Javon Francis in Moscow 2013 on his famous anchor leg - file photo
By Jeremain Brown
Jamaica ended the 15th edition of the IAAF World Athletics Championships with a top class second place finish in Beijing, China, including a record equalling 7 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze.
It may well have been 4 bronze, as Javon 'Donkeyman' Francis tried valiantly to give Jamaica a medal in the men's 4x400 metre final.
Is Francis to be blamed for Jamaica being out-dipped by Great Britain's Martyn Rooney at the finish line? Categorically I say no. But could anything else have been done differently?
The debates about this have been furious.
The teams could hardly be separated at the end with both being given the same time of 2mins:58.51 and Britain awarded the bronze by four thousandths ( 4/1000th or 0.0004) of a second.
Phew! Thats as close you get.
So what could have been done differently? A faster 2nd leg by Ricardo Chambers and a more measured run from Rusheen McDonald would certainly have helped. But it all came down to the very brave Francis, and like Moscow 2013, he set off on a (furious) pace. Then it worked, but this time it did not. And that is how it goes with that type and style of running, it either works or it doesn't , no in between.
Francis's split or time for his leg, was 43.52 secs, the fastest of everyone in the final. I believe had Francis sacrificed a bit of early pace, he would have had more gas in the tank in the last 150 metres to hold off Rooney of Great Britain and even attack the Trinidadian Machel Cenedio.
He needed to have something in reserve, a (better) distribution of pace around the track could have done the trick. Francis is not a secret or a surprise to the world anymore like 2013.
And when he went by Merritt and Cedenio, they were never going to allow him to get to far ahead. All in restrospect yes, but the Olympic Games is next year and lessons have to be learnt quickly.
7+3+=10 but so too is 5+5. A different approach to the same result and in this case a resulting medal.
Francis knows one way to run a 4x400, all out raw pace, but this now has to be slightly tempered, hopefully he watches the tape over and over. A brave warrior, major kudos to him and the team..
But I leave them with this. Self belief cures but self belief also kills. And on sunday it killed a medal chance.
All feeds
