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Christophe Lemaitre: focus of heated debate on internet
© Mark Shearman
THE men’s 100 metres on Wednesday night at the European Championships was an extraordinarily fascinating event whichever way you looked at it. Most will have watched it on TV. Some were lucky enough to be in Barcelona. Athletics Weekly will play its part next week, too, with a mega-issue covering the week’s action.
But the latest and most novel way to follow the Championships is via Twitter. The ‘SMS of the internet’ was buzzing last night in the moments before and after the 100m final. Even sitting in the stadium it was hard not to be distracted by the multitude of Tweets. Although it was not a bad distraction, as it complemented the spectator experience quite perfectly.
British athletes such as Jeanette Kwakye, Tasha Danvers, Simeon Williamson and Kelly Sotherton were making their predictions via Twitter, probably using their phones from wherever they were watching the coverage. Ex-athletes such as Steve Backley and Jamie Baulch are also keen Tweeters.
But then, most impressively, Ato Boldon, the Trinidadian who won the 1997 world 200m title and clocked a 100m PB of 9.86 at his peak, weighed in with his view that Dwain Chambers would win due to his good start and experience. “But,” he added, “it will be very close.”
Meanwhile, all kinds of people were sticking their two penneth in. The British Athletics Supporters’ Club predicted Christophe Lemaitre to edge it. BBC athletics blogger Tom Fordyce was also enlivening things with some witty Tweets for his 3500-plus ‘followers’. Governing bodies like UKA, England Athletics and European Athletics were also getting into the spirit of it.
Chambers was the bookies’ favourite, but in the minutes up to the race the unofficial Twitterometer (everyone’s experience is different, depending on who you follow) began to show a swing toward the young Frenchman.
The Twitterometer proved correct too – with Lemaitre winning in 10.11 from Mark Lewis-Francis, Martial Mbandjock, Francis Obikwelu and Dwain Chambers – all four of whom were awarded the same time of 10.18.
“The fastest man in Europe is a 19-year-old white kid!” said Boldon, unusually getting his facts slightly askew, as Lemaitre turned 20 last month. “Track and field is the greatest sport!”
Soon after, Fordyce added: “MLF took silver by one one-thousandth of a second. All hail the slightly thicker UKA vests.”
Meanwhile, in the interview area, Lemaitre was explaining that the gold medal was far more satisfying than the sub-10 clocking he achieved recently. “The title means more than the time,” he explained.
Back on Twitter, Kwakye piped up with a blunt comment on the race issue. “Colour has NOTHING to do with what makes a champion,” she Tweeted. “Black, white, yellow … it does not matter.”
Boldon, who had been watching the race via the internet, added: “Should have gone with my gut. LeMaitre has arrived.”
Yet for some it was all getting too much. Martyn Rooney, the UK 400m champion, did not run very well in his semi-final and sent an apologetic late-night Tweet to announce his semi-retirement (from Tweeting).
“Right,” he wrote, “MJ (Michael Johnson) has said lay off the Twitter, so you know what – I’m gonna listen to him. Until late Friday night, much love Twitter, peace.”
* Jason Henderson is in Barcelona covering his fourth consecutive European Championships and is Tweeting at www.twitter.com/Jason_AW
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