200m Dash

Last night, I watched the 200 meter dash. Three Americans were in the race. Justin Gatlin, Shawn Crawford and Bernard Williams . Apparently, one Greek man, Constanaras (sp?) was supposed to be the medal winner in this race. This event had been sold out since the tickets went on sale, and the Greeks paid a pretty penny for them. The day the athletes were supposed to take the drug test, Constanaras failed to appear. He appeared several days later stating that he was in a motorcycle accident and had a few bruises. Needless to say, he wasn't in the race last night. The announcers announced the athletes in the lane assignments and the spectators went crazy. Everyone was yelling and booing and whistling. Of course, the commentators stated that their anger was towards the Americans (just a little biased). This continued for about 5 minutes. The athletes were getting nervous, and the starter had them take their places. The crowd was still very loud. The gun went off, and then it went off again which meant there was a false start. The crowd starting booing, whistling and yelling AGAIN. Finally the crowd settled down, and the race began. Well, the Americans swept the medals. Shawn Crawford, best friends and running partners with Justin Gatlin, won first, Justin took second, and Williams placed third. Of course, they were all very happy. Crawford said that it wasn't their fault that Constanaras wasn't there, but they came to the Olympics to win and did just that.

I am amazed at the Greek spectators. I can understand that they paid a lot of money to be at that event and see their hero win the race, but it doesn't make any sense to be mad at the athletes that are there. Everyone wants to compete, everyone wants to win, but it's hard to do when the spectators are yelling at the track. To me, this is poor sportsmanship, and I would expect more from the Greek people. Perhaps after all that's happened this year, people wil not want to go back to Athens. The only thing I like about Greece right now are the ruins and the history. The people certainly aren't winning any prizes in my eyes.