News - Sports

Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008

'I didn't deserve the medal'

Van Wyck native brings home silver -- after finishing fourth

BEIJING -- Some Olympic athletes don't get a medal in their event, but believe they deserve one. Sprinter Shawn Crawford will get a silver medal Thursday -- one he says he absolutely doesn't deserve.

This is a strange story. Crawford was a key player in one of the most memorable races in Olympic history Wednesday the men's 200 meters, won by Jamaica's Usain Bolt in a world-record time of 19.30 seconds.

Bolt's performance was unbelievable and undeniable. But more than a half-second behind "Lightning" Bolt, thunderous confusion reigned.

Crawford finished fourth at the line, out-leaned by American teammate Wallace Spearmon for the bronze -- 19.95 for Spearmon and 19.96 for Crawford. Or so it appeared.

About five minutes after the race was run, Crawford moved to third when Spearmon was disqualified by track officials for running out of his lane.

About another hour after that, Crawford moved to second when Netherlands Antilles sprinter Churandy Martina, who had originally finished second, was thrown out of the race. The reason? The same "out-of-lane" offense. Martina's DQ came after a protest by Team USA officials and a videotape review. Spearmon's disqualification still stood.

That left Crawford with a silver medal and a hollow feeling.

"I didn't cross the line in second," said Crawford, a native of Van Wyck and a former track star at Indian Land and Clemson. "And if I don't cross the line in second, I don't care if people are disqualified or not. I didn't deserve the medal."

Crawford, 30, said he would like to give his medal to his teammate Spearmon. "But I know he won't take it," Crawford said.

Spearmon experienced the sort of public humiliation that makes you cringe after his apparent bronze. He had draped an American flag over his shoulders and was taking a victory lap -- actually dancing alongside Bolt at one point -- when word came that he had been disqualified.

Spearmon left the track angrily, shoving the American flag into Crawford's hands and marching through the media mix zone without doing interviews.

Crawford understood. "He did the whole victory lap," Crawford said. "He had the flag. And then he's told, 'That's not your medal.' If it was me, I would have probably broken down and cried on worldwide television."

Crawford, who won a gold medal in the 200 in the 2004 Olympics, didn't take a victory lap himself. "It wouldn't have been right," he said.

Although Crawford said he didn't merit the silver medal, it's not as if he won't show up to accept it today at the medal ceremony. That ceremony was supposed to be Wednesday after the race but was postponed because of all the hubbub.

"Every time I look at it, though," Crawford said of his silver medal, "I'm going to be like, 'This medal was given to me. I didn't deserve it.'"

Crawford handled the post-race situation about as well as he could, and he did have an appreciation for its absurdity. As he joked to reporters: "Oh, Lord. OK. So they're saying Wallace Spearmon stepped out. And the second-place guy stepped out. Well, hopefully Usain Bolt stepped out, too! That means I'll go home with the gold!"

It's not like Crawford hasn't been involved in strange races before. He once raced a zebra and a giraffe for a TV show (losing to the zebra, beating the giraffe). But given the huge stage, this one surpassed just about all he had seen.

Crawford looked and sounded afterward like a lot of silver medalists, but for different reasons.

Most of those saddened silver medalists were bemoaning the fact they didn't win gold. Crawford, who now lives in Los Angeles, knew five seconds into the race he wasn't going to win gold Wednesday.

"I'm in awe of what Usain Bolt is doing," he said. "He's the Michael Phelps of our sport."

But Crawford was bemoaning the fate of his friend and teammate Spearmon.

"It's heartbreaking," Crawford said. "I share his pain right now."

Another odd outcome: American Walter Dix moved from fifth to third for the same reasons that Crawford moved from fourth to second. It turned out that all three Americans crossed the line within .03 seconds of each other in the race.

And the guy who beat the other two?

He's the only one who didn't get a medal.

"Bittersweet," Dix called his bronze. Crawford would agree.

"Right now, I'm disappointed," Crawford said. "Everything I had in me, I left on the track. I even left some of my skin out there, because I fell at the end. And now, I'm going home with a medal, but not one that I deserve.

"One that was given to me."