RIO DE JANEIRO — Imagine spending four years training for Olympic moment. And then, on the night of your event, it begins to rain.
And not just rain but pour, as it did during early events here at the Olympic Stadium before an official delay after less than 30 minutes of nighttime competition.
“It’s track and field,” said Jeffrey Julmis of Haiti, one of four runners to advance through the first heat of the men’s 110-meter hurdles. “Any given day anything can happen.”
It’s almost assuredly unfair, in the grand scheme of things: Athletes pushing themselves for a shot at Olympic gold only be slowed — and drenched — by a downpour.
“I’m pretty pissed about the fact that it’s raining, to be honest with you,” said the USA’s Jeff Porter, who also advanced. “I’m pretty angry that it’s raining.”
Now imagine you’re Jamaica’s Deuce Carter, a member of the country’s loaded cast of elite runners, and heavy rain begins to fall as you are set to make your Olympic debut.
Worse yet, it was Carter’s first time running in the rain. It showed: He finished seventh among eight hurdlers in his heat.
“It’s part of life,” said Carter, who added that he couldn’t even see through the deluge.
So how do you deal with a cloudburst? It might be easy to think about slippery cleats on a wet track, or blustery torrents of rain blowing a pole vaulter up and away from his intended destination.
Runners here said the key is to focus on yourself and your competition, not the rain, a task that sounds far easier said than done.
“It rains on everybody else’s lane,” Porter said. “It’s not just raining on my lane.
“That’s the key. You’ve got to do it today. If you don’t do it today it doesn’t matter. Whether rain, sun, shine, snow, whatever. You’ve got to do it today.”
In the women's discus qualifying, there were a series of fouls because the competitors couldn't hold on to the discus.
Officials finally stopped the competition for 31 minutes to let the rain stop.
Added Julmis, “I say I’m in my element. No matter what, I’m in my element. Windy, rain, snow, sleet, I’m in my element.”
