May 8th, Osaka Nagai Stadium.
The ground temperature was 23 degrees Celsius. A gentle breeze at 0.8 meters per second meant there was no point in discussing headwind or tailwind.
At 1:00 PM local time, on the track in front of the main stand, the 110m hurdles final was about to begin.
The announcer was introducing the finalists.
With a passionate, rousing voice, the announcer reeled off Alan Johnson's slightly exaggerated list of championship titles in lane three.
Many Japanese spectators in the stands responded with wild cheers.
Alan Johnson simply raised a hand in response before falling quiet. To him, that long list of titles sounded almost grating.
'If I'm number one in the world in the 110m hurdles, then why am I in lane three?'
He wasn't satisfied with finishing third in the preliminaries.
Terence Trammell had taken second in the morning's preliminaries.
Alan Johnson wasn't surprised that he'd come in second. After all, the man was a perennial runner-up.
