Track and field: Sanya Richards was sleepless in Beijing

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BEIJING -- Sanya Richards dozed off for only 30 minutes or so Tuesday night, still replaying her 400-meter race in her head.

Richards, the favorite, was in fine shape at 300 meters but felt a cramp in her right leg about 20 meters after that. Her stride became slow and erratic, and she had to fight to hold onto third place, events she discussed afterward with her mom, sister and cousins.

‘We kept asking why, and what we could have done differently,’ she said Wednesday, ‘so it was a very hard night. Every time I closed my eyes I saw that gold slipping away.’

Their conclusion was that she could not have done anything differently. Her workouts had been fine, she had eaten and slept right, and her split times were fine. It was just a cruel bit of misfortune that she attributed to dehydration and said was not related to her battle with Behcet’s disease, an affliction of the immune system. She also said that she expected to be able to run the 1,600-meter relay.

‘I’m happy with the bronze,’ she said, ‘and I think as I get further and further away from it, I’ll be more pleased. But right now, it’s just hard.’

-- Helene Elliott