Twelve current and former LSU track and field athletes competed at the IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan, this past week.
For many of the current athletes, it was their first time competing on such a prominent stage.
“Those are the guys I’ve always seen on television, whom I look up to, and it was just a wonderful experience for me to line up next to them and compete against them,” said junior All-American sprinter Richard Thompson.
Thompson finished 31st in the 100-meter dash for his native Trinidad and Tobago after advancing to the quarterfinals of the event in his first career World Championships appearance.
Taking on the best competition in the world could obviously be a difficult experience – especially halfway around the world – but the athletes had plenty of conditions favorable to their comfort.
A 14-hour time difference was the first hurdle to overcome.
“It was kind of hard to stay up most of the time to get my body accustomed, but the coaches were telling me constantly, ‘Don’t go to sleep when you feel like sleeping during the day.'”
It took about three or four days to get acclimated to the time, Thompson said, but the athletes went to Osaka several days in advance in order to have enough time for a comfortable transition.
Another barrier to overcome would obviously be the food.
Thompson said the athletes were luckily provided with passes to a cafeteria, which served a variety of food.
“What they tried to do was provide our ideal food so that it wasn’t just Japanese food the entire time,” Thompson said.
Another beneficial circumstance was the presence of LSU track coach Dennis Shaver and his staff.
“To have your coach there to give you confidence and just there to ease your mind and have things regular makes it easy to compete,” Thompson said.
The weather also seemed to be in favor of the Tigers.
“It was almost identical to Baton Rouge weather,” Shaver said.
Shaver also mentioned the natural comfort of being on a track.
“For the most part, you’re at a track,” Shaver said. “It’s very much like being at home. You don’t feel like you’re halfway across the world on a different continent.”
Finally, the athletes had the opportunity to work out with former LSU great Walter Davis.
“Having some experience, [Davis] can talk them, and certainly I’m sure he helps [the younger athletes] more than [the coaches] even know – just the conversations that they have and the friendship that they develop,” Shaver said.
Davis, the defending world championship gold medalist in triple jump, could not manage to defend his title but did capture the bronze for the United States.
Current LSU athletes also showed well.
Most notably, LSU sophomore Nickiesha Wilson placed fourth in the 400-meter hurdles for her native Jamaica – missing bronze by under two-tenths of a second.
In her first appearance at the IAAF World Championships, Wilson was the only collegiate athlete to even reach the final of her event.
On her way to the final, Wilson broke LSU’s school record by nearly a full second in the semifinal of the event.
Former Lady Tiger Lolo Jones also performed well for the United States. Jones finished sixth in the 100-meter hurdles in her first World Championships appearance.
Senior standout Isa Phillips, also of Jamaica, reached the semifinals of the men’s 400-meter hurdles before falling short of qualifying for the final.
Senior All-American Sherry Fletcher just missed reaching the final of the women’s 200-meter dash. She finished fifth in the semifinals for Grenada.
From a national standpoint, the United States dominated the World Championships with 26 total medals.
The U.S. finished with 10 more medals than second-place Russia and doubled third-place Kenya’s 13 medals.
The U.S. also managed to win an impressive 14 gold medals – a total equal to that of the second through fifth place nations combined.
Kenya captured the second most gold medals with five.
—Contact Jerit Roser at [email protected]