TOKYO, Japan, Aug 1 – Botswana’s superstar Nijel Amos says his big fall in the 800m semifinal run has denied him a medal since he was confident, he would deliver.
“I was in a good spot to take it home. It’s just the time of everything and then and I just don’t know what happened to myself and the moment I went down to the ground I knew it was game over.”
Nigel, the London 2012 Olympics silver medalist, reckons that lady luck denied him what appeared to be really his.
“But at the end of the day that is sport, that’s is 800m and that is what makes it interesting sometimes. It is what it is.
The 2014 Commonwealth Games Champion collided with America’s Isaiah Jewett with less than 200m to spare, leaving the pair sprawling on the inside of the track before the two showing the spirit of sportsmanship by waking each other up and jogging off to finish the race.
Nijel had been tipped to succeed the great two-time back-to-back Olympic Champion David Rudisha over two laps of the track.
He reiterated in an interview with Capital FM Sport: “I don’t really know what happened but he was at the front and I was at the back. We all got up and walked to the line… As you well know, the Olympics says United by Emotion, I can’t change what happened and we just said to ourselves let’s get it to the finish,” Nigel, the three-time African champion said.
“So it’s100% disappointment I was sure I was going to walk away with this medal.”
“Probably this is my last Olympic Games and to bow down this way is not the way I wanted to in these games.”
-Alex Isaboke is reporting from Tokyo, Japan-
