Calderwood in China: Track and Field, Day 6

by Stuart Calderwood

Men’s 800 meters, Round 1

Every American track fan has been waiting for Eugene’s favorite sons, the heroes of the men’s 800-meter Trials race, to continue their storybook ascent into the upper echelons of their sport here at the Olympics. With their Hollywood-worthy three-man come-from-behind finish, Nick Symmonds, Andrew Wheating, and Christian Smith, all Oregon-based runners, produced a crowd reaction that rivaled those at other hometown favorites’ huge victories, like Fani Halkia’s in the Athens women’s 400 hurdles, Cathy Freeman’s in the Sydney women’s 400, and Steve Prefontaine’s right there in Eugene at the 1972 Olympic Trials men’s 5000 meters.

Each of the three had a special role in the drama. Symmonds, who runs deceptively even-paced races, in the mode of defending Olympic champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy, and counts on his fast finish to get him around—or through—lead packs, used what he called “a little hockey move” to break out of a box, pass five men in the last 120 meters, and win. Wheating, the NCAA champion for the University of Oregon despite being a novice at the event, followed Symmonds around the entire field and took second. Smith, who has struggled with injuries and was a surprise Trials finalist, dove headlong to pass defending national champion Khadevis Robinson for the last spot with inches left in the race.

The Beijing first-round heats tonight were a cutthroat business, as usual. Only the first two men in each race would advance automatically; the next eight fastest overall would also qualify. In both Smith’s and Wheating’s races, slow first laps meant that almost surely no one but the first two men would be running again the next day. Both Americans called on their trademark stretch drives and moved up well; both even looked like possible qualifiers with 50 meters left. But the Olympics is so talent-heavy that an otherwise minor error is often fatal. Wheating, in particular, looked like he could have used a slightly longer kick to his advantage. Both of these inexperienced Americans missed the semifinal round by less than a second. They are, however, Olympians now. And the sense in the group around me in the stands was that Wheating will be back with a vengeance.

Nick Symmonds is frequently compared to Steve Prefontaine. There are obvious and shallow reasons for this: He’s from Oregon. He’s a bit cocky. He’s good-looking, but with a chiseled golden-boy quality rather than Prefontaine’s mustachioed outlaw charisma. More to the point, he’s a muscular, aggressive competitor who clearly hates to lose and gives his races a full effort. But Prefontaine made his name by risking everything to go full-out for an Olympic gold medal rather than settle for an almost certain silver or bronze. Symmonds hasn’t been near that level yet; this was the opening of his career as an Olympian, as Munich had been Prefontaine’s. 

At the gun, rather than drop immediately to the back as he often does, Symmonds respected the quality of the field and worked his way to third place as the close group came off the first turn. He stayed in mid-pack until the second backstretch and then moved up to try for one of the all-important two qualifying spots. Entering the turn, he was in perfect position to use his ultra-quick acceleration, as he had in Eugene. He jumped the leaders and went to the front just before they reached the homestretch.

Then the Olympics proved to be different than the U.S. Trials. Two more strong kickers went after Symmonds, and, with 50 meters remaining, both moved alongside him. If they passed him, his semifinal spot would be in great jeopardy and possibly gone. When a runner has already used a big move to take the lead in a race with 100 meters left, it’s against the odds that he can make another one. This was the moment when Symmonds would either join his two friends on the sidelines or stake a claim to something bigger than mere participation in this biggest of all track meets.

He felt the men come alongside him, and he got mean. Replays showed his narrowed eyes and fierce stare as he shifted again, to an all-out sprint gear, and held the lead. Inches behind him were two men who wanted his place very, very badly. They didn’t get it. 

Nick Symmonds is still only an Olympic semifinalist. He has another huge step to take tomorrow before he can be spoken of in terms of the great United States tradition of 800-meter men, among them the bronze medalists Rick Wohlhuter, Earl Jones, and Johnny Gray and the immortal 1972 Olympic champion Dave Wottle. Watching today’s race, I found myself believing that he might get there, although he didn’t remind me of any of those runners. When he made his unlikely, all-guts, last-ditch effort to stay at the front, he did remind me of a great American runner, but I’m almost reluctant to admit who it was.

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