The Wild Reed: Rai Benjamin: “It Went My Way . . . and That’s All I Can Ask For”

Monday, August 12, 2024

Rai Benjamin: “It Went My Way . . . and That’s All I Can Ask For”

The 2024 Summer Olympic Games ended yesterday in Paris, and even though I didn’t really follow them, Saturday’s close finish of the 4 x 400 metres men’s relay caught my attention. This was because I was familiar with winner Rai Benjamin from the trials, thanks to a friend who follows these things much closer than I do. The day before, Benjamin won a gold medal in the men’s 400 metres hurdles. . . . Congratulations, Rai, on both gold medal wins!

Following are excerpts from Brian Pinelli’s TeamUSA.com’s August 9 article on Rai Benjamin’s 400 metres hurdles gold medal win.

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Cool, Calm And A Tad Clumsy:
Rai Benjamin Dethrones Norwegian King
to Become 400-Meter Hurdles Champion

By Brian Pinelli

TeamUSA.com
August 9, 2024

It was far from the perfect race, but Rai Benjamin charged hard and overtook defending Olympic champion Karsten Warholm to win 400-meter hurdles Olympic gold.

Benjamin grabbed the lead from Karsten Warholm, the Norwegian world record holder, while hammering around the final turn. Yet, while accelerating, he encountered slight problems coming over hurdle eight, straying slightly from his lane upon landing. Execution over hurdle nine wasn’t ideal either.

“I just remember landing awkwardly off eight, and then nine came up and I had to reach and I was like ‘please don’t fall’ and then I had to reach for ten and switch legs,” Benjamin told reporters, after his first major championship win. “At that point, I was like, I’m going to get walked.”

The 27-year-old from Vernon, New York remained cool, calm and kept it together – as Warholm encountered problems of his own down the homestretch – increasing his lead and getting the job done, on Friday night, at Stade de France.

“I had so much torque and power coming off that hurdle, I wonked a little bit and almost lost it,” he explained. “Five meters before the line, I was like, ‘Oh snap, I got it.”

The American hurdler equaled his season-best time of 46.46 seconds, defeating Warholm by a substantial six-tenths of a second. The third member of the triumvirate of 400-meter hurdling stars, Alison dos Santos of Brazil, took bronze, 0.80 seconds behind Benjamin.

“I looked up at the time – it wasn’t particularly the quickest, but we got it done and that was the focus for me coming in. I was so focused on running fast, and those hurdles kind of get in the way,” Benjamin said, half-jokingly.

“I heard him (Warholm) when we got to five, and I was like, ‘Ok, cool, stay calm, stay patient.’ I know my last 200 is lethal, and I relied on that and what I’ve done all season. That was the game-changer for me.”

Benjamin was ecstatic upgrading to gold in Paris from Olympic silver in Tokyo. A dejected Warholm downgraded to silver from his world record gold-medal racer in Tokyo, three years ago. Benjamin also improved upon world championship silver medals in Budapest 2023 and Doha 2019.

“This color of medal has eluded me for so long – to get it done in this fashion at the Olympic Games in front of friends and family, in front of everybody means so much to me,” said Benjamin, a 2019 graduate of the University of Southern California.

“I don’t think I ever doubted it – it was more just stay patient and keep showing up every day. I told myself this has to go my way one day – and it went my way today and that’s all I can ask for.”