Tokyo 2021: Italy’s Lamont Marcell Jacobs wins men’s 100m sprint gold
Italian Lamont Marcell Jacobs stunned the world as he claimed the Olympic 100m crown owned by legendary sprinter Usain Bolt. It’s a win that has left World Athletics red-faced.
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This is not how the post Usain Bolt era was supposed to look like.
The morning after the men’s 100m final shouldn’t be spent with people speaking in hushed tones and raised eyebrows at the mere mention of the winner’s name.
If Bolt used to send thunder bolts through the Olympic Games, Marcell Jacobs, or is it Lamont Marcell Jacobs, set off an earthquake.
And the shockwaves continue to reverberate.
The fact there is confusion over the Italian’s name - Lamont was on the official start list but doesn’t seem to be used - says it all.
There were plenty of Google searches going on moments after he crossed the line to win the gold medal in 9.80sec.
Not even the sport’s governing body, World Athletics, included Jacobs in its extended preview of the event.
What is known about the 26-year-old is that he was born in Texas but moved to his mother’s Italian homeland before his first birthday.
He was a long-jumper until 2018 before switching to the sprints and leading into Tokyo he’d only run under 10 seconds twice in his life.
The first time was a 9.95sec at an International Meet in Savona, Italy, back in May and then a 9.99sec at the Diamond League in Monaco a fortnight ago.
Up until the heats he wasn’t even in the top 10 fastest runners this year.
Hardly the form line of an Olympic champion.
An impressive semi-final where he broke the European record running 9.84sec raised eyebrows but he’d finished third behind a 31-year-old from China so the attention - and furrowed brows - was drawn to that bizarre scenario.
A penny for Seb Coe’s thoughts on Sunday night’s events would be interesting.
The boss of World Athletics already knew the post-Bolt era was going to be a tough sell but having a little known Italian who has improved dramatically take his crown, that’s just not good for business.
There had already been a setback to the succession plan with American world champion Christian Coleman banned for whereabouts failures after missing three drug tests.
To Jacobs’ credit he did the right thing after his surprise victory and avoided any comparisons to Bolt, who had won the 100m/200m double at the previous three Olympic Games.
“I can recall every one of his races because I watched them all,” Jacobs said, “It’s unbelievable that I am here today, where he was before.
“He was the face of the entire sport, which he has changed forever. I’ve just won an Olympic medal, it’s not time to compare myself to him.”
Plan B for Coe comes in the 200m where charismatic American Noah Lyles has long been anointed as the man to take Bolt’s crown.
He is the reigning world champion and it just makes sense but as Marcell Jacobs showed, things have a habit of not making sense in Tokyo.
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Originally published as Tokyo 2021: Italy’s Lamont Marcell Jacobs wins men’s 100m sprint gold
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