Guyana’s international track star Marian Burnett has, again, run herself into the history books by being part of the seventh known, all-time photo-finish of an international middle distance or greater race.
The stalwart half-miler achieved the feat in a ‘dead heat’ with Panamanian phenom Andrea Ferris for the women’s 800m crown at last Wednesday’s Caixa Para International Grand Prix in Belem, Brazil. Burnett and Ferris were both given the time of two minutes 2.78 seconds (2:02.78), but the petite Guyanese lost the gold to her lanky 6-ft rival when officials dug into the most microscopic detail to get an eventual winner.
Commenting on the happenstance, track executive Keith Basdeo, who coached Burnett to her US scholarship 11 years ago, said “the taller athlete, more often than not, tends to get the nod in such situations.” He, however, quickly pointed to an anomaly when Guyana’s June Marcia Griffith didn’t get a favourable verdict, though she was the taller – at 6 ft (1.83m) – of the two in a photo-finish in the 1979 Pan American Games’ women’s 400m. “Well it says a lot of the measure of adversarial misfortune (that) our Guyanese sisters experience, steady, steady in this game, man!” he offered in almost bewailing tones.
Back in Brazil, the media pounced on the historic race, echoing their proclamation of “mesmo tempo (same time)” in highlighting the occurrence. A spectacle for the almost 12000 fans in the Olympic stadium of Mangueirao, it also prompted president of the Brazilian Athletics Confederation (BAC) Roberto Gesta de Melo to praise the contestants, stating “It’s a long time I’ve not seen a battle so strong like that. They were great and I’m happy we had one of this here in Brazil”.
Following the two ‘photo-finishers’ were Ethiopia’s Meskerem Aseefa (2:03.23) and Jamaican Jamaican Korene Hinds (2:03.26). A trio of Brazilians along with Ethiopia’s Bertukan Feyisa and Indira Terrero of Cuba followed.
It was Burnett’s second podium finish in as many races as she returned to one of her gratifying ‘stomping grounds’ – neighbouring Brazil – after a few years absence. Last Sunday, she (2:03.64) finished second to Aseefa (2:03.10) at the Box Unifor International Grand Prix in Fortaleza.
Currently the year’s fifth fastest woman (2:01.58) at 800m, the multiple Guyanese record-holder has had numerous wins at Grand Prix meets, as well as a 2007 South American Championships crown, over the years. Burnett missed podium places at Rio’s 2007 Pan America Games, finishing 4th in both 800m and 1500m finals.
Wednesday’s race was the apex of a night of close finishes as winners in three other events were decided by minute measurements. Asian champion and world outdoor finalist Tajikistan’s Nazarov Dilshod (76.93m) won the men’s hammer throw by going just one centimeter further than Igors Sokolovs (76.94m) of Latvia, the 2009 World Athletics Final silver medalist. Similarly, 2-time CAC champion Levern Spencer (1.85m) of St Lucia edged Commonwealth and Pan American Games medallist Nicole Forrester (1.84m) of Canada to win the women’s high jump. In the men’s 400m hurdles, a whisker divided American Mark Hollis (49.17s) and Ibero-American Games champion Andrés Silva (49.18s) of Uruguay.
Meanwhile, Burnett’s US-based compatriot, world indoor finalist Aliann Pompey got in a ‘blow out’ race in preparation for her outdoor ‘season-opener’ tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro. With her pet distance (400m) absent at Wednesday’s event, Pompey contested the women’s 200m, and logged 23.68s for a sixth place finish. The race was won by Jamaica’s world 4×100 relay gold medalist Simone Facey (23.09s). Cayman Island’s 2008 world indoor 60m bronze medallist Tahesia Harrigan (23.26s) and American Rachelle Boone (23.35s), a 2005 world 100m silver medallist, took silver and bronze.
Pompey, who herself created history last March by being the first Guyanese representative in a global track final, joined Burnett earlier this week as part of 149 invited athletes from 32 countries competing in the ‘Brazilian Athletics Tour’. The tour comprises five meets during this month, and is the main circuit of Latin American athletics on the International Association of Athletics Federations’ (IAAF) 2010 calendar.
Both Burnett and Pompey are listed at #1 positions in their respective events on the IAAF South American Rankings list.
