Photograph of Alfonso Edwards (second from left to right) running the 20 meter dash during the Berlin World Athletic Championship on August 20, 2009. (Credit: The New York Times.com)
Yesterday shortly after midday, the whole country of Panama stood at a standstill. Each and everyone of the souls living in Panama were glued to their TV sets watching history making at the Berlin World Athletic Championship games.
One of its sons, a young man by the name of Alonso Edwards was running the 20 meters sprint, in an effort to obtain a gold medal for his country. He failed to do that, but he grabbed a silver medal and in the process, placed his mother country in the map of world sports and covered himself with glory.
The gold medal winner was Usain Bolt. His hunger for world records continued at the world championships yesterday when he won the 200m title in a staggering 19.19 seconds. The Jamaican star bettered the mark of 19.30 he set in the Olympic final in Beijing on August 20, 2008, towering high above the rest of the field with the biggest winning margin ever over the distance.
Alonso Edwards of Panama trailed by .62 seconds in 19.81 seconds winning the silver medal and Wallace Spearmon of the US was third like in 2007 in 19.85 seconds winning the bronze medal.
Another Panamanian hero, Irving Saladino, winner of Panama’s first Olympic gold medal in the 2008 Olympic Summer Games in Beijing, is scheduled to jump for another gold medal tomorrow. Another revered Olympic hero is Lloyd La Beach, who obtained two bronze medals in the 1948 Summer Olympic Games in London. The first Olympic medals for Panama.
Photograph of Alonso Edwards born in Panama City, Panama on December 8, 1989. (Credit: Panama-Guide.com)
I feel so proud of being a Panamanian, I’m jumping out of my skin. Good Day.
