BEIJING—Jamaicans proved they are the world’s fastest humans Sunday when Shelly-Ann Fraser led a sweep in the women’s Olympic 100-meter race on the heels of Usain Bolt’s record-setting victory.
“This is a crazy ‘Bolt’ effect,” Fraser said after she matched her teammate, men’s 100m champion Usain Bolt, with a .20 second margin of victory and almost as exuberant a celebration.
Ethiopia completed a similar sweep in the 10,000, with Kenenisa Bekele adding the men’s title on top of Tirunesh Dibaba’s win to show they are the world’s greatest long-distance runners.
Bekele won his second straight Olympic title in a 1-2 Ethiopian triumph ahead of eternal runner-up Sileshi Sihine.
All-time great Haile Gebrselassie finished only sixth in his last 10,000, well behind bronze medalist Micah Kogo of Kenya.
“My bullet is finished,” Gebrselassie said of his faded kick.
Now Bekele will go for a long distance double in the 5,000.
Fraser led a unique Jamaican triple, already celebrating with her fist pumping the air as she crossed the line with two teammates in canary yellow in her slipstream. For the second day running reggae music filled the evening air at a Bird’s Nest filled to its 91,000 capacity.
“The secret of the team’s success? Reggae Power,” said Fraser after finishing in a season-leading 10.78 seconds, with Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart sharing silver in 10.98.
“It’s wonderful. Top 3 for Jamaica—history,” Simpson said. “This says a lot for our country.”
The Americans filed a protest, claiming there was a false start by their own Torri Edwards, but it was quickly rejected.
In the battle of sprinting powers it was Jamaica 2, USA 0 after the 100s, and 4-1 overall in the medal count. It was stunning domination.
Lauryn Williams was the first American in fourth place in 11.03, with Muna Lee a disappointing fifth.
As extensive a tradition of stellar sprinting as Jamaica has, the Caribbean island of about 2.8 million people never had won an Olympic gold in the 100 until this weekend.
In the 1,500, world champion Bernard Lagat was eliminated in the semifinals, finishing sixth in his race with only five getting a guaranteed spot. On best time, he missed out by .02 seconds.
Lagat was chasing a 1,500-5,000 double but now only has his least favorite event left to make amends.
It was a bad day for US track, with China extending its lead in the overall gold medal standings to 35-19.
Russia got a boost when Gulnara Galkina-Samitova set the second world record in as many days at the Olympic track, running the first sub-nine minute women’s steeplechase in history to take the gold.
