Worlds, August 18th

I love the Heps (Ivy Running Championships) and before yesterday it was the best track meet I've ever been to. But I was at Worlds, after all, and it is truly an incredible experience.
Let's do a little rundown of what I got to see:
Usain Bolt literally jogging his way to a 20.4
Sanya Richards win the 400
The steeple final. From the front row. 20m from the water pit. (Pictures to come). A French guy took down the Kenyan in 3rd place like two steps before the finish line to break Kenyan hegemony in the event.
Kenenisa Bekele, at the medal ceremony. Also only 20m away.

The atmosphere of the Berlin Worlds is great. They have a little carnival set up outside the stadium with food stations from around the world, a biergarten, exhibits from 2016 Olympic Candidate Cities, and sponsor's product demos. The Slovenian contigent featured a accordion player, singing and dancing. Flag waving Jamaicans are everywhere. One German group featured a marching band. Everybody is happy and you can't help but jump into the fun. A highlight of the night that took me by surprise was watching the Women's Javelin final. There were three Germans competing, so the crowd, understandibly dominated by the host country got really into it. The entire stadium seemed to be slow clapping before every throw and yelling "oooo0000OOOO!" in anticipation of each release. One of the Germans took the lead early on and held it; when second place (the WR holder) failed to eclipse the leader's throw in the final volley the crowd erupted like a cannon shooting thunder. Even though it wasn't a full stadium it was the loudest I've ever seen a crowd get, and I've seen 80,000 Badger fans celebrate a Ron Dayne touchdown before. It was Germany's first gold medal of the games and the celebration probably lasted 10 minutes.

So excited for the next few days; I'm even considering staying until Sunday to watch the 5k and the relays. I made some friends at the Chicago 2016 exhibition, the only Americans I've talked to in over a week: a girl who played golf at Harvard and another chick who lives in Chicago but is originally from Portland, Oregon. They said they might be able to get me tickets, since they have some for themselves but have to work during the sessions and don't really get a chance to use them.

Keeping my fingers crossed that Bolt gets someone to push him in the 200m finals on Thursday. Until then, expecting a real show in the 1500 final tonight.