Rio rain wreaks havoc with hurdles, pole vault, discus
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Rain hit Rio hard Monday evening, forcing three different track and field events – 110-meter hurdles, pole vault and discus – to scramble to adapt to the torrential downpour. Events were halted for about 25 minutes, and when they resumed, logistical difficulties characterized the rest of the evening.
Heavy rain resulted in an unconventional decision in the hurdles race after two heats run in near-blinding conditions. In normal weather, the four fastest times from each heat advance to the next round. However, because of the weather the four slowest runners from the first two of five heats were grouped into a final, second-chance race to be run later in the evening.
“It’s atrocious. It’s hard to compete in weather like this,” said Jamaican hurdler Omar McLeod, according to the AP. “The water is beaming down in your face and your eyes and it’s real hard.”
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“If it’s a little bit of rain, I don’t mind,” said Hungary’s Balazs Baji. “I do my practice. But in this pouring rain? I don’t even try.”
Man this sucks for hurdlers. running over hurdles in heavy rain feels like trying to drive over speed bumps with no wind shield wipers.
— Lolo Jones (@lolojones) August 15, 2016
Both discus and pole vaulting briefly halted competition as well. Winds and rain made pole vaulting treacherous, and the slippery discus resulted in nine of 17 hurlers failing on their first attempt, and six of 17 failing on the second.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION, on sale now at Amazon or wherever books are sold. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.
