Track and field: Sanya Richards was sleepless in Beijing

BEIJING -- Sanya Richards dozed off for only 30 minutes or so Tuesday night, still replaying her 400-meter race in her head.

Richards, the favorite, was in fine shape at 300 meters but felt a cramp in her right leg about 20 meters after that. Her stride became slow and erratic, and she had to fight to hold onto third place, events she discussed afterward with her mom, sister and cousins.

"We kept asking why, and what we could have done differently," she said Wednesday, "so it was a very hard night. Every time I closed my eyes I saw that gold slipping away."

Their conclusion was that she could not have done anything differently. Her workouts had been fine, she had eaten and slept right, and her split times were fine. It was just a cruel bit of misfortune that she attributed to dehydration and said was not related to her battle with Behcet's disease, an affliction of the immune system. She also said that she expected to be able to run the 1,600-meter relay.

"I'm happy with the bronze," she said, "and I think as I get further and further away from it, I'll be more pleased. But right now, it's just hard."

-- Helene Elliott

Photo: Sanya Richards after competing in the women's 400m final at the Bird's Nest.  Richards won the bronze medal. Credit: Olivier Morin / AFP /Getty Images

Comments

[nbilling]

Hamstring? Poor loser more like. The whole athletics world knows she goes out too fast and doesn't have the endurance to sustain it. She ran a poor race and was beaten by someone who was better on the night.

The honest truth is she wasn't good enough on the big ocasion; and she needs to accept that rather than feigning injury.

[Mike]

An american not accepting defeat what a suprise, theres always an excuse, coundnt possibly be that she choked and was beaten AGAIN by our GREAT briton. Never mind Sanya better luck next time

[Roy Stockdill]

You folks really are quite unbelieveable in your insularity and parochialism! Why couldn't you bring yourself to report that Richards was beaten for the gold medal by Britain's Christine Ohuruogu, who is also the World 400-metres champion, and that a Jamaican girl also beat Richards for the silver? Do you know that there is a great big, wide world out there that isn't America?

And where is your coverage of GB's awesome track cycling team, who have so dominated these Olympics that we won SEVEN gold medals out of the 10 events, plus 3 silvers and two bronzes? Plus Nicole Cooke's gold in the women's road race and Emma Pooley's silver in the time trial, in which America won its only medal in the cycling by Kristin Armstrong. FOURTEEN British medals in all to America's one! Perhaps you folks had better get on your bikes before 2012 when the Olympics are in London and our British cyclists will undoubtedly sweep all before them again.

The British media gave major coverage to Michael Phelps and his 8 golds. Why is it you people can rarely bring yourselves to mention anyone who isn't an American? Your bigotry and insularity does you no favours at all in the rest of the world.

[Joan]

I think readers who are bashing Sanya Richards are immature and ignorant. On what grounds are you basing your assessment that she didn't cramp? Why is it that her word can not be accepted as truth? Bashing her only gives you a means to feel superior and express a dislike of Americans in general. That's classy - kick an athlete while she down - an athlete that spent years training for one moment and saw it slip away from her - an athlete who tried very hard to put on a gracious face despite her disappointment. Well done.

And so what if America doesn't report about how Great Britain dominated track cycling? Are the media in GB reporting on how China dominated trampoline? I doubt it. Americans want to know how their countrymen are doing, just as all citizens of other countries want to know about their athletes. It isn't bigotry and insularity.

I was sad to see Sanya not fulfill her goals and I was proud she represented our country well in her post race interviews focusing on how being in Beijing was an honor despite feeling such disappointment. She has been through so much and I only wish her all the best for the future. She is a beautiful athlete and I hope she continues to follow her dreams.

[trackstar277]

First of all -Roy- cut down on the England "slang" bigotry and insularity? Sorry but this is the Los Angeles times website, if you want a whole blog on england or great britain then go to another website. Second- unless you've had years of track and field experience, then noone should say anthing at all. I've been running track for 11 years and after watching the replay of sanya's 400m race and then hearing her wine about a cramp? Sorry, if you get a cramp as a sprinter, you're gonna show it, people will be able to tell that your in pain. You either run through the pain and if its subtle it will not affect your performance. Running the 400m is all about control and pace, which is the last thing that richards did, she went all out in the beginning and she just didn't have enough gas at the end. Don't get me wrong, she's phenomenal athlete and i truly admire her speed but she's human and mistakes happen, just admit them don't cover them up with pathetic excuses.

[beth]

I believe we all have a right to our opinion.I can say personally I am amazed she placed at all. I have Behcets disease the disease that really gets dismissed by the media.Instead of sanya being so dissapointed she should be grateful to be able to compete.I could never run like that and most with Behcets could not either.She should not be so hard on herself just be glad she was NOT SICK so she could compete....

[Roy Stockdill]

My point was that the LA Times website couldn't even bring itself to mention who actually won the gold and silver medals ahead of Richards. Instead, the above story is all about an American athlete coming third! What kind of objective reporting is that? Surely the LA Times could at least report who won the major medals by beating Richards?

Richards appears to be what we call a "bottler", i.e. she can break world records in races that don't matter but when it comes to the big ones she "bottles" it. She is a poor tactician since she goes off far too fast and "blows it" on the last bend. Michael, Johnson, one of America's all-time great athletes, who now commentates for BBC Television here, made this very point. He alone picked Christine Ohuruogu as the winner and predicted that Richards would die at the end. At the end of the day the only thing that will matter is that the records will show the gold medal was won by Christine Ohuruogu of Great Britain and nobody will remember that Richards was third.

Similarly, we have a fantastic distance runner called Paula Radcliffe who is the world record holder for the women's marathon and has won the London Marathon three times, New York Marathon twice and the Chicago Marathon once, plus the world marathon title in Helsinki. I imagine even you folks must have heard of her. However, she, like Richards, has never won an Olympic gold medal. She didn't finish in Athens because of illness and in Beijing she was 23rd, having been unable to train properly beforehand because of a stress fracture of a leg. The records - she has the three fastest marathon times for a woman in history - show she is the greatest female marathonner of all time but who has failed at the Olympics. Yet she didn't make excuses like Richards.

[RJ]

I'm sure you all saw the 4x4...still wanna make comments? lol Based on the time Richards ran in the semis and then her 48.9 split in the 4x4, I believe she cramped.

Speaking of Ohurugu, she does peak well for big meets which is a testament to her training regiment, but WHY can she never run a decent relay leg? If she would run better, Britain would probably be a gold medal challenger (esp at the 2007 worlds)

[opal t.]

I am very surprised at the britons unclassy bashing of America. You seemed to have forgotten that spat back in 1776 when we whopped you guys. We are Americans-home of the brave and yes proud. Please show some liitle class as expected of people ruled by royalty. Do not start "hateing" on us Americans. Like the saying goes, if you can't beat us join us. And Sanya, see how that nice Jamaican girl beat you, probably you should start running for Jamaica. Keep pushing strong in your faith Sanya. You can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth you.