Louis vinker
08/04/2021 21:26
Clarín.com
Opinion
Updated 08/04/2021 21:26
Karsten Warholm, that athletic prowess from Norway, gave a cheer-up yell on the starting block at Tokyo's Olympic Stadium at noon on Tuesday.
Exactly 45 seconds and 94 hundredths later, he gave another cry, this time of euphoria as he crossed the finish line, after circling the track -400 meters - and crossing the ten hurdles.
The Warlholm brand, which shattered its own world record (46s.78 the previous month in Oslo), was defined as "mind-blowing" by all specialists and opens a new era in its sport.
For many, it is the most extraordinary mark ever achieved in athletics considering its many disciplines.
It would only be comparable to those that Usain Bolt achieved in speed or those 8.90 meters of Bob Beamon in long jump, in 1968.
“I had been asked many times about the perfect race, I answered that it did not exist.
But this is the closest you can get to it, ”said the athlete.
The media in his country compared Warholm's euphoric discharge to his nation's most famous plastic work, "The Scream," by Edvard Munch (1893).
The last flight
"If someone had told me I was going to run the 400 meters hurdles in 46.18 seconds and I was second, I would punch him," said Rai Benjamin, from the United States.
But he achieved that mark, swept the previous world record ... and had to settle for the silver medal.
Benjamin is a native of New York and when he was just four years old, he was taken to Antigua, the small Caribbean country where his parents came from.
"I will never forget that morning at the airport, when we left for the Caribbean, I was four years old, it was September 11, 2001," he said.
Minutes after his plane took off, New York - and the world - came to a halt.
In time, Rai Benjamin would be back to study and compete in California, to build this formidable sports career.