French pole vaulter drops Jesse Owens reference in decrying Brazilian crowd
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RIO DE JANEIRO — There couldn’t have been a more appropriate last name.
France’s Renaud Lavillenie played the villain to those who stayed to watch the late-night drama of the men’s pole vault final at Olympic Stadium. The London 2012 champion sought a second straight gold medal, but Brazil’s Thiago Braz da Silva embraced his role as the hero to save the day, or what was left of Monday at the Rio Games.
Da Silva came back to beat Lavillenie by clearing 5.93 meters on his second attempt to create a two-man duel for gold. He then won Brazil’s second gold of these Summer Games with an Olympic record 6.03 meters on his second try to send the home faithful into delirium.
American Sam Kendricks missed on all three of his tries at 5.93, which would have been a personal best, but his consolation wasn’t bad – a bronze medal for the 23-year-old from Ole Miss.
Lavillenie did not mind being the bad guy. In fact, he seemed to relish it. As the crowd began to boo him for his first try at 6.03, he gave the Brazilians a thumbs down.
After the race, he didn’t hold back in criticizing the crowd.
“Thiago is very strong,” Lavillenie said. “He gets all the stadium behind him. I’m a bit disappointed, [it was] not fair play from the stadium.
“You see [booing crowds] in football. It is the first time I have seen it in track and field. It is the biggest moment of your life. I can’t be happy about that. Now I have to wait four years to get back the gold.
“For the Olympics it is not a good image. I did nothing to the Brazilians. In 1936 [at the Berlin Olympic Games], the crowd was against [USA sprinter] Jesse Owens. We’ve not seen this since. We have to deal with it.”
With Kendricks out, the final progressed to a new height of 5.98 meters. Lavillenie missed on his first attempt, but Da Silva passed on it, opting to raise the stakes at 6.03.
Lavillenie didn’t have the speed to get his body over the bar on his initial try, giving Da Silva a chance to take the lead. But the Brazilian didn’t even complete his first attempt, letting go of his pole halfway up for miss No. 1.
“I was showing to people we are not in a football stadium,” Lavillenie said. “Track and field has no place for that.”
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Lavillenie, on his second try, almost had the height cleared but knocked off the bar on his way down with his chest. That set up Da Silva’s golden moment.
The Brazilian easily cleared the bar with room to spare, setting a new Olympic record and sparking a roar from the fans and high fives from his coach. Lavillenie wasn’t even close on his last attempt (at 6.08 meters), setting off a celebration that had Da Silva flapping the Brazilian flag as he took a victory lap around the stadium.
