favourite, Salem Mouled Al Ahmadi in Triple Jump, a gold which China was also eyeing, Haadi Souaán Al-Somaily, in the 400m Hurdles, where Japan and Qatar also had strong contenders, Taher Al-Sabee in Long Jump, and the men’s 4x400 metres relay, where India felt it had spurned a chance.
Six of India’s seven gold medals came from their women, a re-assertion that since the days of P. T. Usha, who incidentally was as an invited guest of one of the Games sponsors, the country has banked on their women in athletics.
The one for K. M. Beenamol in the 800 metres and that for Anju George in Long Jump plus the 4x400m relay, came on expected lines. The biggest surprise was Saraswati Saha’s 200 metres victory. Even in the absence of an injured Susanthika Jayasinghe of Sri Lanka, the Indian might not have been the favourite for the gold. But she clinched it despite a poor start and a hamstring strain.
India’s lone men’s gold came from shot putter Bahadur Singh, with a low 19.03, his only valid throw in the competition. That China, which has won every Shot Put title in these Games since 1986, did not field a competitor this time, is a poor commentary of the plummeting standards in this event in the region. Barring the Indians at home, no one in Asia has gone beyond 19.50 metres during the past five years.
The fall in Chinese sprinting standards should be another cause for concern, but on the plus side for that country there has been emerging talent in the middle distance events. China took three medals from the men’s 800 and 1500m put together, and that was more than a surprise as the Koreans and Qataris were expected to dominate these events.
The Qataris, so strong only two months earlier in Colombo, during the Asian championships, failed to win anything from 400m to 1500m, traditionally their stronghold. In the end, they had just one gold, that by steeplechaser Khamis Abdullah, compared to the eight they achieved in Colombo.
Quite pathetic was Japan’s plight, too. Just two gold medals compared to the 12 they had won in Bangkok four years ago. The continental tug-of-war for the medals has always been between China and Japan, and this time it was also expected to be so. No one had bargained for such a poor performance from the Japanese, especially in the distance events and the men’s relays.
The two Japanese golds came from the continental top performers of the season in their respective events, sprinter Shongo Suetsugu in the 200 metres and Hammer thrower Koji Murofushi.
Suetsugu’s 20.38 was a world-class performance, while Murofushi’s 78.72m was a little below his normal high standards.
Kuwaiti Fawzi Al-Shammari’s 44.93 in the 400 metres, Neelam J Singh’s 64.55m Games record Discus Throw which figures in the top 25 in the world for the season, and China’s Sun Yingjie’s 5000m (14:40.41) and 10000m (30:28.26) performances were the other highly rated efforts in Busan. Not far behind was China's woman Hammer thrower Gu Yuan’s 70.49m effort.
North Korea had its only medal from athletics, the gold in women’s Marathon through Ham Bong Sil, while Bahrain won their first gold medals since Ahmed Hamada won the 400m Hurdles in Seoul in 1986. Rashid Mohammed (800m) and Rashid Ramzi (1500m), both of Moroccan origin, were the athletes who managed those two gold medals for Bahrain.
By an IAAF Correspondent
Men’s Marathon results:
1. Lee Bong-Ju (Kor) 2:14:04, 2. Koji Shimizu (Jpn) 2:17:47, 3. Ryuji Takaei (Jpn) 2:18:38, 4. Lim Jin-Soo (Kor) 2:21:08, 5. Foaad Ali Abubaker (Qat) 2:25:27, 6. Roy Vence (Phi) 2:28:51, 7. Jumah Omar Al-Noor (Qat) 2:30:11, 8. Arjun Kumar Basnet (Nep) 2:28:23, 9. Gong Ke (Chn) 2:27:50, 10. Allan Ballester (Phi) 2:32:12.
