Leave it to the 400 meters crew to save U.S. team at Games
BEIJING -- No matter how star-crossed the U.S. track team is, when a 400-meter race comes around, you can lay pretty good odds you'll hear "The Star-Spangled Banner."
LaShawn Merritt led a parade of medals in sprinting's toughest event, taking the gold medal as the U.S. swept the 400 for the second straight Olympics.
Merritt's time of 43.75 seconds was a career best, and was nearly a full second better than 2004 Olympic champ Jeremy Wariner, whose new silver shoes matched his newest medal. Completing the podium monopoly was David Neville, who dove across the finish to grab the bronze in 44.8 seconds.
"The 400 has definitely been dominated by the U.S. for a long time," said Merritt, who was proud to continue the tradition. "It was a great race."
It certainly was for Merritt. The 22-year-old Virginian has been plotting since 2004, when he finished high school, to take over the event from Wariner, who's been almost unbeatable in that time frame.
"I've been looking for this moment for four years," Merritt said. "I wanted it."
And he was disciplined enough to take it. Merritt has been chasing Wariner for two years, losing narrowly to him last year in the World Championships, and beating him twice this season, including at the Olympic trials. But Wariner seemed to have rediscovered his form late in the summer, beating Merritt twice in Europe in July. In the semifinals here, both turned in impressive times -- Merritt, 44.12; Wariner, 44.15 -- without running very hard.
The final shaped up as a classic pick 'em, with Wariner's experience seemingly an edge. But Merritt studied every aspect of the race. "I broke everybody's race down, including my own," he said. In the end, his strategy was simple: Play to his strengths.
"I was going to get out and use what I had," he said. "I'm 6-3, but I was taking more steps around the track than people smaller than me. Tonight, I used my stride length, my speed and my power and ran a great race."
He drew some inspiration from Angelo Taylor, the 400-meter hurdles gold medalist who shares his agent, Kimberly Holland. And he drew some more from Usain Bolt, whom he watched open up his stride and use his length to set two world records.
"I used to run that way in high school," Merritt said, "before I got all technical." The plan in Beijing? "Open it up and let it fly."
And fly he did down the homestretch. Both he and Wariner got out well, and each ran a good final turn, coming out of it even. But as Merritt kept loping toward the line, Wariner uncharacteristically sputtered.
"When I came off the turn, I was in good position," Wariner said. "When I tried to move, it just wasn't there for some reason."
The highly anticipated showdown was no contest, with Wariner running well off his personal best of 43.45. While Wariner pushed Merritt to his best performances ever this year, when Merritt pushed back, Wariner didn't have an answer. He didn't have many after the race, either.
"LaShawn was better today," Wariner said. "I got a medal. I'm happy."
Not as happy as Neville, who capped his 44.8-second race with a finish-line dive for bronze.
"Sometimes we've got to sacrifice our bodies, our minds and our spirit for what we really want," he said. "I didn't know when I crossed the line what place I was in, but I knew in my heart that I gave it my best, and that's all I could ever ask for."
Nobody's given more to the U.S. track effort in these Olympics than the quarter-milers. The Americans' disappointing track medal totals would be a fiasco without the 400 meters and 400-meter hurdles. Nine U.S. medals came from those four events, including three of four golds.
Anybody disappointed in Wariner's loss can take solace in the fact that Merritt wears his new crown well. He's unfailingly polite and friendly in public, and keeps alive the memory of his brother, Antwan, who helped raise him but died in a fall from a college dorm window in 1999. "I dedicated this race to him," Merritt said.
Before he focused on track, Merritt was a high school musician who played the trumpet, baritone and tuba. It's something he has in common with Neville, who studied music and played percussion at Indiana University.
Together with Wariner, they gave the U.S. a too-rare opportunity to hear the national anthem.
Strike up the band.
Luke Cyphers is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine.
