Tokyo: For a second time, Tokyo has been unkind to Peter Bol.

Four years after he missed out on an Olympic medal by barely half a second, Bol has been knocked out of the world championships by about the same time.

This time, the crowds filled the stands and he was anything but an unknown, but the margins were just as thin and fate just as cruel.

Bol had looked good in his heat of the 800 metres in the stifling 30 degree, night humidity of Japan National Stadium, but was swamped at the line to finish fourth in his heat in 1:45.15.

He had looked so comfortable – until he didn’t. He’d told himself to be patient, and then he wasn’t. Bol knew he had one move to make, and he hurriedly made three.

The impatience cost him a place in the semi-finals.

But the certainty of that fate could not

See Full Page