ATHLETICS: HE'D GONE where no Irish man had gone before, and he didn't stop there. The sight of David Gillick in the World Championship 400 metres final won't easily be forgotten and nor, it has to be said, will the sight of him finishing sixth. Sometimes you have to just stand among these big boys before you can beat them all.
Gillick beat two of them, and was close to beating a couple more. He certainly wasn’t far off fourth, and if Gillick keeps improving the way he has this summer it might only be a matter of time before he can start thinking about medals. Last night was never really about that, particularly running out of lane two. Not that the 26-year-old from Ballinteer in Dublin didn’t believe it might just be.
“It would have been great to get a medal, let’s be honest about it,” he told us later on under the old Olympic Stadium. “It would have been fantastic. I mean it was never going to be about times. It was a World Championship final. It’s all about beating people.
“I would still be a little bit disappointed, but I’ve done all right. I do think I put some of these guys on a pedestal before, looked up at them. Now maybe I’m looking down at some of them. It’s all about confidence. I know I can push forward again from this, and perform at major championships.”
It was the headline event last night, and for good reason. It included some of the best 400-metre runners in history, and as expected the race for the gold medal quickly boiled down to a sizzling head-to-head between the American rivals Jeremy Wariner and LaShawn Merritt, who between them have lorded the event for the past three years.
They were level coming into the straight, before the 23-year-old Merritt cruised ahead and arrived home the comfortable winner in 44.06 – the fastest time in the world this year, adding to his Olympic title from last year.
Wariner was seeking a third successive title but the 25-year-old Texan, the third fastest in history, had to settle for silver in 44.60.
After that things got interesting. The race for the bronze was a lot more open and typically only decided on the finish line; Renny Quow of Trinidad finished like the S-Bahn to take it in 45.02. Next came Tabarie Henry of the Virgin Islands in 45.42, with Chris Brown of the Bahamas just edging out the Irishman for fifth, 45.47 to Gillick’s 45.53.
Some more consolation? Gillick was the top European, beating Britain’s Michael Bingham and Leslie Djhone of France. A nice taster for next year’s European Championships.
“I don’t know if I went out a little too quick,” added Gillick, “but the guy outside, Renny Quow, always goes out slow, and finishes like a train. I knew I’d be up on him, and I still felt good coming off the bend, thinking I’d made good ground.
“Maybe I tied up a fraction, but it was still a positive run.
“The Americans were always going to go one-two. I felt it was open enough for the bronze. Quow is running very well, but I think I can hold my head up high. It’s been the best week of my athletics career, and surpasses everything I’ve done indoors.”
Not even the thunder and lightning storm earlier in the evening could dampen the atmosphere, although it did delay the proceedings by almost an hour.
It was after 10pm Berlin time when Gillick finally got to his blocks, although he was not put off by the delay: “They handled it well. We hadn’t even started warming up at that stage, so it didn’t really matter. They brought us in here to the warm-up under the stand. It was actually a bit of craic.
“I just kept thinking I’ve worked so hard for this. Fours years ago I was watching this final on the TV. Four years later I was in it. If that’s not progress I don’t know what is.
“And the runs I’ve had all season have been very consistent. But I know as well now it’s about doing it at the championships, being able to do something when it really matters, and thankfully I’ve been able to that here this week.
“A mate of mine asked just yesterday had I seen any of Berlin yet, because it’s a happening, cultural place. I told him if I’d seen any of Berlin by now it would have been a bad week. I haven’t seen a thing of it. But I might get out to see a bit of it tonight.”
He certainly deserves a toast. To Ireland’s truly world-class 400-metre runner.
* The United States were disqualified from the men’s 4x100 metres relay yesterday after qualifying fastest for today’s final.
The holders, who missed the 2008 Olympic final after dropping the baton in the heats, were found to have made a changeover outside the box. US officials said they would appeal.
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