Sanchez Dominates to Fulfill the Hopes of Dominicans

There is pressure, and then there is what Felix Sanchez was experiencing here Thursday night.

There were 56,000 people in Olympic Stadium, but that was nothing compared to the 8.8 million in the Dominican Republic, most of them expecting Sanchez to give them something they had never had before. An Olympic gold medal.

It wasn’t as if he was a longshot. The last time this New York-born son of Dominican parents had lost a 400-meter hurdles race was three years ago. This would be his 43rd race since then. Sanchez, who will turn 27 Monday, appeared to be in a world of his own when he emerged onto the track. He paced quietly as other athletes competed around him and elicited one roar after another from the crowd. Starters in finals are brought on to the track about 15 minutes before they compete, and Sanchez spent that time speaking to nobody, showing almost no emotion.

His story might explain the pressure he was dealing with.

He was running for the Dominican, but he lives in Los Angeles and did much of his training there for this Olympics. He ran for USC and won the NCAA title in 2000. Before that, he had gone from University City High in San Diego to Mesa Junior College, where Arnie Robinson, 1976 long jump gold medalist, coached him.

He had even run in the U.S. championships in 1999, but when the Dominican guaranteed him an Olympic spot in Sydney, something the U.S. couldn’t for an untested 23-year-old, he became a Dominican athlete.

In Sydney, he hadn’t quite developed into the world-class runner he is now. He failed to make the finals, and that was so painful that he decided to wear as a reminder, while competing, a red wristband from Sydney that has blinking lights. He said he would throw it away only when he had erased the pain of Sydney.

After Sydney, he developed quickly, won the 2001 world championships and undoubtedly had U.S. Track and Field wishing it had taken a chance.

When the small Dominican contingent marched into the stadium for the opening ceremony, Sanchez carried the flag. Clearly, he was his country’s hope.

Almost from the moment he stepped onto the track Thursday, there was a photographer nearby. As the start of the race neared, the pleasant-looking face with the thin mustache and soul patch was on the stadium’s big screen. The camera followed him into the blocks as he turned on the red wristband.

Relief was undoubtedly in the running, and once he got through one false start by American James Carter in Lane 4, he could do what he does best. From Lane 6, he swung to an early lead with the stagger, then kept his steps all the way around, and by the time he had cleared the last hurdle, he needed only to battle fatigue to the tape. He won in 47.63, best in the world this year, but not near his personal best of 47.25.

Danny McFarlane of Jamaica won the silver in 48.11, and Naman Keita of the bronze in 48.26. Carter was fourth in 48.58 and Bennie Brazell of the U.S. eighth in 49.51.

The celebration was subdued at first but soon picked up. He found a Dominican flag and proudly paraded around the stadium. The Dominican Republic had a gold medal.

When he met the press afterward, he said the wristband was history. He also said he had no second thoughts about competing for the Dominican Republic.

“Craig Masback [president of U.S. Track and Field] is always asking me about that, kind of kidding me,” Sanchez said.

“But I’ve never looked back. I’m happy for what I have achieved for the Dominican. I think that this gives people there something to look up to.”

He had said that if he won the gold, he would go to the Dominican and “party for three days.”

Maybe there, the young radio reporter from the Dominican, who waited for more than an hour without success to get an interview with Sanchez, will be more successful. Sanchez was whisked away by officials for a five-minute news conference that the reporter missed.

“I just wanted a couple of answers,” the young broadcaster said. “And his Spanish is pretty good.”