In the almost empty corridor of the MM stadium, an insane mecca suddenly started – there was a real athletics legend involved

When the starting gun goes off to send the men’s 200m first semi-final on their way, a huge concert of screams begins in the almost deserted corridor behind the main bleachers at Hayward Field.

FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! – screams are repeated twenty times in less than 20 seconds. Vamos is Spanish and in this context loosely translated into Finnish means to let burn!

In front of the TV, a cap-capped man dressed in a gray sweatshirt and college pants shouts, unable to stay still, but jumping back and forth with a wild frequency. When the run ends, the man starts a long ESO! shout, the last vowel of which he stretches and stretches.

After a while, the screamer turns out to be a true track and field legend, a two-time Olympic champion in the 400-meter hurdles and a two-time world champion Felix Sanchez. It turns out that Sanchez, who was born in the United States and lived his entire active career, currently runs a running academy in his home country, the Dominican Republic. He moved there permanently for the first time when his sports career ended in 2016.

Sanchez dedicated his recent scream concert to his 22-year-old protégé To Alexander Ogando, who advances to the World Cup final by winning his semi-final with a time of 19.91. It is a new record for the Dominican Republic.

– As a coach, it’s much more difficult when you can’t control events. You can only wait and hope for the best, Sanchez says and laughs.

Ogando has been under Sanchez’s coaching since the summer of 2019. At that time, his record for 200 meters was 21.27. In the 400 meters, 47 seconds was unbeaten. The corona practically messed up the entire 2020 season, from which Ogando has only one statistical result: the lap time was 46.40.

Since then, the duo’s collaboration has been on the rise. Ogando won silver in the 4×400 meter medley relay at the Tokyo Olympics, and the 400 meter record improved to 45.01. However, the 200 meters was modest compared to the current level, to 20.54, i.e. nine hundredths slower than Samuel Purolan a recent Finnish record.

– I am so proud of Alexander. He is great and improves race by race, says Sanchez.

Coming into Oregon’s World Championships, Ogando’s record was 20.03, which he has improved in both the preliminaries and semifinals. Before that, Ogando ran at Hayward Field on the 4×400 meter medley relay team that sensationally won the world championship.

– I always tell my athletes that they can only control events on their own track. There is absolutely no need to worry about everything else. In sprinting, no blows are dealt, others cannot hurt you. All the work has been done for this event. My job is just to calm down the athletes so that they can perform their task as we have trained.

Ogando enters the 200-meter final, which will take place on Friday morning, Finnish time, with the best statistical time of the season, seventh. of the United States of Erriyon Knighton and by Noah Lyles however, the following five athletes fit within eight hundredths. Ogando is one of them.

– If Alexander wins a medal, I’ll definitely mess up, Sanchez says.

Sanchez debuted his own career in the limelight in 1999, when Sevilla organized the World Cup. Both then and a year later at the Sydney Olympics, Sanchez’s speed was not enough for the finals, but at the 2001 Edmonton World Championships, the Dominican struck a golden vein.

After that, Sanchez went from victory to victory all the way to 2005, until the journey ended with an interruption in the finals of the World Championships in Helsinki.

The next and at the same time the last championship gold was waiting until 2012, when Sanchez rose to the highest podium at the Olympic Stadium in London. For Sanchez, returning as king after an eight-year hiatus is the brightest crown jewel of his career.

– When I was young, everything was easy. Then when I didn’t win for eight years, the supporters slowly disappeared around me. I was constantly told why not just stop. After that, winning felt incredibly good, Sanchez recalls.

The cornerstone of Sanchez’s career was cast in the United States, where his parents moved from the Dominican Republic before the champion was born. Sanchez grew up in San Diego and moved to Los Angeles after attending the University of Southern California, or USC. The starting points for climbing to the top in the Dominican Republic are a little different than in the United States.

– I didn’t lack anything. I had the best framework and coaches, but many talents can’t even afford shoes. Poverty is palpable. These moments at the World Cup can change their lives and the lives of their families. That makes it even more exciting, Sanchez says.

Funded by the government of the Dominican Republic, Sanchez’s namesake academy is housed in the Olympic Stadium named after him in the capital, Santo Domingo. Sanchez lives in the same city with his wife and his 6-year-old and 10-month-old son.

There is enough work to get a professional framework.

– We don’t have decent gyms and running tracks. The children don’t have spikes, let alone running shoes. It has been necessary to do a lot of adapting work. However, I have been able to hire assistant coaches and a physiotherapist, so we are going in the right direction. I want to give my all to my academy. The start was difficult, but now we are already seeing amazing results, says Sanchez.

Regarding his own type of bread, Sanchez advises to wait a year or two. A promise is maturing in Kotikunnu, who runs faster than he did when he was young.

– I ran 50.82 when I was under 20, but one of my personal coaches just ran 50.07, Sanchez says and refers to Yeral Nunezwhose main goal of the season is the under-20 World Championships to be held in Cali, Colombia at the beginning of August.

However, Sanchez’s guiding principle for his peers and all athletics talents is that money and medals should not get the upper hand over love for the sport.

– You have to love this job in order to survive setbacks. There will be them for everyone. Only by loving can you get the best out of yourself. Top sports should not be done only for the money, but for the journey. If you learn to enjoy the journey, the destination is no longer so important, the master decides.