Allyson Felix captures elusive Olympic gold in 200 meters

The Associated Press

LONDON — No more heartbreak for Allyson Felix. No more silver, either.

She finally did it.

Denied twice on the world’s biggest stage, Felix won the Olympic gold medal she’s been yearning for, taking the 200 meters Wednesday night to fill in the last, and biggest, hole in her otherwise stellar resume.

Felix won the race in 21.88 seconds, topping Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who won the 100 four nights earlier, by .21 seconds. American Carmelita Jeter added bronze to go with her silver in the 100 meters.

One more spot back was Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell-Brown, who defeated Felix in the Athens and Beijing Games and was trying to become the first woman to win the same individual track and field event in three consecutive Olympics.

Instead, the Americans were the ones celebrating three straight.

Felix’s win was quickly followed by Aries Merritt’s victory in the 110 hurdles and Brittney Reese’s long jump title. Felix won easily, leaving nothing to chance — or a coin flip — as she burst ahead of Fraser-Pryce with 40 meters to go.

It was the third-place tie in 100-meter qualifying at U.S. trials last month that hovered over Felix’s run-up to these Olympics — forcing her to defend herself off the track for the first time in an otherwise-pristine career.

Her tie with Jeneba Tarmoh for the third and final spot in the 100 forced USA Track and Field officials to scramble for a solution. One possibility was a coin flip; instead, they settled on a run-off. But Tarmoh begged off. Felix, never a serious medal contender for the 100, had to defend her decision not to give up the spot, and she went on to finish fifth.

The three heats in the Olympic 100, she said, were the perfect tuneup for the race she really wanted to win.

“Everyone just expected me to give up this spot, because I think lots of people ... know me and they know that I’m seen as this very nice girl,” Felix said with a chuckle a few days before the start of track and field in London. “But it’s not just about me.”

On this night, though, it was.

Twice before, Felix came into the Olympics on even footing, or considered a slight favorite, against Campbell-Brown. Both times, the American ended up disappointed — and last time in Beijing, choking back tears, she called it “Deja vu, and not in a good way.”

This time, there would be no regrets.

On a calm, cloudless evening in London, Felix broke out of Lane 7, hugged the line on the curve and found herself slightly behind Fraser-Pryce as they rounded into the straightaway with about 60 meters to go. That, however, is when Felix — not the 100-meter champion — kicked it into another gear, drawing even and then pulling away.

Long jump gold for Reese

Brittney Reese won the long jump at the London Games on Wednesday night, becoming only the second U.S. woman to win the event at the Olympics.

The two-time world champion went into the competition with the best jump of the season and put down the best mark in the final with 7.12 meters on her second attempt. She is first U.S. woman to win the Olympic long jump since Jackie Joyner-Kersee in 1988.

Russia’s Elena Sokolova took the silver medal with a best jump of 7.07 meters, and Janay Deloach earned the bronze for the United States at 6.89.

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