Bowie credits desire for success, Latest Athletics News - The New Paper
Athletics

Bowie credits desire for success

American Tori Bowie believes her desire to win played a big part in her well-timed dip at the finish line to claim the women's 100 metres gold medal in 10.85 seconds at the World Championships in London yesterday morning (Singapore time).

The momentum of Bowie's dip sent her sprawling onto the track but she had done enough to edge past Ivory Coast's Marie-Josee Ta Lou by one hundredth of a second.

Ta Lou appeared to have the race sewn up, but fatally failed to throw herself at the line and there were moments of suspense before the result appeared on the scoreboard.

"When I saw it pop up on the board and it was all confirmed, I thought, 'Oh my God, I can't believe this just happened'," Bowie said.

"I don't know where the finish (the dive) comes from.

"I guess just hunger, determination. I'm motivated, I want it.

"That's the best part of my race, the last 40 metres. I'm currently still working on the beginning. It's slowly getting better. I'm thankful with the slow progress."

Bowie went one better than her silver medal at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro last year. She was considered by many as a better fit for the 200m race but she insisted on focusing on the shorter distance in London.

She said: "I bet I'm the only person in the world that thought I could come out here and win the 100m tonight.

"I think the rest of the world was telling me, 'Why are you choosing the 100 over the 200?'. This is how I'm feeling, this is the event I want to be the world champion in and it happened tonight."

Olympic champion Elaine Thompson never got going and finished fifth, as Dutchwoman Dafne Schippers took bronze. - REUTERS