LaShawn Merritt Is New King Of 400 Meter Mountain
Posted by Jimmie R. Markham | August 21, 2008
After his sub-par performance in the Olympic 400m final, Jeremy Wariner no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt. Many people questioned his judgment in firing his longtime coach Clyde Hart at the beginning of an Olympic season. I defended his decision all season in hopes that his inconsistency had less to do with his decline and more to do with LaShawn Merritt’s ascent. Once Wariner defended his Olympic title, the doubters would be silenced.
But no longer. It’s obvious now that something was not right, that something had changed, either in his mental game or his training. For years he had followed a certain routine under Hart’s tutelage and he had succeeded in doing so. Suddenly that routine was gone and he had an inconsistent season for the first time in his career. It doesn’t take a PhD to put two and two together and conclude that the coaching change had something to do with his inconsistency. The ironic part of this story is that he fired Hart to save some money. Now, without the gold medal, he may have thrown away much more money in endorsements than he saved in coaching expenses.
But that’s enough about Wariner. I’m sure he’ll get it together again next season (as long as he rehires Hart as his coach, that is) but he’s not the story today. LaShawn Merritt deserves the spotlight today. He put together an outstanding season that culminated in a PR, the fastest time in the world this season and an Olympic gold medal. Hats off to him. It should have been obvious all along that this was his season. He did it the right way and he’s the new king of the 400 meter mountain.
Here are the results of the Olympic Men’s 400m Final:
| Place | Lane | Athlete | Country | Time | React | |
| 1 | 4 | LaShawn Merritt | USA | 43.75 | (WL, PB) | 0.318 |
| 2 | 7 | Jeremy Wariner | USA | 44.74 | 0.209 | |
| 3 | 9 | David Neville | USA | 44.80 | 0.293 | |
| 4 | 5 | Chris Brown | BAH | 44.84 | 0.231 | |
| 5 | 6 | Leslie Djhone | FRA | 45.11 | 0.164 | |
| 6 | 8 | Martyn Rooney | GBR | 45.12 | 0.208 | |
| 7 | 2 | Renny Quow | TRI | 45.22 | 0.201 | |
| 8 | 3 | Johan Wissman | SWE | 45.39 | 0.218 |
Topics: Blog, Olympic Games, Sprints/Hurdles |
August 21st, 2008 at 1:12 pm
For real Jimmie? Too much is made of coaching.
No matter what coach an athlete in the end the athlete has to deliver. Sanya Richards was a huge favorite against a very, very average field and ended up with bronze. She had the same coach and ran out of gas down the stretch.
So what happened there?
Winning back to back Olympic golds in the 400, has only been done by one man: Michael Johnson.
That tells us exactly how difficult of feat it is.
Jay H.
August 21st, 2008 at 2:30 pm
what about the women’s 200m?
you seem to be very selective on which events you make comments…
August 21st, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Hey Ray, If you are referring to me. Please see Jimmie’s post about whether we should be concerned about Allyson Felix.
Jay H.
August 21st, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Thanks for your comments, Jay and Ray. I appreciate you visiting my site. You can find my reply to your queries here.
August 21st, 2008 at 4:27 pm
I agree that a major reason Wariner got silver and not gold was because of the coaching change. Hart’s experience would have ironed out inconsistencies. When an athlete runs really fast they feel they should be able to push the workouts more both on the easy and hard days. They think they are faster so the workouts should be faster. An experience coach would know when to allow this and when to hold the runner back. The new coach did not know when to hold Wariner back so he would run well then after killing himself in training run poorly due to over training. It is a horrible cycle.
August 21st, 2008 at 5:07 pm
i believe wariner went out too hard in his first 200 while merritt ran a more evenly paced race. you can see him panic in the last 100 and tighten up when he realizes merritt is pulling away. although i do not feel merritt should suddenly be crown 400m king until he beats wariner’s pb.