World Championships in Athletics in London - Day 9 (12-8-2017)

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This time I think I've come to the stadium in time, but already on the underground you see the crowd and at bridge 1 the queue is impressive. Without even being invited by the stewards, I try to go to 2, then to 3, where it seems shorter. It is, however, slower than usual: it lasts 20 minutes, while in the past even longer queues have been dealt withvin less than half time. At least today nobody reminds us that we are late. Many Jamaican and even a Grenadine are seen at the entrance.

I can only see the last heat of the decathlon's 110hs, with two more not finishing (one injured and one fallen down). The decathlon will turn out to be a elimination race: 36 started, 21 arrived, so that the 1500 will be held on a single heat. The stadium is very full, even more than last Sunday. I'm in the fourth row, at the beginning of the straight opposite to the arrival. So I see very close the first 4X100 exchange: I first see Schippers from very close, then Gatlin (booed again) and Vicault. There is also the mascot, who plants a summer umbrella in the sand of the horizontal jumps and invites a little girl to play beach games.

On the only occasion I've been waving the flag, when our 4X400 goes on track, the lady behind me moves it, as she is shooting a video: but do you everthink about what you are living now instead of filming? The speaker continues with his imaginative pronunciation: if I had not thought they could not be anyone else, I would never have realized that the three identical names in the Belgian relay were the Borlees. Belgium then comes third with a time faster than the Asian record. I say this because initially in the order of arrival Japan (which actually had come last, far away) was in their place, and they had attributed them an area record. Only when they are going to interview the relay members they notice realize the mistake.

From my position, I can also see the discus very well When only decathlon remains, the stadium gets empty a bit, but it is still fuller than in a normal morning session. During the pole vault I move to the sector and sit next to a group of French fans, but they stand up on every Mayer jump, forcing me to rise up too.

The PV groups are offset, group B, the poorest one, starts an hour later. When only two athletes were left in the race in Group A, the incredible happens: they tell us that at the end of Group A we will have to leave the stadium, even though Group B has just begun (6 athletes on 13 have yet to enter the competition). Soon there is only one athlete left in the competition, and I hope he clears at least 3 more heights all on third, instead he clears one on the first and then nothing more. So there is the unprecedented case of a WCH event held behind closed doors. It does not seem to me very regular that some medal candidates competed with the public and others without. It should also be said that nothing unexpected happened: they were perfectly on time. If their idea was to open at 4 o'clock for the afternoon session (as shownin the ticket) and to keep an hour off for checks and cleaning, they can not start a pole vault race at 2.15.

Despite the unexpected break, I soon abandon the idea of ​​getting away from the Olympic Park. I try to buy something at the store, but to pay there is a queue that goes up to the entrance. I goto the Hero village (Hero is the name of the mascot). There are many interesting games, but there are too longqueues. At least there is a shop a little less crowded so I can buy there.

I returned to the stadium just before the start of the decathlon's javelin at 5.30. It is already full for almost half: it will be full at about 7, at the beginning of the other races. It starts with the final of the women's high jump: after the Rio experience (where 3 cleared heights were enough to win the gold and 2 to come 5 ^) make a little slower progression, and finally it's a true race, where to win one needs to clear 8 heights. Of course, thanks also to Levchenko and Licwicko, who challenge Kuchina, who at some point finds herself even third.

When there are 5000, HJ and JT it makes it hard to stay behind all. I miss Rohler's throw, which will turn out to be a winner, during the 5000, and immediately after the arrival of the race nobody notices Levchenko's 2.01. The audience stands up with Mo Farah's presentation and I'm afraid they are going to follow all the racing standing, instead they will sit down and stand uo again for the last 600 meters. The British are heating up a lot for Farah and I, who I've never particularly loved him, find myself like an away fan. When he loses, I am not brave enough to exult, but I just applaud, as everyone does.

There are more medal ceremonies than usual, so I have to note two peculiarities, one with respect to the ceremonies and one with respect to the rest of the WCH. The first is that the flags do not rise on a flagpole (which is not there, because at the Olympics they had the medal plaza), but they are only kept in hand. The second is that the ceremonies are the only occasion when announcements are made in languages ​​other than English: they are first in French and then in English. For Kuchina the IAAF Anthem is played, which I must have heard in some races: it sounds like the soundtrack of a fantasy movie.

Then comes the clou, with the last race of Bolt (who surprisingly had run also this morning in the het), the relay. The speaker reminds that he will also be present tomorrow for a victory lap, Jamaica is cheered almost more than Britain. Then it comes to the last leg: Great Britain and USA come with a slight advantage over Jamaica, Bolt could come back, last year it would still be easy (let's not talk about golden times), instead he stops. I read that the accident has triggered the malignant: conspiracy theories are real an evil of our times.

Meanwhile Great Britain wins gold and this time very few hurry to get out ...