Martina says goodbye to Fifth Games without eligibility: ‘If I become a millionaire, you’ll see me in Paris’ Tokyo Olympics
VideosThe female relay team (4×100 metres) reached the final. The Dutch quartet had a tough streak, but qualified for the final fight based on time. Things went wrong for the men after the last switch went wrong and disqualification ensued.
Math Editor
Last updated:
05-08-21, 05:53
The last runner Churandy Martina, the most experienced runner, made a mistake. He left too early and was already outside the substitution area when he wasn’t holding the baton in his hands. With that comes a sad farewell to the jubilant athlete from Curaçao, who took part in his fifth Games. He told NOS, “We have to do everything down to the last detail. I’m disappointed that it ends like this. But we did our best. I probably left too early, I didn’t feel like it. Pictures we have to look back.”
Joris van Goul was the starting runner, Timir Burnett second man and Chris Garia third. He tried to pass the wand to Martina, but he couldn’t. The trio praised the performance of retired Martina, who still wants to participate in the World Cup America next year. “Churandy is an inspiration to all of us and has had one of the most extraordinary sporting achievements I have seen. I hope to be in the games when I am 37.”
For Martina, the fifth games were his last. or not? He replied with a wink, “If I become a millionaire and don’t have to do anything anymore, maybe you’ll see me in Paris because I have time to train.” He will be 40 years old. But the World Cup in Eugene, USA, will be his last trick.
Jump to the finals
Nadine Visser, Daphne Schippers, Marej Van Hunsten and Naomi Sydney ran 42.81 seconds and finished fifth in the series. The difficulty was mainly due to the first switch. Things didn’t go smoothly, so the four-team lost time. But the damage was limited. , usually we only change on the straight line, now in the turn. That was a lot harder so I had to backtrack a lot. So everything can be much sharper and faster. This was not a perfect race. There was an angel on my shoulder, because I left so early.”
In the series that followed, the Chinese quartet ran slower than the Netherlands, with the quartet taking third place. Visser, Schipper, van Hoenenstein and Sydney qualified for Team Seven based on their time for the final to be held at 3.30pm on Friday afternoon.
42.81 was slower than the Dutch record of 42.04 from 2016, which the team won the European title in Amsterdam at the time. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, things went wrong in the series when he switched between first sprinter Jamil Samuel and Schippers. Samuel missed the show in Tokyo due to a hamstring injury.
She was unnecessarily tense and tight. “But we’re there in the final,” said Nadine Visser of NOS. Naomi Sydney added: “I’m so proud of us. We haven’t had an easy year and we’ve done it with the four of us.”
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