About 24 hours later, 150 meters before the end, the promise of something beautiful, something shiny, is already up in the air. As the last runner, after Liemarvin Bonevacia, Lieke Klaver and Femke Bol, Angela ran for the top of the field. Could she be an Olympic gold in athletics, 29 years after Ellen van Langen’s 800m win in Barcelona?
Angela doesn’t stop, she’s a little slower at most, but then he sees runners from Poland, the Dominican Republic and the US side by side and eventually they pass. The order of medals will be distributed. Fourth place set a new Dutch record, 3.10.36.
No, Angela says, he never thought gold was available. I just thought: keep doing what I’m doing. I always do that. The other guys were a little faster. That’s it.’
Sagging shoulders, relaxed arms, sinking at the hips – many indicate disappointment. At the very least, a podium finish was expected, especially after the US was ruled out on Friday for a switch in the wrong place. It’s certainly not a side figure for the Netherlands – although the mixed 4×400 is a small part to make its debut in these games. A lot of energy has been put into creating a team that, in his own words, is based on trust and friendship. The fact that the exclusion of the United States was reversed the next day – one official noted a feud in the wrong place – caused outrage and protest on the Dutch side, but faith in the honorary metal has not waned.
The initial disappointment soon gave way to complacency on the court. Bonevacia: We ran really well. We can do it.’ Klaver: “You can see it in two ways: just not getting a medal or not being on the podium in an Olympic final, which is really cool.” Angela: I don’t think we left it somewhere. We have done our best. I see fourth place as a bonus.
Swiss coach Laurent Moyle plays a high game on Saturday. He usually doesn’t announce his lineup until a few hours before the race in order to keep athletes hungry. Now he informs the team at the beginning of the afternoon that Vickey Ball will be rescheduled. She replaces Lisan de Witt, who walked on Friday. Jochem Dauberre makes way for Bonifacia. This is how the strongest lineup is at the start.
Dutch sensation Paul in the 400m hurdles assured her that she would not participate in the morning after running her series – distance winner. They are very powerful! They don’t need me at all. So Paul was supposed to spare this day. Later in the week, the semi-finals and final are still waiting for her favorite part.
Paul explains the decision after the race. I felt like she didn’t run the 400m hurdles, it was that easy. “We’ll see how I felt after the series. Well, I felt great. I have 48 hours left for the semi-finals and then 36 hours for the final. I was willing to take that risk. We had a chance to win a medal. Now we’re just missing out. That’s bad. But we did it all.” What we can. Claver praised the decision after the race. “Without her we have a very good team, but with her we have more chances. We have come very close.
Bonevacia is the first feud to break into between two contenders, the Head of State, to the first switch. Clover takes off at lightning speed, in keeping with her style, but loses three positions as she gets close to Paul. He looks a little confused when an official makes busy gestures in her direction. But once owning the stick, it gained a lot of ground in the last hundred metres. Angela can’t finish it.
Confusion about the location of the switch leads to some irritation. Not everyone is in the right place to relocate. Klaver: “Many of the participants are excellent. But they just don’t know the rules. Everything goes together. It’s not good.” But it turned out to be a note in the margin: “This is a gold-edged result.”
Tv fanatic. Freelance thinker. Social media enthusiast. Total bacon lover. Communicator.