|
Frankie Fredericks started the 1996 season in scintillating form, when
he destroyed the world indoor 200m record of 20.25sec by setting a new
mark of 19.92sec at Lievin on 18 February. In the outdoor season,
Michael Johnson (USA) was setting some fast times, including a world
record of 19.66sec, prior to the Olympic Games in Atlanta, but
Fredericks was also producing some impressive times. Frankie dipped
under 20 seconds on four occasions in June and July, which included a
significant win over Johnson at the Bislett Games in Oslo on 5 July in a
personal best time of 19.82sec.
Frankie's early season performances in
the 100m were no less impressive. He set a new personal best of
9.87sec at the World Games in Helsinki on 25 June, and then improved
this to 9.86sec at Lausanne on 3 July, which was only 0.01sec outside
the world record. In the 100m final at Atlanta on 27 July, Donovan
Bailey (Canada) won in a new world record time of 9.84sec from
Fredericks who recorded 9.89sec in second place. Fredericks' time was
the fastest non-winning time in history, and made him the only sprinter
to own three sub-9.90sec times. In the 200m, Fredericks won the second
semi-final on 1 August in 19.98sec, but this was overshadowed by Michael
Johnson's performance in the final later that day, where he won in an
incredible new world record of 19.32sec.
Lost somewhat in the
excitement, was the fact that Fredericks' silver medal-winning time of
19.68sec was inside the pre-1996 world record. At the victory ceremony
to receive his second silver medal (see photo above), Fredericks
no doubt reflected on the fact that he had produced the greatest
100m/200m double at an athletics meet in history, and that it had
required two world records to deny him of a gold medal. (Ron Casey)
|