It’s kind of a running joke (no pun intended … no, really!) at track
meets with me and with Coach Terry Horton, especially at indoor track meets.
When it comes time to see what lanes our sprinters are placed in for their
races, almost inevitably they get the worst draw – lane 6 or lane 1 indoors,
lane 8 or lane 1 outdoors. These are the least preferred lanes. When seeding sections,
if these lanes can remain vacant, they are usually arranged as such. Our
athletes have run some great races from these not-so-great lane draws, but it
would be nice for them to get more preferred lanes more often. But alas, at
many of the big meets, it’s literally luck of the draw.
And then there was the Olympic
400-meter final on Sunday night. Lane 8 was occupied by Wayde van Niekerk
of South Africa. Not exactly a household name, but still a really strong
sprinter – he won gold at the World Championships in 2015. So the fact that he
won the gold medal at the Olympics isn’t exactly a miracle on the order of
which it is being reported. What IS a miracle is that he not only won but also
broke Michael Johnson’s world record … and he did it from LANE 8! He took it
out hard, like he had nothing to lose. And he never relinquished the lead.
43.03 seconds. World record. Olympic gold. From lane 8. Truly remarkable.
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