Kirani James wins Grenada's first Olympic gold medal
James was already the world champion but he won that title in 44.60sec. In comparison this felt like the kind of breakthrough performance that his coach, Harvey Glance, had been talking about when he said James was "a freak of nature" who was capable of beating Michael Johnson's world record of 43.18sec. "When Michael broke his record he must have been 26 or 27 years old," Glance said. "Kirani's only going to get faster and stronger. He really wants to put his country on the map. We want to rewrite history."
If James is going to do that, he will have to battle Luguelin Santos all the way. Santos, who is a year younger and from Dominican Republic, won silver in 44.46sec. "When you are young you don't have anything to lose but you have so much to gain," James said, explaining how two teenagers had come to be top of the podium.
James was already the world champion but he won that title in 44.60sec. In comparison this felt like the kind of breakthrough performance that his coach, Harvey Glance, had been talking about when he said James was "a freak of nature" who was capable of beating Michael Johnson's world record of 43.18sec. "When Michael broke his record he must have been 26 or 27 years old," Glance said. "Kirani's only going to get faster and stronger. He really wants to put his country on the map. We want to rewrite history."
If James is going to do that, he will have to battle Luguelin Santos all the way. Santos, who is a year younger and from Dominican Republic, won silver in 44.46sec. "When you are young you don't have anything to lose but you have so much to gain," James said, explaining how two teenagers had come to be top of the podium.