Collins takes 100m crown
On
Monday night at the Stade de France in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis,
Kim Collins of Saint Kitts and Nevis became only the third non-American
to win the men’s 100 metres at the World Championships. Collins won
the final from lane one in 10.07 seconds, the slowest time since Carl Lewis
won the inaugural championship in 1983.
Eighteen year old Darrel Brown of Trinidad and Tobago claimed the silver while twenty-nine year old Darren Campbell of Great Britain just edged out compatriot and favourite Dwain Chambers for the bronze medal in a blanket finish. All three men were awarded a time of 10.08.
Shades of Hasely Crawford
With many new faces in the line up and mediocre time throughout the year, the final was not expected to be lightning fast, as we have witnessed at every championship, with the exception of 1995, since Lewis’ first gold. Yet, the twenty-seven year old former Texas Christian University athlete was full value for his win.
After the race, he claimed he wanted to be away from the centre of the track, and out of focus from others so he could run his race. Lane one is usually suicide for 100m sprinters, but Collins was thrilled by it after intentionally holding back in his semi-final to finish fourth and get an outside lane. He also joked that he had asked adidas to make his uniform black, because he wanted to go in as the dark horse. Looks like it all paid off for Collins.
The medallists – Collins, Brown and Campbell – represent an alteration from the typically loud, boastful, time-predicting, chest-thumping sprinters we have grown accustomed with. Our typical sprinters, Chambers and world record holder Tim Montgomery, who have filled the newswires with predictions of crazy world records were forced to watch the calm, cool and collected (as in collect their medals).
End of the Greene reign
Just a couple of hours before Collins took the championship, the three-time defending champion Maurice Greene bowed out in the second semi-final, pulling up at about 60 metres after feeling a ‘pop’ in his left quadriceps. The same injury that ‘slowed’ him to his legendary 9.82 in Edmonton two years ago.
"But it's not the end of an era yet. I will be back next year.” Said Greene, "I feel pretty bad that I had to give it to them like that. I would rather be in the final and lose it that way rather than not be in the final and go out with an injury."
Paris, France - Kim Collins, crowned the world's fastest man after the tightest 100 metres finish in the history of the World Championships, claims he is, "all raw talent . . . the most natural sprinter in the world." He also admitted he is the laziest.
"I'm not one of those hard-working sprinters," he confessed after his shock victory in the Stade de France. "I'm an easy-going guy. When I don't feel like going to training, my coach is going to get a phone call, and he appreciates that.
"I don't believe in lifting weights, or pumping iron. There are a lot of things I don't believe in. So it's great he accepts that, and lets me do the work I want to."
Collins, from St Kitts, in the Leeward Islands, which does not even boast a running track, finished in 10.07 seconds. You could have thrown the proverbial blanket over the first four. Darrell Brown, Darren Campbell, and Dwain Chambers filled the next three places, all timed at 10.08.
USA challenge - conspicuous only by its absence
The
US challenge in Paris, which comprised the defending gold, silver, and
bronze medallists: Maurice Greene, Tim Montgomery, and Bernard Williams,
was conspicuous only by its absence.
Olympic champion Greene's six-year global reign ended when he was eighth in his semi, which he finished clutching a leg. "As soon as I got out of the blocks, I felt a small pop in my quad muscle," he said.
Montgomery, who relieved Greene of the world mark here in Paris less than a year ago, with 9.78, was fifth in 10.11, while Williams, who beat Montgomery for the US title, was two hundredths behind. It was only the second time in the history of these championships that the US had blanked on the podium.
The slightly-built Collins, who evokes memories of Calvin Smith, who set a World 100m record 20 years ago, and won the first two World 200m titles, underpinned his fragility when he said: "My hamstrings are not strong - I really don't feel you should kill yourself in training."
He had seemed an unlikely winner when just fourth, with 10.16 in his
semi-final, and his success shocked even the cognoscenti, just as it had
when he won Commonwealth 100m gold in Manchester last year. On that occasion
his time of 9.98 was the slowest in 16 years, while only when Carl Lewis
took the inaugural World crown, in 1983, also with 10.07, has the world
winning performance been outside 10 seconds.
Does not like to train
With most athletes mired in the rhetoric of sacrifice and dedication, the laid-back 27-year old must have demoralised his rivals with his frank confession that if he does not feel like training, he doesn't bother.
He has had to overcome asthma, which caused him to fail a dope test last year, for his inhaler, but he was reprieved without sanction.
The island of St Kitt's, in the Caribbean, covers just 60 square miles, with a total population which could have been accommodated twice over in the Stade de France. It achieved independence from Britain only 20 years ago along with it Leeward Islands partner, Nevis.
"Most people had probably never heard of it," he said, though his homeland knows all about him. The Government has issued him with a diplomatic passport, and he has a street named after him in Basseterre.
Sixth of 11 children
The sixth of 11 children, he spends three months of the year there and the remainder in the US, where he graduated in sociology from Texas Christian University.
He shared 200m bronze two years ago in Edmonton, ran in the 1996 Olympics, was seventh in the 2000 Olympic final, and was runner-up for the World indoor 60m crown this year. As Campbell pointed out, Collins had more than served his apprenticeship.
The winner dismissed what must be considered a slow time. "Over the years, my performance has been consistent. I was seventh in the Olympics with 10.07. Now it's good enough to win gold. So long as you're consistent, there's no telling what you can do."
Having suffered a leg injury in the Zurich Golden League he looked unlikely to make it to Paris. "I limped away from the track in Switzerland. I had an MRI (magnetic resonance image) scan on my right knee, in Amsterdam, to see what was going on. There was some cartilage damage, but I'd regular treatment from the Jamaican federation - thanks to them. It doesn't hurt so much, but it's still there."
He dismissed suggestions that this made him favourite for Olympic gold in Athens next year. "I don't think so . . . Mainly because the Americans are not going to take it lying down. They have the Olympic champion and the World record holder. They are going to come out firing. They don't like to lose.
"Everyone expected them to win. I had no pressure. I was very relaxed. I had been thinking about this race for a long time."
Drummond
The outcome now leaves US relay hopes in tatters, for Jon Drummond who staged a lie-down protest and refused to leave the track when disqualified for a false start the previous day, faces possible expulsion.
Collins had been critical of his behaviour: "Drummond showed everyone a bad image. I hope they find a way to stop this. We all know the rules. When you break, you got to go."
He said his easy-going temperament had helped him cope, and defuse, "the chaos of the last two days." It was the key to this success, just as in Manchester.
"All of us are men, and like to be dominant," he said. "Everyone tries to get inside your head, but I ignore that."
When Drummond's histrionics were played out, he had declined to get caught up: "I chose to keep warm, and not get involved."
Brown
and Campbell
Brown, the world junior champion from Trinidad, further emphasised that he may be the long-term future of the event, with a World junior record of 10.01 in the quarters, fastest time of the championships.
The 29-year-old Englishman, Campbell, completed his match set of medals, and said he hoped it would bring him recognition.
"Hopefully now I'll get the respect I deserve," he said. "People seem to forget about me, but now I have a medal in every championships: Olympic silver (200m), Commonwealth bronze (200), European gold and bronze (100/200). The Worlds was the only thing I didn't have."
Campbell, who like Collins was due to double up in the 200m, will use his $20,000 prize to help his mother buy a house. "I might be able to afford it now. If I'd shown this form on the circuit, I might have made a lot of money. My mum brought me up right, taught me never to be greedy and chase money. I've always gone for the medals."
Doug Gillon (the Herald) for the IAAF
Paris,
France -You know, perhaps sometimes we take this all this track and field
business a touch too seriously. Strange as it may sound, maybe the athletes
do too.
It’s easy to lose a little perspective sometimes – surely Afghanistan’s 100m runner Lima Azimi reminded us of that. After all, it’s meant to be fun too isn’t it?
It’s easy to get all hyped up in the heat of competition – indeed, it’s difficult not to with all the media around tipping medallists and predicting champions – but it seems a more relaxed approach has some performance benefits too. I mean, you couldn’t imagine a more laid back 100m champion than the man from tiny St Kitts and Nevis, Kim Collins.
And the “having fun” approach certainly did the job for Carolina Kluft. Perhaps having fun while you work, well . . . works!
Linford Christie certainly thinks so. The long time coach and mentor to last night’s surprise 100m bronze medallist Darren Campbell, was in the mixed zone last night, enjoying the moment. The former World and Olympic champion, Christie knows a thing or two about handling the pressure of expectations. He knows a few tricks too, “just little things”, as he calls them, that he’s passed on to his pupil over the years.
Did anyone notice the way Campbell bounced out on to the track last night when the sprinters entered the arena, a big smile on his face, like he was glad to be there? “Well, that’s the secret,” says Christie. “It’s about relaxation. You’ve got to stay relaxed and by smiling, it relaxes your body.”
Unlike his compatriot Dwain Chambers, there was precious little pressure on Campbell, and that certainly helped. Few predicted he’d reach the final, never mind snatch a medal. As Christie said: “Dwain’s out there under a lot of pressure. But that’s what we do, we put pressure on them. Some people can deal with it and some can’t.”
“Darren is strong in the mind though. If you look at him he’s smiling, because it’s the best way to stay relaxed. I used to go out there and wave to the crowd, and it’s just little things like that, that Darren’s learned. And it works.
“Darren has been like my little apprentice since way back when. I used to have to wake him up early in the morning and bring him down the track to watch what I do, and learn. And finally it’s all coming to pass.”
“It’s about enjoying it,” adds Ron Roddan, Christie’s coach since even before “way back when”, and now a guiding hand for all his former pupil’s protégés. “It was like that with Kluft. She was like a little teenager out there.”
“She is great for the sport,” Christie agreed. “Because she brings the crowd out and she treats it as fun. And that’s the secret. Enjoy it.”
Collins, it seems has the same approach. Never one for all the hype and publicity, he snuck beneath the radar last year to take the Commonwealth Games gold medal when all eyes were on “the battle of the Brits” between Chambers and Mark Lewis-Francis. And he did the same this year, seemingly putting himself out of the frame by finishing fourth in his semi and getting a lane one draw in the final.
“It was only good for me to be on lane one,” he said afterwards. “It took a lot of pressure off my chest. Everybody was focusing on the runners in the middle and I could just run my own race.
“You can get too caught up in what’s going on around you, all the attention. The secret is to stay focused and stay relaxed. I can’t get involved in all that hype.”
Campbell, too, seems to have a healthy perspective. An Olympic silver medallist at 200m, and former European 100m champion, he’s often been the forgotten man of sprinting, the “other Brit” in the race. Yet, as far as he and his coach are concerned, that doesn’t matter anymore. “I think I’ve proved enough to everybody else,” says Campbell. “It’s now time to prove something to myself. That’s all I try to do everyday. When I go back home at night I sleep well.”
The product of a poor background and a single-parent family, Campbell talks of how he has “battled since I was a little kid to get to where I am today”. He says the most important thing in his life is to pass on the right lessons to his son, and he talks about this mother, Marva, who brought him up, how yesterday’s medal was for her.
“She’s been my inspiration,” he says. “Without her I couldn’t have done it. She always tried to help me achieve my dreams. And every time I step out on that track, hopefully, I go a little bit further to realising that. I hope I brought a smile to her face.”
No doubt he did, for he also promised to buy her the house in Florida she’d seen when out there on holiday – if all went well in Paris, that is. So far, it has. And with the 200m to come, who’s to say it won’t get better?
Not that coach Christie will be drawn into any rash predictions, of course. “We’ll wait and see,” he says with a smile. “I can’t predict. That would mean putting pressure on him.”
And as we know, it’s much better that he just has fun.
Matthew Brown for the IAAF
Profile:
KIM COLLINS
Biography
Born: May 4, 1976, St. Kitts
Height: 180 cm
Weight: 77 kg
School: Texas Christian University (Fort Worth, Texas, United
States)
Events: 60m, 100m, 200m, 4x100m
Coach: Monte Stratton
World Champion (2003 100m)
Personal Bests
60m - 6.53 (Fayetteville, United States - March 10, 2000) - 6.53 (Birmingham, Britain - March 14, 2003) 100m - 9.98 (Manchester, Britain - July 27, 2002) - 9.98 (Zurich, Switzerland - August 16, 2002) - 9.98 (Paris, France - September 14, 2002) 200m - 20.20 (Edmonton, Canada - August 9, 2001) 4x100m - 38.32 (Madrid, Spain - September 20, 2002)Performances
International Championships --------------------------- 1996 Olympic Games - Atlanta 100m 27 10.34 1997 World Championships - Athens 100m 100 21.73 1999 World Championships - Seville 100m 45 10.50 1999 World Championships - Seville 200m 38 20.95 2000 Olympic Games - Sydney 100m 7 10.17 2000 Olympic Games - Sydney 200m 11 20.57 2001 World Championships - Edmonton 100m 6 10.07 2001 World Championships - Edmonton 200m Bronze 20.20 2002 World Cup - Madrid 100m Silver 10.06 2003 World Indoors - Birmingham 60m Silver 6.53 2003 World Championships - Paris 100m Gold 10.07 Other Championships ------------------- 1999 CAC Championships - Bridgetown 100m Silver 10.31 2001 CAC Championships - Guatemala City 100m Gold 10.04 2001 CAC Championships - Guatemala City 200m Gold 20.55 2002 Commonwealth Games - Manchester 100m Gold 9.98 2002 IAAF Grand Prix Final - Paris 100m 4 9.98 2003 CAC Championships - St. George's 100m Gold 10.13 2003 CAC Championships - St. George's 200m - DNS f National Championships ---------------------- 2000 NCAA Indoors - Fayetteville 60m Silver 6.61 2000 NCAA Indoors - Fayetteville 200m Bronze 20.52 2001 NCAA Indoors - Fayetteville 60m Gold 6.58 2001 NCAA Indoors - Fayetteville 200m Gold 20.55 2001 NCAA Championships - Eugene 100m Silver 10.13 2001 NCAA Championships - Eugene 200m - DQ f International Relays --------------------- 1995 World Championships - Goteborg 4x100m 23 40.12 1996 Olympic Games - Atlanta 4x100m 23 40.12 2002 World Cup - Madrid 4x100m Silver 38.32 Other Relays ------------ 2000 NCAA Championships - Durham 4x100m - DNF f 2001 NCAA Championships - Eugene 4x100m Gold 38.58 2003 CAC Championships - St. George's 4x100m 5 39.88 INTL's: 11 FINALS: 6 MEDALS: 4 (1-2-1) INTL's: 3 FINALS: 1 MEDALS: 1 (0-1-0) (Relays)Progression
YEAR 60m 100m 200m 400mR T&FN Rank Sub10s/20s 1996 10.27 40.12 1997 1998 10.18 20.88 1999 10.21 20.43 2000 6.53 10.13 20.31 38.56 2001 6.58 10.04 20.20 38.58 100:10th 200:8th 2002 -- 9.98 20.49 38.32 100:4th 3/ 2002 6.53 9.99 38.77
Personal Bests:
60m - 6.64 (Norman, United States - January 22, 2000) - 6.63 (Houston, United States - January 29, 2000) - 6.61 (Fayetteville, United States - February 11, 2000) - 6.53 (Fayetteville, United States - March 10, 2000) - 6.53 (Birmingham, Great Britain - March 14, 2003) 100m - 10.27 (Atlanta, United States - July 26, 1996) - 10.18 (Edwardsville, United States - May 16, 1998) - 10.13 (El Paso, United States - May 20, 2000) - 10.13 (Fresno, United States - May 19, 2001) - 10.13 (Eugene, United States - June 2, 2001) - 10.06 (Lausanne, Switzerland - July 4, 2001) - 10.04 (Guatemala City, Guatemala - July 20, 2001) - 10.04 (Portland, United States - May 18, 2002) - 9.98 (Manchester, Great Britain - July 27, 2002) - 9.98 (Zurich, Switzerland - August 16, 2002) - 9.98 (Paris, France - September 14, 2002) 200m - 20.88 (Mesa, United States - May 7, 1998) - 20.63 (Tempe, United States - April 10, 1999) - 20.43 (Mesa, United States - May 4, 1999) - 20.31 (El Paso, United States - May 19, 2000) - 20.25 (Edmonton, Canada - August 7, 2001) - 20.20 (Edmonton, Canada - August 9, 2001) 4x100m - 40.12 (Goteborg, Sweden - August 12, 1995) - 40.12 (Atlanta, United States - August 2, 1996) - 38.56 (El Paso, United States - May 20, 2000) - 38.32 (Madrid, Spain - September 20, 2002)