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Women's High Jump Final
Amy Acuff (Isleton, Calif.): I just really had a lot of trouble lining it up and timing it up. It's certainly not what I would have hoped for. I felt like I got a little unlucky now and then. I just didn't jump high enough today. I felt like I had a lot of power. I just wasn't real smooth or real precise today.
Men's Javelin Final
Breaux Greer (Scottsdale, Ariz.): It was a very poor performance. I wish it had been better, but thank God I don't have to go home and have a surgery (laughter). That wasn't a third-place performance effort at all. Usually I'll catch one or two out of six, but I didn't catch anything tonight - it was really bad. I think maybe I was too aggressive. They say in the javelin you have to be aggressive and relax at the same time and I was just going for it, man, I was going for a world record today, I wasn't going just to win this. That's my bad. This is a nice build up for next year. I don't have to play catch-up with these guys any more. Now I'm going to be the guy that's ahead and hopefully they'll be chasing me.
Men's 5,000-Meter Final
Bernard Lagat (Tucson, Ariz.): It was really good. I think that it was one of the best races I've ever ran in the 5000. I was ready for a fast race, and I was ready for a slow race. All I had to do was to run a smart race, and follow the pace. If people were willing to take it out the last 2 kilometers, I was ready for that also. I just didn't want to let a gap develop. The double means a lot to me. I'm the first one to accomplish the double, and I feel I'm going to set an example for the young ones. There will be other kids in America who will do what Bernard Lagat did in 2007, no matter how long it will take.
Adam Goucher (Portland, Ore.): It was so slow that we were all just there. I know I have a very strong closing last kilometer, and I just couldn't get my legs to go the way I wanted them to. If I had moved up earlier and have been positioned towards the front, maybe it's a different story. Poor, somewhat cowardly race tactics. I'm happy for Bernard and Matt. Matt ran a great last 800. I figured it would go out a little faster, and that one of the Africans would go out and try to run Bernard's legs off, but they didn't.
Matt Tegenkamp (Madison, Wis.): I was so close. We had it in the back of our minds that it would go out quick, and that one of the countries would sacrifice one of their runners and take out the kickers, and it turned out to be slow. I loved it. It gave me the best chance to do well. I tried to stay out of trouble and stay relaxed, and get myself focused for the last 1000. The last 600 was a steady grind. From 600 to 400 it was a gradual buildup, and it let me work into it. Over the last 400 I was trying to stay relaxed knowing that I would need another gear over the last 75 meters. There was nothing else I could do-maybe I could've dove across the line.
Women's 4x400m Relay Final
De'Hashia "Dee Dee" Trotter (Knoxville, Tenn.): Basically, it was a difficult first leg. A lot of teams took the same strategy that we took and put their best runners up first. It was a very strong first leg, stronger than I have seen in a few years. I was able to get out there and run a very strong first leg to put Allyson in a good position. She took it from there and just basically exploded us out to the lead. From then on out, it was like skating. We took it easy. Sanya brought us home with a spectacular time.
Allyson Felix (Santa Clarita, Calif.): Dee Dee brought us out great. I just did not want to let the team down and to run a great strong leg. I wasn't really sure where I was, but I wanted to bring it in strong and not let everyone down. (On winning three gold medals) It's amazing. I didn't expect it coming in. It was definitely my goal, but I wanted to take it race by race. Now to have it done, I think it's a tremendous blessing. I'm just looking forward to next year now.
Mary Wineberg (Cincinnati, Ohio): All I wanted to do was make sure I got the baton clean from Allyson and I wanted to increase the lead, and give it to Sanya to bring it home for the gold. I knew that we had it. I knew that we were going to win. I knew we were in the lead and no one could catch us. It's the USA. We're No. 1.
Sanya Richards (Austin, Texas): For me, running the anchor leg is all about running safe and smart. I wanted to run the first 300 well, and insure I had a great to hold them off. It's not the time to get a personal best when your team is depending on you. I ran a strong race. I knew I had a great kick so I could kick it in at the end.
Men's 4x400m Relay Final
LaShawn Merritt (Suffolk, Va.): Our main focus was to get the stick around. My main job was to get the stick out to the next man as fast as I can, and try catch lane 9 in the homestretch. Everybody did their job, and we go home with the gold. This was a great experience for me. I've got the Olympics next year, and I hope to do the same thing-get the gold in the 4x4, and go for the gold in the open quarter. We're not disappointed that we didn't break the world record. Our main focus was to get the gold. Everyone finished up healthy, we got the stick around, and we're going to America with the gold.
Angelo Taylor (Decatur, Ga.): This is my fourth relay gold, third world championship. It's sweet when you go into the last event of the competition, and know you have the power like we do, and go out there and have fun, and move the stick around, and run fast. LaShawn put it out there. He's the silver medalist this year. He ran 43 in the open. I knew with LaShawn in the first leg that we would have a nice lead. My job was to get the stick around, and put the lead far out there, and make a strong push for the world record. (Sweeping the relays) That's a great feeling. We knew that coming into this world championship on paper we had the best group of relays in a long time, I guess in some 20 odd years. We just wanted to come out here, compete well, get the stick around. Compete well in our individual events. When it's time to come and compete with the team, we had to come together, practice and come out with the US spirit and win.
Darold Williamson (Woodway, Texas): I wanted to come out here and run strong, execute and bring it home strong for Jeremy. We knew we could run fast. It was important to get the stick around and get a gold medal. We didn't feel any pressure. We didn't even think about (sweeping the relays). It means a lot. We have a great relay. These guys are 1-2-3 in the 400. I consider myself a great relay runner. We had a confidence coming in. We knew that if we did what we had to do on the track, we would be successful.
Jeremy Wariner (Waco,, Texas): Going in, we knew we had a chance to get the world record with the team we had. The coaches set it up perfect, with LaShawn out of the hole, Angelo second, Darold third, and me anchoring. We were going for the record, but at the same time the main focus was to get the gold. Darold gave me a good lead, and my goal was to finish up the race, have a good anchor leg, and come home with the gold. I'm going home tomorrow and start training for my next meet, wherever that may be.
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