Kerron Stewart, winner of the women's 200m in Rome (© Getty Images)
Kerron Stewart underlined her status as the latest emerging world force in women’s sprinting with her first victory on the ÅF Golden League circuit here tonight, taking the 200m at the ‘28th Golden Gala Kinder+Sport’ meeting in the Olympic Stadium within a fortnight of her dazzling display at the Jamaican Olympic trials.
For the woman whose career was once interrupted when she needed 39 stitches after smashing into a plate glass window, Stewart’s first season commanding attention among the senior global elite is the reward for her determination and powers of recovery. Given all she has been through, her measured reaction to her victory was understandable.
“I felt good and I am just happy I was able to finish the race in good health – that’s all that matters right now,” the 24-year-old Stewart said, mindful of the Beijing Olympics approaching. She clocked 22.34 to record a convincing victory over Sanya Richards, the US 400m record holder, who clocked a season’s best 22.49 for the half lap.
It was only the second Golden League appearance of Stewart’s career, having placed third in Berlin in the opening meeting this season. However, nobody who noted her performances in the Jamaican Olympic trials will have been surprised at her victory tonight. There, in Kingston, she recorded 10.80 to win the 100m and 21.99 to finish 2nd in the 200m. She has been selected for both events in Beijing.
Although slower tonight, Stewart added: “It’s a good time, I can’t complain. It shows I’m in good shape and ready to go.” Injuries have formed a considerable part of Stewart’s life since she won 100m silver at the 2001 World Youth Championships and placed fourth in the 2002 World Junior Championships.
It was in 2003 that Stewart lost an argument with a plate glass window at the athletes’ village at the Pan American Games in the Dominican Republic, suffering cuts to a knee, shin and arm. “It was dark, I was going down the stairs faster than I should have, and I walked through the glass,” she recalled.
“It put me out for probably three months and the following year I fractured my shin and that was another six months (out). It took a lot of hard work to get back and a lot of people believing in me. That was part of the reason I didn’t compete as I expected to. You have to have bad times to come back and, hey, if you have a comeback like me you were really down.”
Stewart’s 100m time in Kingston made her the second fastest Jamaican woman behind Merlene Ottey (10.74). Asked whether Ottey’s national record was in her sights, Stewart said: “I’m not aiming for that, I’m aiming below that. But, you know what, that is a great record set by a great lady, so for me to get that would be the icing on the cake.
“I grew up watching her and I always wanted to accomplish half the stuff she has because she has accomplished a lot.” Stewart still has posters on the walls of her homes in Kingston and Auburn, Alabama, where she lives and trains under coach Henry Rolle. “My home right now is in the US, because that’s where I train, but home at heart is in Jamaica,” Stewart added.
Stewart’s 100m trials victory was all the more notable for the part she played in helping to relegate World champion Veronica Campbell-Brown into fourth place and out of an individual Olympic berth, although she did qualify for the 200m. Also missing from the 100m in Beijing will be Allyson Felix, who failed to qualify for that event in the US trials, although she too qualified for the 200m.
Asked whether the 100m was an open race for gold in Beijing, Stewart said: “The person who is going to walk away with the gold medal is the person who makes the least mistakes, that’s how close it is.” And, asked whether she felt she has a better chance at the 100 or 200, she added: “I don’t know. I just love both races.”
David Powell for the IAAF