Location matters. In races that demand vastly different skills, runners from two particular parts of the world have marked dominance. Following up on Usain Bolt’s 100m spectacle a day earlier, three Jamaicans swept the medals in the women’s 100m final on Sunday.

Shelly-Ann Fraser (10.78 seconds) ran the fastest 100m at the Olympics since Florence Griffith Joyner’s Seoul 1988 Olympic record time of 10.62.

A day after Tirunesh Dibaba took the 10,000m gold, fellow Ethiopians Kenenisa Bekele (27:01.97) and Sileshi Sihine (27:02.77) took gold and silver in the men’s event, with the bronze claimed by Kenya’s Micah Kogo (27.04.11).

The 100m is a burst of energy, the 10,000m is an endurance feat made possible by strategy and physical capacity. With Jamaican athletes favourites for both the men’s and women’s 200m, the Beijing Games could see a national assertion on sprints not enjoyed by anyone but the Americans before. An American woman failed to take a medal for the first time since 1984, and before the Jamaican women could address the press, the Americans had lodged a protest, saying their athlete had made a false start, which they claimed should have led to the race being re-run.

With the silver and bronze going to Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart on a photofinish (both 10.98), Fraser said one of the Jamaican team’s secret was reggae power.

The reggae culture of Jamaica has great affinity with Ethiopia, and it was apt that the King took a victory lap too. Bekele, the world record holder in 10,000m set an Olympic record today. But, as is the way with the Ehiopians, his feats are recorded in the shadow of the ever smiling Haile Gebrselassie, perhaps the greatest distance runner of all time.

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