Dina-Asher Smith misses out on Olympic glory.

 Dina-Asher Smith misses out on Olympic glory. 

The girl from Orpington in Kent cried bitterly and tried to imagine that this wasn't happening to her. For Dina- Asher Smith the Olympic Games had administered the ultimate in painful blows. Yesterday Asher Smith was hurting, sobbing like a baby, the sense of loss and bewilderment dripping from her eyes, still feeling utter rejection from the biggest stage of her life. There was an air of grievous desolation about her that can never be replaced by any other emotion.

Team GB's Olympic women's 100 metres superstar Dina- Asher Smith was denied a place in the women's 100 metres final because quite obviously this wasn't her time nor year. How she must have trained rigorously and strenuously for this one moment of magic in the sporting spotlight, a chance to add her name to an illustrious list of Olympic champions before her. It was bad enough hanging around for the Olympics proper to actually start but a year after the scheduled Olympics, Asher-Smith was on the floor, inconsolable, grief stricken and mortified. It just didn't seem fair and nobody could offer her a sympathetic shoulder to let it all out. And yet her preparations couldn't have gone any better. 

There were all of those early morning runs on misty, murky, cold, dark, wintry mornings when the Olympics seemed about as far away as it was possible to be from her mind. If only she could have turned all that punishing, gruelling foot slogging along endless country lanes into something far more tangible than just a semi final place rather than an Olympic 100 metres final. How she must have cursed those muddy fields, the treacherous pavements with only ice and slushy snow for company and then the back breaking climbs up arduous hills, buckets of rain slanting across her eyes, snow flakes teasingly dancing on her hair. 

The Olympics can often be the cruellest of all disappointments particularly when the whole country is supporting you all the way and you feel the most terrible obligation to win a gold medal. But Dina stalled at the final hurdle and for some football fans that must have been a familiar blow to the solar plexus. It does get you right there and there is nothing you can do to cushion the blow. Still nobody was seriously injured and she'll return back to Britain with head held high and ready to go for the Olympics in Paris in 2024.

But, for the rest of the ladies field who did make the final parade, this was their day and somebody had to lose. In one of the strongest 100 metres women's final for many a year, three Jamaican ladies stepped forward, eyes glowing, energy in their hearts and the fizzing exuberance that just kept bubbling over. So it was that Shelley Ann Fraser of Jamaica, Elaine Thompson Herah of Jamaica and Sherika Jackson of Jamaica lined up in anticipation of the greatest sprint of their lives. 

Bending down onto their starting blocks, feet kicking aimlessly into the air, all three Jamaicans crouched down into their positions, powerful knees, legs and ankles all poised to explode. So they bowed their heads, thrust back their legs once again and then just waited patiently for the gun. There is something about Olympic athletic races that grips your attention and refuses to let go until the winner is declared. All of the ladies were seemingly catapulted into action as if some supernatural force had propelled them. 

Powering down their lanes, arms and hands pumping furiously, it was the Jamaicans who instantly caught the eye. Wearing the yellow and black of their country, Fraser, Herah and Jackson were neck and neck coming up to the final, crucial seconds of the race. Despite though the best intentions of their fellow sprinters, this had a Jamaica one, two, three written all over it. It was one of those magically irresistible moments in an Olympic Final when you know that the record books are just desperate for sporting immortality. 

And so it was that the yellow and orange hair of Fraser took to the front. She now began motoring into the lead, fingers tightly squeezed together, arms and shoulders rocking up and down frenetically, a look of almost driven obsession on her face. Firstly, Fraser looked as though those orange and yellow streaks would dazzle her opponents into submission. Then all three runners briefly exchanged glances at each other before accepting their fate. There was nothing between all three women. They had given everything and any result would have been perfectly acceptable. 

From the pack though suddenly emerged Elaine Thompson Herah, a magnificent name for a sportswoman. Bursting through with an even more electrifying surge of acceleration, Herah cranked up several gears, took the brake off and just went for the line as if her life depended on it. In the end Herah just about took the laurels, the spoils of victory, that very Olympic garland that takes you to the top of the podium and just waits for the medal to be draped around your neck. Herah claimed gold, Fraser grabbed the silver and Jackson ended with an honourable bronze. 

Earlier on in the afternoon your mind was taken back to the 1980 Olympics in Russia when the muscular, lithe and virile Alan Wells flew out of the blocks and just left the rest of the field somewhere in Kiev. Wells had a very complete masculinity about him that wouldn't have been out of place in the weightlifting hall. But the 100 metres was Wells forte and he won gold with something to spare. How we acclaimed him then and always would. 

And yet today the 100 metres Final looked rather forlorn without the wonderfully recognisable face of Usain Bolt, the man for whom this race seemed to be over in the blink of an eye. Bolt was just a force of nature, a man built like a skyscraper with the kind of lightning pace that totally justified his nickname. But now Bolt had left the building, retiring gracefully because you had to let somebody else win for a change.

Today the field of Andre De Grasse, Ronnie Baker, Fred Kerley and Enoch Olaoluna Adegoke were swept aside by an Italian blizzard by the name of Lamont Marcel Jacobs. Jacobs was representing Italy and, given the kind of sporting year the Italians have had so far, a gold medal for Italy may not have been a shock.  Fred Kerley of the USA and the Canadian Andre De Grasse pushed Jacobs all the way to the line but the decisive speed and kick came from Jacobs. 

So it is that the Olympic Games of Tokyo 2020 now reaches its final, second week. The cynics are probably confident of another drugs and doping scandal to tarnish everything that's been achieved. But when they look back at what might seem the very unusual spectacle of skateboarding and BMX bike riding at these Games we may be inclined to think that sport has never lost its sense of humour. Let the Olympic flame burn brightly.