Nelson puts bad times behind him
HELSINKI, Finland – No more silver for Adam Nelson. At last, he has gold.
After second-place finishes in two Olympics, two outdoor world championships and one indoor world meet, Nelson won the shot put competition on Saturday night with his best throw in three years – 71 feet, 3 1/2 inches.
“I don’t know if the best person won,” U.S. teammate Christian Cantwell said, “but I think the right person won.”
Nelson’s win in light rain capped the opening day at the world track and field championships. The night featured an Ethiopian sweep in the women’s 10,000 meters and a breezy stroll through the first two rounds of the 100 by Olympic champion Justin Gatlin.
One of the sport’s best showmen, Nelson had the Finnish crowd in cozy Olympic Stadium on his side all night with his usual routine. He paced like a mad bull, ripped off his T-shirt and flung it dramatically to the ground, then with a crazed stare, stepped into the ring for his throw.
“I didn’t even notice the rain,” Nelson said. “I thought it was sunny all day long. The Finnish people just gave me the energy, and I didn’t even worry about the little sprinkles that we were feeling.”
Nelson couldn’t have done it without eBay. In dire need of financial support, Nelson offered himself for sale online, and earned a $25,000 sponsorship deal from the highest bidder, Medivox-Rx, a company that markets a talking prescription bottle.
“That really helped me out for the first half of the year and allowed me to pay for the training to get to this point,” he said.
Nelson has tried not to dwell on the near-misses of the past, none more painful than last year’s Olympics, when the shot put was held at Olympia, site of the ancient Greek games. Nelson led the entire competition before Ukraine’s Yuriy Bilonoh tied him with his final throw, and won the gold because of a better second toss.
Joachim Olsen of Denmark, who formerly competed for the University of Idaho, placed seventh in the event at 68-0 1/4 .
Elsewhere, Post Falls’ Ian Waltz, formerly of Washington State University, qualified for today’s final of the men’s discus with a throw of 210-11.
Tirunesh Dibaba, 19, led the Ethiopian sweep in the 10,000, winning with a time of 30 minutes, 24.02 seconds. Her older sister Ejegayehu was third, and defending champion Berhane Adere was second.
In the first final event of the meet, Jefferson Perez defended his title in the 20-kilometer walk. Perez has been revered in his home country since 1996, when he won the gold in Atlanta to become the first athlete from Ecuador to win an Olympic medal.
Through four events of the heptathlon, Eunice Barber of France clung to a two-point lead over reigning Olympic and world champion Carolina Kluft of Sweden.