{"id":134260,"date":"2021-08-02T17:35:24","date_gmt":"2021-08-02T21:35:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=134260"},"modified":"2021-08-03T18:05:03","modified_gmt":"2021-08-03T22:05:03","slug":"son-of-antiguans-winston-benjamin-and-gale-mason-ria-benjamin-wins-silver-medal-at-tokyo-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/son-of-antiguans-winston-benjamin-and-gale-mason-ria-benjamin-wins-silver-medal-at-tokyo-olympics\/","title":{"rendered":"Son of Antiguans Winston Benjamin and Gale Mason, Rai Benjamin wins Silver medal at Tokyo Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rai Benjamin, son of ex-WI pacer Winston Benjamin, wins \u00a0silver medal in the 400m hurdle at Tokyo Olympics\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/div>\n
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LA TIMES, TOKYO<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span>It might take a while. A few weeks. Several months. Perhaps years.<\/p>

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At this point, Rai Benjamin is only starting to process what happened Tuesday at Olympic Stadium in the men\u2019s 400-meters hurdles final.<\/p>\n

Benjamin ran the most important race of his life. On his sport\u2019s biggest stage. Posted a world-record time.<\/p>

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And lost.<\/p>

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In perhaps one of the greatest races in Olympic history, Karsten Warholm of Norway held off Benjamin and a blazing field to win in a world-record time of 45.94 seconds.<\/p>\n

Warholm broke his own record of 46.70. Benjamin finished in 46.1.<\/p>

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\u201cIf you would have told me I was going to run 46.1 and lose, I would probably beat you up and tell you to get out of my room,\u201d Benjamin told reporters.<\/p>\n

And if someone had told Warholm that Benjamin would run that time?<\/p>

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\u201cI would have put myself on the first flight home,\u201d Warholm said.<\/p>\n

Instead, Warholm went somewhere no man had gone before in the 400 hurdles: under 46 seconds.<\/p>

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Consider: The world record in the 400 meters is less than three seconds faster \u2014 and runners don\u2019t have to negotiate 10 hurdles.<\/p>\n

The 400-meter hurdles final wasn\u2019t the only event Tuesday that offered a glimpse of what\u2019s to come in track and field in the next few years.<\/p>\n

Athing Mu, a 19-year-old from New Jersey, remained on track to become a possible face of the sport by winning the women\u2019s 800 meters, the first American to do so since Madeline Manning in 1968 at Mexico City.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just the beginning, there\u2019s more,\u201d Mu said, adding, \u201cMy time is now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benjamin aimed to make a similar statement.<\/p>\n

After holding off Benjamin down the stretch, Warholm looked up at the videoboard to see his winning time.<\/p>\n

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Karsten Warholm reacts after setting a world record and winning gold in the men\u2019s 400-meter hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics.<\/div>\n
(Petr David Josek \/ Associated Press)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI thought, \u2018This is sick,\u2019\u201d Warholm said.<\/p>\n

Benjamin felt that way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw the 45.9 and I was just like, \u2018What the hell?\u2019 And then I saw 46.1 and I\u2019m like, \u2018There\u2019s no way I just ran 46 and lost.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Benjamin ran faster than Kevin Young\u2019s Olympic-record 46.78, a mark set at the Barcelona Games in 1992 that stood for nearly 30 years. So did Alison Dos Santos of Brazil, who finished Tuesday\u2019s race in 46.72 to win bronze.<\/p>\n

But that was not fast enough.<\/p>\n

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U.S. runner Rai Benjamin reacts after taking silver in the men\u2019s 400-meter hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday.<\/div>\n
(Charlie Riedel \/ Associated Press)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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A composed Benjamin, who competed in college at UCLA and USC, repeatedly said he would need time to process what happened and why.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kid\u2019s amazing, man,\u201d he said of Warholm. \u201cYou can\u2019t be mad at all. As a competitor, it hurts a lot, but that\u2019s just the nature of the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benjamin described it as \u201cthe best race in Olympic history,\u201d adding with due respect that Young and 400-meter legend Edwin Moses \u201ccould not run what we just ran.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benjamin said he could not sleep the night before the race because the anticipation was so great. The eight runners in the final are all \u201ccool with each other\u201d but were silent in the call room before the race, he said.<\/p>\n

But before the race, Benjamin said Warholm advised, \u201cLet\u2019s go out and have some fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warholm, running in lane six, pushed the pace from the outset to stress Benjamin in lane five and other runners as well.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI knew I had really gutted them out and they were probably at a place where they didn\u2019t want to be,\u201d Warholm said. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to be there myself because it hurts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benjamin said he made a small error at the fourth hurdle, giving Warholm the slightest edge.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is just like white noise,\u201d Benjamin said. \u201cI didn\u2019t hear anything; I didn\u2019t see anyone until hurdle seven. And at that point it\u2018s just like, \u2018I\u2019m behind and I\u2019ve got to just go get that guy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Warholm knew Benjamin would be coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ran sort of scared,\u201d he said, \u201cbut that\u2019s something that I always do.\u201d<\/p>\n

As they cleared the final hurdle, \u201cI just ran with my life,\u201d Warholm said. \u201cI would die for that gold medal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benjamin gave chase. But he could not close the gap.<\/p>\n

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Norway\u2019s Karsten Warholm, second left, clears the final hurdle before winning the gold medal ahead of Rai Benjamin of the U.S.<\/div>\n
(Charlie Riedel \/ Associated Press)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cJust ran out of real estate,\u201d he said. \u201cI was running my butt off coming home and just didn\u2019t have enough space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benjamin\u2019s Olympics are not over. He said he would run in the 1,600-meter relay, so there is another shot at gold.<\/p>\n

And there are more duels with Warholm ahead. The 2022 world championships will be held in Eugene, Ore. The 2024 Olympics in Paris are only three years away.<\/p>\n

Despite his disappointment, Tuesday\u2019s historic race set the stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just goes to show where we are in the sport,\u201d Benjamin said, \u201cand where the event is going.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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SEE AN EARLIER REPORT FROM: INDIA EXPRESS<\/strong><\/p>\n

The cricketing memories of Rai Benjamin are grainy. The American 400m hurdler remembers Brian Lara. \u201cSo hypnotic to watch\u201d. He wrestles with his memory to fish out another name. \u201cForgot his name, but there was this guy with curly, coloured hair with a slinging action. I have seen him once or twice at North Sound.\u201d Turns out to be Sri Lanka\u2019s Lasith Malinga.<\/p>\n

Rai, though son of former West Indies fast bowler Winston and having spent his childhood and much of his teenage in Antigua, is \u201cnot a cricket person\u201d. \u201cI was never so much into cricket, might have played a few games during carnivals and Sunday afternoon festivals,\u201d he says during a media interaction before the Tokyo Games, where he is among the favourites to finish in the top three.<\/p>\n

His father dismisses his son\u2019s cricketing abilities in two words. \u201cAbsolutely crappy.\u201d Even when Rai played cricket, he never tried hurling the ball as fast as his father would in his peak, but was a batsman who liked to swish and swipe. Winston did not impose cricket on him either. \u201cIn West Indies, we don\u2019t do that. We let them be whatever they want to be. I don\u2019t even talk cricket with him,\u201d says Winston. He did not feel dismayed when his son chose athletics, though he was disappointed when his second son Jaeo swapped the leather ball for track spikes. \u201cHe was a fast bowler, and was really talented,\u201d the father says.<\/p>\n

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\"Rai\u00a0Rai Benjamin\u2019s childhood photos<\/span><\/p>\n

Learning from mistakes<\/h2>\n

Yet, the last time they met \u2014 Rai stays with his mother Gale in New York \u2014 during Rai\u2019s graduation ceremony two years ago, their conversation unusually veered towards cricket. \u201cWe were talking about the ups and downs of life, and then the topic drifted to my cricketing career, about the life lessons I learned from the sport, about dealing with success and failure, and about being grounded in life. We might have played different games, but there are things that are common in every sport, and he won\u2019t commit the mistakes that I have in mine,\u201d Winston recounts.<\/p>\n

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He does not reflect too much on his own career \u2014 a phase that\u2019s long gone \u2014 but his career ended unfulfilled. Touted as the successor to Malcolm Marshall, short in build but blessed with chilling pace and ability to swing the ball when conditions obliged, Winston played his last Test match at 30, with only 61 wickets at 27. He made little money from cricket, and later on in life had to juggle multiple jobs, including as a boundary fixer at the old Antigua Recreation Ground. \u201cMine is not an ideal template for a sportsman. But maybe, he (Rai) can learn from my failures,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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There is one trait, though, Rai has inherited from his father. The love of speed. Winston tried to bowl as fast as he could, he consistently clocked upwards of 140kph and after retirement, began rearing prize-winning racehorses; Rai tries to run as fast as he could too, leaping over hurdles with blistering pace. He has to his name the third-fastest run in the history of his event, when he timed 46.83 seconds in the US trials at Eugene, Oregon, last month. After the race, Rai told the press that he was running within himself and could go even quicker. \u201cIf I would have broken the world record, what would I have done in Tokyo? It\u2019s just more fuel for the fire, man, I can run so much faster,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Star-studded field<\/h2>\n

It sets up an intriguing tussle with chief adversary Karsten Warholm of Norway, who set the world record (46.70) the same day Rai recorded his personal best. Then, there is Brazil\u2019s Alison dos Santos and Qatar\u2019s Abderrahman Samba, thus brushing 400m hurdles with a coat of unprecedented glamour.<\/p>\n

After winning his heat on Friday with a timing of 48.60 seconds, Rai is one step closer to a duel with Warholm and the other top contenders in the final on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Rai sounded cautiously confident: \u201cI don\u2019t go to a race thinking that I should create a record. It\u2019s something that just happens. The ambition is always to be the best, if you break a record while doing that, it\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In his son\u2019s quest for speed, Winston sometimes relives his own younger days. It makes him feel younger, he says. \u201cIt\u2019s so joyful, his strides are so graceful. You can keep watching it over and over without getting bored,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

But he is not obsessed with his son winning each and every tournament. He rarely watches him live. \u201cMost of his stuff happens in Europe and because of the time difference, it happens either too late or too early for me. I am not going to lose sleep over him. I wake up the next day and watch his clips on YouTube,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

A father waits<\/h2>\n

However, Winston yearned to watch him in flesh and blood in Tokyo. \u201cI was desperate. One I wanted to watch him run in an Olympics. The next, I have not seen him in two years, two long years. And I don\u2019t know when I can meet him next,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He is used to the long wait, as Rai\u2019s early life was spent travelling back and forth between New York and St John\u2019s. He was four when he first arrived in Antigua, a journey that took a week as the flight was stuck in Puerto Rico soon after the September 11 attacks. \u201cAn anxious, dark time,\u201d says Winston.<\/p>\n

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Till he turned nine, Rai stayed with his uncle in Antigua, and then flew back to the US. It was then that he became addicted to American football. \u201cHe was a quarterback, and I thought this might be his future. But his mother was afraid of him getting concussions, and she persuaded him out of it. And then the college coach spotted a track athlete in him,\u201d Winston remembers.<\/p>\n

He credits Gale for Rai\u2019s success. \u201cShe\u2019s a wonderful human being and a loving mother. In America, we could have easily lost him. There are so many distractions. But she did a terrific job in raising him as he is now and had worked really hard for him,\u201d he says. Rai then returned to Antigua and represented the country of his origin in a few tournaments, but frustrated with the system, switched allegiances to the US. Winston has no hard feelings, and says it was a straightforward decision.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe was born in America, he is free to choose the country he wants to. It does not make him less Antiguan or more American. If he wins a medal, Antigua will celebrate as much as America,\u201d says Winston. And that, he says, will be the proudest moment of his life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rai Benjamin, son of ex-WI pacer Winston Benjamin, wins \u00a0silver medal in the 400m hurdle at Tokyo Olympics\u00a0 LA TIMES, TOKYO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0It might take a while. A few weeks. Several months. Perhaps years. At this point, Rai Benjamin is only starting to process what happened Tuesday at Olympic Stadium in the men\u2019s 400-meters hurdles final. Benjamin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":134261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSon of Antiguans Winston Benjamin and Gale Mason, Rai Benjamin wins Silver medal at Tokyo Olympics - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/son-of-antiguans-winston-benjamin-and-gale-mason-ria-benjamin-wins-silver-medal-at-tokyo-olympics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Son of Antiguans Winston Benjamin and Gale Mason, Rai Benjamin wins Silver medal at Tokyo Olympics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rai Benjamin, son of ex-WI pacer Winston Benjamin, wins \u00a0silver medal in the 400m hurdle at Tokyo Olympics\u00a0 LA TIMES, TOKYO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0It might take a while. 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