By Gemma Martin of The Reporters’ Academy
Today was the turn of the men’s 100m sprint at London 2012 Olympics. The start of day eight looked dull with black clouds over the stadium, however just before Palauan sprinter, Rodman Teltull, took his place in heat 2 the sun made a glorious appearance. This created great conditions for the 100m sprint in which Rodman would be racing against other athletes from around the world including Liaqat Ali from Pakistan.
Heat 2 was announced, the athletes walked out, the crowds clapped, the atmosphere grew, Rodman expressed how the crowd made him feel “When they announced our heat everyone was shouting and that made me feel excited about the race.” Rodman took his place in lane 6 and set himself on the start blocks, ready listening to the starter. Just as the race was about to start another athlete in lane 5 halted the race because the crowd was too loud and they felt they wouldn’t be able to hear the gun, the officials agreed and Rodman and the other athletes stood up ready to start again.
After setting himself up on the starting blocks again, the crowd went silent waiting for the starter’s gun. The race began and the athletes leapt off their blocks sprinting towards the finish line. Rodman achieved a new personal best with a time of 11.06, which he was happy about however, he wanted to “go back and watch my race and learn what I did wrong, to improve and to get to the next Olympic Games” in which he “hopes to qualify for round one.”
Rodman was the youngest athlete in his race at 18 years old, the oldest athlete was 29, making an 11 year gap between Rodman and Liaqat Ali of Pakistan, who came one place before Rodman. Rodman was the only athlete in his heat to achieve a personal best.
Last Modified on 10/08/2012 11:55
