If You Watched Only One Race....

Its doubtful we have ever seen a more compelling visual moment in these or possibly any Olympics than the seconds following the women’s 100 meter hurdles final last night.

In this race, the favorite, American Lolo Jones, who was at the lead, bumped the second-to-last hurdle and stumbled across the finish line, second to last. This opened the door for American, Dawn Harper to win the race and take the gold…. not that Harper believed it at first.

At the same time Jones was on her knees in anguish, alternately looking up at the video screen to see the replays of the race and burying her head in her hands, Harper was walking down the track looking up at the board with her arms outstretched and a facial expression half-way between “theres no way I just won, this is a big joke, right?” and outright denial as she appeared to be shaking her head, refusing to believe.

Meanwhile, the silver and bronze medallists from Australia and Canada, respectively, were running around, laughing, screaming, hugging each other, hugging anybody within reach…. The results of the race had to have been up for at least 15 or 20 seconds before Harper allowed herself to believe that she was an Olympic champion and the joy began to wash over her as she ran to the stands to grab an American flag to begin her victory lap.



Shock, dismay, denial, disbelief, realization, unrestrained exuberance and gratefulness all on display by 4 women in the span of 40 seconds. Incredible.

UPDATE #1: Video here gives an idea but does not do justice to what we witnessed last night