Lee uses 100 disappointment for 200 motivation

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August 19, 2008

By Mechelle Voepel The Tribune-Democrat Tue Aug 19, 2008, 11:00 PM EDT

BEIJING — The 100 meters certainly was disappointing for Muna Lee. But she’s trying to look on the good side of it.

“I was pretty mad,” she said of her fifth-place finish Sunday, “but it added fuel to my fire.”

She used that to her advantage in the first two rounds of the women’s 200 meters here at the Bird’s Nest. After winning her first-round heat with the best time in the field Tuesday morning, 22.71 seconds, she easily advanced to the semifinals with a quarterfinal time of 22.83 in the evening.

“I think it was really good for me,” she said of her opening race, “because now that (22.83) was really easy. Everybody else had to run harder because they didn’t get that feeling the first round.

”Now it’s rest and still fine-tune for the final. I really held my form better than I have any other time.“

Also advancing to the semifinals was 2004 silver medalist Allyson Felix (22.74) and Marshevet Hooker (22.76). Jamaica, which swept the women’s 100, also advanced its three athletes to the 200 finals: reigning world champion Veronica Campbell-Brown, Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart.

Lee said she wasn’t letting the 100 funk hang with her. Briefly after that final Sunday, she was distracted in a good way. Her mom and dad, Doris and Keith Lee, are here, along with her sister, Mecca.

She had not seen them since they arrived in China until they got together for a little while Sunday.

”My dad was like, ’Oh, they should have re-started it,’ “ Lee said of the apparent false start by American Torri Edwards, which wasn’t called. ”And my mom was like, ’It’s OK, you ran really good.’ They made me laugh, and I forgot about it for a couple of minutes. When you need a hug, always go to Mom, and it’s always great.“

But later, Lee didn’t get much rest.

”I couldn’t sleep that night; I got a really bad migraine,“ she said. ”But now it’s like settling down. I just really tried to relax and focus and block it out.“

The good news from Sunday’s race came from how she ran it AFTER she hesitated at the start when she saw Edwards move. Lee’s coach, Vince Anderson, concentrated on that part of the performance.

”He told me he was really upset about (the no-call on the false start), but it was one of the best races of my life regardless,“ Lee said. ”If you go back and time it from when I reacted, I had a better time than the winner. He’s happy with it.“

Lee will compete in the 200 semifinals at 9:55 a.m. EDT Wednesday, which is 9:55 p.m. in Beijing. She was seventh in the 200 at the 2004 Olympics, but says she executes the race a little differently now.

”My curve isn’t the greatest; I used to blast the curve and just die the last 20 (meters),“ she said. ”Now I’m learning how to run straight throughout the whole race.“

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