Dafne Schippers’ record 200m time in Beijing stuns even her coach
Bart Bennema staggered as his protege runs fourth-fastest time ever
When Dutchwoman Dafne Schippers smashed a 36-year-old European record to capture the women’s world 200 metres gold, there was no one more shocked than her coach Bart Bennema.
Bennema has overseen Schippers’ training for the last seven years, taking charge when she was a raw 16-year-old, but even he was staggered after watching his protege run 21.63 seconds – the fourth-fastest time ever – just days after her silver in the 100m.
It was a remarkable run by Schippers, 23, who eclipsed the European record of 21.71 set by Marita Koch in 1979 and matched by fellow East German Heike Drechsler in 1986.
Only Americans Marion Jones and world record-holder Florence Griffith-Joyner have run the 200m faster than Schippers, who also won heptathlon bronze at the Moscow worlds two years ago.
The careers of Koch, Dreschler, Jones and “Flo-jo” were plagued by doping allegations, however, and Schippers was quick to distance herself, insisting she was clean.
