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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Feat of Clay

Joins ranks of American gold-medal decathletes

From wire reports

BEIJING – Bryan Clay can sleep now, and he can dream about being the Olympic decathlon champion. When he wakes up, it will still be true.

Sleep deprived and exhausted, Clay persevered to win the decathlon Friday at the Beijing Olympics, joining the likes of Jim Thorpe, Bob Mathias, Bruce Jenner and Dan O’Brien in American athletic lore.

“Those are all the guys that I look up to,” Clay said. “I think this is the start of something good, and I’m hoping we can continue to do this through 2012. It’s been a little while since we’ve had the gold medal in the decathlon brought back to the States. I’m happy with being the person to do it. I hope the Wheaties box and all those types of things happen.”

Clay, 28, won the silver medal in the decathlon in the 2004 Athens Olympics but had long targeted the Beijing Olympics as the competition for which he wanted to aggressively pursue a gold medal. So he went after it from the first event on Thursday, the 100-meter dash, and continued until he had all but locked up the title by the start of the final event on Friday, the 1,500-meter run.

He scored 8,791 points, 240 more than silver medalist Andrei Krauchanka of Belarus. American Trey Hardee had been challenging for a medal, until he dropped out of the competition after failing to record a score in the pole vault.

Clay maintained first place throughout the decathlon by winning three events – the 100 meters, long jump and discus – and finishing second in the shot put and 110 hurdles. He was third in the pole vault and javelin.

Between all of that, he slept just four hours, from 1-5 a.m. on Friday.

“I’m actually not sure that I was asleep at 1, but I was in bed at 1,” Clay said. “You just lay there with the lights off and pray that you fall asleep.”

One of the lesser-appreciated demands of the grueling competition is the two-day timeframe. Clay left National Stadium after Thursday’s events at 10 p.m. and had to return by 8 a.m. on Friday. A midnight meal of Kobe beef, following a massage and an ice bath Thursday night, helped refresh his body for what turned out to be the most crucial part of the competition on Friday morning.

Coming off his strong Thursday performance, Clay was worried about losing ground to Krauchanka on Friday. Instead, he extended his lead by winning the discus with a decathlon Olympic-record throw of 176 feet, 5 3/4 inches.

When Clay finished tied for third with Krauchanka in the pole vault, both of them clearing 16-4 3/4, Clay and his coaching staff realized that winning the gold medal would soon be a reality.

“To walk away dead even with Krauchanka in the pole vault, we were ecstatic,” said Kevin Reid, one of Clay’s four coaches.

Throughout the final two events, javelin and the 1,500, Clay began to wonder whether he could break the American record of 8,891 that O’Brien set in a non-Olympic decathlon in 1992. Clay and Reid figured he would have to run in the range of 4:46 in the 1,500 to challenge it.

That was Clay’s intent, anyway, when he lined up for the start. But one lap into the race, it was evident to Mike Barnett, Clay’s throwing coach watching from the first row of the stands, that Clay wouldn’t be challenging the record. Eventually, Clay crossed the line in 5:06.59, last in his heat.

“He jokes that the other nine events are about accumulating points so he doesn’t have to run (the 1,500) fast,” Barnett said. “He absolutely hates it.”

In fact, Clay said afterward that he hated every step of the 1,500 but felt excited at the same time, knowing that when he got to the finish line, he would be an Olympic champion.

“Now, I think I’m going to go home and go straight to bed,” Clay said, two hours after the competition had ended.

Other track and field

Usain Bolt loves the cameras, the cameras love Usain Bolt, and when they connected during his third victory lap of these Olympics, he smiled that infectious smile and raised three fingers.

As in: 3 for 3 for 3.

As in: three events, three gold medals, three world records.

Bolt, from Jamaica, capped his spectacular Summer Games by tearing through his portion of the 400, setting up Jamaica’s victory in 37.10 seconds to break a 16-year-old world record.

It was the perfect way to end a weeklong coming-out party that began with a world record of 9.69 in the 100 meters last Saturday, followed by a world record of 19.30 in the 200 Wednesday.

“The greatest Olympics ever,” Bolt called it.

Bolt joins quite a list: The only other men to win gold medals in the 100, 200 and the sprint relay at one Olympics were Carl Lewis in 1984, Bobby Morrow in 1956 and Jesse Owens in 1936. None of those greats set world records in either the 100 or 200, though, much less both.

“People can only dream of doing what he’s done. He’s basically cemented himself as a legend of track and field,” said Bolt’s relay teammate Michael Frater. “I don’t think any performance can top what he’s done here.”

In other medal events, Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia won the women’s 5,000 in 15 minutes, 41.40 seconds, more than 1 1/2 minutes slower than her world record, to add that gold to the one she earned in the 10,000; Steve Hooker won Australia’s first track gold medal of these Summer Games and cleared an Olympic-record 19 feet, 6 3/4 inches (5.96 meters) in the pole vault; and Maurren Higa Maggi of Brazil leaped 23 feet, 1 1/4 inches (7.04 meters) on her first attempt to beat defending Olympic champion Tatyana Lebedeva of Russia by a half-inch in the women’s long jump.

Men’s water polo

The U.S. men advanced to the gold medal game for the first time since 1988 with a 10-5 victory over Serbia.

The U.S. will play Hungary in the gold medal match, scheduled for Sunday. The U.S. men have not medaled in water polo since winning back-to-back silvers in 1984 and 1988.

Men’s volleyball

A 25-22, 25-21, 25-27, 22-25, 15-13 win against Russia, a team the United States is 2-12 against since 1996, assured the Americans of their first medal since their bronze in 1992. The U.S. team also won gold in 1984 and 1988.

It continues an impressive showing from USA volleyball, which features the gold medal winners in both men’s and women’s beach volleyball and has both indoor teams in gold medal matches.

Men’s soccer

Angel di Maria scored at 58 minutes as Argentina repeated as gold medal champion with a 1-0 win over Nigeria today.