Athlete Quotes - Day 9 (Saturday 8/11)

Women's 4x100m Relay FINAL

Inger Miller: "I think it was an excellent race. I haven't seen us in this top form in a long time and its great to come out on top again. Its about time, it hasn't happened since '97, the combination of the youth and the experience, together we were able to do this."

Chryste Gaines: "It couldn't have gone any better today."

Kelli White: "It feels good and its my first time ever being a starter on a relay, especially this big and I'm just excited to be here."

Marion Jones: "My job was easy. They did the work, and I just had to bring it on in. I'm just incredibly pleased today with the team, that we could get together. We were hot, we were ready to go out there."

"I've had the range of emotions. The ups, the downs, the upsets, the satisfaction, the celebration. Its just difficult to put into words, but this is nice to wrap up the whole World Championships. A gold medal and a dominating performance like we put out there today."

Women's 100m hurdles final

Anjanette Kirkland: "The only thing I remember was reacting to the gun. After that, I don't remember anything about my race. I knew that I had to run off the last hurdle. That's all I knew. I run within. I don't worry about who's around me.

With all the attention to Devers and Adams, did you feel like you were the forgotten one? "Yeah. I'm used to it. I wasn't harboring any hard feelings about that. I was just coming out here to run my race and give y'all a good show."

"I didn't surprise myself. Coming up in the call room, I already saw the gold around my neck. I was like, 'this is my show.' God allowed me to come out and show the world what I was capable of doing. I knew if I came out here and ran my race - nobody else's race - victory was mine."

Gail Devers: "I didn't have the greatest of starts, and then tried to press and attack. I ended up hitting eight and went high over 9 and 10. That kind of took me out of the race. I'm happy with the silver, because when I looked at it, it didn't look like I was in second after that. The two goals that I had was to finish healthy. The other goal I did not accomplish, and that was to have a clean race. I knew in that caliber of race, I would have to have a good race. I have to say, I'm glad that if I was beaten, it was an American. I think Anjanette has had a really tough year. For her to be indoor and outdoor world champion is a great thing. She executed a perfect race. ... I still believe my best is yet to come."

Jenny Adams: "My first half was awesome. I had a great start. I started getting really excited. I think the excitement of thinking I was fixing to win the race, and a lot of other things going on, I hit a hurdle (seventh hurdle) and I lost it just like that, on one hurdle. It's disappointing and a big lesson to learn. I gained a lot of experience, and I had a lot of fun. I can't take anything but a lot of positive out of it. I'm ready for Zurich. I'm ready to redeem myself. I just want to keep improving and having PRs. ... I went in that race with the mentality that I was going to win."

Men's long jump final

Savante Stringfellow: "Superman got a medal. It wasn't a gold medal, it wasn't a bronze medal. It was the one in between. I can't ask for anything else. My second jump was a big jump. Last jump - big, big jump. (Both were fouls.) I'm pretty sure I had three fouls over 8.24, but they were fouls, so they didn't count. I think in the next few years, you'll be seeing big things from the U.S. jumpers. We're just getting started. My expectation was to win. I didn't come out here to get second. I'm extremely happy with second."

Miguel Pate: "It felt good. It started out pretty slow. I had some things going on at the board - I wasn't standing up straight on the board, so once I corrected that, I got a big jump off. I thought I had third place wrapped up, but he came back and got me. I don't think a lot of people expected me to be here. They say that U.S. jumping is down - we're not. We're young. I'm 22 years old, I got fourth in the World Championships, hopefully there'll be more to come. We're back!"

Dwight Phillips: "I wasn't able to finish my last three jumps (due to pulling his right hamstring on his third attempt."

Men's 50 kilometer race walk final

Curt Clausen: "It was a tough day. I had some problems in the middle of the race but I finished up real strong. I'm satisfied, I was competitive. I couldn't quite match the big group when they made their break, but I was able to salvage things and finish in the top eight in the world and that's kinda my goal. I always want a little more, but I'm satisfied and happy to be back. Last year was a struggle with knee surgery in July and it was tough going into the Olympics not 100%, so it's nice to be back and competitive."

Philip Dunn: "It went really well. I'm exhausted of course but I'm elated. I'm really happy with the way things went today. I PR'ed by over a minute and I've never finished in the top-15 in a big race like this, so that's two big bonuses and I'm very pleased. For Curt Clausen and I, our training has been consistent all year and our preparation was really good. We have our coach Enrique Pena to thank for that. He did a very good job as usual."

Women's discus final

Seilala Sua: "It's better than last year. I had one fair throw, it was my first one. It wasn't what I wanted. I don't think I was lacking intensity or motivation. I was doing some things right in practice, but I couldn't bring them to into the final.

Kris Kuehl: "It was a little disappointing. It was good to get through, get 6 throws and all that jazz. I was hoping for a much higher place, but it's a good way to build for years to come."

Men's 4x100m relay 1st rd

Dennis Mitchell: "I felt real good out there. I ran a very good third leg. We had some very safe passes today and I feel good about them. I'm just going to keep my composure, and on the day of the finals, of course its going to be the last time that I represent the United States on this relay and I'm going to give it my all."

"We've been working a lot of people at a lot of different legs so far and whatever order we put out there, we're going to be good enough to win that race."

"Our main objective in this first round is to get that stick around, whatever happens, you gotta pass the stick. If you can't give it everything, you gotta give it to the next guy, so he can gives some more and that's what Jon (Drummond) did."

"We're out there and we're fighting the battle. We're the best team in the world and the best team in the world means simply that, being the best team in the world, no matter what. Sometimes we have good things happen and sometimes we have bad things happen. Today we had an unfortunate accident and Jon was smart enough to overcome that and pass that stick to him so we got pass that round."

Mickey Grimes: "I knew at about 40 meters that he was hurt and I still got out. The man just pulled it out and got it off. He told me to have faith in him and I had faith in him. I knew he was hurting, he was screaming coming off the curve. But he still said go. I trust the man, he did it and I got it. I've got two other guys who are depending on me."

JJ Johnson: "It's a blessing, its truly a blessing, especially getting the stick from a veteran like Dennis Mitchell."

Jon Drummond: "I had one job to do. That was come here, get to the final and get a gold medal. I ran out there today, I was feeling great. I had great practices all week. Nothing was wrong. About 50, 60 meters in, I felt a little twinge. About 2 more steps, I felt a punch, like a frog in my leg. At one point, my mind said 'stop.' But I knew I had made a commitment to Mickey Grimes. I told him this was his destiny, this was his dream. And I was going to see his dream unfold to a reality. I told him to have confidence in me, because I was going to give him the stick whether I had one or two legs. And I did what I had to do.

On whether he was having quad problems before the race: "Of course we always have something wrong, but it was nothing I was worried about. It was nothing I was fearing. It was something I had felt before, so it was nothing I thought was going to give me problems."

"Dennis Mitchell called me to the floor the other night. He told me to bring my heart to the table. He told me he had complete confidence in me. He had been through many wars, many teams with me. ... When Dennis called me to the table, I brought my heart today. And what you saw was Jon Drummond running with his heart."

Women's 4x400m first round

Suziann Reid: "I didn't have to do much. When I got the stick, we were way ahead. I'm happy I'm with a group of girls who don't rely on others. They do their part. And I'm part of them. I'm happy that we qualified."

Michelle Collins: "I'm very pleased with the first round. We wanted to go out and just qualify. We're very happy with that. I was feeling very, very proud and confident with this team. This team is a very strong team. We're happy with the victory."

Demetria Waashington: "I just wanted to get out really good and bring it into Michelle so she wouldn't have to work too hard."

Miki Barber: "I felt good. I just wanted to get out fast, get the baton around and keep going. I knew this was the only time I was going to run, so I tried to make it the best one. It's my first World Championships, and I'm happy to be a part of getting us to the finals."

Men's 4x400m relay first round

Derrick Brew: "Everybody did what they were supposed to do. Everybody ran a good leg. We wanted to advance to the next round and win the heat, and that's what we did."

Andrew Pierce: "I just wanted to do my part so Leonard wouldn't have any problems."

Jerome Young: "I'm not in the best shape this year, but what I wanted to do was keep it close for the guys with the best potential."

Leonard Byrd: "It felt real good. I wasn't happy with my open 400, so this was great."